Dave Mustaine Explains Why Chris Broderick And Shawn Drover Quit Megadeth

Dave Mustaine shed light on the reasons behind guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover parting ways with Megadeth.

In late 2014, Drover chose to leave the band after ten years to pursue his individual musical interests. Shortly after, Broderick also left the group, attributing his decision to creative and musical differences.

Mustaine has now provided insight into the factors that prompted Broderick and Drover‘s exit from the band in his conversation with Guitar World.

“We had gotten a tour with Iron Maiden, but the whole thing ended because Bruce [DickinsonIron Maiden singer – who was battling throat cancer at the time] got sick. In the blink of an eye, an entire year’s worth of work was canceled, which was financially devastating for Shawn and Chris

“So, the management we had took it upon themselves to call Shawn and Chris and say, ‘The tour is now canceled; you should probably go find another job.’ But I didn’t know about this; all I knew was that my drummer and guitarist had quit.

“I understood the circumstances, and I might have done the same thing, but I would have f**king told me before I went and quit. 

“Having me find out afterward tells you all you need to know about Shawn and Chris’s characters. But it’s okay; they’ve got Megadeth on their resume. We had some good times together there for a bit.”

In a 2015 interview with Louder Noise, Broderick and Drover spoke about the circumstances that led to their departure from Megadeth.

Broderick said at the time:  “For me, it had been a decision that was a long time coming. And it finally came down to the idea that I knew I was not gonna be happy until I was able to express myself musically and creatively — with the direction that I take my music in and my career and the way I present myself. So that’s ultimately what led me to leave Megadeth. And Shawn and I had been talking about it for awhile. And he, actually, left six hours before I did. And when he did, I was, like, ‘Woah! Shawn actually left. He left Megadeth.’ And I had called some friends and, actually, some of my endorsers and stuff like that, people that I knew I could confide in. And talking to them, and seeing how they all had my back and were basically supportive of me moving on, I knew that Shawn had made the right choice, because we were being called in to start writing the next [Megadeth] CD, and that’s not the right thing to do if your heart’s not in it.

“So the time to leave was right when we left, and that was late November of last year. And then as far as starting Act Of Defiance, it was really just, again, talking with Shawn. We were talking about how we had all this great material that was never gonna be released or anything like that. We started joking around about just releasing it, just to see what would happen, and then from there, it quickly turned into, ‘Hey, let’s make a full-fledged band and let’s just put something together that the fans can get behind and get to know us, and they realize that we’re a unit and a team.'”

Drover said: “I confided in [Chris] about [wanting to leave Megadeth]. The reasons are similar. I wanted to focus on the music that I wanted to make, and I wanted to make heavier music. And when I confided in Chris about it, I’d come to find out that he was thinking along the same lines. It was purely music from my perspective, it was purely a musical decision, and it was a good time to do it. The band was taking a huge break — for, like, a year — and I didn’t wanna do that. So I figured, if there was ever a time to do it, the more I thought about it, I came to the decision that now would be the time.”