In a recent interview with Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine spoke about bringing on board Teemu Mäntysaari from WINTERSUN and SMACKBOUND as their new guitarist for the current tour.
Mäntysaari is stepping in for MEGADETH‘s regular guitarist, Kiko Loureiro. Loureiro has chosen to skip the upcoming leg of MEGADETH‘s “Crush The World” tour to spend time with his children in Finland.
Commenting on Kiko‘s non-participation in the current MEGADETH tour, Mustaine said: “I love [Kiko] and I want him to get whatever he’s going through worked out. And fortunately, he had mentioned the name of a guy, Teemu Mäntysaari. Teemu came out, and he was prepared.
He continued: “I don’t know when Kiko is coming back. He won’t be back for this run [of tour dates]. He’s at home, and he’s soldiering on — for lack of a better term — and working through whatever it is he needs to get through.
“Out of respect for him, I didn’t pry and ask what exactly it was — because it’s really none of my business unless he tells me. But I think for any of the fans that are going to say, ‘How’s it going to sound? What’s it going to be like?’ Don’t worry. I’ve picked good guitar players in the past, and I train them well. Teemu is very capable of playing these songs. In fact, we’re adding new songs to the set. That is really exciting, too.”
“I wish Kiko the very best,” Dave added. “I love him, and I hope to get some good news from him soon.”
Mustaine was also asked if there are any plans for some sort of reunion with band’s former guitarist Marty Friedman, to which Mustaine responded: “I don’t know. It’s a very interesting idea. Marty is a really talented person. I don’t know for sure, but I think this is an area where I need to just talk with my partner and see how he feels about having another guitar player come up there and jam.
“Because sometimes guys get their feelings hurt, and I don’t know that that’s possible between Kiko [Loureiro] and Marty – because I think they both have a really high admiration of each other. But more importantly than what I would do with Marty right now is what I’m going to do with Kiko – because I love the guy and I want him to get whatever he’s going through worked out.”
When Friedman was presented with the idea of MEGADETH‘s Rust In Peace lineup in 2015, money became a persuading factor for him to take part. He and drummer Nick Menza met with Mustaine and ex-bassist David Ellefson at the 2015 NAMM show in Anaheim to talk about rejoining forces once again.
In Mustaine‘s latest book, Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece, Friedman candidly reveals why he declined the offer of a MEGADETH reunion for their iconic album, Rust In Peace.
“My main thing was I’d be happy to do it, but I’m not going to take less money than I’m already making to do it,” Marty said in part.
“I’d been in Japan for more than ten years cultivating a career with solid rewards. I was making money not only for myself but also for my management and staff. My manager has been with me fifteen years.
“Everything was sound and solid professionally, and when the offer came up to all of a sudden join MEGADETH again, as long as I would not be making less money, I was ready to go,” he said.
“”But I was certainly not going to take a loss to join a band that, frankly, at that point, didn’t seem like they had too much to offer musically. A couple of members of the band had recently quit, and musically I hadn’t heard anything that they’ve done in a long time.
“I didn’t know about how relevant they continued to be in the music business. It wasn’t like MEGADETH was on the tip of people’s tongues, at least not in Japan. I had reached the point where people stopped immediately connecting me to MEGADETH and were talking about the things that I had done in Japan.”
