After many speculations, Dave Mustaine has confirmed that TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio laid down the bass tracks on the upcoming MEGADETH album, The Sick, The Dying, And The Dead.
Due on July 8, album features a cover of DEAD KENNEDYS‘ “Police Truck” and Sammy Hagar‘s “This Planet’s On Fire,” the latter of which includes vocals from Hagar himself.
The MEGADETH mainman shared the news of DiGiorgio‘s involvement in the record in an interview with Jose Mangin of SiriusXM Liquid Metal, saying: “We obviously had that weird little…well, it wasn’t little, but we had something happen that we needed to make a decision on, and it set us back a little bit timing-wise, because we needed to recalibrate and find someone to perform the bass parts, and we found who I thought was the perfect fit for us while I decided what to do… Do you know who it was? …It was Steve DiGiorgio. You’re the first person I told.”
“It was a good choice,” Mustaine continued. “I didn’t think about anybody else at the time. I was thinking about ‘who’s the hottest guy out there that can play these new songs?’ [Mustaine‘s son] Justis told me one of the fastest songs we’ve ever written is on this record. I don’t care what anybody says — bass may be less strings than guitar, but it’s difficult to play, if you’re like me. I have a real hard time playing the bass. I wrote the riff for ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’ for Pete‘s sake, but you know… having to jam some of those parts that fast, it just kills your fingers.”
Dave Mustaine has previously confirmed that James LoMenzo will play bass for MEGADETH when the band returns to the road in April for the second U.S. leg of “The Metal Tour Of The Year.”
Joining them will once again be co-headliners LAMB OF GOD along with special guests TRIVIUM and IN FLAMES. Tickets and dates for upcoming “The Metal Tour Of The Year” can be found here.
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