In a recent interview with Stefs Rock Show, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, who was raised attending Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Jackson, Minnesota, discussed how he rediscovered his faith at 25 after completing a 12-step recovery program.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Look, I grew up a Lutheran kid. So nothing fanatical. I mean, I didn’t have this sort of, as we would know it today, kind of this evangelical, born-again kind of thing. That was not my experience. I grew up in the Midwest, farming community, and everybody worked six days a week and then Sunday, they took off and went to church. I mean, that’s just what it was. So that was just how I was raised. And it was nothing fanatical by any means. But it was around. And so when I moved to — well, really, once I started drinking at age 15, that was the end of any real interest in church. And then I moved to Hollywood at age 18. I was, like, ‘Yeah, we’re definitely done with the church thing.’ And Hollywood, California is a very different melting pot of a lot of different stuff. And whatever.
“It’s funny, my pastor even did a study, or gave to the congregation a study that from about age 16 to 26, people kind of check out of church. That’s when we’re kind of off on our own, finding our own way. So I guess I probably kind of fit the model. And then I got sober when I was 25, in 1990, and that trajectory out of the drug-and-alcohol lifestyle back into sobriety, that’s what really kind of brought me back to going, ‘Oh, I guess the church thing ain’t so bad.’ And then it was just kind of an easy thing to sort of bring back into my life. Especially once you start having a family, you’re kind of, like, ‘All right, well, what’s sort of the barometer of right [and] wrong? What are the rules here for raising your kids?’ So, that’s my story. And it was just always kind of a background story until I wrote my memoir, My Life With Deth. And my co-author, Joel McIver, when we were writing it, I had just gone back to MEGADETH in 2010, and Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH frontman] was writing a book — his memoir was coming out — and Joel hit me right away. And he said, ‘Listen, you need to tell your story ’cause you and Dave are the bookends of the MEGADETH story.’ And he said, ‘This would a great time for you to tell your story.’ And as I was writing it, I was, like, ‘All right, well, I don’t want to like some religious story,’ ’cause that’s not really my life. I’m a rock and roller. But I was raised around it.”
After relocating to Arizona, Ellefson founded MEGA Life, a contemporary worship service at a Scottsdale church. This venture, a nod to his former band MEGADETH, marked a new chapter in his life. In 2012, he embarked on a journey towards ministry, enrolling in an extension program at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
Ellefson, who co-founded MEGADETH with vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1984, was dismissed in 2021 after an explicit video involving a fan was leaked online. Now, three years later, Ellefson has stated that his time in MEGADETH “is never a closed chapter.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.