In a recent interview on The Rock N’ Roll & Coffee Show, David Ellefson, formerly the bassist for MEGADETH, discussed “Lockdown,” the latest single from his band KINGS OF THRASH. This project also features another ex-MEGADETH member, guitarist Jeff Young, alongside Chaz Leon on vocals and guitar, and Fred Aching, drummer for DEAD GROOVE and BULLETBOYS. Chris Poland, also a former MEGADETH musician, makes occasional guest appearances.
“We wanted to get some material out, some original material here in 2025, ’cause we’ve got some tour dates coming up here in September and October,” Ellefson explained. “So actually Chaz brought the song over. And I gave him some instructions. I said, ‘Dude, 1984, full-blown thrash metal.’ I said, ‘Just head for NUCLEAR ASSAULT Game Over, METALLICA Ride The Lightning. Just go right to the heart of the matter.’ ‘Cause he’s got a real thrash heart. And plus he’s our singer. ‘Cause we’ve written quite a bit of material together, and we wanted something that really just kind of came out of the gate swinging. And I find it’s always better to write around the singer and let him kind of lead the charge.
“So I thought he brought a cool tune, man. And we collaborated on it and got it into shape. I think the time when he was writing it — this started back even in January, February when we were initially working on it — I don’t think we saw probably how poignant the lyric is, in light of all of the unrest going on now. So, yeah, as a good thrash song should be, maybe a bit political, a bit anarchist, and always good fun.”
Explaining the importance of KINGS OF THRASH releasing original material, Ellefson commented: ”It started out as sort of a, ‘Let’s go honor thrash metal.’ We pulled in a little bit of THIN LIZZY and some RIOT and some stuff that we grew up on as well. And then I think the next logical step to kind of legitimize yourself is to write your own tunes. And even though, look, some of the MEGADETH stuff is stuff that I wrote, and so they already are my songs, and Jeff and Chris were part of ’em, of course. So that setlist is our music. But to move forward, it’s always good to sort of freshen it up a little bit and show everybody what you got. We had another song called ‘Bridges Burned’ that we rolled out in 2023 when we did our first tour, and we literally wrote it on the road. Jeff and I had pretty much demoed it up in the studio the year before, so kind of musically it was pretty much together. But we collaborated on it as a group at soundcheck, tightened it up. Me and Chaz and Jeff sat down and wrote the lyrics in a hotel room while we were on the tour. And then we said, ‘We’ll take it to the stage.’ And our crew were, like, ‘Dude, you guys can’t play that on stage.’ I said, ‘Oh, really? Watch this.’ Like, why not? And who knows if we’ll ever even officially record that, but it sits out on the Internet now. It’s on YouTube… It’s, like, why not, man? It’s thrash metal, dude. This is the kick-a*s, have-fun, get-in-the-pit-and-fricking punch-your-neighbor music.”
When asked about the prospect of a full-length album of original material from KINGS OF THRASH, Ellefson offered: “It’s possible. I’m certainly not gonna say no to it. I tell you what, it was great to just do one song. Making a record is a lot of work, especially when you live in different cities and you’re trying to collaborate. One of the things about KINGS is we are not four of the same guy. We are four very different individuals, and so to sort of be agreeable on something, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a challenge. And quite honestly, it’s the diversity that makes KINGS so cool. And I guess I come from that even with MEGADETH. And Chris Poland, Jeff Young, they were sort of the diverse guitar players to Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader]. So I grew up in an environment that kind of expected that. So to have KINGS mirror that, I think is cool. I’m already used to that dynamic. And having everybody not just agree on everything, but everybody bring a bit of a different perspective, it’s cool. I mean, that’s ultimately what a group is about. I mean, look, every group needs a leader. To some degree I lead a lot of it. I put Jeff over there to sort of put setlists together and do that. With this song ‘Lockdown’, I tasked Chaz with that and said, ‘Hey, go do that.’ Fred, he’s our liaison with the record label. He does all of our artwork and everything. He shot the video, he produced it and directed it and everything. So, we’ve got four really creative guys that do very different things. So it’s, like, we’ve got four guys that really contribute something. And that’s great — to have four different dudes.”
There’s more KINGS OF THRASH on the way, too, as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of MEGADETH’s Youthanasia and other thrash classics. Their Thrashin’ SoCal mini tour ignites at the Whisky on September 4, before Thrashin’ The East begins in Frenchtown NJ on October 17.
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