In a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Poland was asked about his experience working with Dave Mustaine in the studio and whether the MEGADETH frontman insisted on highly specific solos from him.
“[Dave] never told anybody what to do, really,” Poland responded. “I mean, sometimes he would say, ‘Can you go in an upper register?’ after I’d maybe try to solo three or four times. And he’s like, ‘Can you go up there?’ But it was never, like, ‘Okay, you’re gonna start here and then you’re gonna do this.’ It was never like that. And then with The System Has Failed, it was fun. I’m pretty sure he was sober.
“It was a good experience. Except — I don’t want to get into what happened, but he was remixing all the records, and we all know the story. But anyway, I had a lot of fun. It was really great working with [engineer] Ralph Patlan. He’s just a consummate pro, man.”
When asked how playing on MEGADETH‘s The System Has Failed compared to the band’s first two albums, Poland responded: “Well, first of all, I was sober. And second of all, I was in an environment with a really good studio and a really good producer. Not that Randy Burns wasn’t really good, but this was all next level, you know? And in my own stuff, I have to record my stuff in my studio with whatever I got. So being in that environment, I was, like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ Got this great console. Ralph Patlan had a 50-watt ’60s Plexi Head Marshall with a matching cabinet. It was perfect.”
Chris Poland was a member of MEGADETH from 1984 to 1987, contributing to the band’s iconic albums Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? He later returned as a guest soloist on their 2004 album, The System Has Failed.
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