Former MEGADETH Bassist DAVID ELLEFSON: ‘I Miss’ DAVE MUSTAINE

During a recent interview on The Delz Show, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson discussed his current relationship with band leader Dave Mustaine.

When show host Delz mentioned missing seeing Ellefson and Mustaine perform together, David responded: “I miss Dave too. Look, some of some of the best stories of my life begin with ‘the time me and Dave‘ — fill in the blank. You know what I mean? Because we lived such an interesting life together with that band. We haven’t talked in a few years, but I miss the guy, of course. We had a lot of fun. And anytime we’ve ever had [a falling out] like this [in the past], as soon as we get back together, it’s like we just were hanging out yesterday.”

In a recent episode of The Candid Mic With Fran Strine podcast, Ellefson opened up about his relationship—or lack thereof—with Mustaine. Ellefson, who was dismissed from the band in 2021 following a scandal involving explicit messages and videos, revealed that the two haven’t spoken since his departure.

“Nope. Not one word. No need to. After that? No, I don’t need to be your friend. I’ll move on,” Ellefson said.

Reflecting on his final stint with MEGADETH, which began in 2010 with a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Rust In Peace, Ellefson described how his role had changed: “I said, ‘Look, I’ll come back for a month. Let me just get through this tour. We’ll see how it goes.’ And it went well. And I’d been there as an owner of the company. I was no longer an owner at this point. I was just a hired sideman musician, which, quite honestly, at that point I was okay with. I was kind of, like, well, as much as the owner also can get a lot of the perks, I know the owner of the business gets paid last. And if things f**k up or a show cancels or anything happens, guess what? Now you’re on the hook for all the bills too. And that happened a lot over the years. So I was, like, ‘Well, let me just try… Let me keep it simple, keep it easy.’ And as we went around the world, it was great. With the ‘Big Four’ [tour featuring METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX], it was cool because I was back in MEGADETH, Joey Belladonna was back in ANTHRAX, Dave Lombardo was back in SLAYER. Everybody was back home, and the excitement for each of our bands as well as all of our bands together was huge.”

“For MEGADETH, we got another 10 years, 11 years out of it, won a Grammy. So I feel like a lot of our story together in MEGADETH with me and Dave got to be completed as well. And if that means we never play together again — oh, well. It was a good couple of chapters. And if one day we do, well, then we’ll see where that goes. But I think you don’t sit around and wait for those things. You just get on with it. You just get moving forward. And I certainly didn’t stop. I just kept going.”

Ellefson also explained that the rift between him and Mustaine had been growing long before his 2021 dismissal. “The ending of that friendship was a long time in the making,” Ellefson said. “It really started in 2018… There was some stuff that I was just — and I was vocal about it. I stood up for what I felt to be the right thing. And, of course, that was not well received… [It was] just about writing the new album, the next album that took five years to make. And every time I would try to write and put something on it, it would get taken off. And it seemed very personal. And at some point it’s just kind of, like, ‘Look, dude, if you don’t want me here, f**k it. I’ll move on.’ So I guess it took what it took and what happened, happened. And then that was the moment to just sort of abolish it and make it all go away.”