KINGS OF THRASH, the new band featuring former MEGADETH members David Ellefson (bass) and Jeff Young (guitar), recently signed a worldwide deal with Cleopatra Records.
The band will release a live CD/DVD Best Of The West…Live At The Whisky A Go Go on March 24. The 17-song set was recorded and filmed live at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA on October 15, 2022 and also features performances with another former MEGADETH member, Chris Poland (guitar).
During a recent chat with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, Jeff Young was asked if he and Ellefson have heard from MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine about their new band and their concerts, to which he responded: “We haven’t, nor would we care or concern ourselves with any of that. It’s a win-win for all of us, including [Mustaine], ’cause on this KINGS OF THRASH Best Of The West…Live At The Whisky A Go Go, who’s getting the publishing on every one of those tunes? Not me or David Ellefson or any of the [other members of] KINGS OF THRASH. So [Mustaine is] making the money.”
Gaudiosi observed that MEGADETH rarely plays songs from their first three albums in their live performances, to which Jeff added: “They don’t play those songs because they can’t play those songs; [Mustaine] can’t play ’em or sing ’em. I’m not being a d*ck. It’s just a fact. He can barely play and sing the stuff that they’re doing, the same ten songs every night.”
In a recent interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series, Chris Poland was asked if he would be open to having Mustaine come up onstage to perform with KINGS OF THRASH if Dave was interested in doing so.
“F*ck, I would,” Poland responded. “Yeah, I would. Are you kidding? I mean, please, that would be pretty cool. But Dave‘s probably kind of like Miles Davis. Miles Davis never looked back; he only looked forward. And I know he’s playing certain songs from certain records, but I don’t think he wants to go that far back. And that’d be a lot for him to learn. But I guess he wrote it; he could probably play that in about five minutes.
“I was surprised when I was [re-]learning the [old MEGADETH] songs. I was, like, ‘What the hell did I play there?’ or ‘What’s that part?’ and all of a sudden my muscle memory came back. And I was, like, ‘Oh my God. That’s how I played it.’ And it was 40 years ago. I told David Ellefson that. He goes, ‘Yeah, I know. Me too.’
