Dave Mustaine spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the MEGADETH‘s upcoming album during an appearance on the “Trunk Nation” show on SiriusXm channel Volume.
When asked if he has commenced work on music for the next MEGADETH disc, Mustaine said: “A little bit. I’m being particular, because I figured if I can at least do as good as ‘Dystopia’, then we’re great. And I believe I can do that.
He continued: “Going into the studio now, I’m gonna have Kiko [Loureiro, guitar] and Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] come out, and we’re gonna start writing,” he continued. “And it’s gonna be exciting for me, because Kiko‘s just a wealth of talent as far as guitar playing is concerned. And after Chris[Adler, LAMB OF GOD] got into the studio and inspired me with his modern drumming, Dirk was the drummer that Chris actually recommended for us. Knowing how much Chris is a fan of MEGADETH and how much he wanted to play with us, he knew he couldn’t and said that Dirk was the guy. And Dirk definitely is the guy — he’s got some talent that I can’t wait to unleash in the studio.”
Pressed about whether it was a “difficult” decision to make to part ways with Adler after the LAMB OF GOD drummer appeared on “Dystopia” and played some of the early shows in support of the record, Mustaine said: “I don’t really think there was a decision to be made. Chris is a part of LAMB OF GOD and that was his first love. And we would have liked to have had him in MEGADETH, but he was a member of LAMB OF GOD. And I’m not a homewrecker; I don’t like to break bands up.
“I know when Cliff [Burton] left TRAUMA to join METALLICA, that really bothered me ’cause of some of the stuff people said that were TRAUMA fans,” he explained. “And they said some nasty stuff about us. And I remember that, and I promised myself I’m never gonna poach people from other people’s bands. If there’s somebody I wanna play with, I’m gonna make sure that they’re not in a band with someone else at the time.”
As for when MEGADETH fans can expect to see the band’s next album, Mustaine said: “I don’t think it’s gonna happen this year. Even if we started right now assembling all the parts and stuff, I don’t wanna rush it, because… Just the beauty of being able to get in there and play, like I was saying, with Kiko, because he has such a depth of guitar playing. For me, it’s really rewarding because I learned so much stuff watching him play.”
MEGADETH‘s latest album, “Dystopia” opened with 48,000 copies, marking MEGADETH‘s highest-charting album since 1992’s “Countdown To Extinction” debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the chart dated August 1 of that year. “Dystopia” also logs the group’s best sales week since 2007, when “United Abominations” landed at No. 8 with first-week sales of 54,000.
