I will have to say that Mr, Mustaine has impressed me. and I am an American southern gentleman. Am I speaking of the new amazing music that so many or us have heard thus far? No. I am speaking of what sounds to me like perfect chemistry in a working band.
He stated “I found with Kiko, his ability was astronomical, with his attitude he was very confident in what he did — there’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. In appearance, he was very classy and very subdued on the street, but up on stage he totally takes command of his performance. When he came up to Nashville to visit with me, I didn’t even have him play for the majority of the day he was there. I just wanted to hang out with him and it’s been a really long time since I hung out with a guitar player before I hired him. Usually I would listen to how he played and then I’d go, ‘OK, we’ll work it out.’ I didn’t want to do that again. Hanging out with Kiko, and having lunch and kicking back and talking music was all I needed — I knew he was the right guy.”
About Mr Adler he stated “If we could clone Adler so that we could have him and LAMB OF GOD could have him, boy, Christmas would come early for Dave!” He went on to say. “LAMB OF GOD and MEGADETH had toured together many years ago — we did Gigantour together. And I got to know Chris and really liked him. I had no idea how much he looked up to me, and to MEGADETH. And especially with Gar [Samuelson, late MEGADETH drummer], he was very impressed by Gar‘s playing. So we became incredibly close, in a short period of time.”
About some of his former and despondent bandmates he went on to say “There is no drummer, other than Gar, that I’ve gotten that close to. Honestly! There was Chuck [Behler], there was Nick [Menza], there was Jimmy DeGrasso, there was Vinnie Colaiuta, there was Shawn Drover — and they’re all talented, but in terms of being close with someone and really enjoying being in their company and calling someone up and saying, ‘Hey, where are you? Wanna do something?’ That’s where we’re at right now.” He also expressed “Kiko‘s got everything Marty [Friedman] and Chris Poland had, rolled into one, and he’s very, very enjoyable to be around.”
All quotes transcribed by Blabbermouth.net
