Former WHITESNAKE and DIO guitarist Doug Aldrich says that he almost auditioned for MEGADETH in 1989.
At the time, MEGADETH had just parted ways with Jeff Young and was preparing to go into the studio to record the now-classic Rust In Peace album.
He said in an interview with “Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon,”:
“Dave [Mustaine] and I are friends now — Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson, we’re all friends. I love those guys. But at the time Dave [Mustaine] called me, he was talking to me for a minute, and then he hung up. I didn’t know what happened. I forget who told me, ‘Okay, Dave‘s gonna call you, so be home. Make sure you’re home. This was before I had a cell phone or anything. It might have been [master luthier] Grover Jackson that set it up, or whatever, recommended me. And he just got done talking and hung up. And I never told Dave about that, so it’ll be funny if he ever hears this interview…”
After host Mitch Lafon told Aldrich that Mustaine would catch wind of the chat through one of the metal news sites that regularly report on his interviews, Doug said:
“And the headline will be, ‘Doug Aldrich Turned Down Megadeth.’ And it’ll be, like, no, I didn’t. And I didn’t say that. What happened is we talked on the phone. Somebody put my name in. And the conversation just ended abruptly. And I don’t know what happened. Maybe the line got disconnected. But he didn’t call back, and I didn’t try to call him back. I just let it be what it was.”
