Megadeth – Cryptic Writings – Interview

Megadeth

Cryptic Writings (Capitol)
An interview with Dave Mustaine
by Scott Hefflon

“Mr. Hefflon, this the operator calling to connect you with Mr. Mustaine. I called his line and I received an answering machine. I believe it was Nick Menza’s number, if you’ll hold on for just a moment, I’ll give the coordinator a call. (Minutes pass. If I could transcribe the sound of irate chain-smoking, it’d go here.) OK sir, this is a 30 minute interview with Mr. Mustaine, and he has requested that it end promptly at 30 minutes. At about 25 minutes after the conference has gone underway, I’m going to step in and hit a keypad number, and when you hear that keypad number, you’ve got about five minutes left. OK. I will join you with Mr. Mustaine now, sir. Hello, Mr. Mustaine? We have your journalist online, sir. Thank you.”

Hello?
Hi.

Mr. Mustaine? (sneered with sarcasm that’d cut concrete)
Call me Dave, please.

Thanks. They really get all official and shit, huh?
Yeah, it’s part of the job. It’s kinda cool, really. The only time I get called “Mr. Mustaine” is when I’m in court or getting pulled over.

Speaking of which, I got pulled over while playing “Killing is my Business…” in ’86.
I’m sorry to hear that.

These things happen. So, to summarize Cryptic Writings for the kids at home, it opens with a love song and closes with a freedom-fighting anthem.
We managed to shake the death sentence of the industry, with everyone and their brother singling out anyone playing the kind of music we do, saying that we’re the abominable “M” word: Metal. And we never even said we were metal. We play heavy stuff, we play hard stuff, but there’s blues and classical, and even a tingle of jazz in there. We’ve never limited ourselves to playing one thing in particular. That’s a blessing to us now, because there’s nothing coming back to haunt us.

There doesn’t seem to be any way to win. Those that gave up, cut their hair, and are reforming now that the climate is a little more conducive to heavy music, are being called sell-outs because they’re marketing themselves as something they’re not. And the stubborn stick-to-your-roots types are seen as aging dinosaurs who refuse to evolve with the times.
I know in my heart that if I’m sincere with the fans and I play what I enjoy, and I take into consideration that all things change, then I don’t necessarily have to change in order to grow. They’re not going to get someone trying to pull a fast one on them. We can’t just take an old battleship and sell it as a speedboat. I think our fans deserve better, and I think they’re smarter than that.

Does some of the drive to grow beyond metal come from the fact that you’re a guitarist and you’re into various forms of music?
That and the simple fact that a lot of the heavy bands people are bagging on just plain suck. They play the same song over and over again, they tune their guitars down to D, and they all sound like the Cookie Monster, “Braaogh, roaagh, roaagh!” Come on! Whatever happened to music? Early Aerosmith, all of Led Zeppelin, a lot of the great, great bands that were hard rock/heavy metal bands… that’s what I think hard rock is, not most of the garbage that’s come out since then.

Are there any bands on the circuit right now that you think have any longevity?
Before his run-in with Mr. Brownstone, I really thought Wieland and Stone Temple Pilots were on to something. That could be said of a lot of other bands as well. I think it’s really unfortunate that Soundgarden broke up, and I know a lot of people that are really looking forward to Pearl Jam breaking up. There are a lot of great bands out right now, but for the most part, I’m most impressed with the no-names. Bands like Gravity Kills, Our Lady Peace. When I first heard the song, “Superman’s Dead,” I thought it was a great hook. The funny thing is, I’d written that line down years ago, and when I read the comic, I could’ve kicked myself for not putting it on the last record. While there are a lot of great bands out right now, their influences are so shallow that after putting out one good record, that’s going to be it.

I remember years ago when you recorded a guitar lead and produced an album for Sanctuary. Two of the members started Nevermore a few years ago, and within the powermetal genre, I think they rip.
They’re really good from what I hear, but I’m not really familiar with them. I know they had the same management that we had many years ago, which pretty much ruined our relationship. But they’re still playing, we’re still playing, so who really gives a shit? I don’t know if they’re angry with me, and I surely have nothing but kindness in my heart for them, I just know that I was supposed to produce Sanctuary’s second album for Epic, but when that came about, they went with a different producer. Perhaps it was because I was strung out on heroine when I produced the first one, but you never really know. I wish them the best, and I’ve certainly been more than successful myself, so I could really care less at this point.

There’s the Dave I’ve always known (and loathed?). You’re so damned polite! Why is that?
It’s not necessarily politeness, it’s about being at a point in my career where I’ve done what I set out to accomplish. All the hard work is over. I’ve paid my dues. Now I’m sitting back and living off the fat. The proving is over. “Trust” has been the #1 single on the Active Play list for Billboard for a few weeks and it’s been in the top ten for months now. The management and the record company are hoping that the song will go away, but it keeps on going up. In order for them to do a second single, the first single has to burn itself out. I could go back to being angry and bitter about everything, but it would be a mistake. So many times we’ve been right on the cusp of blowing this thing open, and then I’d do something really dumb. It cost us our momentum. For instance, I have no idea what Metallica would be capable of doing if I were still in the band.

Why are you getting nostalgic about that now? You went your separate ways, sure you struggled for legitimacy for a decade or so, but you’ve done it yourself.
I heard a saying a long time ago that a true millionaire is someone who can make a million, lose a million, then make a million again. I think a truly successful musician would be someone who has it all, loses it all, then gets it all back again. I’ve had and lost it so many times by now I’ve lost count.

How many line-up changes has Megadeth been through?
We’re in our third line-up now, and were having the most success we’ve ever experienced. But when you add in my being in Metallica, you realize I’ve been in two of the biggest bands in the history of rock, and I don’t know a lot of people who can say that. That’s some pretty lofty thinking. Ozzy and I come from the same kind of cloth, though my cloth is much newer. It’s nine to one in the bottom of the first inning, the Atlanta Braves up over the Mets.

(elongated pause) What?
I’m watching the Braves game.

Oh. I thought you were creating an analogy about you are to Ozzy as… oh never mind.
If I were to make a comparison between myself and Ozzy, I would say that we’re both very much the same, minus a few headless chickens. We both love our audiences more than life itself, we both try to consistently deliver great music, we both have been called Satanic when we’re not, we both have battled substance abuse and come out the other side, and I can only hope that the world will embrace Ozzy Osbourne for as long as he’s able to remember the words to his songs. He’s certainly done a lot for the heavy metal world. But you just don’t pee on The Alamo. I think one of the turning points in the hard rock/heavy metal world was when Ozzy took Metallica out on the road. They got their break, and the rest in history. I’ve written an acceptance speech for the Grammy I hope to God one day we’ll win, I’ll say, “I’d like to thank Metallica for firing me, for giving me the chance to have my own band.”

I’ve got to ask you, have you found religion?
Religion is for people who are afraid of going to Hell, spirituality is for people who’ve been there. I don’t need to put on a uniform to talk to God. My heart stopped one time, and I was dead long enough for them to call my wife and tell her not to come down, that I was dead. But then they resuscitated me. So yeah, I believe in God.

What happened after that?
The guy helping me get sober was the one who told me that story. So I went on to talk about it kind of tongue-in-cheek for about a year because I thought he’d just told me that to scare me, but one day, my wife said, “Yeah, he called.” But that’s why my attitude’s changed. You may think I’m being kind and polite right now, but if this is the beginning of paying Him back for my being alive, then that’s cool. I’m a black belt, and if someone starts some shit with me, I’ll try to talk them out of it. But if someone messes with my family, that’s a different story. I look around me and see so many people that deserve more than they have, and then I see the people who don’t deserve it who have it, and they’re the ones who are getting more. I need to never lose perspective. I had chronic perspective loss, I was suffering from terminal hipness. I was believing all the hype people were telling me.

This is a hard business to keep a realistic perspective in. This is entertainment, none of this is really real.
(muffled voices, one of which sounds like a polite young boy)

I’m sorry, my son was asking me to squirt him with the hose. I remember when I was a kid, we used to live on a ranch with livestock and poultry and stuff, and I wanted to cool off our chickens. I turned on the hose, and I guess it had been out in the sun all day, and consequently I killed numerous chickens.