Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, now with Dieth and Kings Of Thrash, guested on The Jasta Show hosted by Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta. During the interview, found below, Ellefson reveals why he never approached for Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman about joining or guesting with Kings Of Thrash, which has been out performing classic Megadeth songs from the band's early albums.
Kings Of Thrash features Ellefson ex-Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young, guitarist / vocalist Chaz Leonand, and drummer Fred Aching. Former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland has made a few guest appearances with the band.
Ellefson: "I didn’t call him because, when Marty quit, he just walked away. He washed his hands of Megadeth. I mean, he left his money on the table. He just didn’t turn back. It was not, like, 'Hey, you fuckers better pay me.' I mean, nothing. He just literally walked out the door. That was it, he was gone, and he just washed his hands of the whole thing. So, yeah, Marty and I are friends, and we never talk about Megadeth, ever."
"We don’t really talk music that much. We kind of check in, 'Hey, what’s happening? How's Japan?' And we don’t really talk business, so I intentionally didn’t hit him because I didn’t think he’d be interested. Plus he lives in Japan, and one of the beauties of Kings Of Thrash, essentially it’s based in L.A. and those guys, they’re even rehearsing now for when we go to Australia next week. I just walk in and plug and play."
Jeff Young, is featured in a new interview with Metal Edge, in which he talks about the past, present and future, and "not taking anything for granted." The following is an excerpt from the feature...
In the years since, Kings Of Thrash has grown from effectively a high-end Megadeth tribute band to a full-on powerhouse capable of packing clubs, theaters, and halls. Moreover, they've got new music on the way, meaning - the future is burning as bright as ever for these forlorn Megadeth castoffs.
As for Megadeth, they're on top of the world, too. Their latest record, 2022's The Sick, The Dying… and The Dead!, was a barnburner. What's more, Mustaine has overcome yet another hurdle in throat cancer, and James LoMenzo has settled into Ellefson's bass chair nicely.
But the sparring hasn't stopped, and the jabs seem to be perpetually coming. To that end, Young scoffs, "Let me put it this way: What's happening now is a win for all of us - Dave included. He gets to make money off the publishing from the Megadeth songs we play. Dave knows that, so he's very aware of us."
Young continues, "He hates what Kings of Thrash is doing. But it doesn't matter because, eventually, we'll delete a lot of the Megadeth from our set, and we'll keep writing new stuff. But Dave is feeling the heat because we're getting attention, and the Kings of Thrash album will be better than anything Megadeth has done recently. And we're playing all the Megadeth songs better than he has in years. It's not just me saying that — read the reviews."
Read the full feature at Metal Edge.
Jeff Young recently gave BraveWords an update on the original material the band is working on.
"It’s not frightening at all,” he says about creating new music that measures up to the band classic repertoire. “We have five tracks in the can. David lives in Arizona and we have this amazing underground recording studio. And in Arizona with that heat, it’s great if you’re underground because it’s like an oven there. That first song that David and I started which was spawned by the Menza movie. That song has come to life, and it’s called “Bridges Burned” (which has its origins from a riff Jeff brought in back in 1988, intended for what became Rust In Peace). We were doing it on the road with Kings Of Thrash. We’ve kind of taken a turn to where we are going to proceed. And David has talked about it a little bit, so I guess I can be the next one to leak out the next bit of news. Kings Of Thrash are going to continue to do exactly what we do. Doing the best of the classic Megadeth that we were a part of. It’s part of our heritage. We’re doing extra stuff in the encore like Riot’s ‘Swords And Tequila’. We even got Rick Ventura, the original guitar player, joining us when we were in New York. And I think we inspired them because Riot Act are out on the road performing Fire Down Under and it’s entirety. We are expanding and doing Metallica songs and Def Leppard’s ‘Wasted’ which is on David’s covers album. So Kings Of Thrash is going to continue on this path and play as many shows that people want to see us. For the original material, we are going to use a different singer. We are working with somebody who is frighteningly good. He’s already finished the vocals on 'Bridges Burned'. It’s really brand new, so I can’t really say too much more about it. The originals, they have thrash elements, but there’s everything because David and I have lived 10 different lives since Megadeth. We’ve grown as musicians, so we’re gonna bring all that stuff and the energy we had in our 20s and combine that with everything that we’ve learned in our 30s 40s and 50s is in that music. There is a thrash element, and it’s got the speedy, shreddy stuff, but we had much more. It’s like a jambalaya. I just love the songs. Each of the songs are quite different, but they all sound like the same band.”
Kings Of Thrash “The MEGA Years” features Grammy Award winning bassist David Ellefson, along with guitarist Jeff Young, reuniting to perform the early thrash classics upon which the genre was built and defined in the 1980s. Showcasing the songs from the above mentioned albums in their entirety, Ellefson & Young stay true to material not performed live in several decades, along with the spirit of the era which launched one of the greatest genres of heavy metal music, and one of the biggest names in metal, the mighty Megadeth!
Says Ellefson, “I think we’ve assembled an energetic song list and group of musicians to capture the spirit of a genre we helped create & define so many years ago. Fans have been requesting these songs for a long time now and it seems like a good moment to bring them back to the stage”.
Jeff Young adds, “The mission here is to bring a connection of goodwill through the music, with a collaboration of musicians and friends in our community. Our thrash tribe casts a wide net to give people hope in a time when they’re looking for something positive and uplifting. What better way than to do that than through the music which has become the soundtrack to our lives.”
