Megadeth's Dave Mustaine: 'I'm totally ready for our next record' Megadeth Tickets

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Video: Megadeth - 'We're Just Happy To Get To The Studio'

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine told NME that he has started writing material for his band's next record, describing it as music with "some colour". You can watch an excerpt of a video interview with him by clicking on the player at the top of this page.

Speaking to NME at Download Festival, he said: "Some of it's a little darker, some of it's a little faster. Being in this position right now, not knowing where we're gonna go or what we're gonna do, it's kind of like the world's ours to do what we want. Are we gonna go back to the speed and thrash metal roots that made us who we are? Are we gonna experiment and rely on the melody that we've discovered in Megadeth songs?"

He went on to share that, growing up with three sisters who listened to Motown and other music from the 60s and 70s, he is very strongly driven by the melody in music. "We've tried to do that in Megadeth, have a little melody so that it's not just the same old grinding music like everybody else has," he said. "We’re just happy to get going and get to the studio."

Mustaine also discussed the state of his band's latest record label Roadrunner, which recently shut its offices in the UK, Germany and Canada and Australia, telling NME:

I think that with downsizing and house cleaning, sometimes you have to restructure. As far as the success of the label's concerned, our record sales went down with every record, so it's hard to argue that it was the right place for us. So I don't know what’s going to happen. As a metal band, you don't make as much money as pop records do – pop stands for popular – metal music is a way of life.

Expanding on his, he said: "That's one of the things I love about the metal community, is that people are so loyal to one another. You have a band you really like and you stick with them. In our genre, there's a lot of integrity and a lot of loyalty in the metal community. I'm hoping that the rest of this year, wherever we end up, it will be at a place where we fit."

When discussing Megadeth's current European tour, Mustaine pointed out that some shows have been better than others, following an unfortunate gig in Croatia forced him flee stage after being pelted with rocks. He said: "Every once in a while you'll run into a place where it's not really that convenient to play at, but you just got to kind of suck it up, one of those places was playing in the Czech Republic. There were probably 100 guards between us and the audience. But you just make the best of it."

Mustaine also dispelled any rumours that his band will be forming a supergroup with Metallica, saying: "No. I'd brought that up, James [Hetfield] had said something pretty fucked up about what I said."

You can hear a full audio clip of the interview below:


Megadeth will be continuing their worldwide tour for the rest of the summer, including appearances at France's Hellfest tomorrow (June 15) and Hi-Voltage Festival in Turkey on June 19th.

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