Following Dave Mustaine’s announcement that Megadeth is coming to an end with a final album and farewell tour, lots of people have wondered if any past members might be involved, including some of those ex-bandmates themselves.
In a new episode of his podcast, The David Ellefson Show, bassist David Ellefson opened up about his tenure with the band and expressed interest in being part of Megadeth’s swansong era, presuming Mustaine would invite him.
“For Dave to call it quits or to retire, I should say… Farewell… I don’t even know if he’s retiring. He’s just basically saying Megadeth’s over,” Ellefson said. “Would I like to be a part of it? Yeah, of course. Who wouldn’t? I’m a founding member of it. I’m a 30-plus-year member of it. Is that gonna happen? Who knows? It’s too early to tell. I don’t know what they have planned. I have no idea what it is.”
“They just made an announcement about it,” he continued, as reported by Lambgoat. “Do I think there should be some sort of farewell that everybody gets to participate in? I mean, look, [the] ‘Back To The Beginning’ [concert in Birmingham] with Black Sabbath. Look, they made nice. They brought all four of Black Sabbath[‘s original members]. They brought everybody back. You had [former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist] Jake [E. Lee]. Now, was everybody there? No. There were some key people — Bob Daisley — some people that weren’t there. But for the most part, they brought a lot of the people back.
“And just speaking of Black Sabbath, they brought the original, the core four back, and they said goodbye,” Ellefson added. “Not only did they say goodbye, everybody got to say goodbye to them. And I think when you’re doing a farewell, that’s important, that you get to say goodbye and everybody gets to say goodbye to you. I think that that’s an important part of it. But that’s me. I’m not in the band anymore. I have no say in it. So that’s just me. That’s just one guy with an opinion, quite honestly.”
Earlier this month, Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine revealed his plans to end the band, saying in a statement, “There’s so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,” the iconic metal guitarist said. “Most of them don’t get to go out on their own terms on top, and that’s where I’m at in my life right now… The hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye…”
“This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it’s our last studio album,” Mustaine continued. “Don’t be mad, don’t be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years.”
“We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it’s played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world,” the trash metal icon concluded. “I love you all for it. Thank you for everything.”
At this time, there are no announced details for Megadeth’s farewell tour.
The post Former Megadeth Bassist Dave Elefsone Weights in on Farwell Tour, Says He Would ‘Like To Be a Part of It’ appeared first on VICE.