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IRON MAIDEN & MEGADETH: DAVE MUSTAINE Promises Absolute Chaos For Australia · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, my name's Dave Mustaine. I'm a big guitar player
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and singer for Megadeth, and it's my pleasure to be here.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: As you say, Megadeth visited Australia for the last time
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: ever this November as a special guest of Iron Maiden
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: for a run of shows starting in Adelaide on November
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: the 11th, then heading to Melbourne and Sydney and finishing
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: with back dates in Brisbane on November.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: 18th and 19th.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I know you've had time to get your head around
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the fact that this is part of Megadeth's farewell shows,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: but has it really sunk in yet that Megadeth has
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: actually got an end date?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Has it sunk in? Yeah. It's one of those things that,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you know, I knew it was inevitably going to come
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: at some point. But I wanted to make sure that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I went out on top. And I truly believe that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: right now we're going out on top. The album came
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in at number one. You can't get any higher than
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: number one. And it was number one in.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I think it was a dozen countries all together, or
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: maybe it was just 11. But yeah, it was great.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: It was really awesome. Yeah, cool.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And you've done one show with Iron Maiden already in Germany,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I believe, with plenty more coming up across Canada and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the US. But how epic was the show, and how
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: does it feel to have them on a Megadeth by
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: having the two bands tour together?
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Well, Iron Maiden's a band that I've always liked, and.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Ever since the Killers came out and Paul was in
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the band. So it's great to play with them and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to be friends with Bruce and with Steve. It's terrific.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: You know, I know Adrian and Dave are sweethearts, but
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I don't ever really get time to talk with them.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: And I don't know the other guy or the new drummer.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: What friendships and stuff aside though, mate, like Megadeth could
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: have come out here on your final tour and sold
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: out shows by yourselves. So why choose to come out
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: with someone like me?
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Well, for the size of it and the fun of it. And,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: you know, we, one of the things we wanted everybody
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to know is that we're going to do a farewell
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: tour and count in, this as our farewell tour because
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: this was something we did with Maiden.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: You're hitting massive outdoor stadiums in Melbourne and Sydney alongside
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: arena dates in Adelaide and Brisbane. So how do you
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: adapt Megadeth's notoriously tight, razor-sharp thrash energy when transitioning between
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: massive open-air stadiums and then enclosed areas?
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Well, I think if you're playing to the fans, you're
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: going to... you're not gonna have any problems. When you
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: start playing to the media, you start playing to the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: critics and photographers, then you're not really there for the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: people who came to see and hear the music. And
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: when I go to play, I know there's critics out there.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Everyone's a critic when I play guitar. You know, they,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: they never seen anything like my playing and a lot
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of them, they're seeing guitar playing like that for the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: first time. And, um, so everyone's a critic. I love
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: coming to play in Australia because it's so far away
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: from America, yet we seem to be, uh, so similar and, and,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and just two happy, uh, nations uh that um we
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: get along well and and uh especially in the metal
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: community i think it's awesome to come down there and
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: you know i i can't understand a word you're saying
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: but that's okay sign language yeah that's right.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: In effect, mate, like every time you go out on stage,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you sum it up over four decades worth of material.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: So how the hell do you come up with a
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: set list that you think is going to make everyone happy?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Well, the four of us all come up with it.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: And what we do, this is very scientific, and I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: hope you'll appreciate this. We get the set list from
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the last time we played in the city we're playing, okay?
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: So we know the set list. the last time we
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: were there, exactly every single song. And it brings back
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: memories of the show and what songs we want to play,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: what songs were specific for that tour. And then we
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: have the set list for the previous show, which would
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: be the night before, maybe two nights before. So now
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: we have two set lists. We have the last show
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: and then we have the last show in this city.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: And then we have our master song list of all
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the 30 plus songs that we're playing right now. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: that's how we pick the set list. We have our staples,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the standards that we must play. Holy Wars, Peace Sells,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Symphony of Destruction. Those are songs that we must play.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And then that gives us a huge opportunity to change
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: up the set list every single night. So that when
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: somebody's coming to two shows on a tour, they don't
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: think like, oh, well, I saw these songs the night before. No,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that's not what happens. We mix it up so that
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: people are always getting a treat.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's nice. This is part of your farewell tour,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: as we said, bro. So have you allowed yourself to
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: think ahead to the very last show and what sort
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: of thoughts are going through your mind or you don't
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: really want to go there yet?
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: No, I think it's probably best that I just keep
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: approaching every show as if it's my last and play
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: my heart out because I don't want to take it
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  Speaker 1: for granted that I'm playing a show tonight and that
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: my creator... has other plans for me. Um, and I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: play tonight kind of holding back and I'll be okay.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to sing as hard as I usually do.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe we won't play that song and then find
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: out in my sleep that, uh, I'm not going to
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: be able to serve us anymore. You know, that'd be
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: really fucked up. I want to make sure that we, we, uh,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: We play our hearts out every night. Nice.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: What does retirement look like for Dave Mustaine, mate? Look,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine you going out and buying a golf
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: buggy and going to golf six days a week.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, you can't.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Nah, I think you can sort of get a bit bored,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: I reckon. Yeah.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I have a farm, and we've got a
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: lot of animals we've got to take care of. And
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: with animals, there's also vermin and pests. So we've got
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to protect our farm from the critters. And with farming,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: there's also land that you've got to take care of.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And with land, you've got the good stuff that grows
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and the bad stuff that grows. So we're constantly working.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: You mentioned before your latest album that you brought out,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: because your 17th album was self-titled.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Earlier this year. What was.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: What was that whole process like for you to run
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: into it, knowing that it was going to be your
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: last album?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: We didn't know that. Okay. We didn't know that. I
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was partway through the album, and my hand was hurting
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: really bad, and I was talking to... You know, I
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: have the luxury of having my son work with our
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: management company. He's very brilliant. So it was.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: It was a really easy decision to have him join
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: our management company. And we were talking one day, he
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: had come to the studio to check and see how
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the project was going. And I said, my hands are hurting.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And I said, I don't know how much longer I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: can do this because they're really hurting. And we talked
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about it and, you know, the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: reels went in motion and talked to the other guys
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: in management and the next thing you know, we're making
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: a statement.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: The person I've been asking a lot of bands lately, mate,
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  Speaker 2: but do you remember the first time you heard one
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: of your songs on radio and what song was it
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: and where were you?
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. The first time I, well, let me qualify this.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: The first time I heard One of my songs on
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the radio, it was Peace Sells for Who's Buying. And
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: that was on KNAC. The first time I heard Megadeth
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: on the radio was No More Mr. Nice Guy. And
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: that was on KLOS. It was an Alice Cooper cover song.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: How did it feel hearing yourself on the radio, mate?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Was it nerve-wracking or was it empowering or?
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: It was... It was really fantastic. I'm looking down because
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I'm signing autographs right now.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I know you're a busy man.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want you to know I've already got
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: enough looking at your handsome face, so I'm just signing
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: autographs now. You know, I know you've heard yourself on
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: your voicemail.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: I have.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, see? That's one of the things you have to
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: experience when you're singing. Now imagine, go to your voicemail
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and sing to yourself and then listen to it. Okay, now,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: what the fuck does Dave think when he hears himself singing?
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Fair call. I couldn't put it any better. No, is it?
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: You've had an outstanding career, mate. Your contributions to music
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: and metal are beyond reproach. But what do you hope
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: to leave as Megadeth's musical legacy?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Empty shelves in all the record stores. It's a bit
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: hard these days.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: There isn't any record stores.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Well, you know what? We did really good with the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: vinyl comeback that's going on in the States right now.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: And I guess... in a very devilish sort of way,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: trying to say, I hope we keep selling as many
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: records as we can.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: All right, Dave. Well, thanks very much for your time, mate.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure speaking with you. Megadeth will be
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: in Australia from November the 11th with Iron Maiden and
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: promises to be the show of the year. So if
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: you haven't got your tickets yet, get out and grab
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: them before they all go.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: That's right. That's right. Thanks, Chris. You be good.