Mark Eglinton of The Quietus recently spoke with MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine discussing his new book, Mustaine: A Life In Metal. An excerpt from theinterview is available below.

Q: Mustaine: A Life In Metal has been out a few weeks now. How long was the gestation period for this project?

Mustaine: "Well, originally the book was going to be entirely different. It was going to be about the songs – whether it was The Crusades or whatever the subject was – with the focus being on what each one meant, and the various idioms and one-liners within all those songs and also who it was all aimed at."

Q: So what happened?

Mustaine: "I turned the finished book in to Sanctuary and then that company folded. They just told me: "We're closing down the publishing company, here's your book back." I just said "Oh, ok," and I thought it was really cool that they had paid me for the book but didn't ask me for the money back. We just went our separate ways, and I had the book. I thought 'Well, so much for my journalism!' [laughs]."

Q: But you didn't give up on it?

Mustaine: "No I didn't, but when I got a new manager, I talked to him about everything I had dreamed about as far as this book was concerned. Because our management company is one of the biggest in the world, that gave us so much clout both over here in the US and over there, and because of that we went straight to Harper Collins and got a book deal – the Mercedes Benz of book publishers. All the staff at both the US and UK offices have been so easy to deal with, and as a result, this whole process has been nothing but fun for me. From when I first introduced myself to my co-writer, until the book was actually released, was probably a year or so."

Q: How much physical writing involvement did you actually have? Are you telling me you sat at a keyboard and typed?

Mustaine: "We talked every day for like six months; we had an appointment every morning. I'd have my morning coffee and he would have a morning phone calls. Some of those phone calls were very bleak though, and I don't even remember some of them. In those days I would be up working until late, and then getting up at six in the morning to talk on the phone was pretty hard for me. We talked and talked and talked, and it's all a credit to what a great writer Joe (Laydon) is. He's currently doing Ace Frehley's biography, in fact."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported Mustaine’s Autobiography recently landed at position #2 on Canada's The Globe and Mail Hardcover Nonfiction bestsellers list. The book, co-written by award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Joe Layden, was released in the US on August 3 via HarperCollins' It Books imprint. The UK edition, Mustaine: A Life In Metal, will hit book stores in the UK on September 30. Dave Mustaine has scheduled 21-book-signing sessions across the US to promote the book.

For more information and to order the book online, click here.