Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson, joined Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio to talk about his David Ellefson Youth Music Foundation, the new Megadeth album, and more in an in-depth interview.

Asked what he can reveal about the upcoming Megadeth music, Ellefson responds: "I can just kind of give you the history. We set the intention to get started on the writing in late 2017 when we wrapped up down in Argentina on tour. We worked a little bit in 2018. We went out to Europe for a couple of months. Last year was pretty much wiped clean. We had the big tour with Ozzy, and that first got postponed and now canceled, and then Dave went through his throat cancer treatments and fortunately has come through that victoriously. We did keep the MegaCruise on the books last year and went over to Europe with Five Finger Death Punch and Bad Wolves in January and February. So, we’ve had an incredible calendar of amazing stuff, but due to circumstances certainly beyond our control, the majority of it has been wiped off the calendar. So, it’s been a very trying season for tour work with Megadeth.

"Fortunately, as far as the creative and the writing and making a new album, that has actually been moving along pretty well, so all is not lost, fortunately. And this is a record that we knew following up on Dystopia, this is not something we just wanted to just rush and bang it out and just get back out on the road. This is something that needed time. First of all, you want to make sure the content is stellar. You want to make sure you’ve got something to sing about and a story to tell, because that’s another big part of Megadeth songs. It’s not just sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. There’s always got to be a narrative through the album. So, that’s important and just let that take it’s time. So, ironically, the challenges that we’ve had have actually led to giving us the needed time on the album. So, at this point, we’ve got this year now to be working on the record, which we are, and if all goes as best we can plan, 2021 will hopefully see a new Megadeth record, and we live to fight another day."

Read more and find audio links at Audio Ink Radio.

To celebrate what would have been the start of one of the most highly anticipated tours of the year, showcasing four of the world's very best metal bands, The Metal Tour Of The Year broadcast a mammoth streaming event on Friday, June 12. The stream was hosted by SiriusXM's Jose Mangin and featured full sets from Megadeth, Lamb Of God, Trivium and In Flames, along with an exclusive interview with each band prior to the broadcast of their set.

Megadeth streamed their 2016 secret show from St Vitus in Brooklyn. Lamb Of God streamed their surprise show from House Of Vans in Chicago from February this year. Trivium streamed their 2019 performance from DreamHack Dallas. In Flames streamed their 2019 headline set from their own festival Borgholm Brinner in Sweden.

In addition to the concert streams and exclusive interviews, The Metal Tour Of The Year also launched a brand new merch store featuring new, exclusive tour items is only be available for 72 hours. A portion of the proceeds from the merch store will go to Crew Nation, Live Nation's fund to help support live music crews who have been directly impacted as shows are put on pause due to COVID-19.

The Metal Tour of The Year partnered with Spotify and took over the Kickass Metal playlist beginning on June 12. Listen to the playlist, exclusively on Spotify, to hear multiple songs from each band plus more of the biggest metal tracks of the moment. Visit each of the bands profiles on Spotify to donate to MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund which aids the music community during this crisis.