MEGADETH Bassist David Ellefson - "METALLICA's No Life 'Til Leather Demo Had The Same Impact On Me That JUDAS PRIEST's Unleashed In The East Did"

December 21, 2014, 9 years ago

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MEGADETH Bassist David Ellefson - "METALLICA's No Life 'Til Leather Demo Had The Same Impact On Me That JUDAS PRIEST's Unleashed In The East Did"

Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with Megadeth bassist David Ellefson for an in-depth interview featuring discussion on working with Johnny Wore Black, forming Megadeth with Dave Mustaine, lyric writing as a bassist, and more.

UG: When you put Megadeth together originally, did you know it was going to be a metal band? 

Ellefson: "I looked at all those musical experiences I had as a teenager as the training ground for me to develop the skills I would need to leave home in Minnesota and drive out to L.A. My hope and goal was to join a band or form a band, which is exactly what happened. I met Dave a week after I got there and we started Megadeth that month and off we went." 

UG: There was never any discussion about how heavy the band was going to be? 

Ellefson: "I hadn't heard of Metallica yet. They hadn't made it into the Midwest yet. They played the East Coast and the West Coast and had just signed their deal with Megaforce and actually were in the studio recording Kill 'Em All when I met Dave. He was playing me the No Life 'Til Leather demo and it's funny because No Life 'Til Leather was sort of scary. You know what I mean? It had the same impact on me Unleashed In The East did. I was like, 'Holy smokes, man. Dude, this feels so wrong, it's so perfect. It feels so wrong it's right.' Because it just had a different sound and it was so unique. 

UG: Metallica was a major influence on Megadeth? 

Ellefson: "Talk about a defining sound, as soon as Dave picked up his guitar and played I was like, 'Man, OK. Here's the backbone of that music.' And watching him play and how he played and I realized it wasn't about technique and it wasn't about any of these things because Dave had kind of almost formed his own version of these things. It was like, 'You know what? It isn't about any of that. It's about how he plays and the music that's coming out of the speakers right now.'"

Go to this location for the complete interview. 



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