Megadeth bassist David Ellefson is featured in a new interview with Spotlight Report discussing his upcoming spoken word tour in Australia and the November 2014 split with drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick. An excerpt is available below:

Q: How has life changed for you & Dave (Mustaine) after the departure of Shawn & Chris (drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick quit the band in November last year)?

Ellefson: "It is obviously going to be different without them. We spent five years together with them in that line-up, that is a long time. We did multiple live albums with them, two studio albums, we toured together. So it’s a bit like some family members are gone. Especially through the holidays I’ve kinda been a little sad about it, I realize that they wanted to move onto something else and I support them as my friends, but selfishly I’m definitely going to miss them for sure. Things are moving forward of course and there will be a new development happening on that front."

Q: So what’s the status with the search for their replacements? Will you be bringing back some former members?

Ellefson: "I can’t talk about it yet, I can’t say anything. Most importantly we’re moving forward with writing a new album. Once we get into the studio to record it, then the line-up will naturally evolve around that."

Q: When is that new album coming out? I thought Megadeth was taking a break this year.

Ellefson: "No, it’s supposed to come out later this year!"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Ellefson and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine are scheduled to appear at The NAMM Show (National Association Of Music Merchants), set to take place January 22nd - 25th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. Schedules are posted below.

Dave Mustaine

Friday, January 23rd:

2:00 – 2:30 pm Avid (Pro-Tools)

3:00 – 4:00 pm Shure

4:00 – 5:00 pm Cleartone Strings

5:00 – 6:00 pm Seymour Duncan

Saturday, January 24th:

4:00 - 5:00 pm Dean Guitars

David Ellefson

Thursday, January 22nd:

4:00 pm - Rock n Roll Gangstarr Apparel

Friday, January 23rd:

11:00 am - Rock n Roll Industries Magazine

2:00 pm - EMG Pickups

3:15 pm - Mono Cases

8:00 pm - Randy Rhodes Remembered Concert - The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA

Saturday, January 24th:

11:00 am - Wornstar Clothing (inside DBZ Guitars booth)

1:00 pm - "Hired Gun" documentary film signing at Monster Cable booth

2:00 pm - Metal Allegiance group signing at Jackson Guitars (Inside Fender booth)

Sunday, January 25th:

12:30 pm - SIT Strings

For information and updates on NAMM 2015 go to the official event website here.

In a new interview with The Metal Review, Ellefson discussed the unexpected departure of drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick back in November 2014:

Q: Obviously we’ve had Chris and Shawn recently depart, I guess it’s like a divorce and without knowing all the facts, when people or fans hear this kind of thing they automatically think the worse. Was it just time for those guys to move to other things, like a fork in the road moment or did personality clashes come into it?

Ellefson: "I think it was time. I mean, Shawn had been there ten years. Next to me and obviously Dave (Mustaine), Shawn had been there the longest of anybody. He was a good soldier for Megadeth. In a lot of ways he helped bring me back into the fold. Shawn should always be remembered by the Megadeth fans as one of the true supporters who really got it. As a fan, a musician within the band, he got it. One of the songs he co-wrote ended up as a Grammy nomination ("Head Crusher"), his record speaks for itself. Chris (Broderick) is just a phenomenal musician and a super great guy. The fact that the two of them are going off together and doing something together, I think is cool. Whatever we hear from them next will be something that will truly be them and it won’t have to be done in the confines of a Megadeth setting."

"Megadeth is very much a focussed type narrow window of what works and what the fans expect to hear, and rightfully so. There are some things that band members write that are great for Megadeth and something’s that should are best used for solo material or to be shopped for someone else to cover them. You can get to a certain point in your career and you realise you have things outside of what your band is and it may be a good piece of music but it shouldn’t be used inside of Megadeth."

Go to this location for the complete interview.