Megadeth bassist David Ellefson is featured in a new interview with Backstage Axxess. He discusses the Oh Say Can You Stream fundraising event for the David Ellefson Youth Music Foundation taking place this weekend (Saturday, April 11th). Ellefson also talks about his other business ventures which include Ellefson Muisc Productions, Ellefson Coffee Company, his autobiographies, and the relaunching of his old record label Combat Records. He also dives into the current state of Megadeth, including the upcoming record and tour with Lamb of God, Trivium and In Flames.  

On Saturday, April 11, between 4 PM, EDT/1 PM, PDT and 1 AM, EDT/10 PM, PDT, the Grammy Music Education Coalition is partnering with its affiliate the David Ellefson Youth Music Foundation to host Oh Say Can You Stream, a streaming online fundraiser to raise funds for the foundation’s School's Out initiative. The foundation is a nonprofit charity started by Grammy-winning Megadeth co-founder and bassist David Ellefson. It has launched School's Out to provide online lessons, instruments, and gear to kids and aspiring musicians during quarantine, and supports other COVID-19 relief charities.

Saturday’s event will be hosted by Ellefson and his partner and solo band vocalist, Thom Hazaert. Co-hosts include Don Jamieson, Jim Florentine, Craig Gass, Drew Fortier, and Riki Rachtman.

The event will stream on the Coalition’s Twitch channel and Facebook page as an 8-hour marathon, featuring appearances and performances from artists and celebrities including:

- Alice Cooper
- Charlie Benante (Anthrax)
- Chris Kael (Five Finger Death Punch)
- Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth)
- Kiko Loureiro (Megadeth)
- Darryl “DMC” McDaniels (Run DMC)
- Frank Hannon (Tesla)
- Elias Soriano (Nonpoint)
- Drake Bell
- PJ Farley (Trixter, RA)
- John Driskell Hopkins (Zac Brown Band)
- Danny Cooksey (Terminator 2, Bad4Good)
- Rob Caggiano (Volbeat)
- Alex Skolnick (Testament)
- Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, King Kobra)
- Brian O’Halloran and Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks)
- Ari Lehman (Friday the 13th, First Jason)
- Jason Bieler (Saigon Kick)
- Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper)
- Larry Thomas (The Soup Nazi – Seinfeld, Austin Powers)
- Carla Harvey (Butcher Babies), and more!

Ellefson will also perform a remote acoustic set with his eponymous solo band, featuring Italian guitarist Andy Martongelli and drummer Paolo Caridi. They’ll play their new single “Simple Truth”, being released on Friday, April 10 via Bandcamp and on April 17 across digital outlets. All proceeds from the singe are going to the Italian Red Cross COVID-19 relief efforts.

Says Hazaert, “When we launched the School's Out initiative, we realized the immediate impact it had, as we got almost 1000 applications in the first week. We very quickly realized this was something we needed to take to the next level, and really began serious fundraising efforts to increase the scope of what we were able to do.”

Ellefson adds, “When one person suffers, we all suffer, and this is an unprecedented moment in history when all of us around the world are united for a common cause, especially in the music community. As I saw so many of my friends who are ‘hired gun musicians,’ session players, etc, all losing so much work, we all saw months of work vanish before our eyes, we thought we could create an opportunity to really do some good on several fronts. So many of our friends have been so generous with their time, and it’s a wonderful initiative to be able to not only give kids something great to hold onto, but also keep some of our friends working in this uncertain time.”

For more details, visit ellefsonyouthmusicfoundation.org/.

(Photo - Melody Myers)