Metal Hammer UK recently spoke with Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson about the making of the band's infamous debut album, Killing Is my Business... And Business Is Good, released in 1985. Following is an excerpt from the in-depth interview, which traces the making of the record all the way through, starting with Mustaine's firing from Metallica:

The sessions at Indigo were productive. Jettisoning Jay as executive producer, Mustaine placed his trust in Faye, an engineer who’d worked with everyone from Kiss to Rod Stewart. In addition to re-recording the tracks from their demo – "Loved To Deth", "Skull Beneath The Skin" and "Mechanix", a song Mustaine had previously recorded with Metallica on their 1982 Power Metal demo – the group tracked four new Mustaine originals ("Rattlehead", "Chosen Ones", "Looking Down The Cross" and the album’s proposed title track, "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good"), plus a spirited version of Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 hit single, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin".

Mustaine: “I remember that song blasting from my parents’ car radio as a kid. Jay said we should do Frank Sinatra cover, but I said I’d prefer to do These Boots... It was a bit cooler because back then you had all the punkers wearing Doc Martens, stomping and moshing.

“The song 'Killing Is My Business...' still stands up well. I was reading a comic book called The Punisher, and I thought it was cool that it had this twist whereby you’d paid someone to kill somebody and then they come back and go, ‘By the way, someone has paid me to kill you.’ 'Loved To Deth' was a ‘boy-falls-in-love-with-girl, girl-doesn’t-love-boy, boy-kills-girl’ story. A lot of kids understand that ‘If I can’t have you, no one will’ mentality.

“'Looking Down...' had to do with my guilt about being brought up with religion, and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ attempts to brainwash me. 'Skull Beneath The Skin' was inspired by a book cover I saw when I was shoplifting in a grocery store. Rattlehead came to my mind when I was at the Reseda Country Club in LA watching bands and looking for chicks: I remember thinking about leather and spikes and making the music fast and loud, back to where I started, no Plan B.” 

Ellefson: “We did the takes quickly, with Dave, Gar and I in one room, playing together, with no click tracks. You can hear the tempos shifting around, depending on whether it was a ‘heroin take’ or a ‘cocaine take’. It’s funny now, but I wouldn’t recommend that approach.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

"I'd like to think it's not gonna be a stinker, that's for sure," said Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recently while talking to The White Line Fever podcast about the band's forthcoming new album. "I'd like to think it's gonna be a pretty kick-ass record... there's a couple of things on there that are certainly heavy, but they're very forward-thinking for Megadeth - in a good way; not some pop right turn or anything like that."

Hear the audio interview in its entirety via the player below.

In his first extensive interview since his band’s lineup changes, leader Dave Mustaine speaks with Rolling Stone about all things Megadeth. He discusses the status and sound of the band's new album, what it's been like working with Lamb Of God drummer Chis Adler and Angra guitarist Kiko Loureiro, the Rust in Peace­-era lineup reunion efforts, his thoughts on a few of Megadeth's past members, and much more. A few excerpts follow:

Rolling Stone: How far along are you with the new record?

Dave Mustaine: “We have 15 tracks - 13 originals and two cover songs. We did "Melt The Ice Away" by Budgie and "Foreign Policy" by Fear. At this point, the drums are all done and Chris [Adler] is back home. Kiko finished all his rhythms and he's now doing solos. He's an amazing musician, very well-rounded. He did a lot of acoustic stuff, both steel-string and nylon-string, and he played a little piano at the end of a song called "Poisonous Shadows”. It's a really haunting piece, and the part that he played is very Chopin-meets-Megadeth, if that makes sense.”

R.S.: In addition to "Poisonous Shadows" are there any other song titles you can give us at this point?

D.M.: “There's a song called "The Emperor Has No Clothes," and another called "Tyranocide”. Several have working titles but I don't want to say what they are. After we write the lyrics they'll come. You know, when we did our first record out in Nashville [1997's Cryptic Writings] - and granted it was a different time back then, and a lot of stuff was different about who I am as a person - all the songs had working titles and they all had something to do with a genitalia reference and something satanic, like "Beelzebub's Ballbag" and "Devil's Sac”, stuff like that. And it was like, ‘Oh my god, you guys. I can't believe we're calling these songs this crap!’”

R.S.: Can you talk at all about the sound of the new Megadeth material?

D.M.: “Over the years we've always said, ‘We're going back to our roots’. But the naysayers, they just want Rust In Peace 20 times, which is never gonna happen. Because I've never written the same song twice. Unlike a lot of other rock and metal bands that, you know, they rely on a set formula, I try and make the songs all different. The funny thing, though, was that when Ellefson was doing the bass tracks I was telling him, ‘This is the “Tornado” [“Tornado Of Souls”] part’, ‘This is the “Bad Omen” part’, ‘This is the “Black Friday” part’, ‘This is the “Holy Wars” part.’ Because a lot of the things were in that kind of vein. Now, is it going back in time? Hell, I don't know. But I like what I'm hearing.”

R.S.: All that said, after Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover departed, you did make a real attempt to reunite the Rust In Peace-era lineup, with Marty Friedman and Nick Menza.

D.M.: “Yeah. And contrary to all the scuttlebutt that's going around, I wish those guys the best. But their recollections of the events that led up to it and happened after are considerably different from my recollection. But here's the thing - a lot of people, they either love or hate me. If I tell anybody what happened it's not gonna change the way they feel about me. But it'll probably change the way they feel about them. And I don't want to hurt anybody. All I can say I think they're both tremendous musicians and talented guys.”

R.S.: Is there a release date yet for the new album?

D.M.: We're hoping to get it out sometime in the latter part of the year. An interesting thing management told me is that, now, if you do a release at the end of the year it's not affected by the holidays because of all the digital downloads and stuff. My belief was always that when the holidays come around after Thanksgiving

Read this extensive interview in full at RollingStone.com.

Photos from the recording sessions of Megadeth’s upcoming album can be viewed below.

 

 

 

A brief video clip of drummer Chris Adler rehearsing a new Megadeth song (title unknown) in the studio recently surfaced; check it out below.

For their 15th album, Megadeth wants to bring you along for the ride. For the first time, the band is going to bring you into the process and give you a window into the world of Dave Mustaine, Kiko Loureiro, David Ellefson and Chris Adler. Pre-order the album digitally, on CD or on vinyl plus tons of other unique offerings like signed CDs, signed vinyl, gear from the studio and much more.

No matter what you order, you will get access to a variety of behind-the-scenes content such as photos and videos from the writing and recording sessions. You’ll get full access to the process in real time. Full details at this location.