Former EXCITER singer/drummer Dan Beehler spoke to BW&BK; recently for a massive feature that can be found in BW&BK; #92 (CHILDREN OF BODOM cover). The following part of the conversation is not included in the article. Beehler speaks about touring in the mid-'80s with MEGADETH and VENOM and how he was asked to join BOTH bands.

"In 1985 we toured with Megadeth and every night, severely, me and the two Daves, Dave Ellefson (bass) and Dave Mustaine (vocals, guitar), would party hard and the more we went on during the tour, I realized the boys were watching. I remember playing a place in Texas and there was a little balcony above my drums, back behind the stage, and I remember looking up and they’re all hanging over the balcony watching me. So sure enough, we get to Sacramento and Mustaine pulls me into a hotel room at the end of the night, not that we wouldn’t end up there anyway, so we stayed up all night and talked about things on the tour and he said, ‘Hey man, you guys and John (Ricci - guitar) just don’t get along anymore and it’s obvious he’s going to quit. Fuckin’ move to L.A. and join us man, ‘cause Gar (Samuelson) is on his way out’. I’m sitting there going, ‘Holy fuck, you’re asking me to join you guys?’ What you have to understand is, we’re not talking about the Megadeth of today, we’re talking about a bunch of guys that Combat Records threw out on tour with us and said, ‘Take ‘em under your wings because they’ve never toured before’. We were the headline act at the time. It’s really hard to say that, but... anyways, to make a long story short, they asked me to join so. I knew John was out, we did our last show in Vancouver and we were traveling in different vehicles and we weren’t talking and I knew it was over. And the story that Ricci pulls out of his ass about SLAYER and me not wanting to open for them in Montreal, there was no Exciter and I had the Walkman on learning Megadeth’s first album in the motor home for four days across the prairies on the way home, and all I could think about was joining Mustaine and Megadeth. When I got home I made the stupid decision to keep Exciter going instead of joining them. But you have to understand the factors that weighed into my decision. They weren’t what they are today and they were pretty crazy. They went through like five vehicles on the tour. It was like, ‘OK, what do I do? Move to Hollywood and join up with the boys and either die or have to call my parents to fly me home in six months?' I wasn’t any better than them at the time and that's what scared me off. That was ‘85, the Long Live The Loud tour, they were supporting us. I spent a long time making my decision, which was a stupid decision. And for a little bit more trivia, the guy that they did get was, his name was Chuck Beehler, and he looked like me. Right after they asked me, they went out and got Chuck Beehler. The other time was 1989, Cronos (bass, vocals) asked me to join Venom, and we had toured with them and we were great friends so I was considering it. I had the set list and I learned the songs and I wanted to start but it just never happened."

Megaforce Records recently reissued the first six Exciter albums: Heavy Metal Maniac (1983), Violence and Force (1984), Long Live The Loud (1985), Better Live Than Dead (1990), Unveiling The Wicked (1986) and O.T.T. (1988). Remastered by ANNIHILATOR guitarist/founder Jeff Waters, these re-releases include bonus material such as video footage, rare interviews and pictures from that era.