Dave Mustaine: ‘Endgame’ “Is Going To Launch The Return Of Heavy Metal In America”

Metal Insider recently got a chance to talk to one of metal’s reigning personalities, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. Yesterday we posted part of our chat with the always outspoken Mustaine bemusedly questioning humanity after losing his wallet. Today he opens up about the “Big 4 Tour” rumors, how Endgame is going to bring back heavy metal, how his body of work ties in with world events, and his sprituality. among other things.

So I’m going to start with the elephant in the room that I’m sure you’re getting asked at every single interview lately. The Big Four Tour with Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica and Anthrax, any truth to that rumor? 

You know, there’s no way to answer any questions about Metallica for me. If I answer them politely, I get reamed. If I answer them funny, I get reamed. If I say something like when I said I believed my record was better than theirs, and even in that comment I said that they’ve got plenty of records that are better than anything that I’ve done, except this one… And for once it’s nice to be on the opposite side. That was taken apart. “I think my record’s better than theirs.” Well you didn’t finish the sentence you twat. I have no desire to answer any questions, at all, about Metallica. If something comes up, you’ll know, but as far as I’m concerned I can’t say anything about those guys and I won’t.

Fair enough, I’m definitely not trying to draw you into controversy.

It’s not you my friend, it’s the readers and the listeners. And then it’s the tabloid rag sensationalism writers that don’t really deserve a place in the metal community because one of the things that was really great about the metal community is we weren’t these back-biting bottom feeders that we’ve become right now. In the beginning it was all about a sense of community. The writers and the bands were friends of one another. They had the right and they had the respect of the bands even to give their opinion about the music, while you might not have gotten a great review, it wasn’t one of these reviews where you walk away feeling like you’re subhuman, and ‘god, what a dumbass I am to have written such a stupid record.’ When you walk away feeling like that and you’re the artist and they’re not, it just makes you feel kind of dirty. There’s some magazines that I can’t even read anymore. Magazines in the beginning that were the only credible source of heavy metal, and now they don’t even cover heavy metal, now it’s like alternative music and stuff. How can you cover alternative music if you were built on metal?

Endgame debuted in the top ten. How do you feel about that?

Its breaking down barriers. It’s great because I really believe this is going to launch the return of heavy metal in America. I don’t think we can do it ourselves. I’m not saying just Megadeth are going to relaunch heavy metal. I’ve said this is going to be the beginning of the return of heavy metal being really cool in America. You’re older than 20, you remember when girls had tube tops and there were no – products in there. Now if you find a girl that’s got real boobs that’s an anomaly. I remember when you used to say ‘Raquel Welch has fake titties, oh my god what are those? Fake titties, uh oh.’ Then you see someone that has real ones, and you’re like ‘I didn’t know they made those anymore.’

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Mastodon Play Fallon, Get Shout-Outs From Guests

In the past two months, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has done a great job of repping metal on national TV, with Shadows Fall, Megadeth and last night, Mastodon. Having already performed “Oblivion” on Late Show With David Letterman earlier this year, the band performed “Divinations” last night. As you can see, they were joined onstage by a Yeti towards the end of the song (actually, bassist Troy’s Sanders brother, Bloodsimple bassist Kyle Sanders).

 While the performance is below, it wasn’t the only time Mastodon was mentioned on the show. Carrie Fisher was the first guest, promoting her book and one-woman play Wishful Drinking. Best known for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, she met her match in uberfan, Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher. As soon as she took the couch, she opened by saying ”Mastodon have me tattooed on them.” Sure enough, Kelliher has her likeness tattooed on the inside of his upper arm. Afterwards, second guest Sam Rockwell said he was looking forward to seeing them as well. After their performance, the band headed 25 blocks south to play the Hammerstein Ballroom, and a good time was had by all.

 

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Dave Mustaine: So Far, So Good, So Where’s My Wallet?

Metal Insider recently got a chance to talk to one of metal’s reigning personalities, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. While we’ll bring you the full interview tomorrow, our chat began with the always outspoken Mustaine bemusedly questioning humanity after losing his wallet. Consider this a preview of what’s to come tomorrow, where Dave opens up about the “Big 4 Tour” rumors, how Endgame is going to bring back heavy metal, how his body of work ties in with world events, and his sprituality. among other things.

So you just said you were questioning humanity, why is that?

Well, we’re getting ready for our trip to Australia, and I went to go get gas this morning because I had to go get all my supplements, and nutrients, and medicines and clean underwear in case I get run over by a car. So I pull in the gas station, and since I had my yoga class this morning so I have on my shorts with no pockets. So I set my wallet on the back of my Mercedes, fill up the tank, take the nozzle out, stick it into the pump, put the gas cap on, close the lid, grab the receipt, hop in my car, and drive off with the wallet on the back of my car. I get on the freeway and I drive to my next appointment and I realize that I don’t have my wallet. Now talk about that feeling like someone just clogged your toilet. I was so pissed. So, I’m in a doctor’s office and this little tiny sign, the size of a piece of confetti, usually when I go in there it says “don’t use your cell phone,” it has now grown into like a drive in theater type screen size board saying “no cell phones in here.” And I’m trying to very secretly make phone calls and conduct business.

So I get out of the doctor’s appointment and this guy from a clinic that I go to calls up and tells me somebody has my wallet. So I called the guy, and he tells me to meet him at a Subway. I was going to say ‘just take the money out of it man, keep it for yourself as a reward because there’s no honest people in the world anymore.’ And then I’m thinking what happens if he found it and there was nothing in it? So I talk to the guy on the phone and he says “yea man all your credit cards, and everything’s all in here, your license and everything. So I drive up and I see him and this guys dressed like a pimp. I looked at him and thought ‘your money’s gone Dave.’ So I open up the wallet. Not only is the money gone, and I always keep several hundred dollars on me just in case of an emergency, but all my receipts were gone, and I’m good when it comes down to keeping track of my finances. I keep my receipts and shit. That’s why I’ve been able to stay successful in this business because I’m not a dumb ass rock star. So I open up the wallet. Receipts gone, moneys gone, one of my American Express platinum cards is gone, and my Screen Actors Guild card is gone. Three of my Amex cards are still there, my Visa cards there, my license is there. He took one American Express card and my SAG card, and I thought well the American Express card is a no-brainer, either I lost that one too or he took it. But the SAG card that is obvious that the guy took it so he could go up see some girl and go “hey ladies want to see my SAG card, I’m an actor. I’m acting like I’m an actor right now.

And promise girls he can get them roles in movies 

Here’s what’s making me question humanity. Everything was going fine. I was trying to get out of there and I said ‘let me go get you some cash for a reward.’ And he goes “Well, do you just have a bag?” And I went ‘a bag of what?’ and he says “A bag of pot.” And I said ‘Not on me. What do I look like, Tony Montana?’ I’m starting to stutter with the guy because I didn’t know what to say. I felt like saying ‘you took my fucking money, now you want me to go get you some pot? And you got my fucking SAG card too.’ So here’s where it gets weird. He goes “you might want to go look by the freeway, there’s a duck pond over there. You might want to go look over there because you know when you got on the freeway, that might be where your stuffs at. And I’m like “fuck.” And then I go drive along the freeway looking for a duck pond to see where my missing credit card and SAG card is. 

That sounds really sketchy. 

And then he gives me his business card. Not only do I suspect he took my money, he took my credit card, he took my SAG card, took my receipts, but he’s dumb enough to tell me where he did it, and then give me his card. So I’m just thinking how can you be half decent? That’s my question today. Can you be half decent? Does half decent count?

What’s cool is that you still have your license, you still have ID, it could have been way worse. 

Yea, and I think he knew who I was. I think that’s part of the reason why. “Man, you’re in Megadeth. I’ve been listening to Megadeth ever since I was twelve.” So I ask him how old he is, and he says “62.”

Check back with Metal Insider tomorrow for the rest of Mustaine’s interview.

R.I.P Chuck Biscuits [Updated]

[updated: not really, he's still alive]

Former Danzig drummer Chuck Biscuits died this past Saturday at the way-too-young age of 44 after a long battle with throat cancer. “In response to the inquires, thank you for all the support,” an anonymous family member wrote in an e-mail on Tuesday. “Chuck did not survive his battle with throat cancer. He passed surrounded by his family on 10/24/09.”

Biscuits is best known for his time in Danzig, playing on the first four albums (aka, the best ones), but he got his start  in punk, playing with D.O.A. After relocating to California, he logged time with a number of bands including Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and Fear. He also played drums on Run DMC’s 1988 album Tougher Than Leather. The last band he played with was Social Distortion, in 1996.

[jg2land]

Rob Zombie Off Interscope, Album To See 2010 Release On Roadrunner Imprint

In a somewhat surprising move (we already knew something was up), Rob Zombie has announced his departure from Interscope/Geffen and has signed a deal with Roadrunner’s commercial-leaning Loud & Proud Imprint. His Hellbilly Deluxe 2 will see a 2010 release.

What happened here? Our best guess is that Interscope realized Zombie’s best days are behind him and they’d need to do more than lean on an existing fanbase to move the record. While we speculated Zombie might try to go the self-release route, he’s likely extremely busy with his film career and already has tons of money in the bank, so if high profit margins aren’t a concern, why do all the work when Roadrunner/Loud & Proud has the savvy to make this album a success?

Meanwhile, Loud & Proud has been a powerhouse lately, signing far more high-profile acts than its parent label, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sammy Hagar, Ratt, Collective Soul and Tommy Lee’s Methods of Mayhem. Not that any of that is metal (or relevant) enough to make sense on Roadrunner, but when you want to talk about money-makers, Loud & Proud is setting itself up nicely. And while Rob Zombie isn’t a hit-machine anymore, he’ll still move enough units to make a smaller label happy.

Metal By Numbers 10/28 – Rammstein Prove They’re No Pussies

Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week as well as what’s getting played at Metal radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations that have metal shows, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

You’d think Rammstein might have the deck stacked against them. They haven’t put an album out in America in four years, don’t tour here regularly, and with the exception of the NSFW single and video ”Pussy,” the entire album is in German. But they have not only the top metal album of the week, but the biggest debut of their career. Converge have a very solid debut as well, perhaps because it’s one of the best albums of the year. They’re also most added at FMQB, while the largely static top ten has a new entry with Five Finger Death Punch.

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Vision Of Disorder To Open For Slipknot

Vision Of Disorder will open for Slipknot in Los Angeles on October 29 and in Las Vegas on October 31.

Chimaira Debuts Live Clip

Chimaira has posted a live video of them performing “The Disappearing Sun” online. The footage was shot for the band’s live DVD, which is set to be released in 2010.

Five Finger Death Punch Release New Video

Five Finger Death Punch has released a new video for the song “Dying Breed”.

Metal Industry Gets Taste Of Slayer And ‘Saw VI’ At Metal Insider Party

With Halloween just around the corner and Saw VI out in theaters that day, what better time to throw a metal party? That was the thinking behind the first annual Metal Insider CMJ Listening Party, which took place on Friday, October 23 at New York’s The Studio @Webster Hall. With dozens of metal radio DJs and music directors in town for the annual CMJ Music Marathon, the listening party served as an exclusive taste of World Painted Blood, the long-awaited new album from Slayer. In addition, the attendees also got a chance to look at “Playing With Dolls,” a disturbing series of vignettes featuring the music of World Painted Blood that will be featured on the deluxe edition of the album, which will be out on November 3. The party also featured a screening of Gallows short film, Grey Britain.

It wasn’t just radio that made it to the party. A number of labels, managers and booking agents made it out, along with bands like Acrassicauda, Anaka, and VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show co-host Don Jamieson. They were able to feast on alcohol courtesy of sponsors Hornitos Tequila and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Each guest was also welcome to have a one-of-a-kind Music Skins Metal Insider skin for their Blackberry, iPhone or iPod (stay tuned for a chance to win one of your own!). Some attendees were lucky enough to get a Saw VI shirt courtesy of Lions Gate Films, or books about Anvil and Robert “Freddy Kreuger” Englund courtesy of Simon & Schuster. An even more select group got to win a copy of the first 5 Saw movies. And what better way to celebrate listening to World Painted Blood than with your own tube of Slayer blood. Who’s in for next year?!