In a new interview with 518Scene.com, James LoMenzo said David Ellefson shaped Megadeth’s sound.
“As far as rock and roll and metal bands go, I’m an originalist; I love the original band,” the bassist revealed. “So as much of an honor and how great it is to be part of this, I still have that little thing, that little fan guy thing, going with the real band.”
He added, “But we are very different in our trajectory. In my estimation, David Ellefson has defined the sound of this band with his bass playing as much as everybody else who’s been in the band, so I try to be very respectful and reverent to that.”
LoMenzo played bass for Megadeth from 2006 to 2010, appearing on two albums, ‘United Abominations’ and ‘Endgame.’ He rejoined in 2021, became a permanent member in 2022, and performed with Marty Friedman during special shows in 2023.
In November 2022, LoMenzo spoke about leaving Megadeth in an interview with Ashdown Engineering. He said, “After three or four years in Megadeth, David Ellefson returned. And I, like you, was pretty excited about that, because I had always been a fan of Megadeth anyway. I’m one of those crazy guys that’s, like, I want it to be the original band.”
The rocker continued, “I always want it to be the original band; it’s kind of the way I grew up. But in lieu of that, I had to take the charge of the bass spot when he couldn’t be there. So when he came back, I was fine with it. I’ve done two great albums — ‘United Abominations’ and ‘Endgame’; we’ve done two world tours, been all over the place.”
“And so at that point, I was kind of excited to maybe try something new. And so I went back home. I started a video production company. I started doing these local jams where all my famous friends would come by and jam with me. It was great. And eventually, I ended up in [rock legend] John Fogerty’s band,” James explained.
Besides Megadeth and John Fogerty, LoMenzo has also played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, and White Lion.
