David Ellefson thinks his time with Megadeth is not really over.
“No, look, it’s never a closed chapter,” the bassist replied when asked if he’s done with Megadeth at this point in a new chat with Sam Acevedo of El Planeta Del Rock. “I mean, look, I helped start the band. I was there from the beginning. My heart and soul was in it. You’ll hear that in those songs forever.”
Ellefson continued, “And, look, that way of life, our lifestyle, our work ethic has influenced me forever. It’s part of how I still roll now moving forward. So, you can’t just take that piece of your life and just pull it out and stick it on the shelf. It’s part of me. I’m always part of that. And, hey, look, we’re not sharing the stage together, we’re not doing that right now.”
“But, yeah, my thing is, why ever close doors? It wasn’t my idea to not be there,” he explained. “So I’m, like, ‘Yeah, whatever. Maybe another time. Anyway, let’s go to Rome. Let’s play a show. Let’s go jam some tunes with Overkill.’ So, to me, it’s kind of, like, just keep moving, man. Just keep moving.”
Ellefson was fired from Megadeth over three years ago after explicit messages and videos of him appeared on Twitter. Earlier this year, the musician talked about being kicked out of Megadeth and how Dave Mustaine handled his scandals. While he once said he regretted what led to his split from the band, his view on it has now changed.
He noted, “There’s two sides to it. One: when you bare it all, you’ve got nothing to hide. F*ck it, now you can truly be yourself! We all come into the world with our birthday suit on, so what are we ashamed of? What I feel the worst about is the embarrassment that it caused some people, like my family, who didn’t deserve it. Out of respect for them, I’m going to keep the family dynamic off the table [during interviews]. That’s at their request.”
“Dave, his manager and his lawyer [called me after the scandal]. There was a sentiment from one of them saying, ‘Let’s step back, let Ellefson deal with it. It leaves the door open for him to come back.’ Dave didn’t want that,” Ellefson recalled. “He made his decision and it is what it is.”
Ellefson was part of Megadeth from its start in 1983 until 2002, and then again from 2010 until his most recent departure.
