Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recently opened up about a significant disagreement with Dave Mustaine regarding re-recording Metallica’s ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo. He shared his perspective in an interview with César Fuentes Rodríguez.
Ellefson described how the conflict began in 2018 when Mustaine announced his intention to re-record the classic Metallica demo on which he had originally played.
“I’ve said this before. This was a real falling out between me and Dave. It’s kind of where it started. In 2018 when he comes into the tour in Oslo, Norway, we were gonna start [touring again] that summer, he announces [to the rest of us], ‘Hey, I wanna re-record the Metallica ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo’ [on which Mustaine played on while he was briefly a member of Metallica]. I was, like, ‘What?'” Ellefson said.
The bassist explained his reasoning for opposing the idea. He emphasized the importance of maintaining separate identities between the two metal giants.
“I mean, me and Dirk [Verbeuren, Megadeth drummer] and Kiko [Loureiro, then-Megadeth guitarist] were definitely [taken aback]. ‘What? We’re supposed to be writing a new album.’ And to me, Megadeth doesn’t cover Metallica songs because — just because of the history [between Mustaine and Metallica], number one, but because they’re Megadeth and they’re Metallica. [Metallica are] not covering Megadeth songs, and you don’t cover their [songs]. Iron Maiden doesn’t cover Saxon and Judas Priest. These are separate lanes, if you will,” he continued.
Ellefson revealed how he eventually confronted Mustaine directly about the project.
“So I let it go for a while, and I was hoping it would go away. It didn’t… Finally, I stood up and said, ‘Dave, we are not doing that. You can’t do this. Especially since they offered it to you [to have ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ officially released] after the ‘Big Four’ [shows], and you didn’t get on board and they took it off the table.’ I said, ‘It’s extremely disrespectful to those guys.’ After all that they did for us, I felt, for him and for everything else, it’s, like, ‘Leave it alone, man. Just leave it alone.’ And I love ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’… So that was really the beginning,” he explained.
The disagreement had lasting consequences for their working relationship, Ellefson noted.
“Dave didn’t talk to me for six months after that. He didn’t talk to me for the rest of the year. And I could tell he sort of begrudgingly he invited me to participate in songwriting on what became ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ Everything I wrote, he would take off — everything that I participated [in]. But, however, I did write one song. I came up something that was a nice arpeggio thing on acoustic guitar. I didn’t expect that that would be the thing that he would like. And I wrote some really good stuff. There was really good stuff that could have easily gone on that album, but [this particular song was] a ballad,” Ellefson said.
He described the ironic success of the one song that made it onto the album.
“And so I wrote this ballad, I sang on it, I wrote the vocal lines, and Kiko played the guitar and made it sound great. And people were telling me, ‘Dude, this is the best song on the album. This is amazing.’ Kind of like ‘Beth’ on the ‘Destroyer’ [album from] KISS. You’re, like, ‘Oh, here did this come from? This is amazing.’ Made ’em all millionaires. And I could tell that probably didn’t go over so good either. I always felt, like, the only thing worse than writing the worst song is if you write the best stuff. So, then just a matter of circumstance and convenience, suddenly [I was fired from the band],” he concluded.
This revelation provides insight into the tensions that ultimately led to Ellefson’s departure from Megadeth. It also sheds light on the complex history surrounding the controversial demo.
Mustaine’s desire to re-record the demo traces back to an earlier royalty dispute that had already soured relations between the metal legends. Loudwire reported that Mustaine reportedly couldn’t reach an agreement with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich over the 1982 demo’s songwriting credits. This caused a planned 2015 reissue to be shelved. The dispute centered on revised songwriting credits that would have given drummer Lars Ulrich a share at Mustaine’s expense, leading to his objection to the official release.
The ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo holds significant historical importance in metal history. It represents some of the earliest recorded material from what would become one of the genre’s most influential bands. Metal Injection reported that Mustaine’s involvement in the original 1982 recording made the re-recording idea particularly contentious. It would have essentially allowed him to reclaim material from his brief tenure with Metallica before his dismissal.
The fallout from this disagreement extended well beyond the initial argument. It affected the production of Megadeth’s subsequent album. Chaoszine revealed that Ellefson had recorded initial bass parts for ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ in May 2020 at a Nashville studio. However, after his 2021 firing amid a video scandal, Mustaine announced on his Gimme Radio show that those tracks would be scrapped and re-recorded by Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio.
The incident highlights the ongoing complexity of the relationship between Mustaine and his former Metallica bandmates. It demonstrates how past grievances continue to influence present-day decisions. Blabbermouth noted that Ellefson’s opposition to the re-recording project was based not only on professional considerations but also on his belief that it would damage the respect that had been rebuilt between the bands over the years. This was particularly important following their collaboration during the Big Four shows.
