During a July 22, 2024 KINGS OF THRASH question-and-answer session at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria, Australia, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson once again confirmed that he got Dave Mustaine‘s “blessing” to audition for the bassist position in METALLICA after Jason Newsted left the band nearly 24 years ago.
Newsted exited METALLICA in January 2001, after he clashed with James Hetfield over the release of an album by ECHOBRAIN, Jason‘s side project. He was replaced by producer Bob Rock in the studio, for the recording of 2003’s “St. Anger” album, and then permanently by former OZZY OSBOURNE bassist Robert Trujillo.
Asked if he ever wonders what would have happened if he had landed the bassist gig in METALLICA, Ellefson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ”[In] 2001, [MEGADETH] had just recorded ‘The World Needs A Hero’ [album]. And Dave called me, and he said, he goes, ‘Hey, Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] called me, and you’re on a shortlist, and asked if it would be okay if they reach out to you.’ And Dave said, he goes, ‘There’s no way I could stop you from that opportunity. You have my blessing. I gave Lars my blessing.’ Now, they never called me. And I think they have the right man for the job with Robert. Robert‘s fucking great; he’s amazing.”
Ellefson went on to say that his preparation for the METALLICA audition saw him learning how to play METALLICA songs for the first time. “And not ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’, which was more similar to what we were doing in MEGADETH, but the later stuff, even the Black Album, and just really played the bass lines and listened to how James put his phrasing of the vocals over top of the riff,” he said. “It was like a whole other genre. It was shocking how different it was. And I actually had to ask myself, I go, ‘I wonder if I’m… I might not be the right guy for this.’ And not that I would say no, ’cause what do we do? We say yes, right? That’s the lesson of the day — say yes. But it really was an eye opener to me of how their music had transitioned from the early days. And they’d had great producers, with Bob Rock. They were able to make very expensive albums and take the time to write and really dig deep and make records like they did with the Black Album and stuff. But it really taught me how different they were from what I was used to doing in MEGADETH and working with Dave and how he would write and how he would put his phrasing of his of his vocals over top. ‘Cause let’s face it — when the singer starts singing, that’s who we listen to, whether it’s Dave or Paul Stanley or Bruce Dickinson or Ronnie Dio. The riffs could be awesome, but when the singer starts singing, whether you’re a girl or a guy or whatever, you fucking listen to the singer. And, look, it was my idea for Dave to be the singer in MEGADETH. I was the one who said, ‘Dude, you’ve gotta sing.’ ‘Cause he was writing the stuff at that time, and I said, ‘There’s no one who’s gonna come in here and sing that shit the way you’re hearing it, the way you’re feeling it. You’re never gonna be able to teach anyone how to do that.'”
In a 2021 interview with Doc Coyle‘s “The Ex-Man” podcast, Ellefson was asked if he took part in the METALLICA bassist tryouts once it was announced that Newsted had split with the group. “I did not,” Ellefson said. “Lars had contacted Dave to ask him permission, which I thought was kind of him, to say, ‘Hey, would it be okay if we reach out to Ellefson?’ ‘Cause Dave called me. And he said, ‘Listen, I would hate to lose you, but, as your friend, I certainly couldn’t hold you back from an opportunity like that. So he gave it his blessing. I never did get the call.”
Ellefson also once again discussed the differences in the musical approach of METALLICA and MEGADETH, especially as the two bands progressed and eventually became two of the biggest metal bands in the world.
“I’m a bigMETALLICA fan, starting with [the] ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ [demo,” he said. “In fact, quite honestly, ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’, that’s my heart of METALLICA. I love ‘Kill ‘Em All’. I really love ‘Master Of Puppets’. There’s a different vibe about [‘No Life ‘Til Leather’], ’cause, obviously, Dave played on that. So that’s why I heard it first — because when I met Dave, ‘Kill ‘Em All’ wasn’t even out yet. They had let Dave go, then they recorded ‘Kill ‘Em All’, but that album wasn’t out yet. So this is June of ’83. What I liked was the bass player, Ron McGovney. As much as everybody’s really into Cliff [Burton], my METALLICA was with Ron McGovney. And that’s why on ‘Mechanix’, when we put it on ‘Killing Is My Business’, I played Ron‘s bassline.”
David went on to say that he learned how to play some of METALLICA‘s songs in preparation for what he thought would be an audition for the bassist position in the band.
“I sat down in 2001… I thought, ‘If I do get the call, I should probably be kind of prepared,'” he explained. “So the first time I sat down and I actually played along with something simple, like stuff off the ‘Black’ album — ‘Holier Than Thou’; stuff like that. And that was the first time I realized, man, for as much as METALLICA and MEGADETH are so similar — seemingly similar — riffs… Dave obviously having been in the band, so there’s a piece of the DNA inside of MEGADETH, for sure, the way Dave phrases his vocals over the riffs versus how James phrases his vocals… Dave‘s almost like Geddy Lee does it.”
He continued: “What I noticed, sitting down to it, playing bass to it — like playing bass to Jason Newsted‘s, on the ‘Black’ album, to how he played over the riffs, okay, musically, I grasped that, but to hear the vocal over it. Because now you’re playing it as an instrumentalist inside the composition, not listening to it as a fan, kind of paying attention to the vocal and the vocal melody. Now all of a sudden, I’m going, ‘Woah! This is so, so different than anything that I’m…’ I mean, forget about thrash metal or us being from the same family tree; it was an entirely different gig.”
Back in 2011, Mustaine said that he was relieved that Ellefson wasn’t invited to join METALLICA after the tragic death of Cliff Burton.
Burton died on tour in 1986 in a tour bus crash, three years after Mustaine was kicked out of METALLICA and went on to form MEGADETH.
Mustaine told CBS: “When Cliff died, there was a moment where Dave’s name had come up [as Burton‘s possible replacement in METALLICA] and I was a little concerned. I didn’t want to lose my bassist and I certainly didn’t want to have another reason to be upset. God knows I had my reasons, even though they weren’t all real. A lot of them were caused by myself.”
He admitted: “I just don’t think I would have done well if I’d have known that had happened. Fortunately for me, I think those guys took that into account and just said, ‘Let’s find someone else.'”
Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, when the group briefly broke up because Mustaine suffered severe nerve damage that left him unable to play. After Mustaine reformed MEGADETH with an all-new lineup in 2004, Ellefson sued his former bandmate for $18.5 million, alleging that Mustaine still owed him substantial merchandise and publishing royalties. In January 2005, the case was dismissed in court, and five years later, Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH.
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH more than three years ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.