Megadeth’s Revolving Door – David Ellefson Returns!
As a Megadeth fan, I’ve had to become accustomed to change. Through my teens up to now, I’ve seen one lineup of Megadeth split up (“The World Needs a Hero” lineup of Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson, Jimmy Degrasso and Al Pitrelli), another record an album (“The System Has Failed” lineup of session musicians Jimmy Sloas, Vinnie Colaiuta and guest soloist Chris Poland – with Dave Mustaine of course), another tour (“Blackmail the Universe” tour lineup of Dave Mustaine, James MacDonough, Glen Drover and Shawn Drover – with a brief tease of a Nick Menza return before that), a bassist change before recording another album (James MacDonough replaced by James Lomenzo just before recording “United Abominations”), a guitarist change (Glen Drover departing to be replaced by Chris Broderick before going on to record “Endgame”) and now another bassist change, which sees 1983-2002 Megadeth bassist and co-founder David Ellefson return to the fold following the departure of James Lomenzo. That’s quite a bit of change, and I’m too young to have experienced 15 years of the band’s career!
So, as I said earlier, as a Megadeth fan, I’ve had to familiarise myself with change. My problem is I get comfortable. I liked James MacDonough and mourned his departure when James Lomenzo stepped in, only to realise that the change was for the better. I loved Glen Drover and was extremely gutted when he and his smooth tone departed, but Chris Broderick more than stepped up to the job. With James Lomenzo’s departure, I’m feeling the same kind of mourning… but the change is so much more significant!
I credit James Lomenzo with bringing a lot of energy back to the Megadeth live show. If you see footage of Megadeth from the Gigantour 2006 DVD (Lomenzo’s first tour), you’ll see a fairly boring Megadeth. If you see footage from the tours that followed – when Lomenzo got comfortable (such as Megadeth’s infamous Download festival performance of 2007) you’ll see a reignited Megadeth. Their live shows have kicked severe ass ever since.
He’s a really nice chap, and comes across very personable in interviews and the one time I had the pleasure of meeting him – and he’s a monster on the bass. “Washington is Next!” has one of the most incredible bass lines I’ve ever heard and seen performed – and it will be interesting as to whether this song will ever feature in Megadeth’s live repertoire again. I look forward to hearing more details on Lomenzo’s departure. What I hope to hear is that he wanted to leave for whatever reason – and Dave sought out to please the fans and brought Junior back into the fold. It’d taint Ellefson’s return to think that JLo was driven out.
Now, of course I’m happy to see David Ellefson back. It’s fantastic that after all the bullshit of $18 million lawsuits and interview gags whenever the Megadeth subject comes up will be over and the two most important characters in Megadeth history will once again be sharing a stage, writing music and touring the world together. Even better for the American audience (and hopefully everyone else…) is that they get to see the entire “Rust In Peace” album performed by half of the lineup that recorded it. It’ll be a treat to see Ellefson back and it adds special value to the upcoming big 4 tour and Download performance.
One thought I did have stems from a point that was raised on the Metal Hammer podcast recently in which Mr Terry Bezer stated that Megadeth are more relevant now than they’ve been in a long time. I worry now that the throwbacks to the past will overshadow the critical success of “Endgame” and the hard work the 2008/9 lineup put into the album, only to find themselves touring a CD that came out in 1990. “Endgame” hasn’t been properly toured. Due to complications with upcoming Slayer tours, Megadeth have only been to Canada, Australia, Japan and some of the States in support of the record. I’ve been eagerly awaiting an indoor European tour where I’ll get to hear “This Day We Fight” and “Headcrusher” and hopefully deeper album cuts like “The Right To Go Insane” and “How the Story Ends” live – but I fear this may be in jeopardy.
So in summary, I have mixed feelings about the latest change, as I always do. It’s exciting to see Ellefson back, but it’s heartbreaking to see James Lomenzo leave. Thanks for everything James and welcome back Junior!
I’m sure I’ll be tweeting more about this so follow me at @willbeardmore.
Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson, Endgame, Megadeth, Metal, Rust in Peace
It’s fixin’ to get ugly…..
Awww, I don’t like the sound of that!…
Ellefson is great for nostalgia’s sake but LoMenzo was huge on the bass. Like you mentioned, Washington is Next! is just a tremendous piece of bass work and both UA and EndGame are testaments to JLo’s skills as a bassist. Ellefson is good and all, but if JLo was driven out for him (which I do think was the case), then I’m pissed.
Does Jr. even know how to play without a pick? I don’t think we’ll be hearing Washington is Next! any time soon or if we do, it just won’t sound the same.