"I want people to think of me as sincere about what I did. To be true to the groove"

All the young metal heads who live in this day of age should consider themselves extremely lucky and fortunate.  Although there have been distractions from the nu-metal world and new types of metal which lack originality, we have all experienced something unique, metal’s first revitalization. There is no need to introduce Megadeth in a historical form, but rather I feel as though today people do not understand Megadeth’s importance, as they were always overshadowed by Metallica in the chronicles of heavy metal. But what is most important to realize today is that despite the fact that both bands made pop records, and albums that may have alienated a portion of their fan base, the one band which has stayed heavy of the two and closest to its roots has been Megadeth, without a doubt. As Megadeth, and subsequently many other thrash metal bands such as Exodus and Death Angel have made their respective comebacks in the last two years, it is important to understand that those bands will never be the same; however, Megadeth has and always will be Megadeth. 

Alexi Front: How has Gigantour been for you as a person and how has it been as a bonding experience for Megadeth as a whole?

James MacDonough: It has definitely come together quite well. The first week was a little rough in terms of working out the transitions between the two stages, setting up and all that stuff. Everything has come together really well.  The comraderey between us is like, well instead of having one crew bus, we have two crew busses and there are like thirty people who work on the crew. I have met each of them and there are no sour characters, and everyone gets along really well.  We all say “hi” to each other. It is a great joy to be on this. All the bands are great also.  We have some things coming up which will prove that. But this has been great. 

Alexi: How has Gigantour, as well as the “Blackmail The Universe Tour” tested you not only as a bass player, but also as a person?

James: Well, with my old band we never got the chance to tour like this.  We would do one album and then do two tours at the most and be out for two and a half months total.  We have been out a very long time now, and jumping into this is exactly what I thought it would be as a kid growing up.  This is everything I have ever wanted to do.  We have spent more time on the road then down or sitting around.  I had some changes at home personally, but this has brought out the best of me in terms of my potential, and has made me that much better as a musician.  When we started out we were a little rough around the edges, even though everyone would say, “Oh you were great tonight!”  We were really hard on ourselves then, but now we feel as though we are almost at the point that we want to be at.  We are all really comfortable every night, and it is a joy, we don’t have to concentrate so hard, it just flows out.  That has made me a better musician.  Dave has also taught me a lot.

Alexi: How did you feel coming into Megadeth and learning bass parts written by David Ellefson, who some would consider the best bassist in metal?  For example, songs like “My Last Words” or parts in songs such as “Tornado of Souls,” “Take No Prisoners,” and “Peace Sells.”  How did you feel coming into this position and learning someone else’s masterpieces?

James: Actually, most of those parts were written by Dave Mustaine and not David Ellefson.  But coming in and learning that, I was a finger player for twenty years prior to that, and when I got into Megadeth, the first thing Dave asked me was if I could play the Megadeth songs with a pick. And I was like, “Hell yeah, I’ll play them with a pick.”  I ended up learning a completely new style of playing and it took up fourteen hours a day in the beginning to become accustomed to the style. It is a different mind set playing these songs because everything is so articulate, and not so much in the background or doing so much with the guitars so much as was the case with my old band.  But it was a really unique experience getting into the Megadeth vibe.  The first few practices, we couldn’t stop smiling because here I was playing with Dave Mustaine [laughs].  It sounded so good I would take my earplugs out just to jam.  It is nice to play those lines, really cool, especially “Peace Sells.”

Alexi: Did you ever think constructively about the Megadeth songs when you first joined the fold?  For example, did you ever think to yourself, wow, I wouldn’t have written this part this way, or I would have done something different here?

James: There were quite a few parts were Dave would tell us, “Well, I play it this way,” and Glenn and I would think, wow!  There are no rules to Dave’s writing, it may jump from key to key but it all meshes together in some sort of wild plan that he has.  There are a lot of things, like I grew up listening to these songs, so I knew how to play them, like 95% the way through, but Dave would show me a few things that he does differently that are like, “wow!”  Just a few tricks that you can come up with.  Also the way he attacks with his right hand is awesome.  His personality totally comes out in everything he plays and writes. 

Alexi: How did you become involved in Megadeth?

James: Well, on the last tour Megadeth did, “The World Needs A Hero Tour” Iced Earth opened for the last leg. That was kind of a last audition. I had been checking up on Megadeth after getting off tour with Iced Earth and our last shows were cancelled so I was on Megadeth’s website checking out what was going on with them. I found out that the guys Dave used on The System Has Failed, were session players. I looked up on Jimmy Sloas and figured he would probably not do the tour, so I contacted the webmaster and the next day I got an e-mail back from Dave, and a few days later I was on a conference call with Dave Mustaine for about an hour. I sent him a video of me playing and some songs and he called me back a few days later and told me he wanted to hire me. It was a very unique way to get into the band because there were not tryouts we just went in and slammed it out.