Interview
James MacDonough
Megadeth

Dave Mustaine vocals/guitars
Glen Drover  guitars 
James MacDonough bass
Shawn Drover drums

Gigantour
8/12/05

Interviewer: Alexi Front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"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?

 

CLick here to access our review of The SYstem Has Failed by MegadethJames: 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.

 

Alexi: Did any sort of childish excitement come out when Dave said he wanted to hire you?   

 

James: Of course, I had to pull over to the side of the road, I was traveling at the time and I was loosing my signal.  Here is how it happened.  He said, “James, you are the man I want to hire” and three seconds later I lost my signal [laughs], do you know how terrible it would have been to get disconnected [laughs]?  It was an awesome feeling.  Every morning I wake up I think, damn I am in Megadeth.  It is totally awesome.

 

Alexi: What has it been like working with Jon Schaffer and then Dave Mustaine, two well respected songwriters.

 

James: Well it is night and day as far as dealing with them in terms of people. It is also night and day in terms of dealing with respect.  I have said in interviews before that I felt more like a band member in Megadeth, even before I played with Dave Mustaine, than I ever did with Iced Earth. I felt I was more of a hired hand, and that was the way I was made to feel in the band. It had its few rare moments were it was cool, but I loved playing that music and I love chatting with the fans.  But as far as actual dealing with the two as bosses, both are really professional, but one is more of a friend. Dave is a good friend and big brother to  me. I’ll leave it at that, there is a lot of respect mutually. Dave is really open to our ideas, we will give him our inputs and he will ask for  our inputs in certain things, that was something that was never used or ever mattered in my old band.

 

Alexi: Did your parents like heavy metal when you were a kid?

 

James: Wow [laughs]!  Well my dad hated it, but my mom was always more accepting. She has always been more supportive in my music no matter where it was or what I was into, she loved it. My dad always hated it and kept telling me to put the bass down.  But now it is a different situation [laughs]!

 

Alexi: Was there a pivotal moment that made you decide you wanted to take the music world by the horns?

 

James: When I was fourteen and I got my first bass, I picked it up and started playing and couldn’t stop for three hours.  It was at that point I knew I wanted to play bass. 

 

Alexi: Would you argue that today heavy metal is on the rise again?

 

James: I would not argue with that at all.  It is definitely in an upswing.  There are a lot of different genres of metal, and there are a lot of things you can’t really classify, which is all really cool.  So I would say it is on the upswing for sure, I would not argue that at all.

 

Alexi: Do you see any similarities between how metal has risen today and how it rose in the '80s?

 

James: Well back then, there were a lot of lyrics that were about fantasy and stuff like that.  You still have that today, but I think that the comeback today is more true and people are into it for different reasons, not just rebellion.  There is a good energy and vibe, it was a lot different than what is saturating the market today.

 

Alexi: Now as an outsider to Megadeth at the time of their initial rise, what would you say their role was in heavy metal in history?

 

James: That was like throwing the switch on. Because before that everyone was listening to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Then you had Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica and that just threw the switch for everything.  It was total all out aggression.  It was also balls out.

 

Alexi: Any other projects right now?

 

James: Not right now. There really isn’t much time for me to do that right now. I have some ideas for down the road, but we are going to be so busy that I can’t think about that stuff right now.

 

Alexi: There has been talk about jamming and writing some new music. How do you feel entering a new Megadeth that has been reincarnated in some ways?

 

James: Well going into a new chapter of Megadeth: at first, everybody was not talking about the band, but the fanbase.  Everyone was skeptical of the new band, but now that they have seen how the band has grown, how we get along, and how we gel on stage and how we are having fun and how we are getting tighter and tighter.  I think they can all see that.  Everyone is ready to see something new from Megadeth.  Things are all really well.

 

Alexi: How do you feel that all the creative minds will mesh in this new Megadeth?

 

James: Dave has a certain way of writing. And he will listen to all our ideas, and he will combine it all with something he is doing. But all this jamming is speculative talk. He is open with anything, and we sit around and jam all the time.

 

Alexi: What do you feel your personal legacy has been?  How do you want people to view you when you retire?

 

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

 

 

Special Thanks: All Members of Megadeth, their crew, the tour managers who went through so much trouble after the box office screwed  up several times, and also Amanda Hale for giving me the opportunity to interview one of my favorite bassists and my favorite band of all time.

 

Alexi Front (alexi@pivotalrage.com)

 

 

FourteenG would like to thank the Megadeth camp and to Alexi for submitting this fantastic article.