4.21.09 Interview with David Ellefson
You are best known as the bassist of legendary 80’s thrash metal group Megadeth. How do you feel about inspiring and paving the way for bands like Pantera and Slipknot?
DE: It’s cool, it’s an honor. You know I think when you get started in any of these things you have high hopes and expectations, of course. But making any sort of success in the arts is always kind of a pipe dream and most are a Cinderella story at best. I think the fact that I was able to go the distance and the group was able to survive all that it did, and now be revered as one of these landmark bands is probably nothing short of extraordinary.
And probably a little surreal?
DE: Yeah, and you know I was there all the time when it wasn’t such a Cinderella story. If it were easy everybody be doing it. You know? I guess that’s part of the trick of show business, we make the hard stuff look easy and the easy stuff look hard.
Why did you choose to use Dan Huff as a producer for the album Cryptic Writings when he normally produces pop-country music albums like Faith Hill and Reba McIntyre?
DE: When Dan did the Cryptic Writings record, that was only the second album he ever produced. He had just finished producing a little young start up band called Lonestar right before that. And the reason we chose him was really our manager suggested him. We were fans of the Giant album which was Dan’s band back in LA in the early 80’s- 90’s and we loved his tone and his guitar playing. So we were really requesting the guy who engineered that record to do Cryptic Writings when our manager said ‘Why don’t you just get Dan to do it? Dan’s actually in Nashville now he’s transitioning from being associate guitar player to being a full time producer’. It was really good for the both of us, because my opinion is that the Cryptic Writings record is sonically one of the best sounding records that we did in that group. I think from a song writing point of view- we started to transition a little bit away from only doing thrash metal on the Countdown to Extinction record. And then we did Youthanasia, so Cryptic Writings was a key record for us to really to keep our thrash roots. Like what we did with songs like The Disintegrators, but to really take the melodic capabilities. And I think the song writing abilities within that band to another level. Risk, Youthinasia, and Cryptic Writings were those three records that really captured that M.O.
Dave Mustaine was the original guitarist for Metallica. While Megadeth gained fame, they never received quite the same amount of attention. Did that reality affect Dave and thus the rest of the band as well?
DE: You’d have to ask him on his side of it, but for me my attitude was I was always thankful for Metallica, because without them I probably wouldn’t be here. Not only am I a fan of what Metallica does and has done, but just as a contemporary of theirs in the scene I have great respect and admiration for how they ran their business. They were just a big, well oiled machine. And as a result they got huger and huger. They really captured the minds of millions of people. And I think the first ones to the party are always the winner. I think to some degree the ones that come after that probably will never gain that much success, but that’s not to say- I mean what we did was a lot of what Metallica did, but we did it a lot differently. We offered something different, and that ultimately became our hook. And now to think all these years later what we’re revered for our own uniqueness and originality. Without uniqueness and originality you’re just another band. So for that we really shined bright in our own spotlight. All these bands, ourselves included, compare successes. But when you’re actually in the band yourself I think those of us who have had success, in any walk of life, you remember the hard times as much as the good times, because it was the difficult times that you learned the most and proceeded to grow the most to.
There was a very public lawsuit involving Mustaine and you over the rights to Megadeth. After that battle, where do you two stand today?
DE: Things are peaceful between us. He lives in San Diego now, I still live in Arizona so we don’t see each other regularly. We don’t communicate regularly, however any recent communications we’ve had have been fine and there doesn’t seem to be any hostilities between us. I think for me personally I’m glad to just be moving on with new things in my life.
Megadeth’s drug use has been well documented in the past. Do you think drug issues played a part in why so many band members came and went?
DE: When those issues are around its pretty hard to keep any consistency. It’s the nature of what that lifestyle does. I have not been a part of that lifestyle for many, many years. Consistency and continuity are key in my life, and it’s because I’m not in the lifestyle anymore. It’s funny because some of the best rock and rollers out there, guys that I grew up listening to like Gene Simmons, Kiss, and Ted Nugent- they weren’t part of the drug lifestyle either. Look at their lives and they’re still around. They’re still kicking ass, and they’re still doing it. Most of the ones that got tangled up in that lifestyle, because they thought that’s what it’s about, they ultimately took their eye off their music and most of them aren’t even still around to talk about it.
You also work as an artist relations representative for Peavey. Do you enjoy that line of work? Is it hard tackling two different careers?
DE: I do enjoy it, I think I have a good temperament for it. I’m a people person and I love to communicate with people. Because I’m dealing with a music company and we’re talking about gear. You know I haven’t met a musician yet that doesn’t like to talk about gear. To me it’s just an extension, or arm off the same body so to speak. For me everything I do in my life is all music related; whether it’s actually playing the music or writing it, recording it, touring it, stuff I do for Peavey, producing it, my YouTube series David Ellefson’s Rock Shop, where I’m talking about it, the book I wrote; I mean everything I do is music related so to me I don’t look at them as separate things, they’re all just part of the same gene pool.
You created David Ellefson’s Rock Shop, an ongoing YouTube series after you wrote Making Music Your Business. What kind of response have you received and do you feel like you’ve helped eager to succeed musicians?
DE: The response has been great. And you’re right, years ago in 95’-96’ is when I wrote and released the book. And since that time I’ve had a lot of people ask me to write a Volume 2, and quite honestly I’m so busy I don’t have time to sit down and focus all my thoughts on it. And the world has changed, people don’t just sit down and read books, they go to the internet now to find resources. They want resources quick. So I do the Rock Shop the same way. I do these short little 5 to 10 minute segments. I address a topic or several topics, probably some I’m going to do a series on the same topic, and I can address a whole bunch of things as they pop into my brain. I can rally the team, we can shoot these things, and we can post them quickly within a few days. It’s an easier, more modern day way to basically do the same thing I did when I authored the book.
I personally found the videos very interesting, and I’m not even a musician.
DE: And that’s also the best part of it. Just like when I wrote the book, I wanted it to be something that non-musicians could read, enjoy, find fascinating, or take interest in. And that was my goal with the YouTube thing with David Ellefson’s Rock Shop, is to have something not only informational, but hopefully entertaining. And for people who don’t get to walk in our shoes of the day to day active artists and performers, can check it out and go ‘Wow that’s cool, I didn’t even know how that worked’.
In 2006 Peavey introduced the Zodiac DE Scorpio which you helped designed. Was designing an instrument something you always wanted to do? What was your goal behind the design?
DE: It’s not something I always wanted to do, because to be honest with you I’m not a guitar designer/ builder guy. I like playing them, I like writing songs and performing with them as a tool. It’s not my identity, it’s a tool so to speak. So for me, when the opportunity came up to design something with Peavey, it was more about creating a culmination of all my years of experience. Knowing these are things I like about instruments, and these are some things that I did not like about instruments. These are some things I know that work, and lets avoid the things that I have found that just don’t work. And really put that together in an instrument and something that would benefit Peavey, something that will benefit the player, and probably lastly something that would benefit me because I have a lot of instruments I use for a lot of different uses. So my goal with the Zodiac was to design something that would really work well in a whole variety of applications, and so far the Zodiacs that I have is all I play now. I think we’ve come up with a nice line that takes care of all the uses I have, which hopefully will be most or all of the uses that anyone else might get a bass for.
Do you feel the need to prove yourself with F5 or do you feel as a member you’re a part of a fun or liberating chapter in your life?
DE: I think it’s the latter. One thing I’ve learned, especially moving on from all the former stuff, is none of these things last forever, and I think to some degree they shouldn’t. Bands are formed and created because of the people in them and at some point bands then control, dictate, and dominate the people that are in them and that’s a bad place to be. It’s not creative, it’s not inspiring, and you almost create a prison around yourself. F5, Temple of Brutality, and the work I did with Soulfly, these new bands that I’m always getting involved in- everyone of them is an opportunity. They’re kind of a blank palette, a canvas for me to recreate myself and create something new for what’s happening today and not always having to rely on what I did yesterday.
Both of F5’s albums have 1980’s metal and thrash influences. Do you feel you are sticking with what has worked in the past or do you feel that’s an unfair statement?
DE: I don’t think that’s a fair statement. Obviously anything I do is going to have some of that influence from years ago just because I’m in it. And those influences are part of who I am, but I think if anything F5 has been a huge, giant step forward for me by adding in much more modern elements, and to some degree I think was initially judged very harshly and critically because it was not straight up 1986 thrash metal. But one of the things that I’ve stood by and am very proud of is because I’ve moved on a new band formed called F5. I did not feel I needed to dictate to F5 and make it just be more of what I did in the past. I could let F5 really grow and germinate and become something of its own. Let it stand on its own merits.
What current projects are you especially excited about?
DE: I just did this Northern Light Orchestra thing that played on the record last fall in 2008 that we just shot- it was a huge undertaking quite honestly. We just shot a live DVD this past week in the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, and it was absolutely wonderful. It was just one of the (most fun) things I’ve been involved in, and probably because it was so much work. Me and the drummer, Ken Mary, who’s been a friend of mine now for almost 20 years I guess, he and I put the band together and like everything I seem to get involved in I dive in head first and I go all the way. And it really became a great project helping put the band together, essentially almost becoming the live music and performance director for the show. It’s awesome, and all these new things have allowed me to step up and really recreate myself. I think when opportunity is there I’m not the guy who sits on the sidelines and goes ‘Its not my job man, someone else will do it or you just tell me where to go and I’ll be there’. I am not that guy. And I think its one of the things that was probably frustrating from the past was that I didn’t want to just be Junior anymore. And I didn’t want to be Dave number two. Because quite honestly, I’m capable of a lot more than that, and that’s proved by the last 8 years I’ve been in that band. I think what you’re seeing in my life now is just a manifestation of all of these other skills and abilities that have always been within me, but now just somehow- I’m really being led towards those opportunities, to really showcase those sides of who I am and the abilities that I have. As a result I’d like to think that there’s now a lot of other really cool projects that are starting to really open up and develop, because hopefully I bring something to them. I’d like to think they’re better because I’m there, because I’m showing up and actually contributing to them, rather than going and telling me what to do and I’ll do it.
I find what you just said inspiring.
DE: And I hope- you know lots of people say ‘Oh you’re in a big rock band, you’re living the dream’. Well I’m telling you big rock bands can be the golden handcuffs just like being in any high paying corporate job. I get good benefits, and I make a lot of money, and there’s security, but I hate my job, I can’t stand the people I work with, and there’s got to be more to life than this. I think most of us hit those walls in our lives, especially when you hit middle age like where I’m at. I think the trick for me was going okay my real passion and seemingly a big reason I’m on the planet is for creativity and music and all the things that come around that, but there’s got to be a way to move forward and to be able to be creatively inspired and creatively free and build upon the past rather than tear down the past. And I think that’s also a big part of it, is that you don’t have to hate your past in order to move forward, you can embrace it and use it as a real building block for your future.
Rock Fist namely concentrates on local artists. Any message or tips of the trade to share with aspiring artists today?
DE: With David Ellefson’s Rock Shop I try to address as many of these issues as possible on YouTube, so you can stop over there and hopefully that will be inspiring. I think don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to get out in front of people and play as often as you can, with as many people as you can, and as many different situations that you can. I think if you have a band or an act or a project your doing, think about the marketing. Playing your instrument is just a small part in the music business. If you’re out performing, and you’re making records, and you’re trying to sell your music, you have to realize you are in the business of music at that point, and you really do yourself a great disservice if you just play the dumb musician thing. The dumb musician thing is not attractive, its not appealing, and I think the world is way over that. To be sharp, to be educated, to really be on top of your game so you can really give your audience the best, should always be your goal.
~Kris Melton
