In a recent episode of The David Ellefson Show, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson spoke about the tensions between him and frontman Dave Mustaine that led to his firing in 2021. According to Ellefson, things started to get heated between him and Mustaine (Metallica’s former guitarist) when the frontman suggested re-recording some of Metallica’s earlier material – something Ellefson didn’t want to do.
“There was clashes all the way down, and for me, it started in 2018 when Dave came in to — we started a tour in Oslo, and he came in and he said he wanted to re-record [Metallica’s] ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo [which Mustaine played on when he was a member of Metallica],” Ellefson said.
He continued, describing his reaction to the proposal:
“I’m, like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is where we’re at? After all this time? We’re supposed to be writing a new album and new songs. And I was just, like, ‘I am not down with that.’ As fun as it would be to play those songs, ’cause that’s one of my favorite Metallica recordings, I was just, like, ‘Yeah, I ain’t down with that.’ I’m sorry. I couldn’t kiss the ring for that one. I was, like, ‘I’m out.’ And so I think our problem started then.”
He went on to explain how this eventually led to his exit from the band.
“So as we went into the record, he knew I wasn’t willing to just f*cking say, ‘Yes, Dave,’ and go along with sh*t. So eventually I’m out of the band. So it goes. Bands are what bands are, and it is what it is.”
