David Ellefson has opened up about where his relationship currently stands with former Megadeth bandmate Dave Mustaine.
Ellefson was a founding member of Megadeth in 1983 and stayed with the band until its dissolution in 2002. Megadeth reformed in 2004 and Ellefson rejoined the band in 2010.
Ellefson was dismissed from Megadeth on May 24th, days after sexually explicit messages involving him were posted on Twitter. The longtime Megadeth bassist, who joined the fold during its formative years, admitted to police that he had been sexting with a Dutch teenager who had captured video of their communication without his consent and shared them with friends.
“I’m sad that things went down the way they did because I don’t think they had to. I knew that everything was fine. And it was a scary moment there for a second, but I knew it was okay. Just over time, our lives just take different directions, and that doesn’t mean you can’t be in a band together ’cause you’ve got different lives.
“But at the same time, again, things just… I guess they just needed to come apart for this next season of life. And we’ve been here before where things came apart and then they came back together and they came apart. Maybe this is just how it is. Me and Dave are brothers from another mother; I mean, we just are. It’s kind of ironic our names are both Dave; brothers aren’t usually named the same. But, you know, there is a weird thing.”
And, Ellefson hasn’t ruled out the idea of returning to Megadeth one day.
“I never say never to anything. And in fact, I’ve learned in life. [Producer] Max Norman taught me this, by the way, on [Megadeth’s] ‘Youthanasia’ record. We were doing some lyrics, and he goes, ‘Man, don’t ever fucking use words like ‘never’ and ‘forever.’ They’re fucking bullshit words, man. They don’t mean anything. They’re not sincere. They’re not true.’ And I’ve come to think about that over the years, and it is true. Is love forever? Well, I don’t know. ‘Well, I’ll never play with that guy again.’ I mean, didn’t we see that in ‘Spinal Tap’. ‘Nigel and I shall never work together again.’ I mean, c’mon — it’s silly.
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“We have these moments in our lives. They are what they are. Hopefully we grow from ’em, we get better from them. I certainly feel like I have. And you move on. And like I said the first time with the Megadeth reunion. At some point, it was a rearview-mirror item, and then one day it came around in the front window again. There it was in the next intersection of life in front of me, and probably for Dave too. It was, like, ‘All right. Saddle up. Let’s do this.'”
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