Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has again spoken out about being ousted from the band back in May following allegations that the bassist groomed an underage girl online.
In his second interview since he was forced to exit the group, Ellefson said of the accusations, “As much as it’s not something I’m proud of, these were private, adult interactions that were taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation, my career and family”.
“The night [the videos were leaked online], a couple of people said, ‘Hey, don’t say anything,’” Ellefson said.
“In particular, the Megadeth camp didn’t want me to say anything. But my legal [team] said, ‘Hey, I think you should say something.
He continued, “I think some people have done some really shitty things here and made some false allegations about you, and you have every right to defend yourself.’ And I did. Ultimately, that led to my dismissal from Megadeth. But I have every right, as anyone does, to defend yourself, especially when somebody is making false allegations about you like that.”
Asked how he responded to Dave Mustaine, who refused to let him rejoin the band, he said, “Dave and I are grown men, and we have opinions. It’s not the thing where it’s just Dave and three side guys when it’s me and the band. And apparently, they didn’t want that anymore – they wanted it to not be that.
“It’s, like, ‘Hey, we don’t want you here. There’s the door. Don’t come to work on Monday.’ So, it’s, like, ‘Okay. Fine.’ And that’s just how I viewed it, and that’s how I view it today. I don’t have any sour grapes over it, and I’m not bitter about it.”
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It comes after Ellefson sat down with Aftershocks TV in promotion of his new band The Lucid’s self-titled debut album.
During the interview, Ellefson was asked if he has experienced a kind of musical “freedom” since his departure from Megadeth.
“I’ve always been free and I’ve always been exploring,” he said. “I think probably the first 20 years, up until 2002, when that band [Megadeth] officially disbanded, everything was always for that one singular cause. And then one day, unexpectedly, that ended.”
Ellefson credits the 2000s as a time of musical freedom and experimentation. Musing that following the success of Megadeth, he felt compelled to “make music for music’s sake and just do it because I enjoy it, because I like it.”
“The 2000s, having that time away to just kind of reinvent and just, again, fall in love with making music again, to me, that has always been there,” he continued.
“And I’ve been active — I’ve been active making records and doing stuff these last bunch of years anyway. And I wouldn’t say out of necessity, because, honestly, I’ve been okay to not have to just go make music for money, but to make music for fun, which has been nice”
“It’s fun to create for creation’s sake and not because it has to be motivated from anything else,” David said. “So I guess I’m kind of glad to just be right where I’m at. To be honest, I’m perfectly content and happy where I am right now. I’m not gonna lie — it’s perfectly fine. So I’m all good.”
You can read more about this topic on the Metal Observer.
Check out Dave Ellefson on Aftershocks TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUSbluXrvJQ
