How's Marty's replacement Al (Petrelli) fitting in? No cries to bring back Marty?
    “Yeah, I did wonder if people would make an issue of it - after all, Marty was a guitar god even before he joined us and he was very popular. But thankfully, there's been nothing to talk about and that make sense cos Al too is a fantastic musician and we were so lucky man that he managed to step in firstly to fill in and now to join full time. And its not easy joining Megadeth man, lemme tell you, its more than just being able to play the notes, its about the way you look, your attitude and I guess your lifestyle cos its not some kinda job where you show up and just play the fuckin guitar ha ha!”

Are you guys glad you're now off Capitol Records?
    “Actually this new record (The World Needs A Hero) was originally gonna be called Capitol Punishment ha ha! But then we asked for the record back cos we honestly didn't feel Capitol was gonna be able to do the record true justice. There had been so many changes in that company that we didn't want our album to just fall by the wayside. We went to Sanctuary cos we knew that we wanted to do something different for the record. We really came together as a band on how we wanted the album to sound which of course was real hard and heavy ha ha! We already had most of the songs written and what we wanted was a really cool engineer and co-producer so we started with Bill Kennedy. But as things got on we found his strength was mainly in engineering and of course Dave has always been a co-producer on Megadeth records cos he writes most of the material as he knows what he wants to hear. Over the years we've gained so much studio experience that we knew as a band we could handle things in the studio and leave it to Dave to do the producing.”

I've noticed with the recent albums a departure from the politically slanted lyrics of the past
    “Well, there was more political shit goin on in those days than there is now ha ha! Times have been more peaceful lately than they were in the 80's. Probably the last significant thing was the Gulf War that really inspired political lyrics, and conversely I heard that the US soldiers were blasting Megadeth and Slayer from their tanks to scare off the enemy! I guess 'The World Needs A Hero' is slanted in that political direction though. But its interesting that you bring that up cos we realised that there was little politics looking back at the last few records - good question!”

I think what's also gone are the acidic slurs and sarcasm that I once associated with the band
    “Oh yeah, well that's cos of the Metallica thing as you probably remember. Of course Dave starting Megadeth was to get back at Metallica for kicking him out and for a while Dave's mission was to kick ass on Metallica and that fuelled a lot of his writing. But the thing was that it worked for us cos that was the start of the whole thrash and speed metal era and the fans loved it! Knowing Dave all these years and watching him write all these songs I can say that he - and James (Hetfield) - were pioneers of that whole style of music but over the years Megadeth's music became less about retribution and more about us as a band. As we got our own success and the fans liked us, we didn't have to live in Metallica's shadow and we became our own band and like you say we became one of the big 4.”

How did you guys hook up with Penelope Spheeris for that film 'Decline of Western Civilization Pt 2'?
    “We had a part to play in an earlier film of hers called 'Dudes' (starring John Cryer -Shan Siva) and then when she decided to do the second 'Decline...' she wanted us to be a big part of that. The show at the end of the movie was done in an LA club and we also filmed it for the video of 'In My Darkest Hour' - as you've seen it was intense! “

It's great to see Vic Rattlehead's back!
    “On the     Countdown to Extinction record we started working with an artist called Hugh Simes who also did Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings. At the time of doing Cryptic.. we also had a new management team and they really wanted to see Vic kinda go away. Now Vic's always been a mascot for the band, the fans and me - it was Megadeth's figurehead man. So this album is to do with bringing a lotta that old shit back, bringing back the heaviness and Vic, who's always been there but now we wanna make a statement to the world to say that we're back and we're here to reclaim any ground that we lost.”

For such a big band I note that you've never done a live album!
    “Everybody keeps asking us to do one and but everytime we try to do it someone keeps leaving the fuckin band! We've got recordings with Nick (Menza), Marty and especially for you - bootlegs with Kerry (King) ha ha! Traditionally - and I guess I can say this cos we're both the same age - a live album signified the end of an era for a band like Kiss with Alive but with us its been kinda difficult to pinpoint that end point. Someday I'm sure we'll do a live album but not now. “

Speaking of Kerry, how involved was he really with Megadeth?
    “Kerry helped us out in the beginning cos Megadeth was a 3 piece then - me, Dave and a drummer named Lee Rausch - and Kerry was very much influenced by Dave and Metallica back in the early days. I have to say he was great to work with: Dave would show him this riff and he would stand there with his blank look and play it ha ha! Personality wise he was low key in the sense that he didn't drink or do drugs - he just ate hamburgers all the time! He was actually just this normal guy who had a love for playing this Satanic music! I guess we didn't actually know if he was in Megadeth for sure or whether he was in Slayer but was jammin with us and y'know, I don't think he knew either. But he helped us out playing a few shows with us in the Bay Area and then Slayer worked out for him and Megadeth worked out for us.”

Do you guys really believe in Aliens?
    “Oh fuck, I don't know ha ha! Nick Menza our previous drummer was really into aliens back in the early 90s and he was always talking about them and then the whole alien craze hit and he was like, on the cutting edge of that alien craze y'know with Hanger 18, stickers..all that shit.”

Is there a reason why you guys aren't as big now as you were before?
    “I think US audiences are just overloaded. We get MTV, radio and bands touring all the fuckin time so even if you live in some remote place (even Chaska?! - SS) there's always gonna be bands rolling in so audiences become indifferent. Over there in some parts of Europe or South America they're lucky even if they get to hear a band let alone see one live so when a band rolls in even people who hate Megadeth'll go and see the show ha ha!“

'Megadeth' is a great name, but do you feel it has ever impeded you?
    “Well, its a name that's probably bigger than the band, for one reason or another but trends change and in America during Cryptic and Risk it was perceived as negative - along with the whole heavy metal genre - and certainly we had a tough time. But now things have changed again and it's coming out good for us playing these big European festivals like Bang Your Head and meeting long time fans like you again.”

Stop Press:
At the time of writing this article Megadeth's show in Malaysia was cancelled and its records withdrawn as its image along with Vic Rattlehead was deemed by the govt to have a negative impact upon that nation's youth ...