Megadeth parted ways with former bassist David Ellefson last year after news broke of his involvement in an explicit video chat with an allegedly 19-year-old female fan. Ellefson had completed the bass tracks on Megadeth’s forthcoming album, “The Sick, The Dying, And The Dead,” prior to his dismissal, but it was announced shortly after by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine that Ellefson’s tracks would not be used. Fans had speculated who would replace Ellefson for the recording, and Mustaine confirmed this week in an interview with Jose Mangin of SiriusXM Liquid Metal that the job went to Testament bassist Steve DiGiorgio.
“We obviously had that weird little…well, it wasn’t little, but we had something happen that we needed to make a decision on, and it set us back a little bit timing-wise, because we needed to recalibrate and find someone to perform the bass parts, and we found who I thought was the perfect fit for us while I decided what to do… Do you know who it was? …It was Steve DiGiorgio. You’re the first person I told,” Mustaine said to Mangin.
He continued: “It was a good choice. I didn’t think about anybody else at the time. I was thinking about ‘who’s the hottest guy out there that can play these new songs?’ [Mustaine’s son] Justis told me one of the fastest songs we’ve ever written is on this record. I don’t care what anybody says — bass may be less strings than guitar, but it’s difficult to play, if you’re like me. I have a real hard time playing the bass. I wrote the riff for ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’ for Pete’s sake, but you know… having to jam some of those parts that fast, it just kills your fingers.”
DiGiorgio is a pioneer of the fretless bass in heavy music having played for Testament, Death and Sadus, among others. He has appeared on more than 40 albums and has toured the world for more than 20 years. Earlier this year, Mustaine confirmed that James LoMenzo will play bass for the band live when the band returns to the road in April. LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zack Wylde, White Lion and John Fogerty. He previously played with Megadeth from 2006 to 2010 and appeared on two studio albums, “United Abominations” and “Endgame.”
