With “The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!,” Megadeth have entered a new era. Once again parting ways with bassist David Ellefson, Dave Mustaine has also allowed Kiko Loureiro to have more creative input in the matter. Of course, there was also incredible work of Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio on the album, with James LoMenzo taking over.
Obviously, one thing still remains in Megadeth — Dave Mustaine and his, let’s say, very specific personality (for the lack of a better word). It’s no secret that Dave has this reputation for being kind of difficult to work with. Sure, he gets some great results, especially with the last album. But in order to have great material, you need some friction yet a very stable ground. That’s what you get with someone like guitarist Kiko Loureiro.
The Megadeth guitar virtuoso has been with the band since 2015 and he surely knows how things work with Dave. But according to what he said in a recent interview with Audio Ink Radio, he’s all fine with it. Asked about what it’s like to work with Mustaine, he said:
“I think there’s an understanding. The way I see it is I always try to work for the best of the band because Dave is Megadeth. Dave- that’s his thing, his fashion. Everything he did in his career, his life, was always all about Megadeth.”
“So, for me, that I’m here for seven years, if I dedicate myself to do the best for Megadeth, then I know I get the respect from Dave, and then we can get along really well because then I’m also caring about his baby.”
“I’m doing my best to have a great result with Megadeth on stage and on the albums, promoting the band, so with that, you create a great environment of great communication – a healthy environment, a safe place to discuss ideas. Because in the end, we’re discussing ideas.”
He then added:
“Even if I disagree with Dave, I feel comfortable to come to him and disagree with him, because people sometimes are afraid of him, but actually I feel like he likes that, that you come with a thoughtful disagreement to the benefit of the band.“
“So, I don’t have any problem with him. I just have a great relationship with him, because [of] the way I see and have this perspective for the band.”
Asked whether there’s more records left in Megadeth, Kiko said:
“Yeah. I think this record shows that Megadeth is alive and creative and powerful. That’s one of the most common comments that I hear and read, is like, wow. The band is still putting out great music, aggressive, fast, energetic.”
“We’re not only going back and playing the old songs forever. We’re showing, here’s a lot of creative energy.”
“So, I believe that we can keep doing this for a long time, and some other bands, they don’t do that. They just play old songs forever.”
“So, I think this album is here to prove that, and then the response from the sales and numbers and social media shows that people get excited to get new material from legendary bands.”
Photo: Tilly antoine (Kiko Loureiro au Hellfest 2022), Sven Mandel (Megadeth – 2017216231552 2017-08-04 Wacken – Sven – 1D X MK II – 1257 – B70I0729)
