MEGADETH
DYSTOPIA WORLD TOUR 2018
05.5.18

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
HELL & HEAVEN FESTIVAL
Ozzy Osbourne
Judas Priest
Megadeth
Marilyn Manson
Gojira
Killswitch Engage
Saxon
Overkill

35 YEARS OF MEGADETH
MEGADETH CELEBRATES 35TH ANNIVERSARY
WITH SPECIAL RELEASES, EXCLUSIVE MERCH, AND
ONE-OF-A-KIND EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FANS WORLDWIDE

Multi-Platinum, GRAMMY®-Winning Band Invites Fans Everywhere to
Join the MEGADETH Cyber Army Party

Legendary Megadeth Founder Dave Mustaine Celebrates Band’s
35th Anniversary on His Radio Show

Multi-Platinum Thrash Metal pioneers MEGADETH will… More celebrate the band’s 35th Anniversary all year long, with special releases, exclusive merch items, and one-of-a-kind events and opportunities for fans worldwide. Legendary MEGADETH founder Dave Mustaine will also celebrate the band’s anniversary on his weekly radio show. MEGADETH’s announcement comes two years to the day since the release of their acclaimed, GRAMMY®-winning album, Dystopia, on January 22, 2016.

“When I started MEGADETH, I didn’t imagine myself living for 35 years, let alone my band reaching this incredible milestone,” says Dave Mustaine. “Thanks to almost everyone I’ve met, worked, and played with these last three and a half decades.”

Kicking off the celebration, MEGADETH’s new music video for “Lying in State” launches on DlnA today at 7am PST / 10am EST exclusively for MEGADETH Cyber Army members. MEGADETH is offering discounted Premium Cyber Army membership starting today at 7am PST / 10am EST through January 31 at 11:59pm PST. In MEGADETH’s web store, all Dystopia items are specially priced for two weeks, beginning today.

Throughout the year, Dave Mustaine will also celebrate the band’s anniversary on his weekly Gimme Radio show, “The Dave Mustaine Show,” which premieres each Thursday at 12pm PST/ 3pm EST, with exclusive giveaways, contests, and behind-the-scenes stories about his career and MEGADETH. Fans can tune in and communicate directly with Dave in the Gimme Live chat feed at gimmeradio.com or via the Gimme Radio app.

One of the original “Big Four,” MEGADETH burst onto the scene 35 years ago and virtually invented a genre with their debut album Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! (lauded by VH1 as the “Greatest Thrash Metal Debut Album of All Time”). MEGADETH has sold more than 38 million albums worldwide, earning numerous accolades including 12 GRAMMY® nominations and one win, and scoring five consecutive platinum albums—including 1992’s two-million-selling Countdown to Extinction.

MEGADETH’s latest album, 2016’s Dystopia, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and drew international acclaim from critics and fans. It was featured in several Best Albums lists from leading music magazines, including Rolling Stone’s “20 Best Metal Albums of 2016” (No. 6); Revolver’s “Top 20 Metal Albums of 2016” (No. 2); and Loudwire’s “20 Best Albums of 2016” (No. 12) and “Best Metal Songs of 2016” (No. 2) for the title track, “Dystopia.” The album’s blistering title track also earned MEGADETH the year’s GRAMMY® Award for Best Metal Performance.

Dystopia CD & Vinyl: smarturl.it/DystopiaPhysical
Dystopia Digital: smarturl.it/DystopiaDigital

“Vital and menacing thrash…Megadeth sound reborn on Dystopia” - Rolling Stone
“Dave Mustaine hits the reset-to-brilliant button.” (9/10, Album of the Month) - Metal Hammer Less

DAVID ELLEFSON 'FORTUNATE' & 'HONORED' TO WORK WITH DAVE MUSTAINE
In a brand new interview with All That Shreds, David Ellefson spoke about his working relationship with Dave Mustaine. "Dave is very focused and knows exactly what he wants," Ellefson said. "That is indeed an admirable thing about Dave. You'll be in the room with him, because a thought or an idea will come to him, and I'll give y… Moreou a couple of examples. One day we're driving down the street, going to rehearsal and Dave just out of nowhere says, 'What do you think about 'Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?' [for a song title]? And just out of the blue, I'm driving my van and Dave's riding shotgun, we're heading over to pick up Gar [Samuelson] and go down to rehearsal, and that's how the title came about. Within an evening, we'd create that song at rehearsal. Dave just kept coming up with riffs, and we sat there, me, Gar, Chris [Poland] and Dave, and we wrote that song.

"Another interesting dynamic was we're coming off 'The World Needs A Hero' tour and we knew we were going to be coming into making a live album," he continued. "I'm sitting on a bus, we're kicking around ideas, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Dave says, ''Rude Awakening'. That'll be the title of the album.'

"Those are the things that I've seen with Dave from the first day I met him; it's that right there — those two instances are a snapshot of why Dave and I work well together. I understand him; I get him. I've been in the room when life-changing moments of genius will come out of him, and I'm honored to be there. It's just such a cool thing to be around someone [like that].

"Now, with that said, when an idea comes out of somebody like that, they want to see to fruition, and as an artist, we all do, we want to see it to fruition," Ellefson added. "Then when people don't get it, they don't understand it. They try to talk you out of it. They tell you that'll never work. When they get in the way, those are the people that ended up having ended up bloodied by the side of the road. If you examine any of the great titans of business — J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs — they're all like that, and I'm fortunate that I get to work with one of them, and his name is Dave Mustaine."

Asked if he has a favorite Megadeth album, Ellefson said: "I go back in time to moments of things that were great. It's incredible how the human mind, we tend to remember the good days more than the bad days, at least. At least I do. I assume people are like that. At least that's how I'm wired. The moments that weren't so pleasant fade away in favor of the good and the fun moments. 'Countdown To Extinction' was not an easy album to write because we were hard on ourselves and we pushed each other just really to bring our best. At the same time, it's one of my favorite albums because of the group collaboration and everybody being in sync, and I mean the four bandmembers, our management, Capitol Records. We were a juggernaut of a team. Same could probably be said with the recent 'Dystopia' album. Being in sync and [being] a synergized and focused team." Less

MEGADETH
KILLING FOR A LIVING 1983
THE DEMOMegadeth is often considered one of the most influential metal bands of all time. Founded in 1983 by former Metallica lead guitarist Dave Mustaine and bass guitarist David Ellefson, the band went on to become part of the "Big Four" of American thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.
Having played a big role in Metallica's early songwriting,… More Mustaine quickly composed a handful of songs when Megadeth first started. These songs were eventually recorded as part of a limited release demo tape, but weren't heard by the public until the band started touring in 1984. This demo tape has never been publicly available, likely because its contents were considered too rough to warrant a proper release.

Background
Since the beginning of his career, Dave Mustaine had proven to be a talented, yet difficult to work with guitarist. The short period he spent with Metallica was deemed difficult due to numerous internal conflicts related to his behavior, often influenced by his use of alcohol and drugs, eventually leading to him being fired from the band twice in 1982 and 1983.[1] To make the situation worse, Metallica used riffs that Mustaine allegedly composed on their debut album Kill 'Em All, recorded almost immediately after his departure. This resulted in Mustaine, seeking to take revenge on Metallica, going on to form a band that would be "faster and heavier" than them.[2]
The band at this point was still called 'Megadeath'. Mustaine, much like his ex-bandmate James Hetfield, was initially looking for a vocalist as he wanted to focus on his guitar playing – a plan he aborted six months later, taking vocal duties for himself.[3] Along with Mustaine's now longtime friend David Ellefson, the band also included Greg Handevidt on rhythm guitar and Richard Girod on drumming detail, both of whom were expelled shortly after recording the group's first demo.

The Tape

“It'll take everything they fuckin' have just to keep up with us!” – MUSTAINE, David.
Not much is known about the tape itself. The unknown exact number of copies and whereabouts of them make this a difficult item to track, impression reinforced by the fact that Megadeth released a later demo, titled Last Rites, as part of a reissue of their 1985 debut album Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, but still left the 1983 demo unreleased, suggesting that even the band members might not possess any copies.

The only source of information on it is an article written by fanzine editor and photographer Brian Lew for his publication Whiplash!, in which Megadeath is introduced as a potential candidate to the title of "the new band of 1983", an impression based on the demo recordings provided by the band. The article mentions the following songs:
"No Time" – The lyrical theme mentioned by Lew suggests this is the original version of "Set the World Afire", the first song written by Dave Mustaine after his departure from Metallica, released on Megadeth's 1988 effort So Far, So Good... So What!.
"Self Destruct" – Although David Ellefson claims this eventually became "The Skull Beneath the Skin",[4] featured on Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, Lew's lyrical description clearly refers to "Mary Jane", also from So Far, So Good... So What!.
"Speak No Evil" – According to Ellefson, the original version of "Looking Down the Cross",[4] from Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!.
Other songs mentioned but yet unknown include "Hair Pin Trigger", "Eye for Eye" and "Heaven Knows".

References
McIver, Joel (2009). To Live Is to Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton. Omnibus Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-906002-24-4.
Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. Bazillion Points Books. p. 42. ISBN 0-9796163-3-6.
Prown, Pete; Newquist, Harvey P., eds. (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 227. ISBN 0-7935-4042-9.
Ellefson, David (2013). My Life with Deth: Discovering Meaning in a Life of Rock & Roll. Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 1-4516-9988-3. Less

MEGADETH
THE NEW BAND OF 1983