David Ellefson is an exceptionally busy man. Since parting ways with Megadeth in 2021 he's been involved in a number of musical and non musical projects. "That was born out of, if one day Megadeth ended and I was like; "what the hell am I going to do now?", he tells us as we sit down for a chat at NAMM Show in Anaheim, California; "you know, I just got resourceful". Talking working with former Megadeth guitarists Chris Poland and Jeff Young, his forthcoming 'Bass Invasion' tour, and his favourite Megadeth moments, we sat down for a coffee with David Ellefson. Hook in mouth; Eamon O’Neill.  

Photo: Olga Kuzmenko.

​Hi David, we're on day three of NAMM Show 2024; how's it been for you?
I'm good. It's only my second day being here even though it's day three. On Thursday I had the Metal Allegiance show with Dieth over at the House of Blues, which was really cool. So, yeah, I'm just sitting here watching some bootleg videos on our TV [There's an old school VHS set-up on David's booth showing vintage Megadeth footage].

Earlier in the week you played with Kings of Thrash at the the Metal Hall of Fame. What's it like for you to have both Chris Poland and Jeff Young up there on stage with you?
It's great. I mean, it's funny that the two of them sort of followed each other; after Chris came Jeff, and those two are like, best friends or guitar buddies. It works. We unite over a common interest of band and songs, and we're all in this together. We were all part of creating that music together, so it's fun to go back and revisit that. Look, those songs are going outlive us; we're lucky to be in a band that had that kind of impact on so many people and continues to have an impact on the next generation of music lovers. So you know, for us to go out there and play together while we can, it's a beautiful thing.

You have always been the glue, the ambassador that brought everyone together; you even brought drummer Chuck Behlerlor back, but no one's seen that man for 30 years!
I got him out and I even brought him out to a convention that we all did; the Hollywood Autograph Show. And it was funny because there's all these big movie stars, and then you turn the corner and this whole row is all of us; me and Chris and Jeff and Chuck, so it was it's cool. 

Is that just something that's in your nature?
You know, I am that guy. I'm kind of the bringer together of people and things, ideas. Every band pretty much and I've ever been in, I've always been a founding member of started it. And it's not all me. I mean, you know, my tag here [NAMM Show ID badge] is 'CEO', but the truth of it is I learned from when I was here doing artists relations for Peavy many years ago. I got to know how NAMM works, so that's why I can be on the inside of it now, because I learned from that. And that was born out of, if one day Megadeth ended and I was like; "what the hell am I going to do now?" And you know, I just got resourceful; I picked up the phone and I called, and I asked people and people, musicians ask me; "how do you get gigs or anything?" First of all, don't be afraid to ask. Pick up the phone; "hey, man, I need a gig." I was at the top of my peak, Megadeth was huge, and I'm calling the phone going; "hey, man, my gig is over. My band is done. Yeah, I don't know what the future is ever going to be of that, but here's where I am right now." And I have a family to raise. You know, and don't be too proud to start over. I've started over many times in my boat, in and out of Megadeth, and while I've been in Megadeth.

That's obviously stood you in good stead this time around; you've got the Ellefson Coffee company, Kings and Thrash, and Dieth as well. 
It's funny because, even if you have an idea, starting a coffee company is no different starting a band; you still need a team of people around you. I learned in business if you're the number one guy, hire a number two, three and four who are better than you. You don't have to be the guy all the time; my name might be on the door, but I have people around me who put this whole thing together [NAMM Booth] while I'm off practising songs and making records. Pamela and the team here, they they put all this together, interfacing with NAMM. NAMM has been very gracious to us. I think I'm the only artist on the floor who has a booth. 

Danny Wimmer festivals, they are very kind to me; we're doing Chicago Open Air, and bringing in these artists activations where you know, we had the Megadeth beer; Maynard from Tool has wine; people that are doing these outside ventures. You know, it's nice when the music community will welcome these things in because it plays well to crossing the bridge for both sides.

Photo: Enrique Sanchez.

Something else is very exciting today is the launch of the documentary 'This Was My Life - The Story of Nick Menza'.
You know, Nick is the beloved son of the legacy. I mean, he really is. That was such a great era of the group [1989 - 1998] because it was very collaborative. We were together as a team, we were super prolific, we wrote a lot, and it was just it was a fantastic moment in that band's career. Obviously, we went through a lot of different versions of that, and to me, of course, like the fans, it was a favourite one. Unfortunately, after a decade it transitioned, but Nick's work and his personality, I think you'll see it in the film. Today's just a short trailer because we want to make some future announcements about when the film's coming out.

But you know, the thing with Nick, it was his charm and his personality that came through; it wasn't just a musician playing music, and I think that's the thing that you see. As I grew up as a fan, my bands; Kiss or Van Halen or whoever, we connected with the group and the music, but we also identified with the individual people; we all have our favourites. So I think it's great to keep Nick's legacy alive, even though he's no longer here with us. It's as if he's sitting next to us, and when you see the trailer, and certainly when the film comes out, you'll feel like Nick is in the room next to you.

We're surrounded here by some of your awards and gold discs; there's quite a lot of history here!
I went into my... we call it my 'Megavault'! I've got stuff at the house, in closets, storage units and stuff, of all these various things. I try to keep most of the stuff. I mean, these are once in a lifetime things, you know; you get gold and platinum awards, of course, merch and various things. I try to keep them because it's a great memory for me, like; "oh, that's right, I remember that tour, I remember where we were, I remember who was around us."

If you had to pick your favourite era of Megadeth, or an album for you personally, what would it be?
You know, 'Countdown to Extinction' [1992] was a sweet spot. 'Rust in Peace' [1990] was a lot of work sort of rebuilding, putting it together. You could feel things were returning for us, you could feel things were on the uptick. It was a moment in time too; MTV, and the [thrash metal] genre was really peaking right then, so you could just feel we were cresting the wave. And then, of course, when Seattle music hit, that was a big turn in all of our lives because it was just the next generations coming up, you know, nu-metal and all this stuff. 

But the '90s in general were a huge transition to every record; there was no comfort zone. As popular as we were, there was no laying back, you know; "man, we've got this in the bag!" Every album was a whole new like... we were solid from within, but from without, everything was changing. Music, MTV decided; "yeah, we're not playing heavy metal anymore", so you have to reinvent, like with the 'Cryptic Writings' album [1997]. It's like here and these companies at NAMM; being in a rock band is a business, on one level. As much as we enjoy our passion, and we have our little moment together, when you step out of that little bubble, there's all these other things that you have to do. So yeah, the only thing harder than getting to the top and staying at the top.

Looking forward, and what's next for you?
Right after this I'm going over to Europe for my Bass Warrior tour. That's sort of an extension now of what I started a few years ago called 'Basstory', and it's an archival, going through the history of my career of songs that people know, some solo stuff and various things. I've done a little bit of storytelling of course, but I'm taking it over into Eastern Europe and some places that I haven't even been to in a while that are a little harder to get to with big bands. So this is a little smaller and nimble where I could go into more intimate venues, and it's intentionally designed to be that. So yeah, those are fun. I like it's that; you're very active with the people.

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David Ellefson's 'Bass Invasion' European Tour kicks off in Italy on 22nd February 2024. For ticketing and more, click here.

Dave Mustaine Opens Up About Nick Menza: "I Had No Idea How Much I Loved Him".

INTERVIEW: Chris Poland Looks Back on Life with Megadeth.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Young Gets In-Depth On Megadeth's 'So Far, So Good... So What!