David Ellefson says Megadeth have a 'higher calling'

David Ellefson
David Ellefson (Image credit: Getty)

Megadeth’s David Ellefson says that Megadeth have a ‘higher calling.’

And reflecting on their 30-plus year career, the bassist expresses hope that the band will end it on their own terms.

Ellefson tells Metal Devastation (via Blabbermouth): “I think if you don’t quit, and hopefully you don’t die, you keep going. This tour’s pretty long, almost two months. There was a moment the other day where Dave Mustaine’s, like, ‘Think what it’s gonna be like one day if we don’t do this, or when we don’t do this.’

“The first things that hit me was, ‘Well, hopefully we wrap it up on our terms and not on somebody else’s.’ Or because of other tragedies. This is what you’re born to do.

“Dave and I talk about it all the time. We’ve had this sort of anointing and blessing for us to even be together. It’s kind of like Megadeth sort of has this higher calling around it.”

He continues: “We’ve been successful sometimes completely in spite of ourselves. You stand back and you go, ‘There’s no reason that the band should have survived lineup changes, that musical transition – whatever thing happened to us. And yet here we are with our strongest record we’ve had in 20-something years.’

“Sometimes you think, ‘My job is to wake up every day and go make the donuts. Play music. Be glad we’re here. Be thankful for the life and the gifts that we have.’”

Megadeth will tour with Amon Amarth, Suicidal Tendencies, Metal Church and Havok in September.

Megadeth North American tour with Amon Amarth, Suicidal Tendencies, Metal Church and Havok

Sep 20: Casper Events Center, WY
Sep 22: Las Vegas Joint, NV
Sep 24: Devore San Manuel Amphitheater (Ozzfest), CA
Sep 27: Seattle WaMu Theater, WA
Sep 28: Eugene Matthew Knight Arena, OR
Sep 29: San Jose City National Civic, CA
Oct 01: Bloomfield 1st Bank Center, CO
Oct 03: Council Bluffs Mid American Complex, IA
Oct 04: St Pail Roy Wilkins Auditorium, MN
Oct 05: Chicago Sears Centre, IL
Oct 07: Moline iWireless Centre, IL
Oct 08: Milwaukee UWM Panther Arena, WI
Oct 09: Detroit Loe Louis Arena, MI
Oct 11: Bethlehem Sandes Event Center, PA
Oct 12: Worcester DCU Center, MA
Oct 13: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Oct 14: Newark Prudential Center, NJ
Oct 16: Camden BB&T Pavilion, NJ

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Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.