Dave Mustaine Confirms Testament’s Steve DiGiorgio Played Bass on New Megadeth Album
In a new interview with Jose Mangin on Sirius XM's Liquid Metal station, Dave Mustaine confirmed that Testament's Steve DiGiorgio played bass on the forthcoming Megadeth album, The Sick, The Dying... and The Dead!
"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 revealed to Mangin (as reported by Blabbermouth) while referencing a tumultuous and unexpected lineup change last year regarding the long-tenured David Ellefson.
Two weeks after news broke of Ellefson's involvement in a sexually explicit video chat with an allegedly 19-year-old female fan, for which he has since pursued revenge porn charges against the person who leaked the clips, the bassist was terminated from Megadeth.
Mustaine quickly revealed that Megadeth would replace the bass parts Ellefson had tracked for the followup to 2016's Dystopia, but remained mum on exactly who that studio bassist would be. Two months later, James LoMenzo was tabbed for a second stint with the group as the thrash icons geared up for a co-headlining summer tour with Lamb of God, which is set for round two in early April.
Meanwhile, fan speculation about who the studio musician would be swirled around the internet, with many, as we've now learned, correctly guessing that it would be DiGiorgio, the fretless bassist not only from Testament, but also of Death and Sadus fame, among several other acts.
"It was a good choice," Mustaine said of DiGiorgio.
"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," the band leader went on.
As revealed earlier in March in an interview with Loudwire, Mustaine set the new target release date for The Sick, The Dying... and the Dead! for July 8. Catch Megadeth on the Metal Tour of the Year with co-headliners Lamb of God and special guests Trivium and In Flames at these dates.