MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine has confirmed that the bass tracks laid down by David Ellefson for the band’s sixteenth studio album will be removed from the record. Mustaine will be having another bassist re-record the bass parts prior to the album’s release.
Ellefson originally recorded his parts for the new album back in May of 2020. Last month he was relieved from his bass playing duties in MEGADETH after several sexually explicit videos of him engaging in virtual sexual activity with a young woman leaked online.
The 56-year-old Ellefson has since told police that those videos were part of a series of video chats he and a woman he has identified as being 19-years-old at the time had been conducting online. The former MEGADETH bassist has also indicated that he intends to pursue revenge porn related charges against a different person who leaked the videos.
Speaking to 96.7 KCAL-FM about the decision to remove Ellefson‘s parts and have them re-recorded, Mustaine stated: “I just wanna thank you for all the kind words and support as we get ready for this next tour and continue to hunt for a new bass player. We are making progress. The record’s being completed, and we’re gonna have someone coming in in a couple of weeks to replace the bass tracks that we had. Which should be relatively quick because the person we’re talking to is a stellar bass player. And hopefully this will be an ongoing thing after the recording. Or we will find someone prior to the recording that will be our permanent guy going forward.”
Presumably MEGADETH will be releasing their new album later this year around their ‘The Metal Tour Of The Year‘ headlining run with Lamb Of God, Trivium and In Flames. Those dates are available below:
08/20 Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
08/21 Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
08/22 Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
08/24 El Paso, TX – Don Haskins Center
08/25 Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
08/27 Denver, CO – Ball Arena
08/29 Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
08/31 Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
09/01 Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre
09/02 Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion
09/04 Portland, OR – Moda Center
09/05 Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
09/09 Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago
09/11 Danville, VA – Blue Ridge Festival
09/12 Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
09/13 Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
09/15 Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion
09/16 Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
09/18 Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
09/19 Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
09/20 Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion
09/22 Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP
09/24 Mount Pleasant, MI – Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre
09/26 St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis
09/28 Minneapolis, MN – Armory
09/30 Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
10/01 Laval, QC – Place Bell
10/02 Quebec City, QC – Centre Videotron