Former Members

Ron McGovney (born November 2, 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician most notable for being the original bassist in the heavy metal band Metallica.

Musical career

Leather Charm and Metallica

In June 1981, McGovney and childhood friend and roommate James Hetfield formed the band Leather Charm with guitarist Hugh Tanner of Hetfield's previous band, Phantom Lord. Tanner left Leather Charm to pursue music management and was replaced by guitarist Troy James and drummer Jim Mulligan, but Mulligan's subsequent departure led to the band's demise. In late 1981, Hetfield began a new collaboration with drummer Lars Ulrich soon christened Metallica. With the addition of McGovney and guitarist Dave Mustaine early the next year, the first gigging lineup of the band was complete.

McGovney's time with Metallica was reportedly not enjoyable, as he often clashed with Ulrich and Mustaine. McGovney was reportedly bullied by Mustaine, who in one instance poured beer on his bass, resulting in an electric shock which allegedly caused him to fly across the room. McGovney felt his role was that of monetary and transportation provider, rather than a respected member of the band. He ultimately quit on December 12, 1982^[5] due to these growing tensions. He was replaced by Cliff Burton.

Despite personal conflicts, McGovney's time with Metallica was productive and important in the early stages of the highly successful band. He recorded several demos with Metallica, including one from his own garage, Power Metal, and most notably the live No Life 'Til Leather. A recording of "Hit The Lights" with McGovney playing bass eventually went on the Metal Massacre Vol. 1 album. After leaving Metallica, McGovney became disillusioned with playing music and sold most of his equipment.

Phantasm

In 1986, McGovney was persuaded to return to performing by Hirax vocalist Katon W. De Pena, and the two formed the thrash metal band Phantasm with Death drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarist Rodney Nicholson, and several other musicians. Phantasm released a demo but never recorded a proper album, and disbanded in 1988 due to disagreements between members. In 2001, thrash label Deep Six Records released the Wreckage CD, packaging a remastered version of the band's demo of the same name with a live set from 1987.

Personal life

McGovney is of Scottish descent. He has two sons, Justin and Tyler, and a daughter, Jordann. He currently resides in North Carolina.

Former Members

David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961 in La Mesa, California, USA) is the lead/rhythm guitarist, main songwriter, and vocalist for the American heavy metal band Megadeth. He currently resides in San Diego, California. Mustaine was also the first lead guitarist and co-songwriter of Metallica. In 2009 he was ranked No. 1 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.^[1] Mustaine was also ranked eighty-ninth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time

History

Mustaine was born on September 13, 1961 in La Mesa, California, to Emily and John Mustaine. When his parents divorced, he spent much of his youth with his mother and sisters moving constantly to avoid contact with his father. By the age of 15, Mustaine had rented his own apartment and was surviving financially by dealing drugs. One of his clients was often short of cash, but worked in a record store, so she offered him albums by artists such as Iron Maiden, AC/DC, and Judas Priest in trade^{[citation needed]}, which helped form his taste in heavy metal. In the late 1970s, Mustaine started to play electric guitar, most notably a B.C. Rich and joined a band known as Panic for a short time. Mustaine is of Irish, Finnish and French descent, on his father's side, and a German Jew, on his mother's.

The 1980s

Metallica

In 1981, Mustaine left Panic to join Metallica as the lead guitarist. Metallica's drummer (Lars Ulrich) had posted an ad in a local newspaper, The Recycler, looking for a lead guitarist. In his own words, Mustaine remembers his first meeting with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich: "I was convinced that I should be in the band and went to rehearsal. I was tuning up when all the other guys in the band were in another room. They weren't talking to me, so I went in and said, 'What the fuck, am I in or not?!', 'You've got the job.' I couldn't believe how easy it had been and suggested that we get some beer to celebrate."

Mustaine's membership in Metallica would last less than two years. Brian Slagel, owner of Metal Blade Records, recalls in an interview: "Dave was an incredibly talented guy, but he also had an incredibly large problem with alcohol and drugs. He'd get wasted and become a real crazy person, a raging maniac, and the other guys just couldn't deal with that after a while. I mean, they all drank of course, but Dave drank more...much more. I could see they were beginning to get fed up of seeing Dave drunk out of his mind all the time."

On one occasion Mustaine brought his dog to rehearsal. The dog jumped up onto the car of Metallica bassist Ron McGovney and scratched the paint. Hetfield allegedly proceeded to yell at Mustaine's dog and kicked it in anger. Mustaine responded by physically attacking Hetfield and McGovney and yelled at Ulrich. Mustaine was fired following the altercation. The next day, Mustaine asked to be allowed back in the band and was granted his request. Another incident occurred when Mustaine, who had been drinking, poured a full can of beer down the neck and into the pick-ups of Ron McGovney's bass. When McGovney tried playing it, he received an electrical shock which he claims 'blew him across the room and shocked the hell out of him'. McGovney then told Mustaine and Hetfield to leave his house and left the band shortly after.

In April 1983, after Metallica had driven to New York to record their debut album, Mustaine was officially fired from the group because of his alcoholism, hard drug abuse, overly aggressive behavior, and personality clashes with founding members Hetfield and Ulrich — an incident Mustaine refers to as "no warning, no second chance". The band packed up Mustaine's gear, drove him to a Greyhound bus station in Rochester, NY, and put him on a bus bound for Los Angeles.^[3] It was on this busride that Mustaine scribbled some lyrical ideas on the back of a muffin wrapper, which would later become the song Set The World Afire from the 1988 Megadeth album So Far, So Good... So What!

During his short time in Metallica, Dave Mustaine toured with the band, co-wrote four songs which appeared on Kill Em All, and co-wrote two songs which would eventually appear on Ride the Lightning. Mustaine has also made unproven claims to have written parts of "Leper Messiah" from the Master of Puppets album. He also claims it was his idea to write and record a song featuring the children's prayer Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep featured in the songs "Go to Hell" and "Enter Sandman". He also recorded several songs with the band including the No Life 'Till Leather demo tape. A few of the songs he wrote with Hetfield and Ulrich went on to be re-recorded by Metallica. The most well-known of these is "The Four Horsemen" from Kill 'Em All, which Mustaine wrote and later released on his debut album with the original lyrics as "Mechanix."

Megadeth

Main article: Megadeth

In 1983, he concluded that one of his goals in life should be to create a band more successful than Metallica. That summer he met bass player David Ellefson and formed Megadeth. He then enlisted guitarist Greg Handevidt and drummer Dijon Carruthers. After a series of unsuccessful vocalist auditions, Mustaine elected to take on those duties himself in addition to playing lead guitar. In 1984, Megadeth cut a three-song demo with drummer Lee Raush. Kerry King joined the band for a few shows. However he opted to leave Megadeth after less than a week so he could continue working on his band Slayer. Jazz-influenced drummer Gar Samuelson replaced Raush. In November, the band signed a deal with Combat Records, a month before guitarist Chris Poland came onboard and the band played their first shows in New York.

In May 1985, Megadeth released their first album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! on Combat Records. That summer, the band toured the U.S. and Canada with Exciter, and guitarist Mike Albert replaced Poland for the tour. Poland rejoined the band in the studio in October, and the band began recording their second album for Combat. On New Year's Eve of that year, Megadeth played in San Francisco with Exodus, Metal Church, and Metallica.

In 1986, after recording Killing Is My Business..., Mustaine approached Jackson Guitars for a custom-built guitar. Jackson modified their existing Jackson King V model for Mustaine by adding 2 more frets to the standard 22 fret King V. In the 1990s the company began mass-producing a Dave Mustaine signature series Jackson King V which continued into the early 2000s.

The following year, major label Capitol Records signed Megadeth and obtained the rights to their second album, Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, from Combat. Megadeth opened a U.S. tour with King Diamond and Motörhead. Their second album, released in November, is regarded as a landmark metal album. It produced the notable title track (the opening bass lick of which was used by "MTV News" segments) as well as the thrash anthem "Wake Up Dead." The videos for both songs became staples on MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

In February 1987, Megadeth opened for Alice Cooper on his Constrictor tour. The band also toured with King Diamond whose previous band, Mercyful Fate, were a huge influence on Megadeth. In March, Megadeth's first world tour began in the UK. Mustaine and Ellefson guested on the band Malice's License To Kill album. Megadeth re-recorded "These Boots" for a movie soundtrack, and that summer went on tour with Overkill and Necros. Amid drug problems and suspicions of stealing the band's equipment for drug money, Mustaine fired Poland and Samuelson after their last show in Hawaii.

Chuck Behler, who had been Samuelson's drum tech, became Megadeth's drummer with a guitarist named Jeff Young replacing Poland. Megadeth released their third album, So Far, So Good... So What! in January 1988. The album contains the song "In My Darkest Hour", which was composed after the death of Metallica's bass player Cliff Burton. (Mustaine said this in the liner notes of So Far, So Good... So What!). "Hook In Mouth" attacked the PMRC with gusto, although their cover of Sex Pistols "Anarchy in the UK" — despite a guest appearance from ex-Pistol Steve Jones — was ill-advised in the eyes of Allmusic's critic.

Later that year, Megadeth opened for Dio and then Iron Maiden on tour before playing the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in the UK with Kiss, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, David Lee Roth, and Helloween. Shortly after, Mustaine fired Behler and Young, accusing Young of having thoughts of a relationship with Mustaine's girlfriend Diana at the time. Around this period, Mustaine found the time to produce the debut album from Seattle thrash band Sanctuary, called Refuge Denied.

Nick Menza who was Chuck Behler's drum tech joined Megadeth in 1989, and the band recorded their only track ever as a three-piece: a cover of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" for the Wes Craven-directed horror flick, Shocker. Video director Penelope Spheeris would later recount in the Megadeth episode of Behind The Music that Mustaine showed up to the video shoot so fried on heroin and other drugs that he could not sing and play guitar at the same time. Therefore, the singing and playing had to be recorded separately. Mustaine was arrested for "impaired driving" that March with seven or more drugs in his system and was forced by authorities to enter a rehabilitation program (the first of his 15 visits to the rehabilitation centre).

The 1990s

In February 1990, guitarist Marty Friedman (Cacophony) was auditioned to fill in the vacant lead-guitar position. In September of that year, the band joined the "Clash of the Titans" tour overseas with Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, and Testament. The tour began one month before Megadeth released Rust In Peace which contains "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", "Hangar 18", "Tornado Of Souls", "Take No Prisoners", (1990), which continued their commercial success. They immediately went back on the road, this time as support for Judas Priest, to promote the album.

Megadeth started off 1991 performing for 145,000 people at a festival in Brazil before starting their own world tour with Alice in Chains as their special guest. Mustaine got married in April, the same month the Rusted Pieces home video was released. That summer, the "Clash of the Titans" tour hit the U.S. featuring Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, with Alice in Chains taking the opening slot. Later that year, the Megadeth song "Go To Hell" was featured on the soundtrack to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

Mustaine collaborated in 1991 with Sean Harris from Diamond Head on the track "Crown of Worms." (Mustaine would later appear on Diamond Head's reformation album Death and Progress.) Mustaine's wife, Pamela, gave birth to their son Justis on February 11, 1992. The band was featured on another soundtrack, this time for Super Mario Bros. with the song "Breakpoint." July saw the release of Megadeth's most commercially successful record: Countdown To Extinction. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and boasted the band's most successful songs: "Symphony Of Destruction," "Sweating Bullets," and the ode to sky-diving, "High Speed Dirt." The original version of the "Symphony of Destruction" video was edited due to its depiction of a political leader being assassinated. "Skin O' My Teeth" was aired on MTV with a disclaimer from Mustaine insisting that the song did not endorse suicide. Ellefson contributed lyrics to the family-farm ballad "Foreclosure Of A Dream," and Menza wrote the lyrics about canned hunting for the title track. This album began a new, more "collaborative" Megadeth.

Pantera and Suicidal Tendencies opened for Megadeth on the Countdown To Extinction tour. MTV News invited Mustaine to cover the Democratic National Convention for them that summer. In November, the "Exposure Of A Dream" home video was released. In 1993, Mustaine guested on a new album by one of the bands who influenced his sound, Diamond Head. Mustaine began a U.S. tour with Megadeth with Stone Temple Pilots as their opening act. This tour, including a planned appearance at Budokan, was ultimately canceled due to Mustaine's continuing struggles with addiction. In June, Megadeth played Milton Keynes Bowl with Diamond Head and Metallica and later opened for Metallica for a handful or European Stadium dates. Megadeth was kicked off Aerosmith's U.S. tour after just seven dates. "Angry Again" was featured on the soundtrack to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "Last Action Hero" while "99 Ways To Die" was featured on the "Beavis and Butthead Experience" compilation.

Megadeth spent the bulk of 1994 making Youthanasia, a much more commercial album undoubtedly inspired in part by the success of Countdown to Extinction, The band covered "Paranoid" for Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath and performed on MTV's "Night Of The Living Megadeth" in celebration of the Halloween release of their new album. They began a tour the next month in South America. Youthanasia became the quickest album to go gold (500,000 units) in Canadian history and sold well throughout the world. It was an album that showed a more melodic side to the band with tracks such as "A Tout Le Monde." The album also included "Train of Consequences," which became one of the band's most memorable music videos.

Another soundtrack appearance, "Diadems" on "Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight," kicked off 1995. Megadeth spent the first two months of the year on the "Youthanasia" tour with Corrosion of Conformity in tow. In March, the Hidden Treasures compilation hit European stores. The "Evolver: The Making Of Youthanasia" home video followed in May, and Hidden Treasures made it to the U.S. and Japan in July, just in time for the start of the "Reckoning Day" tour with special guests Flotsam and Jetsam, Korn, and Fear Factory. In September the band performed at the "Monsters Of Rock" festival in South America.

A Grammy nomination for "Paranoid" began 1996 for Megadeth. Enlisting Fear singer Lee Ving, Mustaine made an album under the moniker "MD.45" with Suicidal Tendencies drummer Jimmy DeGrasso behind the kit. In September, Megadeth went back into the studio, this time in the country music hotbed of Nashville, TN. The following year's Cryptic Writings was the result.

Cryptic Writings (1997) included thrashing songs like "Vortex" and "FFF" alongside radio friendly fare like "Trust," the song which put Megadeth on the no 1 spot in the US billboard earning them many spins at rock radio. Megadeth.com launched that year and in June, the reformed Misfits opened for the band on tour. Chaos Comics released "The Cryptic Writings Of Megadeth" comic books and a remix of "Almost Honest" showed up on the "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" soundtrack. The first ever all-acoustic Megadeth performance in Buenos Aires (Argentina) closed out the year in December.

Mustaine's daughter, Electra Mustaine, was born on January 28, 1998, the same month that "Trust" was nominated for a Grammy. Megadeth played on the Howard Stern Show and that summer took part in Ozzfest. As Nick Menza sat in the hospital side-lined by a knee injury, he received a call from Mustaine informing him that his services would no longer be needed. Jimmy DeGrasso, who Mustaine had enjoyed playing with in MD.45, joined Megadeth in his place. On New Year's Eve, Megadeth opened for Black Sabbath alongside Soulfly, Slayer, and Pantera.

While touring after Cryptic Writings, Mustaine told interviewers that songs like "She Wolf" and "Vortex" had reinvigorated his love for classic metal by bands like Iron Maiden and Motörhead and that he intended to write an album that was "1/2 Peace Sells, 1/2 Cryptic Writings." However, after hearing about a comment Lars Ulrich had made in the press in which he said he wished Mustaine would take more "risks," intentions changed. Managers and producers had more input. The song "Crush 'Em" was written with the express purpose of being played in sports arenas. In later years, Mustaine would blame much of this period on Friedman's desire to go in a more "pop" direction. Recorded with producer Dann Huff, again in Nashville, Risk was released on August 31, 1999. Crush 'Em made it onto the "Universal Soldier 2" soundtrack and into WCW wrestling events (notably played live on Monday Nitro). In July, the band covered "Never Say Die" for a second Sabbath tribute. They closed the Woodstock '99 music festival and again opened for Iron Maiden in Europe. There were few other highlights in the Megadeth world in 1999, a year that ended with Marty Friedman announcing his departure from the band.

The 2000s

As the tour behind Risk soldiered on, Al Pitrelli replaced Friedman on the road. In April, the new lineup entered the studio to begin work on a new album a couple of months before they officially parted ways with Capitol Records. The summer was spent on the road with Anthrax and Mötley Crüe. Capitol released a "best of" collection in the fall, "Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years," featuring two brand new (and more metal-leaning) songs. With a new deal in place with Sanctuary Records, Megadeth returned to the studio toward the end of the year to finish their album and on New Year's Eve, played a show in Anchorage, Alaska.

An acoustic tour sponsored by radio stations, a press tour, and a video shoot for the song "Moto Psycho" all preceded the May, 2001 release of The World Needs A Hero. The summer was filled with festival appearances supporting AC/DC. In September, Megadeth set out across North America with Endo and Iced Earth. VH1's "Behind The Music" special on Megadeth aired that year and was later released on DVD. At the end of the year, the band filmed two shows in Arizona, which were released as the 2CD and DVD Rude Awakening.

The early part of 2002 saw the release of a remixed and re-mastered Killing Is My Business... with bonus tracks and expanded packaging, followed by "Rude Awakening."

Mustaine now writes a lesson column in Guitar World magazine.

(For more discography information, see Megadeth discography; for detailed band history, see Megadeth)

Injury and breakup

Mustaine himself gave what he called "the Reader's Digest version" of the whole matter during an interview for SuicideGirls: "I went into retirement because my arm got hurt really bad. I broke up the band which at the time was Al Pitrelli, David Ellefson, Jimmy DeGrasso, and myself. I was having problems with Al because he liked to drink, and we didn’t want to show up at places with him drunk. Al also got married to a nice woman, but he wanted to spend time with her. After a few years, most married men are willing to die, so I figured if we got a couple years into the marriage that might have changed. But the fact was, Al wasn’t fitting. DeGrasso was really hard to be around because he was so negative all the time with his complaining about money and wanting things. Ellefson was all about 'play my songs, play my songs.' I hated being around these guys so when the arm injury happened, it was a welcome relief and an indication that I had to stop."

Recovery

Mustaine went through physical therapy for his arm injury. During his recovery, he explored other areas of the music industry, including production. Contrary to what doctors had predicted, within a short time he fully recovered. However, all was mostly quiet on the Megadeth front for the better part of 2003. Mustaine left Jackson guitars, did a solo acoustic performance at a benefit show, unveiled his new ESP model at the NAMM convention, and oversaw the release of Peace Sells... But Who’s Buying? as an audio DVD presented in Dolby 5.1 surround. He also remixed and remastered all of Megadeth's albums, releasing them through Capitol Records in 2004.

It was during this period that Mustaine became a Christian. He expressed his intent to withdraw from a show in Greece that had Rotting Christ Dissection opening for Megadeth.

Mustaine said on the official Megadeth website: "Yes, I did say I would prefer not to play on concerts with Satanic bands," he said. "That doesn't mean I won't, it doesn't mean I would not talk with the bands either...But to make a life-altering change and then not have some kind of effect would not have been a change at all, would it? It's not much different from staying away from booze if you have made a decision to be sober."

He added, "If I don't feel it is right for me to do something, then (I) would just respectfully decline. I would not ask that anyone be taken off if they were already confirmed...I have to draw the line and stand for my beliefs or they aren't beliefs at all, are they?"

Moreover, Mustaine stated that Christianity helped him to get back in the saddle - while baptized Lutheran, he dabbled heavily in Satanism and black magic during his teenage years, and then years after that began to identify (albeit loosely) as a Jehovah's Witness, until, finally, he became a born-again Christian.

At the same time, Mustaine's personal life once again underwent change. During the tour of Gigantour 2005, Mustaine brought with him a "spiritual counselor" to help him avoid the problems that almost cost him his life due to his prior drug addictions. This was noted recently by The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato, who explained his experience with Mustaine on Gigantour: "He had a pastor walking around with him on tour and riding on his bus, I think to help keep him on the straight and narrow path."

Return

The next year kicked things into high gear. Mustaine oversaw the remixing and re-mastering of Megadeth's entire Capitol Records catalog. All albums were re-released with bonus tracks and full liner notes. With one album remaining in his contract to Sanctuary Records, Mustaine began recording what he intended to be the first Dave Mustaine solo album with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Jimmy Sloas. Complete with guest solos from old friend Chris Poland, this project became a new Megadeth album, The System Has Failed, released September 14, 2004. One month before, Mustaine announced a new touring lineup for Megadeth: Glen Drover (King Diamond/Eidolon) and James MacDonough (Iced Earth). Nick Menza had briefly been a part of the new band before differences once again caused his departure. One week before a new US tour with Exodus supporting, new drummer (and Glen's brother) Shawn Drover (Eidolon) joined Megadeth.

The "Blackmail The Universe" tour went worldwide in February, 2005 with Diamond Head and Dungeon supporting. Capitol released a new greatest hits, Back To The Start, in June, a month before Mustaine created "Gigantour" with Dream Theater, Anthrax, Fear Factory, Symphony X, Dillinger Escape Plan, Life of Agony, and more. Throughout all of this, Mustaine had been coy in the press about whether or not this would be the "final" album and tour for his band. At a concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he announced that he would, in fact, keep Megadeth together.

"The Arsenal Of Megadeth," a two-disc anthology DVD, was released in March 2006. Bass player James LoMenzo (Black Label Society, White Lion) replaced James MacDonough in February shortly before the band headed to the Dubai Desert Rock Festival in the United Arab Emirates. On April 19, the band began recording a new album, United Abominations, at SARM studios in the UK (David Gilmour's house), they announced a worldwide deal with Roadrunner Records in May 2006. United Abominations was released worldwide on May 15, 2007. However, the album had already been leaked before its release. On January 13, 2008, Dave Mustaine confirmed that guitarist Glen Drover had quit Megadeth to focus on his family and that he had been replaced by Chris Broderick of Jag Panzer. The new lineup made its live debut in Finland on February 4 and returned to the US for Gigantour 2008 in the spring. They are set to be releasing their 12th studio album titled Endgame set to release at August 31 (UK only) and September 15 (worldwide), 2009.

According to www.ultimate-guitar.com, Mustaine is planning to open Megadeth's California recording studio to under-privileged children to teach them about rock 'n' roll. The band owns a building in San Diego, California, which has housed their recording equipment over the years. However, in a recent interview with the British music magazine Kerrang, Mustaine wanted to make better use of the studio by turning the space into a learning center for children who come from under-privileged backgrounds. In the interview, he also said he vowed to teach them how to play instruments.

In 2009 Dave Mustaine was featured in the 2009 album "Cult of Static" by Static-X.

On October 8, 2009, Dave Mustaine appeared on the Alex Jones radio show to talk about Megadeth's latest album Endgame. The title of the album was inspired by the Alex Jones film of the same name. In the live interview on Prisonplanet.tv, Mustaine explained that the cover art shows prisoners with barcode mohawks on their heads being marched into a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camp. Alex Jones mentions how the beginning of the song Endgame^{[disambiguation needed]} sounds just like the riot police at the Pittsburgh G-20.

The 2010s

David Ellefson has recently re-joined Megadeth after 9 years since the disband of Megadeth in 2001. Dave and David have agreed to keep any unresolved issues in the past and are working on building and maintaining their friendship again.

Megadeth embarked on a Rust In Peace 20th Anniversary tour, playing the album in its entirety, along with fan favorites such as Wake Up Dead, In My Darkest Hour, and Skin O' My Teeth.

Gigantour

In the summer of 2005, Mustaine launched a travelling North American metal festival. He named it Gigantour after a favorite childhood cartoon of his, Gigantor. It spanned six weeks and was co-headlined by Megadeth and Dream Theater, with a variety of other supporting metal acts such as Fear Factory and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Mustaine has been quoted as saying that his main intention when conceiving the tour was to bring the American metal audiences an eclectic and affordable alternative to Ozzfest.

The second annual Gigantour began in September 2006 and was composed of Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, and Arch Enemy. The second stage bands were Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity, and The Smash Up.

The 2007 Gigantour featured Bring Me the Horizon, Static-X, Devildriver, and Lacuna Coil along with Megadeth. Megadeth appeared on their first tour to India, Bangalore in March 2008.

The 2008 installment of the tour featured Megadeth, Children of Bodom, In Flames, High on Fire, and Job for a Cowboy (and Evile for the UK and Scandinavia tour).

Megadeth Blood in the Water: Live in San Diego (from the Gigantour 2008) premiered on HDNet Sunday November 2 at 8PMET in high definition and 5.1 audio (Repeats check www.hd.net)

Equipment

Mustaine used B.C. Rich Guitars early in his career (and for his entire duration with Metallica), most notably a B.C. Rich Bich 10 and later, a B.C. Rich Perfect 10 Bich, which Mustaine strung with just the regular six strings.

In March 2009, while he was guest hosting Bruce Dickinson's Friday Night Radio show, Mustaine attributed his choice of the Flying V guitar to being a fan of UFO's Michael Schenker when he was growing up.

After switching to Jackson Guitars he helped to re-design the guitar maker's version of the King V model (at the time, it was a "double Rhoads size" meaning it had two of the longer fins from the RR). The reshaped Mustaine KV1 model had slightly shorter fins, Kahler bridge and Seymour Duncan JB-4 and Jazz-2 pickups. He also specified 24 frets rather than the original King V's 22, a tradition which Jackson still keeps on its King V models today, and the KV1, as have all of Mustaine's signature models, also featured a smaller, medium fretwire compared to the extra jumbos featured on most Jacksons.

Mustaine later switched to ESP guitars. The company released the DV8 signature model in the 2004 NAMM convention also at which time Mustaine announced his ESP endorsement deal. In 2005, Mustaine and ESP teamed up to release the ESP Axxion, (pronounced Action), in order to celebrate Megadeth's 20th anniversary.(the XX in Axxion and the fretboard inlays being the number 20 in Roman numerals) The ESP Axxion and ESP DV8 were both successful and cheaper models such as the LTD-DV8 R, LTD DV200 and the LTD Axxion were released to target a bigger market.

However, on December 6, 2006, Dave Mustaine announced that he was leaving ESP guitars and shifting his endorsement to Dean Guitars. His new signature guitar was revealed during NAMM Show on 19 January 2007. The signature guitar is called the Dean VMNT. The V-shaped guitar is very similar to his earlier Jackson and ESP Signature models.The release campaign of the VMNT had a limited copy of only 150 in the world and are signed by Dave Mustaine. This was posted on the website.

"After two successful years, I have decided to leave ESP guitars. This was a business decision and had nothing to do with the guitars or the manufacturing of the guitars, and I wish the staff of ESP, both in the USA and in Japan and Korea the very best of health and prosperity. Meanwhile, I am taking my Classic Metal V known formerly as a Jackson King V1 or an ESP DV8, and my new guitar design presently known as an Axxion, which was the recipient of the Gold Award from Guitar World Magazine for 2005 for new guitar designs with me. I will also be re-introducing through my new endorsement many special models, including re-issues of my old models from over the span of my career, as well as some retro V shapes, similar to the formerly known Jackson Y2KV or a Gibson Flying V. I will make my announcement and be attending the 2007 NAMM show to meet Megadeth fans and all metal fans, musicians of all styles-especially guitarists."

Today he uses his new signature model by Dean Guitars, the Dean VMNT. The USA model was available briefly in limited run after its release, although the Korean and Chinese models are in continuous production. Mustaine uses the USA and some Korean models on stage.

Dave Mustaine has also recently collaborated with Marshall in order to produce the 1960DM Dave Mustaine Signature Cabinets. He is now using his signature Marshall cabinets on tour.

His new guitar shape, debuting in 2010 with Dean guitars will be a unique new shape for Dave, resembling the Gibson Explorer. This new guitar is named the Dean Zero, with sharper points. Dave has made a few appearances so far with this guitar on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and on shows during the Australian tour with Slayer. He has also used the guitar in the later dates of the 2009 Endgame tour and continues to use it to this day. He says he primarily still uses his VMNT's so he can grab on to the lower horn with his legs for certain songs.

Dave has also used Ovation acoustic guitars for most of his career. However, he stopped endorsing the company after receiving a signature acoustic from Dean, dubbed the Mako.

Guitar playing

In 2004, Guitar World magazine ranked Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman together at #30 on the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.

In 2009 Mustaine was named the No. 1 player in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists. As he told Classic Rock magazine in September 2009: "It was especially sweet when I found out that Joel has written books on Metallica... Every page I turned, I became more excited. I get to No.5 and it’s Kirk Hammett, and I thought, ‘Thank you, God’. At that point it didn’t matter which position I was. To be better than both of them James Hetfield and Hammett] meant so much – it’s been one of the pet peeves of my career and I’ve never known how to deal with it... All I thought was… I win!"

Mustaine is known for his distinctive guitar style which includes fast-paced riffing and palm muting. He often uses chords that are considered unorthodox and has the ability to "sing" while playing his complex music. His solos are often speed based, but have recently become more technically proficient as the years have continued and other guitarists have pushed his skills.

Cameo appearances

Dave Mustaine has appeared on various television shows:

• In 1992 Mustaine covered the Democratic National Convention for MTV. He also hosted the MTV2 Television Network's series Headbanger's Ball on two occasions: once on a tribute to Dimebag Darrell in December 2004 and the second time as a special guest on an episode which aired August 27, 2005. He also played the song "Gears of War" with Megadeth on an episode about the video game release under the same name.
• Dave Mustaine makes an appearance on the 1998 The Drew Carey Show episode entitled "In Ramada Da Vida." When Drew and the gang decide to start a band, they audition guitarists, including Mustaine. After playing a lightning fast guitar solo, Lewis Kiniski tells Mustaine "Don't be nervous son, just slow down," to which Mustaine replies, "It's supposed to sound that way." Drew replies by saying, "Yeah, sure it is..... next."
• In the 1996 Black Scorpion sci-fi series episode Love Burns Mustaine plays Torchy Thompson, a vengeful arsonist.
• Dave Mustaine and Megadeth appear in the Duck Dodgers 2005 episode "In Space, Nobody can Hear you Rock/Ridealong Calamity", the second-to-last episode of the series.^[17] In the show, Mustaine plays a cryogenically frozen version of himself, possibly a reference to the "Hangar 18" video since the video ends with the whole line up of Megadeth cryogenically frozen. He is unfrozen because the main cast requires an incredibly loud noise to overload a Martian sonic weapon, and "nobody rocks harder, faster, or louder than Dave Mustaine." He is referred to in the episode as being "genetically engineered to rock and raised by wolverines". During this episode he played the song "Back in the Day" from the album The System Has Failed. Mustaine appeared again in the show in the final episode, Bonafide Hero: Captain Duck Dodgers.
• Mustaine appeared on the second episode of season 8 on the television show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
• Mustaine and Megadeth appeared in promotional videos for the NHL team Philadelphia Flyers in response to an inflammatory comment by Mike Wise in the Washington Post which suggested that some of the Flyers' fans could work security for Megadeth. Mustaine invited them to do so. Megadeth all wore Flyers' jerseys. Mustaine sported the one of team captain Jason Smith, while other members wore the jerseys of Danny Brière, Martin Biron and Mike Richards.
• Mustaine appeared in an episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! along with George Clinton and Moon Zappa, where he won with an extremely high lead.
• Dave Mustaine has also appeared in the Classic Album documentary of Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast.
• Dave Mustaine has appeared in the heavy metal documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years".
• Dave Mustaine has appeared in the documentary "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash metal".
• Mustaine appeared in the vote campaign for St Arnaud global nations awards he was accompanied by his old friend Jake Rose. He commented at the end of the day the campaign was a complete success.
• Dave played the National Anthem on guitar before MTV's Rock 'n' Jock Softball game.
• Dave Mustaine hosted a syndicated radio show on the iHeartRadio network in his spare time, titled "Megadeth Radio".
• Dave Mustaine now lives in Fallbrook, California.

Former Members

Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American bassist best known as the bass player of American thrash metal band Metallica. As a bassist he made heavy use of distortion and effects (several of which are usually associated with non-bass guitars), best exemplified on his signature piece, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth".

Burton's early influence was essential in creating the unique musical style for which Metallica became famous. Burton joined the band in 1982 and performed on their debut album, Kill 'Em All. Burton performed on two more Metallica albums, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, both of which met with major commercial and critical success. Burton was known for his "lead bass" approach, in which the bass played a melodic, soloistic role, in addition to holding down the harmonic and rhythmic foundation of the band.

On September 27, 1986, Burton died when the band's tour bus skidded and crashed in Sweden. Burton was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Metallica on April 4, 2009. His father, Ray Burton, gave a speech on his son's behalf.

Biography

Early years

Burton was born on February 10, 1962, in Alameda County, California, to Jan and Ray Burton. He had two elder siblings, Scott and Connie. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Burton's interest in music began when his father introduced him to classical music and he began taking piano lessons. In his teenage years, Burton had an interest in rock, classical and eventually heavy metal. He began playing the bass at age 13, after the death of his brother. His parents quoted him as saying, "I'm going to be the best bassist for my brother." He practiced up to six hours per day. Along with classical and jazz, Burton's other early influences varied from southern rock, country and blues.

While still a student at Castro Valley High School, Burton formed his first band. Called "EZ-Street", the band took its name from a Bay Area topless bar. Other members of EZ Street included future Faith No More guitarist "Big" Jim Martin and future Faith No More and Ozzy Osbourne drummer Mike Bordin. Burton and Martin continued their musical collaboration after becoming students at Chabot College in Hayward, California. Their second band, "Agents of Misfortune", entered the Hayward Area Recreation Department's "Battle of the Bands" contest in 1981. Their audition was recorded on video and features some of the earliest footage of Burton's trademark playing style. The video also shows Burton playing some parts of what would soon be two Metallica songs: his signature bass solo, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth," and the chromatic intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls".^[3] Burton joined his first major band, Trauma, in 1982.

Metallica

In 1982, Trauma traveled to Los Angeles to perform at the Whisky a Go Go. Among those in attendance were James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, both members of Metallica, which had formed the previous year. Upon hearing, as Hetfield described it, "this amazing shredding" (which later became "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth"), the two went in search of what they thought was an amazing guitar player. When they learned that what they had heard was, in fact, a bass solo by Burton they decided to recruit him for their own band. They asked him to replace departed bassist Ron McGovney, and since Burton thought that Trauma was "starting to get a little commercial," he agreed. The idea of having to move to Los Angeles did not sit well with him, and said he would join only if the band would relocate from Los Angeles to his native San Francisco Bay Area. Metallica, eager to have Cliff in the band left their origin of Los Angeles to make a home in El Cerrito, a town located across the bay from San Francisco.

Burton's first recording with Metallica was the Megaforce Demo. A demo tape the band had made prior to Burton's joining, No Life 'Til Leather, managed to come into the hands of John Zazula, owner of Megaforce Records.^[6] The band relocated to Old Bridge, New Jersey - and quickly secured a record deal with Zazula's label. Their first album, Kill 'Em All, features Burton's famous solo piece, "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth," which showcased his use of effects, such as a wah pedal (until then the wah pedal had been the near-exclusive domain of six-string guitarists, with the exception of Geezer Butler on Black Sabbath's first album, and occasionally ultra-progressive bassists such as Chris Squire).

The band's second album, Ride the Lightning, showcased the band's increasing musical growth. Burton's songwriting abilities were growing, and he received credit on six of the album's eight songs. Burton's playing style and use of effects is showcased on two tracks: the chromatic intro to "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and the "lead bass" on "The Call of Ktulu."

The increase of musicianship on Ride the Lightning caught the attention of major record labels. Metallica was signed to Elektra, and began working on their third album, Master of Puppets, which is considered by most critics to be a landmark album in both thrash and the whole of metal. Burton is featured heavily on several tracks, most notably the instrumental "Orion," which again featured Burton's lead bass playing style. The album also contained Burton's favorite Metallica song, "Master of Puppets." Master of Puppets was the band's commercial breakthrough, but it would be Burton's final album with Metallica.

Burton's final performance was in Stockholm, Sweden on September 26, 1986.^[10] One of Burton's final performances with the band is available for free to download from Metallica's website.

Death

Memorial stone near the crash site, next to Master of Puppets Album.

During the European leg of the Damage Inc. tour in support of Master of Puppets, the band complained that the sleeping cubicles on their tour bus were unsatisfactory and uncomfortable. To decide who was getting the pick of the bunks, Kirk Hammett and Cliff drew cards. On the evening of September 26, 1986, Cliff had won the game with an Ace of Spades. He was asleep when at several minutes before 7 am (on the 27th), according to the driver, the bus ran over a patch of black ice, skidded off of the road (the E4, 2 miles north of Ljungby), and flipped onto the grass in Ljungby Municipality, near Dörarp in rural southern Sweden. Burton was thrown through the window of the bus, which fell on top of him. They tried to revive him, but while the bus was raised it fell once again causing his death. James Hetfield later stated that he first believed the bus flipped because the driver was drunk, claiming his breath smelled of alcohol after the accident. Hetfield also stated that he himself walked long distances down the road looking for black ice and found none.

Local freelance photographer, Lennart Wennberg, who attended the crash scene the following morning, when later asked in an interview about the likelihood that black ice caused the accident, said it was 'out of the question', stating that the road was dry and the temperature around two degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit). This was also confirmed by the police who found no ice on the road. Ljungby detective Arne Pettersson was reported in a local newspaper to have said the pattern of the tracks at the accident site were exactly like ones seen when drivers fall asleep at the wheel. However the driver stated under oath that he had slept during the day and was fully rested; his testimony was confirmed by the driver of the second tour bus. The driver was determined not at fault for the accident and no charges were brought against him.

Burton was cremated and his ashes scattered at the Maxwell Ranch. At the ceremony, the song "Orion" was played, and the lyrics "...cannot the Kingdom of Salvation take me home?" are written on Cliff Burton's memorial stone.

The most well known non-Metallica tribute to Burton is the song "In My Darkest Hour" by contemporary thrash metal band Megadeth. According to Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine, after hearing of Burton's death, he sat down and wrote the music for the song in one sitting. The lyrics, however, are unrelated to Burton's death. The band's frontman Dave Mustaine was Metallica's lead guitarist in the early days and knew Burton very well, Mustaine was quoted as saying the song was inspired by Burton's passing.

On October 3, 2006 a memorial stone was unveiled in Sweden near the scene of the fatal crash.

Contemporary thrash metal band Anthrax dedicated their Among the Living album to him, as did Metal Church with The Dark.

On April 4, 2009, Cliff Burton was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with the rest of Metallica. During the ceremony, the induction was accepted by Cliff's father, Ray Burton, who shared the stage with the band and mentioned that Cliff's mother was actually Metallica's biggest fan.

A biography, To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, written by Joel McIver, was published by Jawbone Press in June 2009. Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett provided the foreword.they named the book after Cliff's last song ever written while playing with Metallica. It is the eighth track on ..."And Justice for All."

Former Members

Jason Curtis Newsted (born March 4, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan) is an American bassist best known as the former bassist of Metallica after Cliff Burton's death. To this day, with more than fourteen years, he has the longest tenure as Metallica's bassist. After he left Metallica, he continued with his project Echobrain, played with Ozzy Osbourne and joined heavy metal band Voivod. Newsted uses the pseudonym Jasonic, which serves as both his alias in Voivod and the name of his music publishing company. He is also the founder of the Chophouse Records studio and label based in California.

Career

Flotsam & Jetsam

Main article: Flotsam and Jetsam (band)

The early part of Newsted's music career had him performing bass for Flotsam and Jetsam and their 1986 album Doomsday for the Deceiver. Newsted wrote the majority of lyrics for the album as well.

Joining Metallica

Main article: Metallica

Following the death of Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton on September 1986 on the Europe leg of the Damage Inc. tour, Metallica began a search for a new bassist. Newsted auditioned for the part along with roughly 39 other musicians and in winning the role, his first live performance with Metallica was at the Country Club in Reseda, California. However, initiation into the grieving band did not come easy, as Newsted was often subject to pranks and ridicule which increased as time went on. The fans also had a hard time accepting that Cliff Burton had been replaced. He debuted on the group's album "The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited". This was followed by his first full-length album with Metallica …And Justice for All, which was subject to controversy and criticism for its poor production - among other issues, for its lack of identifiable bass. Newsted claims this was further hazing on the part of Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, although both Ulrich and Hetfield claim they were also disappointed with the production of the album. In addition, they claim that most/all of Newsted's bass lines closely followed the rhythm guitar lines to the point of being indiscernible from each other. The album nevertheless reached No. 6 on the Billboard Charts and projected the group to higher success.

Jason Newsted performed on the self-titled Black album (1991), Load (1996) and Reload (1997). The Black Album launched Metallica into world fame. Load and Reload were more rock albums with a slower and deeper sound. The live concerts Live Shit: Binge & Purge and Cunning Stunts where produced in 1993 and 1997. In 1999 he played with Metallica on S&M. Jason did backing vocals on all of these albums and did live full versions of Seek and Destroy and Whiplash. He has co-written three Metallica songs:

• Blackened (...And Justice For All)
• My Friend of Misery (Metallica)
• Where the Wild Things Are (Reload)

Departure from Metallica

On January 17, 2001, as plans were being made for the band to enter the recording studio for the St. Anger album, Newsted announced he had left Metallica. Newsted's statement revealed his departure was based on "private and personal reasons and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love." During a Playboy interview with Metallica, Newsted revealed intentions he wanted to release an album with Echobrain. Hetfield was against the idea and said, "When someone does a side project, it takes away from the strength of Metallica." Newsted countered his statement by citing Hetfield's contributions to other musical outlets. Hetfield replied, "My name isn't on those records. And I'm not out trying to sell them" and pondered questions such as "Where would it end? Does he start touring with it? Does he sell shirts? Is it his band?".

Newsted says he has never regretted leaving the band. "I tell you very honestly, 1 billion percent, I have never regretted leaving Metallica. It was the right thing for everyone. It was the right thing to do for the camp, that’s it. I’ve never told anyone that I wanted to go back or anything like that, not once. I made up my mind. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was something I had to do. I thought about it very much before I pulled the trigger and because of that, I have never looked back. The past is where its supposed to be.” It was stated in the film Some Kind of Monster that there was a rumor for Newsted to possibly rejoin the band, but it was proven as false.

On April 4, 2009, Newsted joined Metallica for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. He also performed three songs at the event, "Master Of Puppets","Enter Sandman", and "Train Kept a Rollin" with Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett, and Trujillo.

Ozzy Osbourne Band

Main article: Ozzy Osbourne

Newsted joined Canadian thrash metal band Voivod in 2002. Coincidentally, he was also Robert Trujillo's replacement in Osbourne's band (having switched sides) during Ozzfest 2003, which included Voivod as a Second Stage act. During an MTV interview, both Osbourne and Newsted showed extreme enthusiasm in writing a new album together, with Osbourne comparing Newsted to "a young Geezer Butler." However, this would not come to fruition as Newsted left Osbourne upon finishing tour duties in late 2003. He would soon be replaced by Rob Zombie bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson.

Newsted then focused solely on Voivod where, much like Echobrain, the group was funded entirely through him. They recorded two albums before Newsted's participation in Rock Star Supernova, a supergroup created through the reality television series, Rock Star: Supernova, in 2006.

Voivod

Main article: Voivod (band)

The last incarnation of Voivod featured three of the four founding members: Denis Bélanger (aka Snake, vocals), Denis D'Amour (aka Piggy, guitars), and Michel Langevin (aka Away, drums) along with Jason Newsted (aka Jasonic) on bass guitar. Guitarist Denis D'Amour died at the age of 45 on August 26, 2005 due to complications from colon cancer. Their most recent record is Katorz (which is an "alternative" way of writing "quatorze", fourteen in French), released in July 2006. The album is based around riffs found on the laptop of guitarist Denis D'Amour. Just prior to his death, he left instructions for his fellow bandmates on how to use them.

A December 2008 update on Voivod's website noted that Newsted played "all the bass tracks" on their latest album Infini, which was released on June 23, 2009.

Rock Star Supernova

Main article: Rock Star Supernova

Supernova formed the basis of the second season of the Rock Star television program on CBS in the quest to find a lead singer. The show began online on the Rock Star web site on MSN on Monday, July 3, 2006 with an Internet exclusive weekly episode and premiered on CBS on that Wednesday, July 5. Votes were cast via the Rock Star website. On September 13, 2006, Lukas Rossi was crowned the winner.

Shoulder injury

On October 23, 2006, Newsted was injured while attempting to catch a falling bass amp head. The accident resulted in a torn anterior labrum in his left shoulder and a rotator cuff and biceps tear in the right. He was scheduled for immediate surgery, and underwent a lengthy rehab process. During this time he was unable to play, and began to express himself through painting. On January 4, 2007, he was back playing his bass again.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction

On April 4, 2009, Newsted was present with Metallica and played with the band alongside current bassist Robert Trujillo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland. It was his first performance with the band in nearly 9 years, their last performance together having taken place at the 2000 VH1 Music Awards. Both Newsted and Trujillo performed onstage at the same time, which was a first for the band. He also gave an emotional speech and was met with enormous applause.

Art career

While recovering from his shoulder injury, Jason found solace through painting. Jason has turned out hundreds of large original works of art over the last half a decade. Jason Newsted says that he went "from making crazy and colorful music to making crazy and colorful paintings." His first gallery show is scheduled to open on May 4, 2010 at Micaëla Gallery in San Francisco.

Current Members

Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is a Danish drummer best known as one of the founders of American heavy metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis prodigy in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age seventeen to pursue his training, but instead of playing tennis, he ended up as a drummer. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper called The Recycler, he met James Hetfield and formed Metallica.

Biography

Lars' father, Torben Ulrich, who was an acclaimed tennis pro from the late 1940s into the early 1980s, was also a musician, playing jazz with giants such as Stan Getz and Miles Davis; legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather. In February 1973, Torben Ulrich obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Lars. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the very next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of rock and roll and later on, heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit from his grandmother at the age of twelve, a Ludwig. Lars' original goal and reason for moving to America was to play tennis, but the plan was later changed when he formed Metallica.

Later on in life, in 1981, Lars discovered a British heavy metal band called Diamond Head. He was so excited about their style of music after getting hold of their 1980 debut Lightning to the Nations that he traveled all the way from San Francisco to London in order to see the band perform live at the Woolwich Odeon. However, the young Lars had not planned the trip out particularly well and was left without anywhere to stay after the gig. Still, he managed to meet the band backstage and explain the lengths he had taken to see them. The band warmed to him and lead guitarist Brian Tatler let him stay with him in Birmingham, where Lars spent the next few weeks touring with the band. Lars still remains a big fan of the band and even helped mix their Best Of album.

n the same year Lars met James Hetfield in Downey, California and formed the thrash metal band Metallica. He got the name "Metallica" from a friend, Ron Quintana, who was thinking up names for a heavy metal magazine he was starting up, and Metallica was one of the options, the other being "Metal Mania". Lars encouraged him to pick Metal Mania, and kept the name Metallica for himself. He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash drum beats, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" from Kill 'Em All, "Fight Fire With Fire" from Ride the Lightning, "Battery" from Master of Puppets and "Dyers Eve" from ...And Justice for All. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band, as well as his drum techniques, such as the double bass in the song "One" (...And Justice for All) and the opening of "Enter Sandman" (Metallica / "The Black Album"). Since the release of Metallica, Ulrich adopted a more focused and precise style of drumming, and reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece.

Napster controversy

In April 2000, Ulrich became a vocal opponent of Napster and file sharing as Metallica sued the company for copyright infringement and racketeering. In July 2000, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue was found to be freely available for download on the service. The case was settled out-of-court, resulting in more than 300,000 Napster users being banned from the service. Due to his high profile role in Napster's legal troubles and subsequent demise, Ulrich faced significant criticism and ridicule from users of the service. Since the Napster ordeal, Ulrich was quoted by LAUNCHcast as having some regrets:

"I wish that I was more...you know, I felt kind of ambushed by the whole thing because I didn't really know enough about what we were getting ourselves into when we jumped. ... We didn't know enough about the kind of grassroots thing, and what had been going on the last couple of months in the country as this whole new phenomenon was going on. We were just so stuck in our controlling ways of wanting to control everything that had to do with Metallica. So we were caught off guard and we had a little bit of a rougher landing on that one than on other times than when we just blindly leap. But you know, I'm still proud of the fact that we did leap... and I took a lot of hits and it was difficult".

Style

Ulrich's drumming style has changed throughout his career. During the 1980s he was known for his fast, aggressive and, more or less, basic thrash beats. He would often utilize the double bass technique, which has become highly popular among heavy metal drummers. The best examples of this are Battery (Master of Puppets), Damage, Inc. (Master of Puppets), Blackened (...And Justice for All), and, arguably his most extreme, Dyers Eve (...And Justice for All), among others. However, during the 1990s and early 2000s he simplified his drum rhythms in order to fit the simplification in Metallica's overall musical style. This started with Metallica, and very roughly ended with St. Anger. With Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic, Ulrich made a modest return to his style from the 1980s, in which he played more complex and fast rhythms than had been previously seen in the 1990s. This was, again, because of a change in Metallica's overall musical style.

Personal life

Ulrich has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour, but divorced in 1990 due to^{[citation needed]} Ulrich's constant absence while touring and recording The Black Album. His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They had two sons, Myles (b. August 5, 1998) and Layne (b. May 6, 2001).

Ulrich has dated Danish actress Connie Nielsen since late 2003, early 2004 and the couple had their first child, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, born in San Francisco on May 21, 2007. Nielsen also has another son named Sebastian (b. 1990).

Ulrich is a noted collector of art. His father, Torben, was also very fond of art and paintings, so Ulrich grew up surrounded by art and music, and both have always been a part of his life. After founding Metallica, he began visiting museums and art galleries during the band's long periods on the road. In an interview from 2002 Ulrich said: "I felt I could lose myself in art and get away from the music world. It became this great hiding place."

In 2008, in an interview with Stereo Warning, he said: "We had art all over the house when I was growing up. It's been a passion of mine for 20–25 years. It's one area where I can go and be myself. It's not about being in Metallica or being the drummer in a rock band. I'm accepted for who I am in the art circles. I love going into artist spaces and galleries and auction houses. It's great because it has absolutely nothing to do with Metallica. It's my place of sanctuary."

When he and the rest of Metallica were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ulrich was the first Danish person to receive the honor.

In popular culture

Ulrich's involvement in the conflict with Napster was parodied in "Christian Rock Hard", an episode of the satirical animated TV series South Park. In the episode, the children are taught not to download illegally because multi-millionaires like Ulrich now have to wait a little longer to buy extravagant things (also, when Kyle has his "weekly epiphany" and proclaims that bands should be about music, the artists react with "we're just about the money," with Ulrich nodding). Other such references can be found in the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Don't Download This Song" and the MC Lars song "Hurricane Fresh".

Lars made a brief appearance on the Linkin Park live DVD, Live in Texas, dressed up as a green-fisted bunny man during their performance of "From the Inside".

Lars is featured, along with the other Metallica members, in the film The Darwin Awards. He portrays himself at a concert when two of the film's characters are involved in a freak accident as the band performs on stage. Lars has also made appearances in the films Flight 666, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and Global Metal.

Lars also appears with Metallica in the Simpsons episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer".

Lars has also made appearances on the television shows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and The Rachel Maddow Show.

Lars is said to be the greatest metal drummer of all time by "Dr. Gregory House" in the episode "Known Unknowns".

Lars has also been announced to have a cameo in Guns N' Roses' new video "Better", which is yet to be released.

Current Members

Robert Trujillo (Spanish pronunciation: roˈberto truuˈxijo) (born Roberto Agustin Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz on October 23, 1964) is a Mexican-American bassist who is currently in Metallica, but has also played with Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Black Label Society, Jerry Cantrell and Ozzy Osbourne.

Biography

Early life

Robert Trujillo was born on October 23, 1964 and grew up in Culver City, California. His mother is from León, Guanajuato, México. His grandfather is from Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. Trujillo attended Culver City High School.

Career

He played in a few local bands before joining Suicidal Tendencies (in 1989) and fellow Culver City native, Rocky George, the guitarist for the band at the time. Trujillo replaced the band's second bassist Bob Heathcote. His funk styled playing influenced Suicidal Tendencies, most prominently on the albums Lights...Camera...Revolution! and especially on The Art of Rebellion. Later, he and band-leader Mike Muir formed the funk metal band Infectious Grooves.

He was a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band for a number of years starting in the late 90s. Trujillo was the subject of controversy for re-recording Bob Daisley's bass tracks for reissued versions of Osbourne's albums Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman due to Daisley's claim of not receiving proper royalties.

Robert Trujillo began playing bass for Metallica on February 24, 2003. He had previously met and befriended his future bandmates when Suicidal Tendencies supported Metallica during the Nowhere Else To Roam tour in 1993, and again during the Shit Hits The Sheds tour one year later. Trujillo received one million dollars from the band as an advance for joining Metallica. His audition and hiring appear in the documentary film Some Kind of Monster.

Also in 2003, Trujillo was seen playing an upright bass in the Nickel Creek music video, "Smoothie" Song. However, he did not play bass for the band during the song's recording.

Personal life

Robert is married and has two children; a 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter. His wife Chloe did a pyrography (woodburning) design of the Mayan Calendar for him on his bass. Years later when Rob heard Chloe had moved to Los Angeles, he called her from a pay phone while on a surfing trip in Tahiti in a determined effort to reconnect. They have been together for the past seven years and are now married. His wife has her own site called "Chloe in art".

Technique

Trujillo is primarily a fingerstyle player, but has been known to play with a pick in some recordings and while playing live. Trujillo's predecessor in Metallica, Jason Newsted, was almost exclusively a pickstyle player, while Cliff Burton, Newsted's predecessor and bassist on Metallica's first three albums, played fingerstyle exclusively.

Trujillo also uses the slap bass technique, seen mostly in his work with Suicidal Tendencies and especially Infectious Grooves. At many of the shows during Metallica's 2004 Madly in Anger with the World Tour, Trujillo would often play an extended bass solo (dubbed "Jungle Essence" on recordings) which made extensive use of slap bass and other techniques and effects.

Equipment

With Metallica, he is most often seen playing Fernandes Guitars Gravity 5-string basses, particularly a model with a silver finish, blue flame decals, and EMG pickups.He has a Warwick Signature Streamer bass that was released in March 2010. He also has a signature bass model, the Sonus RT, manufactured by Zon Guitars^[10]. Prior to Metallica, he was most often seen playing Tobias, ESP and MusicMan basses (all 5-strings), as well as a Fender Precision Bass with Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne. Trujillo has been seen in concert playing a Yamaha TRB5-P2 5-string bass, a customized green Rickenbacker 4001/4003 4-string bass fitted with EMG pickups, and a classic Fender Precision Bass^[11]. For amplification, he uses Ampeg amplifiers and cabinets. Trujillo recently collaborated with Jim Dunlop to create his new Icon signature bass strings - these strings are taper-core stainless steel, in gauges 45-130 (5-string).

Trujillo's pedal board consists of an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron, a SansAmp Bass Driver DI, a SansAmp XXL, a Morley Mark Tremonti wah pedal, and a Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal all powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power.

Current Members

Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003 Kirk Hammett was ranked 11th in Rolling Stone's list - The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Biography

Early life (1962–1980)

Born on November 18, 1962 in San Francisco to a Filipina mother (Chefela) and an Irish Merchant Marine father. Kirk Hammett attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California. After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster copy, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. Hammett also took a job at Burger King as a youth before quitting once he saved enough money for his Marshall amplifier.

Exodus (1980–1983)

Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus' 1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.

Metallica (1983–present)

Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983. This was prior to the recording of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani.

Hammett has written and contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the 1990s during the Load era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman" became one of Metallica's most popular songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled "Black Album" and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest songs of all time.

The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica. Hammett is also known for always having his picking hand taped up. During the course of a full tour, due to constantly palm muting and fast picking, the palm of his hand takes sizable abuse. Hammett's playing style is noted for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos. Hammett says "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." Hammett's use of the wah-pedal hadn't been featured in recent Metallica solos, but has seen a resurgence in his solos on the newest album, Death Magnetic.

Hammett initially wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we left them out".

On April 4, 2009, Kirk, along with Metallica bandmates Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Robert Trujillo and former Metallica bandmates Jason Newsted and the late Cliff Burton, were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In 2009 Hammett supplied the foreword to British author Joel McIver's book To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton.

Other appearances

In 2005, Hammett played guitar on the Carlos Santana track "Trinity". In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons ("The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"). He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan ("The Curse of Dethklok"), The Queen of Denmark ("Happy Dethday"), and a Finnish barkeep ("Dethtroll"). * He also appeared as a guest in an episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast titled "Jacksonville" alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.

In 2010, Hammett will play with Nicolas Abou Chedid on Nico's solo album. Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for The Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997. After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs. He also appeared on the "Kichigai" E.P. by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track. He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour album. He is one of the main characters in Guitar Hero: Metallica along with the rest of the current lineup of Metallica. Hammett can be seen in the background in Primus' "John the Fisherman" video fishing off of Les Claypool's boat. Claypool and Hammett are childhood friends.

Current Members

James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the American thrash metal band Metallica.

Biography

Birth

James Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is of English, German and Irish descent.

Hetfield's father, Virgil (a truck driver who later left the family) and mother, Cynthia (a light opera singer) were strict adherents to Christian Science, and accordingly, much of James' young life revolved around Christian Science.

In accordance with their beliefs, Hetfield's parents strongly disapproved of medicine or any other medical treatment and remained loyal to their faith even as Cynthia was dying from cancer.

Musical influences

Hetfield was nine years old when he first began piano lessons, after which he took on his brother David's drums and finally, at the age of fourteen, he began to play guitar. He also was in a few bands as a child - one being Leather Charm and another Obsession.

Hetfield identifies Aerosmith as having been his main musical influence as a child, and has said that they were the reason why he wanted to play guitar. Other bands and musicians such as Motörhead, UFO, ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, Saxon, Diamond Head, Johnny Cash, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Hank Williams Jr., Kiss, Van Halen, Rush, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Judas Priest, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Blue Öyster Cult, Venom, Led Zeppelin, and Thin Lizzy also had a major influence on his musical tastes.

Metallica (since 1981)

In the early days of the band, Metallica experimented with a few different vocals and guitar combinations, essentially creating a setup like that of Diamond Head. (Eventually, they would cover Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?") Some of the options considered included adding another guitar player, having John Roads play lead guitar, as well as asking John Bush from Armored Saint (who later joined Anthrax) to sing for the band. Hetfield stated in a 1989 interview with Spin that the band wanted ex-Misfits' vocalist Glenn Danzig to be Metallica's singer, but it is unclear whether or not Danzig was ever actually approached to join the band. The finalized line-up of the band became Hetfield (rhythm guitar and vocals), Lars Ulrich (drums), Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), and Cliff Burton (bass).

From 1981 to 1983, Mustaine's alcoholism sparked heated altercations between himself and Hetfield. Mustaine also once poured beer onto Ron McGovney's bass very nearly causing serious damage. Eventually, Hetfield and Ulrich ejected Mustaine due to his alcoholic tendencies and recruited lead guitarist Kirk Hammett from the band Exodus the same day. Mustaine was sent home on a 4-day bus journey, and went on to form the thrash metal band Megadeth.

Until the mid-1990s, Hetfield recorded all rhythm tracks and most harmony tracks. Since the recording of Load, Kirk Hammett is recording rhythm guitars as well. James occasionally plays guitar solos, too, such as "Nothing Else Matters", "My Friend of Misery" the outro solo on "The Outlaw Torn", the second solo on "To Live Is to Die", the second solo on "Orion", the first solo on "Suicide and Redemption", and the first interlude solo on "Master of Puppets" and the introduction harmonic solo in "The Day That Never Comes". He also writes the majority of the guitar harmonies, as well as writing the lyrics, vocal melodies, and co-arranging the songs with Ulrich.

Hetfield has been involved in many onstage accidents, the most famous one being an incident with pyrotechnics at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. While on the GN'R-Metallica Stadium Tour on August 8, 1992, he accidentally stepped into the path of one of the chemical flames that had been rigged to shoot from the lip of the stage during the song "Fade to Black". Hetfield's guitar protected him from the full force of the blast; however, the fire engulfed his left side, burning his hand, arm, eyebrows, face and hair. He suffered second and third-degree burns, but was back on stage 17 days later, although his guitar duties were delegated to former guitar tech and Metal Church guitarist John Marshall for four weeks while he made a full recovery.

Hetfield has also broken his arm several times while skateboarding, which prevented him from playing guitar on stage, and subsequently caused Hetfield's management company Q Prime to add a clause in James' contract forbidding him to ride a skateboard during a Metallica tour. During a concert on tour for the Black Album, James experienced complications with his vocals after performing a cover of the Anti-Nowhere League's "So What", forcing him to take vocal lessons for the first time. James did basic warm-up exercises to piano keys with his vocal coach who also gave him a cassette tape of the piano warm-up for future use. Hetfield still uses the same cassette he was given in the early nineties to this day before any show or any recording Metallica does. James talks about his vocal training endeavours in the Metallica documentary film, Some Kind of Monster produced & directed by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky. During the recording of the St. Anger album (2002–2003), Hetfield went into rehab to address his alcohol addiction. Hetfield rejoined the band after two months in rehab and seven months recovering with his family. He is now clean and sober and is determined to remain so, all of which is in Some Kind of Monster.

Some Kind of Monster also shows the making of the St. Anger album and documents the various conflicts and issues the band were facing at the time including the departure of Metallica's bassist, Jason Newsted, alcoholism, family commitments, and the future of the band with many in the rock press questioning whether the band would even still be together to see the completion of the St. Anger album.

Hetfield and Metallica addressed their need for a new bassist by recruiting Robert Trujillo. The new lineup has continued to make music and tour worldwide. Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic, was released on September 12, 2008. Like St. Anger and every album of original material released by Metallica since 1991's Black Album, Death Magnetic went #1 on the Billboard charts in over 30 countries during its first week of release.

On April 4, 2009, James along with remaining Metallica members Lars, Kirk, Robert, Jason, as well as the late Cliff Burton were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In an interview after their nomination, Hetfield commented that everyone who had appeared on an album with the band would be inducted. This excluded original guitarist Dave Mustaine and original bassist Ron McGovney, as both had appeared only on the band's early demo tapes.

Hetfield was ranked 24th in the Hit Parader's Top Metal Vocalist of All Time.

Personal life

When he is not writing, singing or playing, Hetfield enjoys a variety of outdoor activities including hunting, skateboarding, snowboarding, water and jet-skiing; sketching, working in his garage customizing cars and motorcycles, watching his favorite football team the Oakland Raiders, and going to hot-rod shows.

He also collects vintage guitars—particularly those from 1963—and enjoys working on classic automobiles. Among his favorites are a '74 Chevy Nova, which he helped restore, and "The Beast", an all-terrain four wheel drive Blazer.

He put his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro up for sale on eBay, with the proceeds going to a Music for Schools program. The car was used in the video for "I Disappear" and was given to him as a gift upon the video's completion. Years later, James donated the car to the Hard Rock Cafe which is featured in the movie Hard Rock Treasures.

Hetfield has several tattoos, including one which shows flames encasing four cards, - ace (1), 9, 6 and 3 - representing the year of his birth, and the words "Carpe Diem" ("seize the day", also part of the title of the track "Carpe Diem Baby" off ReLoad). The flames from the tattoo are in reference to the pyrotechnic accident from which he suffered in 1992.^[15] He has also tattooed an 'M' on his right hand which stands for Metallica and 'F' on his left hand which stands for his wife Francesca.

Aside from these pursuits, Hetfield says he is often happiest spending time with his wife Francesca and their three children: Cali (June 13, 1998), Castor (May 18, 2000), and Marcella (January 17, 2002). Hetfield married his wife Francesca Tomasi on August 17, 1997.

During an interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Hetfield stated that his wife had helped him to mature and learn to deal with his anger issues more constructively, explaining that after they met, his destructive tendencies embarrassed both of them. The Hetfield family currently resides in Marin County, California.