Bassist David Ellefson was asked by Metal Hammer on what went down around the time Nick Menza got fired from Megadeth, to which he replied:
“It’s funny, Nick has been and still is the most hailed and beloved member of the Megadeth legacy.
[metalwani_content_ad]
“Playing drums is hard, playing drums in Megadeth is even harder, and it beats the shit out of ya.
“Nick put in a lot of good years with us, but by 1998 [when he got fired], he was struggling to do the gig.
“There was a defining moment in Macer, Arizona, where I looked at him during some breaks in ‘Darkest Hour’ and it was like he was not present. He was beat up, you know?
“The transition of bringing Jimmy DeGrasso in, suddenly we turned new corners. Look, I’m a KISS fan, so believe me we dearly tried to keep a line-up together, but sometimes things have to happen.”
Ellefson added:
[metalwani_content_ad]
“People have lifestyles, they do what they do on the road. I was sober then, I’m sober now; I beat to my own drum and live my own sober, healthy lifestyle.
“I’m not here to be the police and see what everybody else is doing, as long as you’re on that stage and kicking ass, that’s all that matters.
“If you’re not kicking ass, that’s a problem, and we got to that point on the ‘Cryptic Writings’ tour, right as we were getting ready to head into Ozzfest which was a huge upswing for us, so that transition had to happen.”