During a Q&A session with Kings Of Thrash from July 22 at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria, Australia, former Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson, confirmed that he got Dave Mustaine’s ”blessing” to audition for Metallica as bassist in order to replace Jason Newsted. About this, Ellefson said:
”In 2001, (Megadeth) had just recorded “The World Needs A Hero” And Dave called me, and he said, he goes, ‘Hey, Lars (Ulrich) called me, and you’re on a shortlist, and asked if it would be okay if they reach out to you.’ And Dave said, he goes, ‘There’s no way I could stop you from that opportunity. You have my blessing. I gave Lars my blessing.’ Now, they never called me. And I think they have the right man for the job with Robert. Robert’s f**king great; he’s amazing.”
David Ellefson talked about his preparations for Metallica audition and learning the songs:
“And not ‘Kill ‘Em All’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’, which was more similar to what we were doing in Megadeth, but the later stuff, even the Black Album, and just really played the bass lines and listened to how James put his phrasing of the vocals over top of the riff. It was like a whole other genre. It was shocking how different it was. And I actually had to ask myself, I go, ‘I wonder if I’m… I might not be the right guy for this.’ And not that I would say no, ’cause what do we do? We say yes, right? That’s the lesson of the day, say yes.
”But it really was an eye opener to me of how their music had transitioned from the early days. And they’d had great producers, with Bob Rock. They were able to make very expensive albums and take the time to write and really dig deep and make records like they did with the “Black Album” and stuff. But it really taught me how different they were from what I was used to doing in Megadeth and working with Dave and how he would write and how he would put his phrasing of his of his vocals over top. ‘Cause let’s face it, when the singer starts singing, that’s who we listen to, whether it’s Dave or Paul Stanley or Bruce Dickinson or Ronnie Dio.
”The riffs could be awesome, but when the singer starts singing, whether you’re a girl or a guy or whatever, you f**king listen to the singer. And, look, it was my idea for Dave to be the singer in Megadeth. I was the one who said, ‘Dude, you’ve gotta sing.’ ‘Cause he was writing the stuff at that time, and I said, ‘There’s no one who’s gonna come in here and sing that s*it the way you’re hearing it, the way you’re feeling it. You’re never gonna be able to teach anyone how to do that.'”
