Ex-MEGADETH Drummer SHAWN DROVER: 'When I Grew Up, Everybody Supported The Scene'

WITHERING SCORN, the new band featuring former MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover and his brother, and fellow ex-MEGADETH member, Glen Drover, along with former FATES WARNING bassist Joe DiBiase and German singer Henning Basse, who has previously played with FIREWIND, METALIUM and MAYAN, will release its debut album, "Prophets Of Demise", on July 7 via Frontiers Music Srl.

WITHERING SCORN was formed in 2020 by Glen and Shawn, who previously played together in MEGADETH, as well as in EIDOLON. The pair have teamed up once again for their latest musical offering and are joined by DiBiase, who played with FATES WARNING for 14 years on multiple records and world tours, and Basse. The potent combination of these four incredibly talented musicians joining forces has given birth to an uncompromising heavy metal record in the form of "Prophets Of Demise".

In a new interview with Lana Teramae of Metal Express Radio, Shawn was asked if it's harder for new bands to make a name for themselves than it was in the pre-social media days. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Of course it's harder. So many people say, 'Well, you've gotta have more of a social media presence.' Well, we all do that. Everybody and their grandmother has a Facebook page and an Instagram page and all this stuff. And look, it gets the word out. And if you can get followers, that's really great. But are those followers actually going out and buying the music? That's a real important point of what we're talking about. Getting recognition is one thing — if a lot of people become aware of what you're doing, that's really great. But if it's just in passing and they're not supporting what you're doing, they're not taking stock in their bands, which that's commonplace now. A lot of these younger kids, this is how they were brought up. I'm not saying anything negative about it; it's just the reality of what it is now. You can listen to 30 bands today — I can go on Spotify or whatever and find 30 new bands today that I've never heard in my life or 30 records that I've never even heard. But once I've listened to it, am I gonna go out and buy 30 CDs? Probably not, from those bands. So you get the recognition, but at the end of the day, if they don't take stock in the band and go see your concert or buy your merch and buy your record…"

He continued: "Anybody can make music now and put it out on YouTube. It doesn't mean you're a signed artist; you're not a signed artist. That's not to say that it's a bad thing.

"We live in different times now. I'm telling you — you wish you grew up when I grew up. When I grew up, everybody supported the scene. We all went to concerts. We weren't on our phones, 'cause we didn't have phones. Our primary source of entertainment was music. So you supported the bands.

"Everything's changed now. Music now is secondary. It's almost background music to video games, in a way. It's not the same as what it was. And that's okay. So you try to adapt and overcome with these times. Really, you try to do the best you can and just try to remain positive and keep your eye on the prize.

"For us, we have the affordability and the accessibility to write new music and record it and release it. So that's a great thing for us; it's a huge advantage," Shawn added. "But we don't have any preconceived notions of thinking we're gonna be playing stadiums in two months. It's not happening. And that's not why we're doing it. We're doing it because we love the music, at the end of the day."

Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group. Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007's "United Abominations", 2009's "Endgame", 2011's "TH1RT3EN" and 2013's "Super Collider".

Glen Drover left MEGADETH at the end of 2007 and was replaced by Chris Broderick, who previously played with NEVERMORE and JAG PANZER.