MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: Guitar Playing On 'Dystopia' 'Went Up Considerably' From 'Super Collider'

Choad of the Minnesota radio station Rev 96.7 recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. You can now listen to the chat in two parts below.

Asked how MEGADETH's current lead axeman, Kiko Loureiro, compares to some of the guitairists that were previously in the band, Mustaine said: "Well, I've been really fortunate to play with many, many great guitar players, and Kiko is… Every day, it's just a new experience seeing how deep his knowledge is of playing. Some other guitar players I've played with were really great at what they did, but their depth was only in one genre. For example, Chris Poland is a remarkable jazz player, and I had to kind of teach him metal, because he didn't know anything about it. And Marty [Friedman] was very much into metal but also had a lot of Middle Eastern playing styles. Now Kiko has metal, he's got bossa nova, he's got classical, flamenco… so many other different styles, so the possibilities are endless. And I think that's evident on this new record. The guitar playing went up considerably from the last record [2013's 'Super Collider', which featured Chris Broderick on lead guitar]."

He continued: "We were working on [acoustic arrangements of MEGADETH songs], because we've got some acoustic shows coming up [in December 2016] for charity. And when you do these songs acoustically, there's a different flavor to it, because it takes on a whole kind of Spanish feel. And with Kiko's background with bossa nova, with — like I said — classical, Spanish guitar, flamenco, so on, it's just really amazing."

In an interview with Jump Metal, Loureiro was asked what it has been like joining MEGADETH as the replacement for Chris Broderick. He responded: "Yeah, it has been great to work with Mustaine, [David] Ellefson [MEGADETH bassist] and Chris Adler [LAMB OF GOD drummer, who appeared on the new MEGADETH CD and played select shows with the group]... It's amazing [to be part of MEGADETH]. It's a great opportunity, it's a great band, great guys, great music. I'm very honored to be in MEGADETH and that the guys have chosen me to be the guitar player. It's a band that always had a great spot for guitar players. They always had great guitar players since the beginning: Chris Poland, Marty Friedman, Chris Broderick... some great guitar players. So I'm honored to be part of this legacy."

MEGADETH's fifteenth studio album, "Dystopia", was released in January 2016.