MEGADETH Mainman DAVE MUSTAINE Checks In

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message in the "Forums" section of the band's web site:

"This last week has been a lot of driving up and down the coast and I have so many things that are going on and so many things that are coming up I feel like I am going pull a 'Scanners' if I keep it all in.

"So, you all know about the U.S. run with IN THIS MOMENT and THE CONFESSION. We have 24 shows in the states before we go to the Pac Rim. The promoters and the agents are all happy about this package, and while I met and heard IN THIS MOMENT, I have yet to meet the guys from THE CONFESSION. They came about being on this tour from a recommendation of a longtime friend and I look forward to seeing what they are like on the road and what y'all think of them.

"We have know announced the date in South Korea, and that is the last date that is going to be added to the existing dates for the Pac Rim this time around. We look forward to making it into Singapore, Malaysia, and India on the tour for this record, so to our Droogies in these far away beautiful places, we are working very hard on coming to your country (hell, we would be going back to Malaysia for our second time if there wasn't a ban on MEGADETH from being indirectly and innocently, I might add, involved in a satanic rite in Kuala Lumpur. Someone allegedly spray painted MEGADETH on the wall at the site of a ceremony of the occult and we were subsequently banned. We were not even there.

"The video shoot last week was great, albeit scorching hot inside of the studio. It reminded me of shooting 'Holy Wars'. It was great to see Glen [Drover; guitar], James [Lomenzo; bass], and Shawn [Drover; drums] and except Shawn sharing the contents of his stomach with everyone at the shoot, it was pretty uneventful. Well, then there was that interesting make-up person, but I will leave that to the podcast to show you.

"Meanwhile back at the House of Mustaine, I am working in my studio trying to find all of the snips and scraps of demo material I made last year, and all of the stuff I had saved from before to get ready to introduce some new songs to the band guys. I know that the Drovers have a lot of stuff to demo for us when we get to our next rehearsal situation. And I have been calling James every chance I get when I hear a cool bass line and I will say, 'Make a note of the riff here, etc.,' and he is digging it.

"Rehearsal starts next week up in L.A. and we are going to breaking in a new guitar tech for me, as we did some hirings last year that led to a lot of our team being reassembled. Some of the crew we miss; some we don't; I will miss my tech, and I look forward to a great relationship with my new tech; like the one I had with my last tech.

"Today is basically preparation for the departure and I am going to take my laptop out on the road so I can keep in touch with this podcast stuff. I really am excited and look forward to doing this with you exclusively through our MegaFanClub. I tried to do a tour without my connection to my family and friends (which many of you fall under — not all, but many!),but I couldn't do it. So there will be more updates from me on this next run because I will have my trusty laptop.

"I am going to have some video footage from the new video shoot, and from the new tour as well as some archived stuff, podcasts and video podcasts, you know, just the basic chit-chats. I also want to answer your questions too, so please state your name, and one (1) question, (if it has two parts, they will just pick someone else's question for me and I won't get to answer you. If you aren't in the MegaFanClub this all doesn't matter, so you can ignore it if you want. Anyway, I will give a shout out to you and read your question and answer it for you to the best of my ability, recollection, or willingness to concoct a wild story!

"Lastly, I will be heading up to L.A. next week (again!) to do the final follow-up interview for G.2006.NA and finish the edits for imminent release. And this should be a great DVD, what with all of the tremendous talent we had last year. In case you forgot, we were out with greats like LAMB OF GOD, OPETH, ARCH ENEMY, and OVERKILL, to name some of the bands! I can't wait to see some of the b-roll too — especially of the wild stuff that went down on this one!

"I think we are going to have a lot of fun on the next G.2007 and 2008 and we get to look back at all of the great things we did right so far and remember what things we did wrong to make this one of the best hard rock and metal festivals ever.

"Personal Megs stuff with my rig — I have made several adjustments to my touring and recording gear and as good as I would like to think that my sound 'sometimes' is, I am certain that it is going to get even better! I have decided that I am going to continue using some of my current rig, but I am going to change (and in some cases, return to) the settings and sounds of my effects and amps, and try to get the most killer sound ever! (And don't even bother trying to tell me, 'I know some doood in the band 'burnt.baby.eyeballs' from Scandinavia has a better sounding amp than yooo!' I don't care).

"I also absolutely love my Dean guitars and I can't wait for you to try them, any of the musicians that are my friends or guests of the band or in the talent that tours with us, I extend my personal invitation to try this monster! I can't even think about playing anything else anymore!!! And Glen and I are going to try to do some meet and greets for Dean Guitars distributors at some exclusive stores, and in some cases, Glen, Shawn, and James may even do some clinics out on tour! I still am pretty hesitant to do that, but if there was a company I would consider doing clinics for, it would be Dean.

"I am going to check on my animals this morning, I just got a miniature horse for our house here (the big ones don't stay here),check out some messages from SayNow — which I love — and then just enjoy the weekend, have a couple cold ones, blast some MEGADETH in my studio. I can't wait for the chance to thrash in front of you again. We have been waiting for this 'time' for a long time. Metal is back, baybee!!!

"COG.2007.OZ – G.2008.NA (and soon to be an addition here, too!)"

MEGADETH's U.S. tour this fall kicks off in Anchorage, Alaska on September 4, taking the band through 24 U.S. cites ending up in Norfolk Virginia on October 6. Support on the dates will come from IN THIS MOMENT and THE CONFESSION.

For a list of upcoming MEGADETH shows, click here.

The artwork for MEGADETH's upcoming box set, "Warchest", has been posted online at this location. The 4-CD+DVD collection features more than six hours of digitally remastered content, hand-selected by Mustaine, including 30 audio and video tracks making their global release debuts, and an additional three tracks that have never before been released in the U.S. "Warchest"'s October 2 release caps Mustaine and Capitol/EMI's in-depth MEGADETH catalog remastering and restoration campaign, which has encompassed the band's Capitol studio albums, while also adding new audio and video collections to the band's arsenal.