MEGADETH Leader Is 'Really, Really Excited' About Supporting Bigger Band That He Has 'Never Played With Before'

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine says that he is "really excited" about the opportunity to support an as-yet-undisclosed band on at least one show in the U.S. later in 2017.

MEGADETH has spent most of the past year on the road promoting the band's latest album, "Dystopia", which arrived in January 2016. The group is currently scheduled to head back out on tour at the end of April, with three U.S. festival appearances penciled in for July.

Speaking to Meltdown of the WRIF radio station in Detroit, Michigan, Mustaine stated about MEGADETH's touring plans for the coming months: "Believe it or not, we've got some cool things going on for the States. We've got two really great things we're gonna be doing. We'll be heading out some part of the spring or summer, and then we just were told about an opportunity at the end of the year that really, really excited me. It's somebody I've never played with before that we're actually gonna be supporting. They were so cool that we would step down from being a headliner to support this group."

Mustaine also spoke about MEGADETH's nomination for a 2017 Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for the title track of "Dystopia". This marks the band's 12th Grammy nomination in this category (including nominations in the discontinued "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category). The band is hoping to win its first Grammy at the 59th annual event, which will be held on February 12 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.

"I'm really, really excited," Mustaine said. "You know, it's hard, after getting nominated several times, to not become a little bit jaded, 'cause this is our twelfth nomination. It's great to be nominated — don't get me wrong; I love it — but it's also very bittersweet.

"A lot of people would question, 'Do I wanna go there again and not get chosen to win?'," he continued.

"I think it's great to be nominated, even if you don't win, because you get that recognition from all of your peers, and people get to see it that may not know who you are."

Mustaine added: "I do think that it's kind of a drag sometimes when people win that are so obvious that they weren't supposed to win. There have been some times over the years — not just the ones that I was in, but some other ones — where the bands won and they had nothing to do with metal. I think the most famous one was the JETHRO TULL one," referring to the time in 1989 when METALLICA lost the "Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording" Grammy to flute-driven progressive rockers JETHRO TULL.

MEGADETH recently completed a month-long U.S. tour with AMON AMARTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, METAL CHURCH and BUTCHER BABIES.

Interview (audio):