New MEGADETH Bassist: DAVE MUSTAINE Has Made Me Feel Like A Member Already

Bassist James MacDonough recently spoke to the ICED EARTH fan site Iced-Realm.de about his departure from ICED EARTH and his new gig as the bassist for MEGADETH. Several exceprts from the interview follow:

Iced-Realm.de: How did you get the gig with MEGADETH?

James MacDonough: "I knew the album was recorded at the beginning of the year and the guy that did the bass tracks was a session player named Jimmy Sloas, I didn't know if he was going to do the tour or not and e-mailed Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH mainman] about the position. I got a response a couple of days later that started the communication going. He told me this could be a very good thing and would keep me on a short list. Dave McRobb, MEGADETH's webmaster got the ball rolling and was feeling people out for both the guitarist and the bassist position. The next thing I knew I was on a conference call with Dave and Dave, he told what he planned and what he expected of the person that would fill those shoes. I quickly knew that I had formed two very good friendships and the ball kept rolling. I videotaped myself playing a couple of MEGADETH tunes and within a couple of days got a call from Dave Mustaine saying that he wanted me for the position."

Iced-Realm.de: Were there any auditions? If so, how did they go down?

James MacDonough: "The audition was not only about being able to play the tunes but had alot to do with personality and chemistry with each other, and of course enthusiasm and sincerity."

Iced-Realm.de: Have there already been any rehearsals with MEGADETH?

James MacDonough: "Not as of yet, I'll be going out to work with [MEGADETH drummer] Nick Menza for a week then going to full rehearsals, the tour will start on October 26'th in San Diego."

Iced-Realm.de: How is working with Dave? He's known to have quite some ego, as does Jon [Schaffer, ICED EARTH mainman]. Do they have anything in common/what are the differences?

James MacDonough: "Dave has made me feel like a band member already, he's shown me a lot of personal and professional respect. I haven't experienced any ego whatsoever as many perceive from him. Dave's very straightforward, speaks his mind, knows what he wants, and expects the best that you can give, and sometimes that's misconstrued as arrogance. I call it professionalism. Sure, there's opinionated people out there , but when you ask for the opinion, well, you're going to get it. If you want to know the difference between the two, it's like apples and oranges, two totally different people. Both are professional but have different ways of dealing with people and friends. I have posted something on Megadeth.com. I have a forum there called 'The Deep End' that might answer additional questions on some of these topics."

Read James MacDonough's entire interview with Iced-Realm.de at this location.