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Megadeth is currently finishing up their North American tour in support of their hard hitting, back to basics release "United Abominations." This CD is loaded with killer guitar riffs, insightful politically fueled lyrics and an aggressive intensity that hasn’t been present on a Megadeth CD in a long time. One of the reasons is that band leader Dave Mustaine is re-focused and pissed off again. Another reason is that Megadeth has a great new band line-up. Joining Mustaine are guitarist Glen Drover, drummer Shawn Drover and newcomer bassist James Lomenzo formerly of BLS and White Lion.
We caught up with Megadeth super-star guitarist Glen Drover to discuss the record, tour and many other subjects. Here’s what he had to say.
All Photos by Gus Griesinger
Tom: Hi Glen, So Megadeth is currently on a Club tour...
Glen:Theatre tour, yeah. 
T: OK, Theater tour. How’s it going so far?
G: Very, very good. Everything is going great. So, we’re all very happy.
T: Why wasn't there a Gigantour this year?
G: Well, that is a good question, I think they’re talking about a possibility of doing another one at some point, as you may or may not know, but I’m not really too sure why it didn’t happen at this point. I don’t know, who knows? Different planning, we’re doing this run one our own, which is really cool, small U.S. run and then we’ll probably be making plans for that before you know it. We also have some dates for the pacific rim, we play with a few bands, Devil Driver and stuff like that. It’s coming up and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
T: Megadeth is such an intense live band, it must be fucking insane when you play small theaters?
G: It’s a different atmosphere of course but I like both. The intimacy of playing the smaller venues, I love playing hockey arenas and amphitheater as well. For me I like both of them, although different, I like both.
T: Let's talk about the new CD "United Abominations." This was the first studio album that you performed on with Megadeth, what was the writing process like?
G: Well, Dave had a lot of stuff in his inventory of riffs and so forth and a lot of ideas he’d been working on prior and we also jammed a lot of pieces along the way on the previous tours leading up to the album, leading up to the demo work on the album. As far as other members contributing, we all submitted stuff, what made it in the end was a piece from me on one song, “Never Walk Alone” and I think that we had so much of his stuff, it was just the way it ended up happening in the end where the songs were constructed with mostly his ideas. It was just the way it worked out, did we all submit stuff, sure.
T: You have a ton of solos on this CD solo. How was it decided on who should play when?
G: Dave has the idea, when it comes time to a certain section on how they’re going to be dealt with. So he had an idea, he had a feel for it. He would say ‘I think this would be a better spot for you rather than me' so then I would take this part. It was all planned by him as the songs developed.
T: Are your solos spontaneous?
G: A lot of it is pretty much just listening to the section, just playing over it and getting a feel for it. Whatever the section calls for, the song itself. I go by feel, it’s the way I’ve always done it and I think that works really well, it’s pretty much best for me. Trying to go by feel then construct from there, sometimes I’ll come up with something right off the bat and it will work. It all depends. It’s initially, it just basically playing, just like I do when I practice. I’ll put on an album, some kind of instrumental album and play along to it. It’s the same kind of idea where you are just playing along to music.
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T: Have you ever layed down a solo that was a bitch to play live?
G: Well, yeah, I never done anything I can’t reproduce live, depending on the solo, it keeps you on your toes sometimes, that’s for sure if you’re playing something really demanding. I don’t try to do anything I can’t handle ‘cause there’s no point in cheating yourself or anybody else. It’s like somebody going in who can’t sing and they use an auto tuner. So, you know, keep it real.
T: How have the dynamics of the band changed since the addition of bassist James Lomenzo?
G: I don’t know so much if it changed the dynamics of the band, I think he just fit in really well; he’s got a really good feel, very good bass player, great tone; he just fit in really, really well, I don’t think it changed anything, the dynamics still remained. For me when I first joined the band, I played together with Dave, it was pretty much instant, ya know, that we locked in. So you know if you have that chemistry, you know right off the bat. ‘Yeah this is going to work, there’s something here’. And then you bring my brother in, who I have been playing with since I was ten, so we have a bond you just can’t buy at the corner store. It’s really a special thing. I don’t even have to look at him half the time; I can just feel and know how to react. I just know his playing so well, you don’t think about it, it just happens. That’s part of the magic, part of the chemistry. I think James fit in really well with all that. He completes the package.
T: Did you have any auditions when you were looking for a new bassist?
G: We basically auditioned James at our old management’s office in Los Angeles. We had a really good feeling right off the bat, we were impressed by his playing and his personality and we just went from there.
T: How did you hook up with Megadeth?
G: Basically there were a couple of people who were involved, where my name was brought up to Dave from some people who were familiar with my past. I just felt that I might be a good match for the band. I was approached about the idea which I was interested in. I was keeping in touch with Dave about the whole thing and went through this little process of sending him some audition materials and numerous phone conversations and I guess he had a really good feeling about the situation, as did I. We started rehearsals for the first tour and apparently every thing worked out.
T: Do you think that your playing on the King Diamond CD had any influence on Dave's decision?
G: It’s just part of what I have accomplished in the past on a more professional level. Doing Eidolon, multiple albums for Metal Blade and doing the King Diamond stuff, that’s where we had the exposure. It was probably more the Eidolon than King Diamond stuff to be honest with you. Because with King Diamond, I did one album but with Eidolon On I did seven. King Diamond is a more well known name as we know but we did a lot of damage with the Eidolon On stuff along the way, though we were never really fortunate enough to tour. It was all basically word of mouth and a lot of media coverage and promotion through the record company. We’re very happy of what we accomplished and it came from that. The people who actually recommended me was one friend of ours, who lives in England, who’s an Idol On fan, had played a copy of one of the albums to a guy name Dave MacGrub , who is the web master for the main MEGADETH site.
T: Are there any future plans for Eidolon?
G: There’s no plans right now because we’re working so much with the MEGADETH stuff and when we are not doing the MEGADETH stuff, we’re at home with our families. In other words, our time is pretty filled up at the moment and our focus is really on MEGADETH. Who know what the future is going to bring. But at this point, there are no plans.
T: Has there ever been a time on stage when you saw something so shocking that you forgot where you were in the song?
G: The whole thing about playing live is that you have to learn how to harness the energy, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and stuff starts to fly by you ‘cause it feels like everything is going a million miles an hour. The key is being able to harness that and stay focused. You’re feeling that energy and you’re having a great time but yet you’re focused enough to make sure you’re playing everything properly, ya take a deep breath (laughs), it’s that kind of thing. There’s really an art to that. It’s not an easy thing, it’s something you learn to do.
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T: So playing live is like seeing everything in fast forward?
G: Yeah, sure, the way we play is like that, the songs themselves. The way I compare it to, it’s like the Ramones, just one song after the other, not many breaks, there’s not a lot of talking, it’s all about the music. That why you go to see the concert, you don’t go to see someone talk for ½ hour; you’d rather see them play 3 songs in that period. That’s the approach we pick, it’s more about the music and blah, blah, blah, blah…
So yeah, it’s a very fast paced thing and we have a really aggressive audience. It’s just a lot of fun, a lot of energy.
T: What do you do when your playing one of your kick ass solos and all of a sudden play a wrong note?
G: Try to make up for it in the next part of the song. To be honest with you, we’ve been very consistent. Everyone makes flubs here and there. We’re all human. You bounce back and try to do even better the next minute.
T: What is the set list like for this tour. Will you be switching it up at all?
G: We’ve been playing about 20 odd songs that we juggle around, but you got to play the classics, there are certain songs you have to play but we’re always incorporating new songs into the set too. We’re working on some current stuff to throw in, that will change it up a bit.
T: Megadeth has had quite a few members past through its ranks over the years. Is it because Dave is a difficult person to work with?
G: If he was impossible to work with, I wouldn’t be here. The whole thing for us and I think I speak for all of us in this band, it’s very whole hearted what we do and I think it’s obvious and I think the fans realize this. We’re very passionate about the music. We don’t do it for the wrong reasons. It’s got to be fun and we got to get along and we got to respect each other and all those things. Everyone has their moments but for the most part we all get along. We all respect each other; there has never been any fights, since I’ve been in the band (knock on wood), as longs as that is maintained, then we’ll carry on. Those elements are so important. But, no, he’s been fine. I get along with him, we work well. There is an understanding of what we need to do. I understand about MEGADETH’s music, we grew up with this thing, we understand what it’s all about. It makes things easier obviously.
T: Dave must really respect you and your brother because it would be easy for you guys to gang up on him.
G: It doesn’t work that way. We were in a situation where we had to get another drummer, he just asked about Shawn, and I said ‘he could do it, no problem. I’ve played with him for years, I know what he’s capable of’. I knew he was going to be great, he’s a very dependable drummer, he’s very consistent, all those elements that you need in a drummer, he has them and I don’t just say that because he’s my brother, it’s true. So, it works out fine.
T:Is this the happiest that you ever been career wise?
G: Oh yeah. We are playing with a band that we grew up listening to and respect. We have been able to travel the world and make a lot of new friends and do a lot of damage. In the last three years we did a lot of serious damage and help bring the band to a higher level.
Buy the Cd here
www.megadeth.com
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