Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine has revealed that he is working on his second book.
Mustaine autobiography, “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir”, which came out in August 2010, landed at position No. 15 on the New York Times “Hardcover Nonfiction” best sellers list. The book was released in the U.S. via HarperCollins‘s It Books imprint (focusing on pop culture, sports, style and content derived from the Internet). The U.K. edition, “Mustaine: A Life In Metal”, hit bookstores in the U.K. in September 2010.
During a Twitter chat with fans, Mustaine was asked if he ever planned to write another book. He responded: “Yes. In fact, I started over last summer. It will be a while [before it is released] though.”
When one of Mustaine‘s Twitter followers asked if the Megadeth leader could recommend any other rock autobiographies, Dave responded: “Sad to say most of my peers memoirs are self-promoting fuck/drug-ologues of how high they got or how low they scrape.”
“Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir” was co-written by New York Times journalist Joe Layden who also authored “The Last Great Fight” about what is considered by many to be the biggest upset in the history of boxing: James “Buster” Douglas‘ tenth-round knockout win over Mike Tyson in 1990.
In an interview with Exclaim!, Mustaine stated about the process of writing his autobiography, “It was really cathartic. When you’re putting your life down into a book, you wonder what you’re gonna leave behind you. I want to leave a legacy of achievement but one that says you can overcome anything. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to work my ass off to get what I have and I love what I have. I’m very grateful for it and I don’t take it lightly.”
He added, “Telling the truth is hard for anybody. The only uncomfortable thing about this was putting the stuff in there that made me look bad, but I had to in order for it to be the truth. I could have written a book that was all about, ‘Oh, I love me. I’m so beautiful and wonderful,’ but that wouldn’t be true. I don’t think I’m that great and the beauty of the book is that I am fallible. ”
Regarding the legal aspects of telling his life story in book form, Mustaine said, “There were a lot of other things legally we had to look at because there were a lot of people in my life that, if I tell the story, they’re going to jail. It’s not about getting pissed off. They’re going to jail. Nowadays when you tell a story… say there was a dude I had an encounter with [but] we don’t know each other anymore. I [relate] the story and all of a sudden someone goes sniffing into that person’s life. It’s an invasion of privacy so there’s that and there’s the fact that there are ambulance chasers everywhere. We had to word it in a way that the information got out but still told the same story. Legally, the same thing being said one way is totally malicious another way. That’s something I had to learn.”
He added: “It’s very bizarre, for lack of a better word, trying to figure out how to tell a story two different ways and keep it the same story. When you see somebody who’s an attorney working somebody in the witness chair, they need to ask the right questions to get the right information out. That’s basically what happened. We had to word it in a way that the information got out but still told the same story. Legally, the same thing being said one way is totally malicious another way. That’s something I had to learn.”
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Megadeth‘s new song ‘Fatal Illusion’ can be streamed below. Due as a digital single on October 16 via Universal Music Enterprises, the track is set to appear on the band’s forthcoming fifteenth studio album, “Dystopia”, which will be released on January 22, 2016. The follow-up to 2013’s “Super Collider” was recorded earlier in the year in Nashville, Tennessee and was produced by Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine and Toby Wright (Alice In Chains, Korn). The CD was mixed by Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with Lamb Of God, All That Remains & Gojira.
The dates are as follows:
Oct. 16 – Perth – Red Hill Auditorium
Oct. 18 – Sydney – Hordern Pavilion
Oct. 19 – Melbourne – Festival Hall
Oct. 21 – Brisbane – Eatons Hill
Oct 24 NH7 Weekender Festival @ Bhoirymbong Shillong, India
Oct 30 Harley Rock Riders @ Richardson & Cruddas Mumbai, India
Nov 01 NH7 Weekender Festival @ Nicco Park Grounds Calcutta, India
Nov 04 Stadium Live Moscow, Russian Federation
Nov 05 A2 Arena St Petersburg, Russia
Nov 09 3Arena Dublin, Ireland
Nov 11 Braehead Arena Glasgow, United Kingdom
Nov 12 O2 Apollo Manchester, United Kingdom
Nov 14 SSE Arena Wembley, United Kingdom
Nov 15 O2 Academy Birmingham, United Kingdom
Dec 05 Centro Dinamico Pegaso Toluca, Mexico
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Video below: ‘Fatal Illusion’