“He says stuff off the top of his head, and I’m sure regrets it later”: Chris Poland says he “doesn’t hold a grudge” against Dave Mustaine over the “terrible s**t” he said about him after he left Megadeth
Former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland has opened up about his early years with the thrash icons, recalling the intense musical chemistry – and often chaotic bond – he shared with frontman Dave Mustaine.
In a new interview with the Heavy Metal Mayhem radio show, Poland looks back on life with Mustaine in Megadeth’s formative days [via Blabbermouth]: “Me and Dave lived together in a rehearsal studio. We took ‘bird baths’ with cold water in a sink for a year. And then we toured repeatedly. We were together all the time. We were a real band when Megadeth first started. And once that happens, everybody kind of becomes brothers.”
READ MORE: Dave Mustaine says he wants to move into acting after Megadeth’s retirement – and would even cut his hair to do it, but only for a “big part”
“I know Dave said terrible shit about me [in the later years], but I don’t hold a grudge. And I understand,” the guitarist adds. “I know how Dave is. I know Dave. That’s how he is. He says stuff off the top of his head, and I’m sure regrets it later.”
Poland played on the band’s first two albums, Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, and returned as a guest on 2004’s The System Has Failed.
“When [Dave] asked me to play on The System Has Failed, I was, like, ‘Yeah, I’ll play on that. Of course I will,’” Poland recalls. “[It had] the same vibe that I got from the first two records. There’s something about when he writes riffs and I play over ‘em – there’s some kind of weird magic, man.”
On creative freedom in the early days, he explains, “The way it was with Dave was if you played something and he didn’t tell you not to play it, then you could play it. So when I did the descending harmonies on Peace Sells or I added some kind of minor note in a chord here or there, and he didn’t say, ‘Hey, don’t play that,’ then I’d play it.”
“But as far as writing, Dave wrote everything. All I did was play with a note here and there, or a harmony. But that’s the thing about Mustaine – I mean, he’s still writing riffs today that are fucking good. [Laughs] He’s the riff master.”
Reflecting on the musical style that drew him to Megadeth in the first place, Poland says, “The way I looked at [Megadeth’s music] was, ‘This is fast Led Zeppelin.’ I had a decent idea of how to get a good distorted sound, and so when the pedaling got involved, I just adapted to it. And then, of course, his spider chord thing – I learned a lot from Dave.”
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