Dave Mustaine welcomes James LoMenzo’s return to the band

Megadeth’s long-time bass player David Ellefson was fired from the band in 2021 over grooming allegations. However, the girl with whom Ellefson had chatted and made sexual video calls turned out to be of legal age. The firing had already taken place, however, and Ellefson was eventually replaced by James LoMenzo, who had played in the band before.

In a recent interview with Heavy, Dave Mustaine says he is pleased to have LoMenzo back.

When asked what things have changed in the band since 2015, when the band last played in Australia, Mustaine replied: “Well, a lot. We’ve had some lineup changes, and every time we’ve done one, the person who came in was better than the last one. When we parted ways with the drummer before Dirk [Verbeuren, current drummer], we tried to get the “Rust In Peace” line-up back together. It didn’t work with Nick [Menza, former Megadeth drummer]; he went one way and we went the other…”

Mustaine chats about the drumming controversy for a moment in the interview, and then moves on to talk about the bassists: “It’s the same if you’re talking about bass. Ellefson was in the band, and then he was out. Then James came in, and he was out. Ellefson came back because the Drover brothers [drummer Shawn and guitarist Glen] were pushing me to bring him back. He came in, and we had that whole weird thing that happened. Then Steve DiGiorgio came in to record a new album [‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’], and now James is back in the band. And I love that he’s back. The vocals sound great on stage. He can actually sing really well, so he encourages me to sing better”.