Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Megadeth singer Dave Mustaine discussed his upcoming memoir, “In My Darkest Hour,” which is expected to be published in September 2027 by Grand Central Publishing’s newly established Da Capo label, in a recent interview with WAPL Mornings With Laura Lee & Cutter, as per Blabbermouth. Mustaine was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue in 2019, and the book will describe his “gnarly” treatment.
What I would say probably is the best way to summarize the book is it’s the medical process and then what life was like at that time, and getting into the details. Because I would go and get radiation and chemotherapy, and then I would go to the studio and work. And some days I would get to the studio, we’d play and I’d have to run outside and throw up and go back inside and play. And I lost a lot of weight. And fortunately for me, I had Dirk [Verbeuren] there and [producer/engineer] Chris Rakestraw was there, and they were supportive and I got through it.
I wouldn’t wanna go through it again. I’m in remission right now — I’ve been for about six years — I imagine if anything happens again, I’m gonna have the same mentality about it, because when I went in there, I thought, ‘I’m gonna kill cancer.’ And … I was so pissed. ‘Cause I used to always joke around, anything that got in my body would die. And we caught it early and went through all of the treatment. But because I’m a singer, we had to do things totally different. We had to focus differently with the radiation. And if it would’ve been off by even a millimeter, that’s it for Dave.
Dedicated to producing music-related publications, the Da Capo brand is a rebirth of Da Capo Press, the long-standing music publisher that was purchased by Hachette Book Group in 2016 when it acquired the Perseus Book Group, which was merged into Hachette publications in 2018. As part of the Hachette Book Group’s restructuring initiatives, the Hachette Books imprint was shut down in 2024. The New York Times journalist Joe Layden, who previously collaborated with Mustaine on his autobiography “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir” and original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley‘s “No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir,” is co-writing “In My Darkest Hour.” Additionally, Layden wrote “The Last Great Fight” on James “Buster” Douglas’s 1990 knockout victory over Mike Tyson in the tenth round.
