One thing is certain: Dave Mustaine will keep on playing until he can’t anymore

The four members of Megadeth, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, bassist James Lomenzo, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren, participated in a Q&A session with SiriusXM radio host Jose Mangin on Saturday, January 17, from Nashville, Tennessee. The conversation, which aired on TalkShopLive’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Channel and Megadeth’s YouTube, is available online, as per Blabbermouth. Mustaine mentioned his continuous struggle with Dupuytren contracture, a disorder that forces one or more fingers to bend toward the palm of the hand, when asked how long Megadeth’s “farewell” tour may endure.

I don’t know, honestly, because the condition of my hand is, right now I can still play, but it’s progressing. So, I don’t know about that part. As far as us being willing to play, I’ll play as long as I can, and I hope it’s a while.

The crazy thing [is] I’ve been thinking about what would I do if we had a tour booked and I just couldn’t play anymore and I had to ask somebody to play for me, what that would be like. And I didn’t like the idea. It’s not me. And I’m gonna play until the last second, and when I can’t, that’s when I’m gonna stop.

When asked if his autobiography “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir” would be updated for Megadeth fans, Dave responded as follows.

We’ve had another book that came out [‘Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece’], which was about the making of ‘Rust In Peace’, which was something a lot of people had come up to me and asked me about that record in particular because it is a pivotal record for the metal community. And I’m happy to have been part of it, and if I wasn’t part of it, I would be a huge fan of it. [But that book was] not really an addition on my memoir; it was just a isolated period that I went into more depth. And now I do have something that I finished and we turned it in and the publishers are very happy with how it is right now.

It’s called ‘In My Darkest Hour’, and it’s about my cancer treatment [after I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the back of my tongue in 2019] and what it was like and how much I drew strength from you [the fans]. We were in the middle of making ‘The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!’ at the same time, so how difficult that was for me and how much strength and support I got from the band and the other people that were part of the team. So, that’s gonna be coming out soon.

So far, my first two books were bestsellers. I mean, I don’t really care about having to sell and get numbers. I just wanna be able to have that story get out there and help people that may be afraid, they may get a diagnosis and think, ‘Fuck, I’m gonna die.’ ‘Cause that’s kind of what I thought. And then a few minutes later I thought to myself, ‘I’m fucking Dave Mustaine.’ And I tackled it like everything else that I do, and I wanna be able to share my experience, strength and help with any of you that ever gets sick and need someone.

Mustaine made this statement regarding the “In My Darkest Hour” book’s potential publishing date.

I don’t know when it’s is coming out, but all the clearances are done now, and I just saw the cover on it and I kind of liked it, but I’m not sure yet. So that’s one of the last things. And then it’s gonna run through the attorneys, and then the attorneys look at it and go, ‘You can’t say that, because that’s an invasion of privacy.’ [And I say], ‘But I’ve talked about that for 40 years.’ [And they respond], ‘Well, we’re attorneys and we’ve gotta come up with a reason to take your money.’

Upcoming shows:

February 15 – Victoria, BC 
February 17 – Abbotsford, BC 
February 18 – Kelowna, BC 
February 20 – Calgary, AB 
February 21 – Edmonton, AB 
February 24 – Saskatoon, SK 
February 25 – Winnipeg, MB 
February 28 – London, ON 
March 01 – Ottawa, ON 
March 03 – Halifax, NS 
March 04 – Moncton, NB 
March 06 – Québec, QC

April 23 – Lima, PER – Costa 21 
April 25 – Bogota, COL – Movistar Arena 
April 27 – Bogota, COL – Movistar Arena 
April 30 – Buenos Aires, ARG 
May 02 – Sao Paulo, BRA – Espaco Unimed 
May 05 – Santiago, CHL – Movistar Arena 
May 06 – Santiago, CHL – Movistar Arena 
May 08 – Monterrey, MEX – Arena Monterrey 
May 10 – Mexico City, MEX – Arena Ciudad de Mexico 
May 13 – Guadalajara, MEX – Arena Guadalajara

June 07 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany 
June 10 – Hradec Kralove, CZE – Rock For People 
June 11 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg 
June 14 – Ferrara, ITA – Ferrara Summer Festival 
June 15 – Zurich, Switzerland June 16 – Vienna, Austria 
June 23 – Istanbul, Türkiye 
June 26 – Helsinki, FIN – Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 
June 28 – Almaty, Kazakhstan

With Iron Maiden:

August 29 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 
August 30 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 
September 03 – Montréal, QC – Parc Jean-Drapeau (with Anthrax) 
September 05 – Harrison, NJ – Sports Illustrated Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 09 – Boston, MA – TD Garden 
September 11 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live 
September 12 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion 
September 15 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium 
September 19 – Shakopee, MN – Mystic Lake Amphitheater 
September 22 – Chicago, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre 
September 25 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 26 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 29 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome (with Anthrax)