Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has ditched political lyrics to make the band’s music more accessible.
The thrash metal frontman – who makes up the group with David Ellefson, Kiko Loureiro, and Dirk Verbeuren – has opened up on plans for the rockers’ follow-up to 2016 album ‘Dystopia’, and revealed the different approach he is taking to songwriting.
Speaking to The Metal Voice, he said: "We played in Brazil one time and we got a promoter that was a really bad guy, and he was charging the fans 275 dollars for a concert ticket, just to sit in one little spot there.
"And I found out and I came unglued. We fired the guy and we never worked with him again. ‘Cause the cost of living down there, it was three months’ work to pay for these tickets, and I figured that is so messed up — that is so messed up.
"So I’ve kind of toned it down a little bit with the political stuff to where it’s more about being a one-world kind of people, about the stuff that affects us as people, not so much as citizens of any government or nation. Why put an unnecessary wall up between us, right?"
Meanwhile, Dave also revealed how the band have even changed the way they approached the music of a song, and he explained they were now focusing on the riff first, and building from there.
He added: "A lot of bands have really interesting approaches to how they write, and I’ve tried just about every way to write a song over my career.
"And I found this way is probably the funnest, because if you have a riff and it’s not carrying its own weight and it doesn’t sound cool, how can it possibly sound cool if you put words over it?"
Dave Mustaine: Megadeth ditching politics to appeal to wider audience
