Dave Mustaine shares his biggest regret after releasing Megadeth’s final album

Dave Mustaine has opened up on his biggest regret while reflecting on Megdeth’s final album.

The legendary metal band, who formed in Los Angeles in 1983, released their swansong last month, which will be supported by a massive headline tour beginning on 15 February.

Asked by The Independent if he had any regrets over something he did or didn’t do during his colourful life, Mustaine said he wished he’d kept in contact with two of his late bandmates.

“I wish I would have stayed in touch with Gar better, and Nick, because death is final,” Mustaine said. “And I did not get to say goodbye to those two.”

Gary “Gar” Samuelson, who is often considered one of the most pioneering and influential drummers in metal, joined Megadeth in 1984 until 1987. He died aged 41 in 1999.

Nick Menza, who played drums for the band between 1989 to 1998, died from a heart attack aged 51 in 2016.

However, when asked if there was anything he would change in terms of his career, Mustaine responded, “No.”

“It got me here,” the 64-year-old added. “It got me here with you!”

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In the same interview, which will be available as the latest episode of the Good Vibrations podcast from Friday 6 February, Mustaine dived into the stories behind some of the key tracks on the self-titled Megadeth.

This included the playful “Let There Be Shred” and the song “Puppet Parade”, which he confirmed was a kind of “come full circle” moment from the band’s biggest song “Symphony of Destruction”, released in 1992.

“Puppet Parade” echoes its predecessor’s lyrics about marionettes and being led “like rats through the streets”, with Mustaine singing: “Where the strings are pulled/ And the traps are laid/ Where the lies are truth/ And our lives are trade/ As we march in line/ In a puppet parade.”

Mustaine said he wanted to keep a sense of fun on the record as he felt that was an important part of the listener’s experience.

“There are so many guys that go out there and they just complain about their life, and to me, it’s like, ‘I’ve got my own f***ing problems, I don’t wanna hear about your problems, I wanna hear about your solutions,’” he said.

“If you’re not making me feel better when I leave… I don’t wanna go listen to music and get my ears assaulted and not feel good about it. That sounds like torture.”

Mustaine also spoke about overcoming his many health issues over the years, and the moment he apparently got up from an operating table before neck surgery and insisted on performing a show because Metallica’s manager called him a “pussy” for pulling out.

He required the surgery on two vertebrae after sustaining stenosis, which he previously attributed to his many years of headbanging.

The full episode of Roisin O’Connor’s Good Vibrations with Dave Mustaine is out on Friday 6 February on all major streaming platforms.