Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson has revealed that he is a salaried employee of the band as opposed to an owning partner. In his new memoir, More Life With Deth, he revealed that after the band got back together in 2004 after a short break up in 2002, he was no longer be named as a co-owner of the band, thus being a founding member of the band.

In an interview with Metal-Rules.com, Ellefson stated “I’m not going to lie; going from being a co-founding owner to just a sideman musician was initially why I didn’t come back in 2004. I was not happy with the participations that were presented to me. In recent times, coming back, I found great joy in doing music with a lot of other people in other settings that helped me fall back in love with playing music.”

According to Loudwire, the new memoir will be released July 16 via Jawbone Press and the band will be playing a few shows in North America beginning on Independence Day at the Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI and will include sets at Psycho Las Vegas, Tennessee’s new Exit 111 Festival and Rock in Rio in Brazil, concluding with their curated Megafest Cruise departing in Los Angeles, CA Oct. 13-18 alongside Anthrax, Overkill, Suicidal Tendencies, and Corrosion of Conformity to name a few.

The band is also working on the follow up to their 2016 album Dystopia. Additional details have yet to be announced. mxdwn spoke with Ellefson and fellow member David Mustaine late last year, discussing the band’s upcoming music, and reissuing their debut album.

Photo Credit: Marv Watson