Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson is open to the idea of making Kings of Thrash album full of original music. The band recently released a new single, “Lockdown” that embodied the thrash metal of the ‘80s and has left fans asking for more original material. The band, composed of ex-Megadeth members David Ellefson, Jeff Young and Chris Poland as well as Chaz Leon and Fred Aching has mostly been playing older Megadeth songs, however they have not ruled out the idea of making more original tracks. In recent interview with The Rock N’ Roll & Coffee Show, Ellefson discussed the idea of releasing new music, “Some of the Megadeth stuff is stuff that I wrote, and so they already are my songs, and Jeff and Chris were part of ‘em, of course. So that setlist is our music. But to move forward, it’s always good to sort of freshen it up a little bit and show everybody what you got.” In addition to “Lockdown,” Kings of Thrash also wrote an original song while on the road, titled “Bridges Burned,” which they released in 2023.
In terms of a full-length album of original Kings of Thrash music, Ellefson stated, “It’s possible. I’m certainly not gonna say no to it. I tell you what, it was great to just do one song. Making a record is a lot of work, especially when you live in different cities and you’re trying to collaborate.” He continued, “We are four very different individuals, and so to sort of be agreeable on something, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a challenge. And quite honestly, it’s the diversity that makes Kings so cool. And I guess I come from that even with Megadeth. And Chris Poland, Jeff Young, they were sort of the diverse guitar players to Dave [Mustaine, Megadeth leader]. So I grew up in an environment that kind of expected that. So to have Kings mirror that, I think is cool.” Ellefson further discussed the various roles the main four of them take on according to their strengths. Ellefson stated that he led a lot while Young put the setlists together and Leon wrote their most recent single. Aching worked the most with their record label and created all of the artwork as well as directed and produced their recent music video.
According to Blabbermouth, the band’s guitarist, Jeff Young has seemingly hinted at the potential for Kings of Thrash original music as well. In a 2023 interview with Metal Edge, Young spoke about the band’s relationship with current Megadeth leader, Dave Mustaine, saying, “He hates what Kings of Thrash is doing, But it doesn’t matter because, eventually, we’ll delete a lot of the Megadeth from our set, and we’ll keep writing new stuff. But Dave is feeling the heat because we’re getting attention, and the Kings of Thrash album will be better than anything Megadeth has done recently.” Although there are no announcements for a full thrash metal Kings of Thrash album yet, Ellefson and Young seem open to the possibility.
Leave a Comment