Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke with Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine about the upcoming Megacruise, Megadeth’s new album, Mustaine Wine and A Tout Le Monde Beer and the possibilities of working with Jeff Waters of Annihilator and Michael Sweet of Styper sometime in the future.

Watch the interview here:

When asked how he would differentiate the Megacruise compared to all the other Metal cruises out there
“As far as I know all the cruises in the USA that had happened are on the East Coast, we are the first metal cruise on the west coast, so we’re pretty stoked about that. I’ve been to both sides of the nation and I think that California is probably the most famous State for the beach cities, though Florida is pretty close. The cruise leaves Los Angeles and goes to San Diego which has great weather all year long, then to Ensenada, Mexico which is really quaint small city, then we’re going to u-turn and go back to Los Angeles. I’m just excited because we’ve got great bands and mostly every band on the tour are my friends that I’ve grown up. Some of the bands are new bands and I looked forward to getting to know them. The majority of the bands, Anthrax, Armored Saint, Overkill, etc.. are like my brothers that have carried the flag for American metal for 3 almost 4 decades. You can find the full list on our website but we still have a few more slots left. We’re just trying to make this be one of those cruises that you know people say you know this was the one cruise you can’t miss. I mean the cruise has been on sale for a couple weeks now and the sales have been phenomenal. ”

“In terms of activities there’s a movie theater on the boat and we are discussing the movies we wanted to play and I was thinking maybe, some documentaries on some of the bands, maybe movies that I like, like ‘The Good The Bad and the Ugly ‘and ‘Mad Max’ stuff like that. We also have been talking about a Mega karaoke contest so we will have some Megadeth tribute bands on board to help. The contest will be the tribute bands plays and you have one of the fans on the cruise sign up and they sing with the band with lights, with the PA, with an audience and after they are done, we judge you. ”

When asked about the wine tasting on board the Megacruise
“I think it’s gonna be called wine guzzling when people get a grip on how good the stuff tastes but yeah we’ve got several varieties of Mustaine wines that we will be bringing with us. It’s the end of these wines with very limited inventory so depending on how many people buy the wine before we get out on the cruise, we may not have any left. Our wine business is doing really well but a problem with alcohol businesses is that a lot of people in the alcohol business they see people like myself coming in and they think f**k this musician they come in and put their name on the wine bottle and then try and take money out of our business. That’s not me. I’m in for a long haul, we did our vineyard at my house, I hand planted those vines I didn’t pay someone to do it, I did it.”

When asked about the musical direction of the new Megadeth album to be released in 2019
“I don’t how to answer that because if you want me to say what record it sounds like, it sounds like a combination of everything. When I write a riff if I don’t like it I don’t record it, if I do record it, I save it and if I don’t use it now I’ll use it at some point. There is a complete finished song left over from Dystopia that I forgot we did . When were in the studio and you’re doing 16 songs and you’re working your ass off every day sometimes, somethings just slip through the cracks like this song. We’ve already got a huge head start on this new record. Kiko just came out to see me, Dirk was here before him and David Ellefson will be visiting me shortly to start playing some bass stuff. We’re doing things a little bit differently this time we’re kind of approaching the songs one riff at a time and just kind of focusing on the riff and if the riff doesn’t sound good on its own and then why put it in a song? A lot of people when they write songs they’ll put a part in section in the song just because they need something in there. For me I don’t like doing that. I don’t want that one part of the song where there’s a weak spot. I’ve tried just about every way to write a song over my career and I found this way’s probably the best way because if you have a riff and it’s not it’s not carrying its own weight and it doesn’t sound cool , how can it possibly sound cool to good lyrics over it.”

When asked if his lyrics on the new album will be politically inspired by the politics in USA today
“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 particular government or nation. Why I put an unnecessary walls up between us right. ”

When asked if he would ever work with Jeff Waters of Annihilator or Michael Sweet from Stryper
” Jeff Waters is an amazing talent and has had a really unfair run because of the same thing I suffered from lineup changes and and it’s a bummer. You start off with one vision and then that vision changes over time from different members in the band and it’s usually because of one of the four P’s power, property, Prestige or Pussy For us every time you’ve ever had a breakup it’s been over drugs money or women. So we yeah would be great to do something with those guys. I don’t know how people would actually respond to me doing something Michael Sweet because of the Stryper but I I really care a lot about Mike he’s been to my house for dinner several times. ”

Departing out of Los Angeles aboard the Norwegian Jewel, the five-day/five-night full ship charter cruise will set sail October 13-18, 2019, visiting two ports of call (Ensenada, Mexico and San Diego, California) and host two heavy metal-filled days of music and events. The cruise will also feature an optional pre-cruise party in Los Angeles (details to be announced).

Cabins start at $1,349 per person (double occupancy). Government fees, taxes, and gratuities are additional and mandatory for all passengers, regardless of age.
Joining MEGADETH will be ANTHRAX, TESTAMENT, DRAGONFORCE, OVERKILL, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, DEVILDRIVER, PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS, DORO, ARMORED SAINT, JOHN 5, METAL CHURCH, DANKO JONES, BEASTÖ BLANCÖ and METALACHI, with more performers to be announced. In addition, official cruise hosts Eddie Trunk (VH1, SiriusXM, AXS), Luc Carl (SiriusXM) and Jose Mangin (SiriusXM) will be moderating Q&As and events.

Also on the show Razor guitarist Dave Carlo talks about the bands new album that will be recorded early 2019 and that their current drummer Rider Johnson has decided to leave the band due to personnel reason with drumming auditions beginning in December 2018.