Legendary Producer Max Norman and Coney Hatch Bassist Andy Curran recently were interviewed live on The Metal Voice on Part 2 of a continuous Max Norman producer series. 

Topics of conversation included Max Norman’s production work on:  Coney Hatch Albums, Outa Hand and Friction; Megadeth Rust in Peace (Engineer), Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia; Loudness Thunder in the East, Lightning Strikes, Soldier of Fortune.

In the interview Max Norman also made a statement in regards to David Ellefson’s recent dismissal by Megadeth.  And Andy Curran mentions  the upcoming Triumph 40 year anniversary box set of ‘Allied Forces’ that he put together.

Some highlights in the interview

On recording of the solos for Countdown to Extinction and who should play them
“This is the responsibility of the producer, it is to maximize what you get. When I did ‘Countdown To Extinction’ I realized that Marty Friedman was such a great soloist so basically I said to Dave ( Mustaine) Marty should be doing pretty much all the solos, Dave (Mustaine) can do a few but Marty should do pretty much all the solos. When you are making a product at the end of the day you want to make it as good as possible. ”    Max Norman

Statement in regards to David Ellefson recent incident on parting ways with Megadeth
“My girlfriend sent me a link to the video I had no idea and I didn’t know what it was but I can’t unsee it now, that is the problem. I feel sorry for David (Ellefson), he made a mistake, it was a silly thing to do, I feel sorry for him. I also have kind of mixed feelings about this. I understand Mustaine removing him from the band. The one thing that Dave Mustaine will not tolerate is being made fun of because of his upbringing I guess and because of the way he is. I think (Mustaine) thought about this and thought about it. It’s a brand he has to protect. I don’t know this for a fact (just assuming) he was probably thinking I can’t go out on stage with this guy because everybody is going to be pointing at him (making a hand gesture). So I can’t really blame Mustaine but I see both sides of the story. I certainly don’t think that David Ellefson is a pedophile; he is probably guilty of what 90% of the other musicians out there have done at one stage or another. It feels a little weird because he is a pastor and there is this religious thing there as well.  I see both sides and I don’t want to be judgmental about it. I feel sorry for David cause it’s going to affect his whole life and he has a whole lot of other stuff going on and it’s going to affect that stuff too,  the guy is going to go through a real hard time. The only other thing I would like to say is if David (Ellefson) sees this maybe he will do this. I do think that he (Ellefson) should apologize publicly to his wife and his family for the embarrassment and maybe to Megadeth too I don’t know. But like I said I am not going to judge it. It is very unfortunate and kind of sad. Who knows the whole story, no one knows.”  Max Norman

The origins about the Loudness album title Thunder in the East
“I distinctly remember at the end of recording the album Friction (Coney Hatch), Max Said to us, so lads what are you going to call the record and I had pages and pages of titles and I was bouncing them off Max. And because we were from Eastern Canada I said what do you think about ‘Thunder in the East’ and Max said can I have that for Loudness? I was like absolutely you can. ” Andy Curran

“I have a totally different recollection of getting that title but Andy Curran might be right? I do remember flying back from Tokyo to New York and I was looking at a newspaper in the racing section because I was bored and I found out there were lots of really good names of horses. I thought this is a good source of album names and I remember seeing ‘Thunder in the East’ as one of the names of one of the horses. That’s my recollection.” Max Norman