Drover wanted to preserve Megadeth legacy

Former Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover says he wanted to preserve the band’s legacy during his decade-long tenure with the group.

Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick announced their departure from the band last month in a shakeup that leaves Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson as the group’s only active members, with Ellefson insisting Megadeth will continue to move forward with plans to record the follow-up to 2013’s Super Collider.

Prior to his departure, Drover explained his approach to Megadeth when he joined the lineup alongside his brother, guitarist Glen Drover, in 2004.

Drover tells Sweetwater: “I went in there, ‘Know your role and do your job.’ That can apply to anything. I really went in there with that mentality, and it was a genuine thing. I wanted to preserve the legacy of the band.”

“I wanted people to walk away from the show going, ‘Wow! Megadeth, even though they’ve got new guys, they’re still a great band,’ and I really feel that we did that.”

The drummer was well aware of Megadeth’s place in music history before he stepped behind the kit.

He says: “We’re one of those bands… Some bands have the same four or five guys for their entire career; some bands don’t. We are option B. We’re just one of those bands. To me, things happen.”

“We can talk about this for hours, about how many bands have changed key band members and stuff. Again, I didn’t think about… I just thought about it in terms of just, again, going in there and doing the job to the best of my capabilities, trying to make the fans happy and preserve the legacy of this band, and hopefully enhance it. I’m pretty proud of the accomplishments we’ve had in the 30 years and the ten years that I’ve been here.”

Former Megadeth members Glen Drover and Jeff Young have both ruled out a return to the band, who plan to record a new album in 2015 while adding new members to the lineup.