Megadeth will be off the road for most of next year

David Ellefson says Megadeth are aiming to stick to their album schedule – despite the departure of Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover last month.

But he accepts the band will be off the road for most of 2015, while arguing that the split took place at the best possible time.

The guitarist and drummer both announced they’d quit on the same day, leaving Ellefson and frontman Dave Mustaine the only current members of the thrash giants. The bassist last week confirmed it wasn’t the end of the band.

Now Ellefson tells the Classic Metal Show: “We’re scheduled start a new record after the first of the year, to release later in 2015, and touring to take on from there. In an ironic way, if there’s going to be changes, it’s definitely better that it happens when you’re off the road than in the middle of a tour.

“We’ve had that happen over the years too – members need to move on in the middle of a tour. You’ve really got your back against the wall. So we do have a little bit of a luxury of time right now.”

He continues: “Megadeth is just never going go away. I realised that years ago. We’ve kind of outlived anything we thought we were going do – and, in a way, Megadeth has kind of outlived us. It’s bigger than any one of us.”

Ellefson thinks the role of current and future members is to be “good stewards” of the band’s name and reputation. He continues: “It doesn’t necessarily mean Megadeth is always going to be out there tour after tour, month after month, like we have been. At least certainly this next year, we’re not going to be. We’re definitely going to be off the road.”

Mustaine recently told TeamRock the band were aiming to start work on their 15th album in January, and they’d planned a summer US tour with a “huge English metal band.” The status of that schedule is now unclear.

Meanwhile, Anthrax bassist Frank Bello, who works with Ellefson in Altitudes & Attitudes, says he’s sad to see the split. He tells SiriusXM: “I don’t know the inner workings of the band. They’re all good friends. Whatever they had go on, I respect it. Chris and Shawn are great musicians – I think they’ll be fine wherever they end up. It’s just something else that happens in a long career.”

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.