Megadethin Dave Mustaine halusi Marty Friedmanin ja Nick Menzan liittyvän takaisin bändiin: ”He halusivat tähtitieteellisiä summia rahaa, mihin meillä ei ollut varaa”

Yhdysvaltalainen thrash metal -legenda Megadeth julkaisi hiljattain vuonna 1990 ilmestyneen ”Rust In Peace” -albumin teosta kirjan nimeltä Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece. Yhtyeen laulaja-kitaristi Dave Mustaine on antanut kirjasta Loudwirelle haastattelun, jossa on kertonut rahan olleen yksinkertaisesti suurin syy siihen, miksi bändin klassikkokokoonpanoon kuuluneet Nick Menza sekä Marty Friedman eivät päätyneet takaisin osaksi yhtyettä noin viisi ja puoli vuotta sitten, kun jäsenet tulivat jammailemaan Daven ja David Ellefsonin kanssa. Mustainen mukaan hän oli hämmästynyt summista mitä Nick Menza ja Marty Friedman olivat vaatineet yhtyeeltä yhteistyöstä, ja se muodostui taloudellisesti mahdottomaksi ajatukseksi. Dave kertoi lisäksi olleensa erittäin loukkaantunut Nick Menzasta, joka oli haukkunut tätä antamissaan haastatteluissa. Mustaine kertoi klassikokokoonpanon paluun kaatumisesta seuraavaa:

”The chemistry of Nick and Marty, don’t get me wrong — that was amazing. And my heart aches when I think about that. And, in fact, that’s why I wrote at the back of the book ’In Loving Memory’ and not ’In Memory Of’.

Nick said some shitty things about me at the end, especially to you guys and to Blabbermouth, where he would just wail on me. And I would think, ’Nick, why are you doing this? I never did anything to you. I’m always fighting for you.

When I would read the stuff that he would [say about me], I would just be so hurt. ’Cause when we went to do the reunion, you see Ellefson tell the story, I wasn’t the one that said Nick wasn’t ready — Dave said that. I was really bummed about that; I wanted things to work out with Nick. And then in fact, I even said, ’You know what? If it’s not gonna work with him playing in the studio, let’s have somebody else go into the studio and play, and then we can have Nick play live.’ I was bending over backwards to get a place for Nick. And then he said he wanted this exorbitant amount of cash to work for us and to be able to sell all kinds of merchandise that he had.

Marty has a really successful career in Japan where he makes quite a lot of money. And this is the part where I thought it was a little weird, where he said he said that he has to pay all his team while he’s gone instead of just himself. ’Cause I thought we’ll pay you what you’re making so that’s switching horses in the middle of the river — it’s no big deal unless you fall off. And then when we found out that he wanted to sell his merch, his this, his that, his this, his that, then he wanted this crazy amount of money and he wanted to fly first class everywhere. I said to our management, ’I can’t deal with this.'”