“I dared Dave Mustaine to fire me, and he did”: Chris Poland on Megadeth firing
“Dave used to say that I joined the band… y’know, I was in it for the money. And I was like, ‘What money?’”
Image: Paul Natkin / Getty Images
Former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland has opened up about how he was given the boot from the band after a heated phone call with leader Dave Mustaine.
In a recent chat with Disturbing the Priest, Poland – who was fired from Megadeth shortly after their ‘Peace Sells’ tour had wrapped up – describes his ousting in 1987 as “kind of a relief”.
“And I brought that on myself,” he says [via Ultimate Guitar]. “I was late for a band meeting where Dave was giving everybody their $200 weekly salary for being in Megadeth. And I couldn’t get there.”
“I didn’t have a car. And I get there and they’re gone. And so I called Dave up, and I said, ‘Dave, I need my per diem,’ and he’s like, ‘Well, you should have been there.’ And I said, ‘Dave, I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t get a car, I couldn’t get a ride.’”
“And then of course he’s just telling me to fuck off,” the guitarist recalls. “And so then we just got into it. I dared him to fire me, and he did.”
“Dave used to say that I joined the band… y’know, I was in it for the money. And I was like, ‘What money?’ We didn’t have any money when I was in the band! I didn’t quit the band. You fired me.’”
Looking back, Poland also admits that he didn’t expect Megadeth to blow up the way they did back then, saying: “Later down the road, I realised what we did and that only Mustaine and Dave Ellefson could see the end of the tunnel. I never thought for a second the band was going to be as big as it is. And a band that has this kind of longevity. I never thought that.”
Asked if he’d be open to playing with Megadeth again if the opportunity arises, Poland replies: “Oh yeah, man. I don’t have time for grudges or shit like that, man. And that’s something that Nick Menza [former Megadeth drummer] really like… he kind of told me, ‘You can’t drag that shit around with you, man. It weighs you down.’”
“And that coming from him really blew me away because he had been trying to get money for his kids up north, and he just never got it. But he was still always like, very ‘Zen’ about it.”