“He had so many different attributes – they were just mind-blowing”: Dave Mustaine looks back on working with Kiko Loureiro
“I was stoked because it was great to have a friend again.”
Image: Gary Miller/Getty Images
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has looked back on what it was like to work with guitarist Kiko Loureiro following Loureiro’s departure from the band.
The Brazilian announced that he’d be taking a break from Megadeth duties in September, before announcing last month that he was extending his break into 2024. He then confirmed his exit from the band at the end of November in a podcast interview.
Teemu Mäntysaari, also of Finnish power metal band Wintersun, has taken the place of Loureiro, who had been with Megadeth since 2015, in turn replacing Chris Broderick.
And in a recent interview on The SDR Show, Mustaine takes a look back at Loureiro’s time in Megadeth, and particularly when he first joined.
“When we got Kiko in the band, Kiko was awesome,” he explains. “He had so many different attributes – they were just mind-blowing. I was sitting at the console, we were doing Dystopia, and Kiko goes, ‘Dave, I got an idea.’ And he starts playing, and I went, ‘Are you fucking out of your mind?’
“He was playing a reggae part. He was just busting my hump and starts this reggae part and I said, ‘I am not playing that dude.’ I barely knew him. We just started playing together. It’s Dystopia, and this is my new partner busting my balls already. I was stoked because it was great to have a friend again, to be able to have someone that we can yuk it up a little.”
And what about Mäntysaari, and the current state of play in Megadeth’s guitar department? Mustaine is full of praise for him in the interview, describing him as “just like a little goose that lays golden eggs,” but he doesn’t clarify whether he’ll become a permanent, full-time member.
He says of the situation, “Kiko’s not in Megadeth right now. He had some stuff that was going on with his family and he had to leave the band. So we’re actually getting ready to say something about that. So we’re leaving things status quo right now with [Teemu]. Kiko let us know things are going okay now. But we’re going to be making an official statement soon.”
You can watch the interview below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC6KEqbu-u0&ab_channel=TheSDRShow