By Jim Barber
The music world is definitely a reasonably small group whenever you actually have a look at it. Every style represents a neighbourhood, or village, the place everybody is aware of one another, all people helps one another (for essentially the most half), and dealing collectively is commonplace. Regardless that as a person musician, or songwriter you’re employed away and your personal artistic pursuits behind the doorways of your house, it’s additionally enjoyable and mutually rewarding to work together with your metaphorical musical neighbours.
A couple of years in the past, two veterans of the metallic scene, each of whom had admired each other’s work from afar, determined to get collectively to make slightly music – largely for enjoyable, but in addition to see what may occur. The results of the assembly of the musical minds between famous bassist David Ellefson, greatest recognized for his lengthy tenure in Megadeth, in addition to his present tasks, The Kings of Thrash and Dieth, and likewise his David Ellefson Present podcast (accessible on Apple podcasts and Spotify), and vocalist extraordinaire Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen, Sons of Apollo, Journey Trans-Siberian Orchestra), has led to 2 extremely potent and compelling albums. The primary, Trip in The Underworld, got here out in 2022, and the second, Unbreakable, comes out this Friday, Aug. 15 on Rat Pak Data. It was recorded at Rogue Studios within the U.Ok. by Alessio Garavello and produced by Chris Collier (Korn, Mick Mars, Flat Again), and options visitor appearances from Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, at the moment of KK’s Priest, and Burning Witches frontwoman Laura Guldemond.
Each Ellefson and Soto are near the identical age. Each have the same musical pedigree in that they’ve labored with some big names, however have additionally participated in lots of collaborations and bands over the previous three many years. Primarily based on their respective pedigrees talked about above, it was inevitable that the 2 would cross paths and that their comparable mindsets, tastes and prodigious work ethics would result in one thing particular.
“We had been simply acquaintances at first. I might all the time attempt to go see him with Trans-Siberian Orchestra once they got here to city yearly. And the extra I thought of it, the extra I’d prefer to work with him. This was again in 2020, and by 2021 I used to be doing extra stuff underneath the Ellefson title, together with a canopy document known as No Cowl in the course of COVID. It was nice as a result of it allowed me to achieve out to all my buddies and say, ‘hey, let’s not get down due to this COVID factor. Let’s not be morbid. Let’s hold our chins up. Let’s get again in and begin being artistic once more! Let’s keep linked as a group as a result of this too shall go.’ Andy Martongelli, he’s been an excellent buddy and musical half for me, and he lives over in Verona, Italy. After I’d go to Europe to tour, I might all the time name him and ask him to place a band collectively for me, and he all the time did an amazing job. So he’s obtained nice expertise for that type of stuff, in addition to being a tremendous guitar participant and songwriter. We began writing some materials collectively and began gathering a pleasant assortment of tunes. And it was Andy who mentioned, ‘name Jeff and have him sing on a few songs. You’ll love the man. You’re already buddies. Let’s do one thing with him,’” Ellefson mentioned.
“I ship him a observe after which I despatched him one other observe and after a few songs Jeff simply says, ‘hey hear, that is actually working. We’re making some nice high quality stuff right here. I’m in. Don’t simply rent me to sing, I’d relatively be totally concerned on this.’ And that’s the place it began. That was 2021 and our first document, Trip within the Underworld, got here out the subsequent yr. There have been challenges in touring collectively each when it comes to the timing as a result of we’re each so busy, but in addition with logistics of half of us being within the States and Andy and our drummer Paolo [Caridi] being in Italy. So Jeff and I type of left it alone for a bit and life moved on. However in 2023 Andy I obtained collectively at a buddy’s studio and we wrote nearly all of one other album in only a few days. We actually cranked out some tunes, however it wasn’t till final yr once I was over touring in Europe that I hit up Jeff however it was for one thing totally different that I used to be engaged on.
“I wished to do at the very least one new track to type of refresh the Ellefson catalogue a bit right here for the Bass Warrior reveals and I’d like to do a canopy of a Queen track. I’m pondering ‘Demise on Two Legs.’ And I do know Jeff’s an enormous Queen fan, and he jumped on it. And whereas he was there I introduced up the concept of doing one other album. He goes, ‘f*** yeah! I’d like to.’ So all it took each occasions was me merely asking him. It’s type of humorous how that goes proper? It’s form of like asking a lady on the dance, ‘hey, you wanna dance with me?’ and he or she instantly replies ‘certain!’ In case you don’t ask, you’ll by no means know. I assume it really works the identical in our world with musicians. So, I’m very glad I requested as a result of we’ve obtained two nice data. I really feel like Unbreakable is among the greatest materials I’ve written in a very long time. And I really feel like, with out it attempting in any approach to even sit in a Megadeth bucket, there’s some stuff on this document that I believe feels very sympatico with among the Nineteen Nineties Megadeth stuff that I used to be writing for the group again then. I believe it’s an excellent listening journey via the entire document.”
As this interview is carried out with just one member of the Ellefson-Soto tandem, Ellefson was requested what makes Soto particular as each an artist/collaborator and as a human.
“He simply looks like such an amazing man; so smitten by every thing, like even simply waking up within the morning and having a cup of espresso. Musically, out of the gate, he’s a really massive voice. He’s obtained an enormous presence to his sound. He’s immediately recognizable. As quickly as you hear him, you already know it’s him. And that to me is the figuring out stamp as an artist is to have that skill to be recognizable to your work. That’s why I wished to place each of our names on the door to this mission. I believed, let’s simply state the apparent. I talked to at least one supervisor and he thought we wanted a band title. I mentioned, ‘no, we don’t. I don’t need to begin a brand new band as a result of then you definately’re beginning yet again, and also you’re having to place numerous effort and time into re-educating the general public.’ I didn’t need to try this. I mentioned let’s simply state the apparent, Ellefson/Soto. And I believe whenever you see the names, you already begin to type an opinion of it in your thoughts and I’d prefer to assume whenever you open the document and put it on, it delivers what you anticipate, and extra,” he mentioned, including that the mix does certainly have a particular tone to the songs they’re writing collectively, which is infused with that factor of enthusiastic power of which Ellefson spoke of as a core function of his companion’s character.
“With Jeff and I, one of many issues now we have in widespread is we’ve labored with a few troublesome individuals in our careers. And we are able to form of have fun about it now as a result of we’ve moved on. However this isn’t a simple enterprise. And whereas ‘Demise on Two Legs’ may be very pointed and by no means lets up within the lyrical content material, reportedly about this supervisor they [Queen] had, the track ‘Unbreakable’ is our model of that. And it’s humorous as a result of the document begins off with ‘Unbreakable’ and ends with ‘Demise on Two Legs’ as a result of they’re type of the identical track. They’re written about individuals in our path who had been actually shitty and did some fairly unforgivable stuff. However in these instances you possibly can both keep bitter, otherwise you get higher. And Jeff and I talked particularly concerning the refrain on ‘Unbreakable,’ in that we wished it to be a name to arms, like a name to motion. So is it that ‘I’ am unbreakable, or that ‘we’ are unbreakable? And he went with ‘we.’ His argument was that you could be write about opposition however someplace in there, within the lyric, there’s a decision and it comes out beneficial. And so I spotted we needed to go along with ‘we.’ What I like about it’s once I listened to songs rising up like Kiss with ‘Shout It Out Loud,’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite,’ they had been anthems and so they had been about ‘we’ and ‘us.’ And Judas Priest all the time had these very optimistic lyrics about freedom and making our personal method in life in songs like, ‘Dwelling After Midnight,’ and ‘Heading Out to the Freeway.’ And I bear in mind [Judas Priest] frontman Rob Halford saying in an interview as soon as that he all the time wished to write down songs that had been inspiring and empowering to younger individuals. There’s even that track on British Metal, ‘You Don’t Need to Be Previous to Be Sensible.’
“Neither Jeff nor I are adverse, downer individuals. We’re in all probability generally slightly too optimistic and slightly too completely satisfied for among the bands we’ve been in as a result of that pisses individuals off generally. While you’re in a band with a adverse man, they don’t like being round somebody who’s being so optimistic. It goes towards the grain. And our guitar participant Andy may be very very like us too. He’s a feisty participant. He likes to field, however he’s not imply. He’s not evil. So there’s no shred of darkness within the room with this group. It’s feisty, it’s highly effective, it punches laborious. And for those who punch at it, it would hit again. It’s not carried out with evil intent, and assume that’s the distinction of what you hear in our music – it’s heavy, however melodic and fires individuals up, not brings them down.”
Steel followers are a tribe. They’re a collective that’s about as welcoming and inclusive as any group of music followers on the planet. The angst and aggression of their lives is sweated out of their methods at metallic reveals, it’s channeled via the shared expertise the place individuals might be themselves, regardless of of race, creed, nationality, gender identification or politics. Steel is a tonic for powerful occasions and having metallic bands on one facet who can categorical the fears and darkness of the world, however then there’s the counterpoint, who take that darkness and shine a lightweight on it. Each facets are what make metallic music inspiring and slot in with the personalities and ethos of each Ellefson and Soto.
“As you say, metallic is a tribe and songs in our style unite the tribe. And it’s a style that’s outlined by totally different bands from totally different generations. Every era has their very own. Like Slipknot is for the era that got here after me, proper? I noticed the altering of the generations once we took out Korn with Megadeth again in 1995. They had been the brand new sound, the brand new voice of the subsequent era. And younger individuals all the time propel the subsequent wave of music – in each style, together with metallic. So in some unspecified time in the future in my life I knew I used to be not a pacesetter of the subsequent sound. That subsequent sound goes to be created by younger individuals in the identical method that Megadeth and Metallica created thrash metallic. We created the subsequent type, the subsequent iteration of metallic after Ronnie James Dio and Iron Maiden. We had been that sound, and we’ll eternally all the time been that sound. Once more, Kings of Thrash is the place I am going up on stage and revisit these songs that we wrote from the early Nineteen Eighties and stuff and so they’re nonetheless necessary. They’re timeless. I’m nonetheless an creator and creator of that motion, in order that a part of my life, I by no means need to let go of. I can personal that eternally,” he mentioned.
“However once I get in a room with Jeff Scott Soto, we’re not attempting to write down ‘Holy Wars,’ or ‘I Am the Viking.’ We are able to let go of our pasts, shed that pores and skin and begin contemporary and begin with one thing new. Guys of our age, we are able to try this, we are able to begin with a brand new blueprint, with a clean canvas and create one thing new. And it doesn’t need to sound like what we did up to now. It’s going to sound like us, it doesn’t matter what we do. And I believe that’s one of many issues too that’s particular out this partnership. Jeff’s been in teams, he’s made his personal data. I’ve been in teams and made my very own data. However when Ellefson and Soto get collectively, you get to listen to very distinctively what David Ellefon and Jeff Scott Soto sound like individually, but in addition collectively.”
As busy as he’s been with a number of tasks, together with the brand new Ellefson/Soto album, Ellefson had little problem clearing of time in his schedule to be a part of the largest rock live performance expertise of the yr – Ozzy Osbourne’s emotional swan track look in his hometown of Birmingham as a part of the Again to the Starting present on July 5. It featured a plethora of unbelievable musical friends, together with lots of Osbourne’s former band members, after all the opposite three members of Black Sabbath, Nuno Bettencourt, members of Metallica, Anthrax, Yungblud … and David Ellefson.
“I used to be there. I used to be listed and marketed as one of many performers and it was a complete honour to be there. [Former Judas Priest axe slinger] Ok.Ok. Downing had reached out to me about it again in January and I gladly accepted and obtained within the loop with Tom Morello who was the musical director for the present. And it was actually only a fantastic occasion. In case you noticed it reside and even on-line, you noticed what it was like; it was only a lovely, heartfelt occasion all the way in which spherical,” he mentioned, speaking about his experiences with Ozzy, who after all died mere weeks after the present.
“I knew him after all, however it wasn’t like I had his cell quantity. After I was in Megadeth we did Ozzfest 1998 and later we did an enormous stadium tour throughout South America and that’s the place I actually obtained to know Ozzy, simply as a buddy and as a gentleman. [Billy Idol sideman] Billy Morrison was down there with him, and that’s one in every of his pricey buddies as effectively, so the three of us did numerous palling round and simply spent a while, just about after each present, and even on among the off days, simply hanging round collectively. That was actually the character of my friendship with Ozzy. I by no means actually talked music a complete lot with him. We had been type of extra buddies and talked about issues apart from music, and that’s why I by no means requested to have an image taken with him. I by no means mentioned, ‘hey bro, let’s get a photograph.’ It was about being buddies not followers.”
Ellefson mentioned he was lucky sufficient to have a number of moments of dialog with Ozzy backstage on the Birmingham present, not a simple feat contemplating everybody there wished to pay their respects, in addition to the truth that the legendary singer was clearly not effectively. On reflection after his passing, Ellefson now treasures these spare moments with the nice man.
“I did get a few minutes with him earlier than the present and after the present. It was actually nice to attach once more, one final time clearly. For me, that was type of the main target of the occasion, apart from performing and doing the present. It was to simply attempt to have a few minutes with Ozzy, which I obtained, and I used to be actually completely satisfied about that. Earlier than the present, we did the massive band images with him – all of the group of performers collectively, and also you’ve in all probability seen a bunch of these on-line. He actually seemed considerably despondent, like he was actually simply hanging on. After which as he obtained into the present, as you possibly can see on stage, he was so energized. He wished to face up, he wished to rise up and rock. And like he mentioned from the stage, he hadn’t been in a position to do that for six years and I believe being again, it actually harm him that he wasn’t capable of give it his all. Being onstage although introduced that every one again to him. All of us nonetheless get that buzz, that adrenaline hit, as a result of we all know we’re again in our factor. We’ve obtained our recreation face on, able to kick ass and rock with the followers. And you possibly can see that in his face on the reside stream and in individual for certain,” he mentioned.
“Then after the present I noticed him too. He got here again into the VIP space and that’s the place his daughter [Kelly] obtained engaged [to Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson] proper in entrance of us all. And Ozzy was sitting there, simply beaming. He had that after-show glow. And at that time I bear in mind pondering, ‘wow, possibly he’s obtained a pair extra years. Possibly he might hold rocking for some time.’ And that’s what made it so surprising that, simply two weeks later, he handed. However I believe as unhappy as we’re after all that he’s gone, seeing the situation he was in earlier than the present, and clearly it’s a degenerative sickness, to let somebody go, and get away from their sick, damaged physique, might be essentially the most loving factor we are able to do.”
Ellefson additionally talked concerning the significance of Ozzy Osbourne within the historical past of rock and metallic music, together with the affect that his early solo albums had on a sure impressionable younger musician from higher midwestern U.S.
“Now, I didn’t begin with Black Sabbath or Ozzy. I began with bands like Styx and Candy and Kiss, even Aerosmith. I bear in mind the primary time listening to ‘Dream On’ come on the radio and it was one thing else. As a child I listened to AM after which ultimately FM radio in my neighbourhood the place I used to be rising up in Minnesota. There have been numerous British and Canadian and numerous American laborious rock influences on me on the time due to FM radio. The bands that had gone earlier than, I discovered about them slightly later. I used to be born in 1964 so The Beatles, The Guess Who, and ultimately Black Sabbath and a few of these different iconic bands got here later in my youth. So by the point I used to be 15 or 16 years outdated, I used to be listening to Black Sabbath, however it was the Dio period Black Sabbath. The brand new Ozzy solo data had come out and for me, and lots of people my age, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman had been the primary in-road for us to get into Ozzy’s Black Sabbath stuff, as a result of, as I mentioned, exterior of enjoying Paranoid in one in every of my bands as an adolescent, my actual first chunk into Sabbath was the Ronnie James Dio period with the Heaven and Hell album,” Ellefson defined.
“And Blizzard of Ozz got here out on the similar time, so for me it was ‘wow, we get these two superior data on the similar time! We get Sabbath with Dio and we get Ozzy solo. We win double right here.’ Then after all I went again and discovered the entire legacy. I assume what in all probability hit me essentially the most once I actually began to hearken to early Sabbath was simply what a melodic singer he was. For a band like Black Sabbath that was so heavy and had such ominous lyrics and sound to it, it was actually his melody traces and vocals that made it extra approachable for the mainstream. And apparently, by the point I used to be 16 I had discovered to play numerous that music, however not via [Black Sabbath bassist] Geezer Butler. It was paradoxically via Ozzy’s Converse of the Satan reside album, which as all Black Sabbath covers. So it was via his bass participant on the time, Rudy Sarzo [Quiet Riot, Whitesnake] that I used to be actually launched to a lot of the Sabbath catalogue. As soon as I began deep diving I spotted, ‘okay, that is the place it began. That is the origin of it, with Geezer.’ In fact I additionally discovered that Geezer was the band’s predominant lyricist. On the similar time, I used to be rapidly turning into an enormous fan of Bob Daisley [who also had a tenue in Osbourne’s solo band] who was the lyricist for the primary Ozzy albums, in addition to an unbelievable author and bass participant. Not lengthy after he performed on the wonderful Uriah Heep album Abominog [1982], after which I discovered he additionally performed on Rainbow’s Lengthy Reside Rock and Roll with Ronnie James Dio. It was this wildly fascinating turnstile of musicians.”
When anybody of word passes, however particularly somebody who’s a hero to so many individuals in the identical subject as you, it does get one excited about their very own life, well being and legacy. For Ellefson, it’s no totally different.
“I bear in mind one time seeing my chiropractor at age 40 and he mentioned, ‘let’s face I David, as soon as we get into our 40s, we’re in all probability not going to double our years.’ That’s the second I went, ‘effectively, right here it’s. That is the place there are extra days behind me than forward of me.’ Look, I’m 60 now. Thankfully, I’ve been sober my complete grownup life since age 25. I handle myself. I train, I attempt to eat proper. That has actually helped. I get up day by day and do what I did once I was a child entering into enjoying the bass. I awoke day by day asking, ‘what can I study immediately?’ What track can I hearken to and study from? What issues ought to I study for my band? What cellphone name cane I make for might band? Can we e-book a gig?’ All that stuff,” he mentioned.
“I’ve been doing this my complete life, since I used to be actually 11 years outdated. Right here I’m at 60, driving down the highway, speaking to you on an interview, listening to songs this morning that I must study for some recording periods and for some reveals arising. Later, I’m going to be in my lodge room training, speaking to my document firm, doing all the identical stuff that I used to be doing once I was youthful. Typically I’ll overview a few of our episodes of the David Ellefson Present podcast. For my complete life, that is all I’ve carried out, with no regrets. I’m fortunate that at a younger age, I knew precisely what I wished to do, and I went for it. There was by no means a Plan B. There was by no means a dialogue about, ‘effectively what if it doesn’t work out,’ as a result of whenever you’re satisfied it’s going to work, it does work. For me, I believe my complete life, my complete profession is my legacy. It’s not like there was one piece within the Nineteen Eighties, or that one time within the Nineteen Nineties, or there’s that one document from 2016 that gained a Grammy. To me, I believe every thing I do is about working for and preserving the physique of labor that I’ve created all through my complete lifetime.”
A part of that legacy is the willingness and talent to work with different individuals on varied artistic tasks. Within the music a part of his life, sure there was the large chunk of his profession as a member of some of the profitable thrash metallic bands of all time, Megadeth. However Ellefson’s listing of collaborations and credit will get longer annually, with Ellefson/Soto being one in every of many which might be ongoing. The time with Megadeth which took up two massive chunks of his life 1983 to 2002 and once more from 2010 to 2021, Ellefson subsumed a lot of his personal creativity to serve the higher function of the band, and its chief, Dave Mustaine.
“I used to be appreciative once I met Dave. He was very centered on the model of music he wrote and that he wished to do. He was very uncompromising in that mission, which is what you want, particularly whenever you first begin out. I’m fortunate that I obtained to hitch in with that, to have my very own lane inside that, create my very own model, have a particular sound, have a voice inside that context. But, on the similar time, because it goes with most bands, at 20 years in, you’re not the identical man you had been 20 years earlier than. I believe it’s necessary to honour that who we’re as grown males is totally different that who we had been as younger males. That may be an actual battle. Typically you’re higher off leaving it the way in which it was whenever you had been younger. You may disband for some time, stroll away for some time, let the fellows make solo data or no matter as a result of they’ve obtained one thing else to say that doesn’t match contained in the band. Typically it’s okay to go away one thing as a way to protect it in the long run. I believe what I’ve immediately, making these new data with Jeff Scott Soto and with Dieth, is nice. I might be as artistic as I need to be. Folks name me to play on their data on a regular basis and I actually take pleasure in entering into their world for a track or two.
“Kings of Thrash, that’s my full-blown ode to my Megadeth Legacy. I believe it’s necessary to have that as a result of what I do in Dieth, that’s not the time to be enjoying ‘Peace Sells (However Who’s Buyin’) simply because some promoter says they’ll rent you for those who play some Megadeth. Properly, we’re not going to work for them then. You don’t bastardize one factor to make the opposite one work. You simply can’t. There comes a second when it’s important to select. This one factor has its personal lane and don’t make the site visitors tread throughout lanes right here. I believe I’m fortunate as a result of I’ve so many alternative lanes on the artistic freeway and capable of hold a automobile in every lane.”
Rat Pak Data is releasing Unbreakable on vinyl in addition to digitally on Aug. 15. Ellefson admits that more often than not, he streams and downloads music, however that’s primarily as a result of he’s on the highway a lot and might thus simply hear via his cell system. However when at house, he’s completely completely satisfied placing on slightly vinyl and having fun with some ‘hiss and pop.’
“I obtained to see Weapons ‘N Roses in Munich again in June. I went into this massive retailer, like a division retailer, I believe it was known as Ludwig Beck, it’s within the centre of town. I pop in and so they’ve obtained a Weapons ‘N Roses show of clothes and issues, clearly to advertise the present that’s on the town. And I flip a nook and there’s an enormous vinyl document part in it. This is sort of a five-story division retailer and we’re on just like the third or fourth ground. And the primary document sitting within the bin is Ellefson/Soto Trip within the Underworld and subsequent to it was some Weapons ‘N Roses and Slash stuff. I took a photograph and despatched it to Joe [O’Brien, the label’s founder] at Rat Pak and mentioned, ‘have a look at this, right here we’re!’ he mentioned.
“I believe whenever you’re shopping for vinyl, it brings again a satisfying buying expertise. In my youthful days of shopping for data, you’d go to the shop, flip via the data, take a look at all of the cool covers, get what you want, carry it house, open it up, and there’s a particular odor to a brand-new vinyl document, from the ink and the vinyl and every thing proper? You set it on and for me I might hearken to it, flip it over, hearken to Facet B, after which flip it again over once more and hearken to each side time and again. It was an all-encompassing expertise as a result of I might ‘hear’ with my ears, but in addition with my eyes. I might all the time have a look at all of the album credit, I’d mull over the track titles, and browse the lyrics. I’d need to know who wrote the songs, who had been the band’s managers, all of that stuff.
“And now, I purchase every thing on digital, simply because I can have every thing on my cellphone. I journey a lot so I can hearken to it once I’m on the fly. However I additionally do nonetheless purchase some vinyl stuff, and I adore it. I like that Rat Pak Data is all concerning the full expertise with music. And apart from the document, they’ll throw in some patches, and I believe we’ve even obtained some buying and selling playing cards to go along with the brand new Unbreakable album. I believe it’s a cool bundle to get. When it reveals up at your door, there’s a type of pleasure you possibly can’t get from only a obtain.”
Whereas there isn’t a discuss of any reside reveals for Ellefson/Soto, Ellefson stays very busy, effectively into 2026 together with his different band Dieth, touring with Kings of Thrash, guesting on different individuals’s albums and extra. It’s a busy, fulfilling life, and he wouldn’t have it some other method.
To comply with alongside, go to https://www.davidellefson.com, https://www.ellefsonsoto.com, and https://diethofficial.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and creator primarily based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his group. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
