In what will be the dumbest factor he’s stated in a video chat since he requested a feminine fan if she needed to observe him crank his hog, ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson lamented that “rock is lifeless in America.” Now the place have we heard that drained ass line earlier than?
This humdinger of a nasty take was uttered throughout his current look on Border Metropolis Rock Speak (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). He was on to speak about his current “Basstory” and “Bass Warrior” excursions, however naturally the dialog drifted to the present state of rock in the usA. and why he’s opted to tour exterior of his residence nation.
“Rock is lifeless in America — it truly is. And I do know individuals will lambaste me for saying that, however it’s. When [KISS’s] Gene Simmons stated it, all people hated him for it, however he’s proper. Until you’re a longtime band, except you’re Linkin Park and Metallica and Kiss and Slayer, no matter, to begin a brand new rock band — children aren’t into that shit. They’re into Fb and Tesla. Yeah, their lives are on their telephones. Being a rock star is just not cool anymore, prefer it was for us rising up. So, in the event you’ve acquired it established, you may preserve it working.”
That’s some willful ignorance of a few of at present’s high metallic bands. What about Knocked Free? What about Poppy? 200 Stab Wounds? Sanguisugabogg? The Callous Daoboys? I imply hell, Greta Van Fleet’s nonetheless killing it. Halestorm… Clutch… Alien Weaponry… There are TONS of U.S. rock and metallic bands on the market having a hell of a time. I’d even enterprise to say children are moving into the style due to their Fb and Tesla and telephones — simply take a look at how Ghost blew the fuck up due to TikTok.
Ellefson went on to elucidate why cultures exterior of the U.S. do higher for rock and roll.
“So, for me, I get pleasure from South America, Latin America, [where] they love rock and roll. Asia, Australia. So you allow America and, man, rock and roll could be very a lot alive and effectively. They champion the legacy stuff, they like new stuff. There’s much more… I did a document for Napalm Information, and so they had a bunch of recent teams. Jinjer had simply come out. There’s all this cool new stuff, in addition to me and Okay.Okay. Downing, and legacy artists had been placing information out. So I simply discover that it’s extra supportive. And also you take a look at the statistics, just like the Spotify numbers, you take a look at that globally, exterior of America, and it’s simply stronger. It’s only a completely different tradition. It’s what it’s.
“So I play right here in America, in fact, too, however I discover that exterior of the USA, sadly, is the place type of the bread and butter is for that, so far as the larger curiosity and the skills to nonetheless preserve taking part in and touring. And so they respect it. Particularly going to lots of these locations in Jap Europe, the larger bands, even Megadeth, you’d play Warsaw, you’d play Bucharest, however you may’t go type of deeper into the inside to a few of these smaller locations. And so after I do a few of these smaller issues, like ‘Bass Warrior’, I is usually a lot extra nimble and I can type of undergo the cracks and crevices and actually go. Folks, yeah, they like it, man. The place we’re right here in North America, you get in your automotive, you drive down a freeway, you go to a different city distant to see a live performance. It’s not that simple for different individuals in different cultures. So I really feel a privilege to have the ability to take my music to them.”
I don’t know. Possibly it’s simply wanting method too into what he’s saying, however I feel it’s somewhat ridiculous to say rock is lifeless within the U.S. Possibly the rock and metallic he’s used to has misplaced some prominence (although there are tons of recent thrash metallic followers that debunk that principle too) however I’d enterprise to say our tradition’s thriving even when it’s not the highest canine within the music meals chain.