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Podcast Interview - California

November 30, 2007 - An Evening at the Mustaines' - by Shane McConnell [System Lord]

Greetings fellow Droogies!

As I sit and write this I am waiting for a (delayed) flight back to Chicago from the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. The last 14 hours have been quite an adventure for me!

Last week I had told Dave McRobb and Dave Mustaine that I would be in California for the week on business. Dave Mustaine invited me down to his home in Fallbrook, CA on Friday for a Podcast interview session. This was exciting for me because I have never really hung out with Dave "off tour," let alone in his home!

After finishing up with work in Pasadena, CA on Friday, at 2pm I ran back to the hotel, in the rain, to check out and grab my rental car. Everyone I talked to had a look of sympathy on their faces when I told them my destination: the San Diego area. After viewing several pitiful expressions, I finally asked "what is that look for?" and the typical response was "oh my gosh, its raining and its Friday...you have no idea." I thought to myself, it rains all the time where I live, what's the big deal? The big deal was apparently it hardly ever rains in this area and I had no anticipation for how BAD the traffic in and out of L.A. is. Combine that with the "strange weather" and it's a big 'ol mess. Now I live in the Chicago burbs, so I know all about bad traffic in and out of the city, so how bad could it really be? I checked out Google and my directions told me it would be a 1hr 40min drive and up to 3 hours in traffic. I get onto the freeway and it was a complete cluster f$ck! I called down to Dave's and let them know how bad the traffic is and that I was underway and he told me to "be careful."

I tuned into the radio and all I heard was "traffic crash here, flash flooding there, mudslides here." I remembered Dave talking on the boards about the fires and what his family and everyone around him had been facing with the continuous onslaught by Mother Nature. A little rain was nice to wet down the land, but 2 inches of rain in a few hours to an area that had been burned clean of vegetation creates rapid erosion of the soil, in other words, mudslides. I simply hunkered down for the drive and made my way down. As I twisted and turned through hills and winding roads, I had to avoid barricades from flooding and, you guessed it, piles of mud washing into the roads...it was crazy! After nearly FOUR hours I finally pulled up to the guard house at Dave's community. I showed him my special decoder ring and gave him the secret sign. He called up to Dave's house and punched the gate open. I navigated my way through the community and pulled into the driveway at Dave's house.

I was greeted by a very cool dude, John Orkiseski, who Dave often refers to on the site here as "Jonno." Jonno is Dave's property manager/at home tech guy, and he helped me with some of my stuff as it continued to rain cats and dogs on us. I couldn't see much of the outside of the house or the property because of the rain, but from what I can see by the landscape lighting, glowing pool and ambient lighting spilling from the house's windows, not only is it a gorgeous home but it has an awesome ambiance. I felt comfortable almost instantly and had a creative/relaxed feeling at the same time. Jonno and I headed into Dave's home recording studio where I met Dave in the hallway as he was carrying out coffee cups and drinking glasses from an interview he was just finishing up with a few folks from iTunes (who were packing up their gear and heading out). Dave said hi and that he would be back after running down to the kitchen. Jonno and I began to set up for the Podcast session on Dave's Pro Tools rig. Justis and a couple of his buddies passed by and headed into another area of the studio and next I heard some pretty serious shredding emanating from down the hall. I listened as several instruments played the parts to a mixture of songs as Justis yelled "keep going, keep going!" and cheered his buddy on to continue playing a rhythm part while he picked up the leads. At this point, Dave came back in and we all sat down to talk for a few minutes. Dave and I geared up to start the 'cast and Dave asked Jonno to throw a pot of the Legends Cup Coffee on. Since I lived on coffee for years as a street cop, I know a good cup of joe and was eager to try the Dave Mustaine Blend of Legends Cup. The Podcast session went quite smoothly. I sucked down my mug of coffee in a matter of minutes while Dave answered a question or two. No joke: it is one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had. Regarding the Podcast, Dave gave me some awesome news snippets, announcements and maybe even what the lineup for Gigantour 2008 is. :-D I won't spill the beans just yet, but when I get the go ahead, I will post this revealing audio clip!

After I packed up my stuff, Jonno, Dave and I headed downstairs to the kitchen where Dave's wife Pam greeted me with homemade peanut butter fudge and a warm, welcoming smile. Pam and I had a nice chat while she made pizzas for Dave and the boys for a late night snack. As 9pm closed in, I had to be on my way to get to the hotel for a few short hours of sleep before heading to the airport at 4am to return home.

All in all, I don't even regret the stupid traffic situation after the nice evening at the Mustaines'. What a cool experience! Stay tuned for the posting of the Podcast!

Tour Of Duty - European Summer Invasion

July 8, 2007 - UK/Euro Journal Entry - by Tracey Wiedeman [Assistant Tour Manager]

Hello MegaFans!

I have no idea where to begin with today’s journal entry. The UK/Europe leg overall was a fantastic trek. We feel very luck to have had the opportunity to visit so many beautiful countries such as Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Israel. The promoters, venues, Roadrunner reps and everyone involved were so kind to us along the way.

Every once in a while Dave would ask me what my favorite city had been so far and every time he asked me I couldn’t decide on an answer. Each city was so cool in so many different ways that there was no way to pick just one. However, at the end of the tour Dave asked me again if I had a favorite yet. As we talked about the different cities I made a comment that I wished we had just one more day in Israel. Then I thought…I think I finally found the answer…Israel was my favorite if I had to pick just one!

So then we started to talk about why Israel. Not only is it a beautiful country, the people were very polite and the food was delicious but we also got another very special treat. The day of the show, our host Yuri was our gracious tour guide and took Dave, James, our TM Wade and myself into Jerusalem. We only had a few hours and we all had so much work to do but we knew we just had to make time to make the trip.

I am so glad I did because I will never forget the intense feeling of placing my hand into the hole from the cross, or feeling the slab where Christ’s body was placed after the crucifixion followed by seeing his tomb. No matter what religion you may or may not be, there is nothing else like Jerusalem in the entire world and it’s amazing to see and feel such a dynamic city.

One thing that I cannot help notice in all of our International travels is the passion in the fans. It is very obvious how much they appreciate us coming to visit them. I will never forget the comment “It’s like a live karaoke show out there!” that our Manager made when he came visit to visit us in the UK. It is absolutely true! There would be times at some of the festivals when our office/dressing room area would be a fairly good distance from the stage and while prepping for load out I would be able to hear the crowd crystal clear singing each and every word. It is amazing to witness the crowds going crazy and even more amazing for the band to experience on stage!

It is such an honor to be traveling with such a great group of guys. Every member of the band is extremely down to earth, family oriented, low maintenance and they all have a hilarious sense of humor.

One of my favorite dynamics of the band is the Drover brothers. We all are like family with one another but with actual brothers in the band, some of the exchanges are quite funny when you hear them calling each other “fathead” or “stupid” (in a loving manner of course!) or when one of them starts to tease the other and they turn to me and say, “You want a brother? He’s free!” We know with these two we never have to worry about confrontations, ill feelings, etc. Not that we have any of that taking place anyhow. Brotherly love is truly a powerful force! The three of us also get quite the enjoyment out of torturing Dave with blaring Rick James music from the back lounge on Glenn Drover’s iPod! Tee hee! Yes, in the words of Dave, I can be quite the “tart” sometimes! I can hear him saying, “You tart!” now. Ahhh, family!

James LoMenzo also offers a different kind of humor throughout our travels. Most of you are probably not aware of this but he has an alter ego of German decent that will keep you laughing for days upon days. I always think his daughter (who is also extremely talented) must get quite a kick hanging out with daddy when he’s home. James is also a very talented graphic artist and my thanks to James for not only being my Jager Bomb bartender on the bus at the end of the day but also for developing the official “MegaBlonde” logo!

However, if anyone will catch you off guard with funny comment after funny comment out of the blue, it is definitely Dave Mustaine. Everyone will be going along about their business and Dave will say something that catches me so off guard, it takes a minute to realize he just made a joke and I instantly have to stop what I am doing to bust out laughing. Often you will hear me say to him, “That was funny!” and he will say, “You like that one?!” Dave usually engages in such intellectual conversation that one of my favorite things about him is that he will bust out a funny comment at the end of a detailed conversation which instantly lightens the mood. It is also adorable listening to him speak to his family with his sense of humor and loving manner.

One thing for sure, is that it is definitely hard to be in a bad mood around the band. They will instantly bring a smile to your face and laughter to your heart. There is nothing fake about them. They are purely genuine in all of their exchanges with everyone on and off the stage. What you see is what you get!

We want to take a moment to say thank you to each and every one of you who hosted us and helped us on this past UK/Europe leg. It is hard enough being away from home in the US but even harder when we conduct our international travels. Thank you to everyone for making us feel at home.

We are looking forward to seeing all of our old friends and making more new friends on our killer tours yet to come!

Until then, don’t be surprised if you see me running around on Ozzfest! (And if you haven’t already…buy the new album United Abominations, damn it!)

MegaBlonde