In this exclusive interview, Meltdown sits down with former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson to talk about the moment he discovered Alice in Chains on tour, his journey beyond Megadeth, and the emotional creation of the Nick Menza documentary This Was My Life.
Ellefson shares never-before-heard stories from the road—including how Alice in Chains went from a forgotten opener to Clash of the Titans—and opens up about Lane Staley, staying clean on tour, and how he’s found peace in music today.
Plus: What it was like creating a legacy project for his late bandmate, the spirit of songwriting, and why Ellefson is saying “yes” to everything in this new chapter of his life.
👉 Hit subscribe for more interviews like this from 101 WRIF – Detroit’s Rock Station.
🎸 Kings of Thrash is hitting the road this fall—don’t miss it!
#DavidEllefson #Megadeth #NickMenza #AliceInChains #MetalInterview #WRIF #Meltdown #KingsOfThrash
Ellefson shares never-before-heard stories from the road—including how Alice in Chains went from a forgotten opener to Clash of the Titans—and opens up about Lane Staley, staying clean on tour, and how he’s found peace in music today.
Plus: What it was like creating a legacy project for his late bandmate, the spirit of songwriting, and why Ellefson is saying “yes” to everything in this new chapter of his life.
👉 Hit subscribe for more interviews like this from 101 WRIF – Detroit’s Rock Station.
🎸 Kings of Thrash is hitting the road this fall—don’t miss it!
#DavidEllefson #Megadeth #NickMenza #AliceInChains #MetalInterview #WRIF #Meltdown #KingsOfThrash
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MusicTranscript
00:00we're like that is that is the fucking funniest name alice in chains like what is that you know
00:05what i mean like isn't you know alice in wonderland what is this you know so we go up there
00:09and we watch and we're like holy shit these guys are amazing right we immediately call home to our
00:16manager and say we found the band for clash of the titans this will be the opening band
00:20rock metal frog and everything in between welcome to this episode of talking rock with meltdown
00:28don't forget to follow the audio only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now
00:34it's time for today's conversation here's meltdown sometimes i'm talking with you i just got to start
00:40the recording process otherwise we'll just sit here and talk offline the whole time yeah and
00:45we'll miss all the good stuff that we you know was totally off the cuff hey two things to get into
00:51before the nick men's uh documentary which i watched the last couple days uh the first thing i want to
00:56ask you about is when i interviewed marty freeman a couple months back you had told me you had told
01:01me to ask him a question about some show you guys were at in europe and i can't remember what band you
01:06guys watch but uh i was getting ready to ask that question he's like well listen i gotta go i got
01:10another interview and blah blah blah so do you remember what that was about oh i think it was the
01:14allison chain story right yeah yeah so you know so it's 1991 we're back over in europe
01:20kind of our fat our you know we'd we'd gone there in 1990 with clash of the titans which was slayer
01:27megadeth testament suicidal tendencies right that was the first incarnation of that and then we came
01:33to north america we did the old judas priest painkiller tour um through you know the fall uh let's see
01:42what did we do we went we even did a little bit a little tiny run uh upstate new york you know
01:50binghamton new york you know this kind of stuff right rochester all that and then we went to rock
01:54in rio i remember having to pack my suitcase going what the hell do i bring i got to bring wind close
01:59for the tundra of new york and then we're going straight to the beach in rio you know so um we did
02:05that and then we then i think from there megadeth we did we did a couple things like we played
02:08in arsenio hall uh i played like hangar 18 then we went to we did the whole pacific rim new zealand
02:14australia japan we went to hawaii dave and pam got married there and then we went straight over to
02:21europe and on that europe tour uh our opening act was the almighty which features ricky warwick who was
02:30uh who is also in thin lizzy and uh and black star writers and um this little band we'd never heard
02:40of called allison chains and they were on the tour with us for like six weeks and we never i don't
02:45think we ever watched them right ever it was just kind of like whatever some opening band right and
02:51and um and we were we were pretty burned out to be honest with you we were tired man we'd been around
02:55the world we were kind of just fried and what we had coming up in the summer when the tour ended in
03:01march or something we had then we're going to have a couple months off then we're going to start the
03:04second leg of the clash of the titans which would be slayer megadeth anthrax this rotating lineup
03:09with opening band yet to be determined right so we're at the volks house in uh zurich switzerland
03:17and i remember me and marty you know we walk in and we just we see you know the day sheet
03:23you know megadeth load in lunch soundcheck doors showtimes right and we're like that is that is
03:31the fucking funniest name allison chains like what is that you know what i mean like because we
03:35listened to allison hell from annihilator and stuff like that right and it was like disneyland you know
03:41like isn't you know allison wonderland what is this you know so so we're sitting downstairs in the
03:46dressing room and they they start playing and i think i forgot if it was both bands or
03:52three bands that night i forget but anyway so they start playing we're like well fuck it let's
03:58go upstairs and check them out right and this is literally toward the end of the tour and we go up
04:02there and we watch and we're like holy shit these guys are amazing right we've like missed it the whole
04:09time right and you know they're kind of looking like lumberjacks they got their flannels are grungy
04:14you know they look like they're out of narnia or something right you know the uh it's just you
04:20know with their beards and all their stuff and we're like holy shit this is good and we immediately
04:26call home to our manager and say we found the band for clash of the titans this will be the opening
04:31band and scotty and arnie knew about him so he loved him and tom or i got on board with it so that
04:36that one night lo and behold there it was and then they became the you know the opener for for
04:41clash of the titans yeah and as jerry cantrell told me one time i'll never forget word for word
04:46he says we earned our bones on that tour meaning that they took a lot of heat opening up for three
04:52thrash legends and uh they were some unknown band no one ever heard of dude people our fans were
04:58throwing rocks at them which was not cool you know but thrashers look thrashers like thrash
05:03like anything else right you know years later our manager bud prager would say how conservative
05:09heavy metal is really conservative what are you talking about we're rowdy riding because no you
05:14guys you're like a motorcycle club it has to be a harley with a black jacket you have to drink this
05:18beer smoke that cigarette and if you don't you're out you know and i was like huh interesting perspective
05:25i never thought of it like that so um but yeah they you know they definitely earned their stripes man and
05:30then you know from there they went on to van halen and then story's over right i mean they they they
05:40did just fine on their own you know but they uh they definitely paid their dues and you know and as
05:45i remember seeing um we started at the it's the amphitheater was called the starplex in dallas at that
05:52time and um uh we all got together we're just kind of you know saying hello before the first show
05:59and i remember uh lane staley getting off the bus or you know coming into the room and he's all
06:06blonde hair high and tight looking great i was like whoa man you look freaking awesome man and
06:13how was your break and he goes oh i was in rehab rehab you know for what he goes heroin i'm like
06:19you guys were on heroin when you were over there in europe you know and um you know that's when i kind
06:24of got to know the deeper story of allison chains and seattle i guess in general and um but he he
06:30looked great he sounded great on that tour you know me and dave invited him over into our world
06:36just said listen you know we're both clean and uh you know if you need a way you know place to get
06:43away and have kind of a safe harbor a place to hang out you're welcome to come and hang with us
06:46anytime and you know allison chains were a young rock band doing what young rock bands do you know
06:51drinking and rocking and raging you know yep uh one more thing here before we uh before we get
06:57into the nick menza documentary i've always wondered this like i shouldn't say always but since the last
07:00few years since you left megadeth you've really you've taken on a ton of projects you got like i
07:05think 87 different bands you're doing documentaries you're doing all this other stuff is that by necessity
07:10or is that by stuff that you've always kind of wanted to do and always kind of had this in you but
07:14megadeth kind of held you down just to do the megadeth thing i literally don't ever have to work
07:18another day in my life i'm fine financially i'm good right um so i do this purely for fun and for
07:26joy you know and um it's great that my phone rings and people still want to hang out with me and still
07:34want to invite me over to their to their party you know so i you know al pachelli told me years ago
07:40when megadeth disbanded 2002 he said listen brother say yes to everything you know it's better to be
07:46overbooked and underbooked and as i've talked about you know in other interviews you know i said no
07:50to a couple things and boy the phone stops ringing quick you know and it was pointed out to me it's
07:55like david they're calling you because they want to hear you say yes it's like would you hit me for
07:58this interview you know you don't go hey let me hit up ellison hopefully he'll say no you know
08:03they're like no i want to help you'll say yes you know so you know yes just you know again the
08:08jim carrey yes man movie i've talked about this over and over it it's so poignant because it just
08:13you know it opens up all the doors you know yes leads to five more yeses which leads to 10 more
08:19you know so you know these things are all fun for me they're they're passion projects um you know a
08:26couple of them make me a little money here and there usually i end up investing my own money into
08:30these things um you know but you know money is just a tool you know and it's it's uh you know you know
08:37used wisely can can go to help many other people and do other great things you know so i try to
08:44you know i remember reading that book from dave ramsey years ago or part of it anyway or some of his
08:49podcasts he's a guy in nashville the christian guy who talks about getting debt free you know and he
08:54said you know the real reason to get debt free isn't to just go buy more shit for you it's to go
09:00be charitable to others you know so i i took heed of that because i was probably pretty heavily in debt
09:06at that time you know there comes a point in your life you're raising a family you know building
09:11mega depth over the years you know every every rock group has its expenses and uh as i'm reading
09:18the getty lee book as i've read the alex van halen book you know we're all in the same band you know we
09:23we invest into the group to keep the group going and building and and and i do that now with my own
09:28life i invest in myself and i invest in my life to be able to be where i'm of best service to other
09:36people yeah i suppose that with the times nowadays it's probably tougher being in a band you talked
09:42about getting going you know being in debt in rusher van halen or stuff i mean they were probably
09:47making a lot more money than bands are nowadays right yeah yeah you know buses and semis and
09:53lighting and you know the shit's expensive you know what i mean and uh you know there's a lot of
09:58more zeros to the income there's a lot more zeros to the expenses you know and um so it's all just
10:04the scale of economy but it's the same you know whether it's kings of thrash and you know we're
10:09gonna we got a run coming up and you know we're not going to do the bus we're just going to get in
10:13a van and drive around that's what i do in europe you know with base warrior you know i'm getting
10:17the car drive around i have a great time i love it you know um i drive better than most tour bus
10:24drivers and limo drivers anyway i can't tell you how many times i've gotten into a limo and go oh my god
10:28i feel like this guy's gonna kill me you know so let me drive i drive better than you you know so
10:32and and honestly you know when frank bellow and i were doing our altitudes and attitude we we did
10:38some shows with me and frank and bubblefoot got in the car and uh we drove around midwest and did
10:44some shows and frank said he goes dude i have never seen any of this i because i've been asleep in the
10:49back of a tour bus my whole career you know i'm doing these drives i said i know it's you know there's
10:55there's a lot of cool stuff out here you know in america and and and in europe and you know i i i love
11:01you know south america you have to fly asia you know in japan you do the train of course but you
11:06know where where you can kind of get in the car and drive and sort of i like being in control of
11:11my own destiny you know what i mean just kind of going at my own pace and um you know i've done the
11:18grind i've done all the heavy lifting and so it's nice to be able to sit back relax and enjoy the ride
11:22now yeah i'm with you too whenever i go somewhere i always like to drive because i want to be able to
11:26leave when i want to leave and all that kind of stuff but yeah the documentary now where can people
11:33see this or is it coming out soon uh this was my life the story of nick menza what what's the deal
11:38with this uh as far as the release and stuff well so we we did these two premieres we did the west
11:43coast premiere the east coast premiere the last couple weeks um the idea was to you know fluff it up
11:48and and get the interest out there bayview entertainment who are in charge of the distribution for it
11:54they're working on getting all the digital streaming together uh we do have some blu-ray dvds that we
11:59pressed up a very limited amount of those um so it's it's now you know there's a couple of courses
12:07right you can go out to the film festivals you make the you know the sort of you go around the track and
12:12you try to get some distribution um what we just did is kind of a similar version of that um
12:19and we even did a premiere last week when we were in new jersey there was we were doing another
12:24premiere also down in north carolina and so we may try to do some smaller uh cities uh i won't be at
12:31them you know for the q a and stuff but um but just so that people can see it it's really to kind of you
12:37know get it drummed up to get the interest for for the digital streaming what was the uh impetus
12:42behind doing something like this i mean obviously you're in a band with him for 10 years and he was he
12:48was with the megadeth camp for longer than that which i didn't realize uh right is this something
12:52that you had thought about did somebody approach this approach you about it well yeah you know
12:56it's funny you say that because nick really came in as a drum tech kind of an understudy to chuck
13:00beeler he came in in 1987 um joined the band officially by spring summer of 1989 which is the first track
13:09we cut was no more mr nice guy for the shocker movie um and um and it was in the band until
13:16summer of 98 um you know it it's it's funny how um you know the the story of this has gone
13:28you know nick as you can see through watching you know the the trailer that you got which is the film
13:35that presented the other night you know you know nick has got such a deep musical history um and you
13:41know funny the other day after we did the la premiere i went over to the men's house because i just wanted
13:46to get a kind of a temperature we'd all seen it of course in as a as a as a you know a wink uh that
13:53we all got to watch the movie but i wanted to get a temperature on it to see what what they felt about
13:58it as a family seeing it on the big screen in in the theater in la and everybody was super happy with
14:05it um i got some time to spend with nick's dad don menza um who as you see in the film is a
14:11an esteemed musician uh jazz musician he's got a documentary of his own sitting there uh if we
14:19want to pursue that because i mean like he played with the fathers of the toto guys of the toto
14:25musicians you know yeah like yeah joe peccaro as much as jeff peccaro was this badass you know with uh
14:32you know palito shuffle and you know uh steely dan and toto you know his dad joe was even more
14:39badass and that's who don menza played with and david page the keyboard player and writer one of
14:44the songwriters from toto uh don told me that he worked with his father marty page he's who he said
14:50was an incredible arranger you know and in the jazz world arranging is just as key as songwriting and
14:56don when he was a member of buddy rich's band also wrote for buddy he wrote i think for louie belson um
15:03he did a ton of work with uh um henry mancini you know don plays guys of our age you know the pink
15:10panther theme though that's don menza playing that you know that's him playing sax so wait wait wait
15:18that's actually him that's him that's don you could make yeah you know you were just talking about how
15:24you don't have to work another day in your life that guy probably isn't working other days
15:26well you know it's yeah that's his peace cells right yeah that's that so he has a peace cells
15:32too or maybe i have a pink panther i don't know um you know so the funny thing is is uh um you know
15:41it's he's got this i just you know i told him i said don you know we we've reconnected here in
15:47recent years of course around the film and man there's a ton of footage still left in the
15:51in the vault from him um which is why we thought geez we could practically do a documentary on him
15:57because that would tether out into a whole other world of jazz musicians and a whole other you know
16:03kind of a a bygone world you know so to speak um and ironically where nick died at the baked potato
16:11that's owned by one of the men's dear friends the randys um and don randy is was a was a jazz pianist
16:21um who played alongside don menza in a ton of things over the years so he's like a don menza
16:26on the piano and um so he then started the baked potato that's why it's this esteemed jazz club
16:33uh and me and you know in the film is his son dave randy when we're sitting around i call it the
16:38memphis the the menza mafia right where the we're sitting around and i took that idea from you know i
16:44watched those elvis documentaries or and and there's that one where they have the memphis mafia
16:48it was all of you know elvis's bandmates and friends all sitting around yeah you know talking
16:53about how how they you know elvis wanted to go to las vegas and get a peanut butter jelly sandwich
16:58they all got on the jet you know wait wait was it a peanut butter and nanner sandwich
17:03whatever it was right peanut butter i took yeah you're i think you're right i think you're right
17:09about that so i took that idea for the film when we were doing the interviews because we did most of
17:12those uh interviews the same day i was at a facility in los angeles that jeff young helped us
17:18secure actually um and that was when he and i reconnected um was literally that day um and then
17:26that of course led to us writing some songs which led to us forming kings of thrash so you know again
17:31just say yes right get in the room you know so you just never know you get in the room hey you want
17:35to go have dinner sure you know and we're at dinner that night after we for me and jeff filmed that
17:41segment that you see in the movie we go to the rainbow and we're sitting here bullshit and uh he
17:45starts humming some riff that he had from 1988 this kind of progressive riff and i was like god i
17:52totally remember that riff and that song became uh a song that we wrote on tour called bridge is burned
17:59that we played on the uh kings of thrash tour back in uh 2023 i guess it would have been um and so you
18:07know it's just funny how you know music is music is spirit you know it's it's not a it's not a tangible
18:14thing you can touch it's it's it's this it's like this emotion in the air that you grab and when it
18:20comes by you you know you pick up a guitar you get a microphone or for me i pick up my phone and i start
18:26typing lyrics i type in some lyrics this morning before i even got out of bed sitting or typing
18:31stuff into my i was at a show last night here in town seeing some friends and i woke up i was just
18:36inspired and start putting it into the notes in my iphone you know and and um you know just i think
18:42it's about just sort of capturing it when it's there and then you put it away and then later you
18:47know later i'll walk into writing sessions with guys and i'll open up my iphone notes and go oh my god
18:53this is freaking perfect right here you know we're writing some new diet songs right now right
18:57for instance and all of a sudden i'll flip through and go oh my god this is i gotta send this to
19:00glare man this is killer you know it starts a whole new train of thought you know he's in portugal and
19:06our drummer's in poland and i'm in america yet we're writing songs you know through the internet which
19:12is also kind of a spirit i guess of sorts you know what i mean so it's like it's like this this
19:17kind of witchy way to write write tunes together yeah but with the documentary the thing that i
19:23noticed is that uh you're talking about how you interviewed all the all of his you know his friends
19:27and his family and there was a lot of video from like that he had shot or that you know from his
19:31video recorders and that kind of thing but i noticed there was like a real lack of like real
19:36like official like megadeth video and content yeah was that was i uh i don't even know how to ask was
19:44was that like what did you approach anyone to try to get some stuff like that that so that stuff was
19:51um content that nick had um because nick it's funny nick was kind of on the front edge of being
19:58out on the road with a video camera cab grabbing content you know and it's funny because not long
20:03after he got started doing that the year and a half in the life of metallica movie came out right and
20:08that's when one day me and marty are sitting on the tour bus in europe and that's when we just he said
20:13oh my god we're all in the same band it doesn't matter how many records you've sold or not sold
20:17we're all in the same band right around guitar shopping in the studio we're trying to write a
20:23song or we're arguing with a band member you know it's it's just all the same story you know
20:27and so nick was really um prolific with that you know and then his friend juan who's in the men's
20:34mafia there and that little scene there you know he tells some great stories about nick's life after
20:40megadeth some of his hardships that he had and how he was there with him in some of those dark days
20:45and how the two of them came out of those dark days together and and you know sailed on to have
20:51a better life after that and so uh we hired juan juan came with us he went to south america
20:58to rock and rio um he i can't remember if he came to europe or if that was just nick filming that stuff
21:04but so you see with a lot of the footage you see there skip rickard who's filmed in there he was
21:08our tour manager on countdown to extinction and euthanasia so that's probably the era countdown and
21:14euthanasia era is some of that stuff there's some stuff in there clearly from rust and peace
21:19um you know we we hired um a woman to do to do the score if you will which is the music that sort of
21:26sits under the bed track um you know when you start getting into hey here's a full-blown megadeth
21:32concert you well that's super expensive right because there's music publishers you have to
21:38secure the rights to this stuff so i mean look this was done on a this is a passion project done
21:42literally started with no money it was everybody just doing it on a spec deal uh you know and even
21:48me i agreed you know i was approached by nick's manager to get involved in it and he even said hey
21:54you know we'll try to pay you some money and i i just was like look no one's got any money let's let's
21:59just do this to honor nick and if if babe you could sell this off and make us some money great
22:05that's awesome but it's about getting the story done you know it's kind of like when you're sitting
22:10here writing songs yeah hey this would be wouldn't it be awesome if we won a grammy ah anyway let's get
22:15to the chorus you know what i mean like you know you're you know those things aren't the drivers of
22:21why you do these things you know i think for me this was really more about encapsulating nick's story
22:28and not just megadeth because you know to nick's family as fun as it is that he was the drummer in
22:35megadeth he's their kid you know he's their son he's done his brother right he's a he's a father
22:41to his boys he's a he was an uncle you know to the nieces and stuff so you know to me this was
22:47about grabbing nick's whole life story and you know the fact that he was born in munich at age
22:53three he's sitting on the drums at the montro jazz festival in switzerland that to me is it again i was
23:02with him in megadeth but you know to me that's a fascinating story as a musician you know and to
23:08see where his life wins the fact that his life when it when he's in his end times he's playing on stage
23:15with chris poland who's another one of my dear friends who you know from megadeth but you know
23:21aside from megadeth one of just the most dynamic guitar players you could ever hear play i mean chris
23:28to this day when when i get in a room with him he plugs his guitar and he has one note and the whole
23:33room changes you know i mean people everyone looks and goes oh my god who's that one note you know he's
23:40not up there shredding and doing all this crap just one note and the whole room just comes to life
23:47you know and that's chris poland so i mean chris poland nick menza these are guys that that have
23:53changed people's lives you know and um you know that's why to me it was about telling nick's story
24:02not just the megadeth story you know so i thought that what we've got within there with with the amount of
24:08music that you see from all the different sources you know nick's playing drums stuff you know and
24:14and there's that one scene we're backstage at the birmingham nec arena on the clash of the titans tour
24:20in 1990 1990 it would have been and uh where nick's tapping you know the beat on his drumsticks while
24:28we're playing through lucretia right and you can you can it we're unplugged right if you're mega the fan
24:34you know what song it is it took me a minute i go what's that oh it's right it's lucretia you know
24:38and you can you can pick up on these things and it's it's kind of the soft sell of it rather than
24:45just bombarding you like hey here's a nick menza megadeth concert you know so that was that was our
24:51approach with it and and i want to say this too just to wrap up my lengthy answer here is this was
24:56really for me when i got involved with it this was my gift to don and rose menza and you know because
25:05they're you know they're they're older now you know they're in their late 80s don's going to be
25:1089 like any day now and um he just stopped touring three years ago wow you know and and and and so to me
25:19this was my gift you know really in my heart was to them and into his sister donia and to his boys
25:25nicholas adate it's like hey this is this is our present to you to have what nick is if he already
25:31doesn't live in infamy with all of us just a a nightly kind of nicely packaged with a bow tie on
25:38it you know gift to give to them yeah that's great yeah you know um in the interview he did with
25:43keith roth and my good friend don jameson uh last week you were talking about how you thought that
25:49at the end of nick's life he was at peace with everything that had happened and that started me
25:55to thinking if it all ended today for you are you at peace with your career and everything you know
26:02i am um yet i still feel like there's more train on you know for more track for the train you know
26:10i feel like you know i haven't quite seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet you know um and i
26:17think it's meant to be that way right i i mean unless after this interview i get in my car and you
26:22know get t-boned at the intersection and i hope doesn't you know you know it's it's the new easter
26:27story i mean yeah i appreciate it it'd be nice to see you again too um you know unless that happens
26:34and if look if it does i'm good to go you know um you know it's funny i was just talking to a friend
26:39at the new jersey screening and he had a heart attack and flatline and i said how was it he goes
26:43dude i was at the pearly gates it was so peaceful it was so nice and they said you're not you're not
26:48ready you got to go back and he was pissed and that you know you hear that a lot from people you
26:52know some people say ah there was nothing there a lot of people say i was at peace i'm ready to go
26:57now who knows is if this is your brain just excreting some feel-good gel on your deathbed so it just
27:03makes it easier to you know go off to never never land or is there really a heaven and a hell i mean
27:08who knows none of us know right so um but but you're right it does beg the question um at any
27:15age of our life and probably those of us who have been on the planet a little longer it does beg the
27:20question like you know is is my shit buttoned up am i am i good to go and um you know i don't know
27:27to me i always feel like you know we're just a church with easter right everybody's promising that
27:31heaven the best is yet to come heaven's great so why are we afraid to go there you know it's like i'm ready
27:36to go let me in whenever you want me to go up you know yeah but as as far as like your your legacy
27:42and stuff you've done here in the music business and you know with everything like that you're at
27:47peace with everything yeah i mean you know again some days i wake up and i'm just not even interested
27:52in music you know i'm just like yeah i'll get to that later you know if it if it if it calls to me
27:59again i will next then one day i'm sitting probably here room over there next door with
28:05a piano in it or something and i'm just music's flowing because you know the music doesn't
28:09originate inside of us you know again it's this it's this spirit that's floating up here overhead
28:14and you know i think it's just a matter of if it's not calling to me i go do something else you know and
28:20if it is then it's like you know like the other day i was literally getting ready to leave the house i
28:24think to go to california for the screening and i hadn't played the piano in a minute and i thought
28:29yeah let me see what the piano has to say you know flip the lid open started playing and this one song
28:34i wrote that i've never i haven't recorded yet came to me and i'm like you know i gotta do something
28:38with that that that that's a song that keeps coming back to me when i sit down at the piano so
28:43i think there's look i've done tons of heavy metal and hard rock and rock and roll and that's
28:49that's you know where my heart has been my whole life and you know probably always will be but
28:53there's also i've got some other stuff in me you know i've got you know i've got some piano songs
28:58that i've written um and i'm i'm just a modest piano player i play good enough to write i can
29:03understand you know the language of music to write and put melodies together but uh i do have some
29:09other songs that i've written even with some other people and some songs yet to be recorded that
29:13you know would not be a hard rock heavy metal thing they would be more of a heartfelt you know
29:18something maybe created you know on on the piano and you know i don't expect my thrash fans to like
29:24it i would never even market it to them you know what i mean but it would be even if you just put
29:28it up online and go hey by the way one afternoon i did this you know and uh and see what it is
29:33because i think at this point you know trying to market and sell music is is just so it's always
29:39been a a vicious business you know um but it now more than ever um you know and i think it's it's
29:47it's less about that it's more about what's the story what is the song really wanting to say what
29:55is it wanting to communicate with other people because music is communication right that's why
30:00we keep going back in my case i keep going back to my kiss records i want to feel what were the what
30:05what what was the story i got at age 12 when i heard shouted out loud on the radio what what was
30:10that i want to relive that moment again right so sometimes music takes us back to a time happy sad or
30:17otherwise and other times you know out of nowhere a new song comes across our path and you're like holy
30:24cow man that is just that is exactly where i'm at today you know i just love you know it could be
30:29melancholy it could be happy um so i feel like as an author of songs myself that's that's my job is
30:36just like here you and me right now are communicating right music is just another way of having this
30:42conversation but doing it through music well if uh it wasn't for music we never would have met uh many
30:47years ago and uh you become a really good friend of mine i appreciate your time uh the uh documentary
30:52is fantastic it uh really speaks to the uh life of nick menza and and just everything he brought to the
30:59table but uh as always we could talk for another hour or so but i'm gonna cut you loose and uh
31:04and uh i appreciate everything you do for me and uh we'll see you here coming up i think you're
31:09playing the machine shop in the fall if i'm not mistaken yeah in uh october yeah we've got the kings
31:14of thrash run thanks for mentioning that coming through the area um i call it the it's kind of the
31:19east coast ohio valley uh michigan uh tour you know so yeah i look look forward to look forward to
31:26seeing you there i'll always love playing in the area there
31:29you