In a recent interview with The Metal Voice, Lacuna Coil’s Christina Scabbia discussed her experience touring with Megadeth and shared her thoughts on Dave Mustaine. It turns out, he’s not quite the ‘bad guy’ that some people claim.
“I didn’t know what to expect because many people have different ideas of Dave,” Scabbia said. “So I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was almost afraid to meet him. He was a sweetheart, super gentle. I remember the first day on tour with him, he left a bottle of champagne with a note, ‘Thank you for being on tour with us.’ It was super nice. We asked him to take a picture with all the band and he was happy to do it.”
The singer also shared a story about the one time Mustaine got upset with her. “I remember that he only got pissed with me once because I remember that he threw a party after one of the gigs. It was just like, ‘Okay, let’s organize.’ I think it was a margarita party, something like this for all the bands, it just wanted to create an event that would bring us all together. I remember that there was metal music blasting, but after a while, I got tired because I love metal music but to me party music it’s another type of music sometimes. So I was just like, ‘Okay, let’s change a little bit, let’s put music from the 70s and or some disco music.’ He just looked at me like so pissed.”
When the host joked if Mustaine threw a guitar at her, she explained that instead, he gifted her one. “He didn’t, but he gave me one of his guitars to thank me for or singing a song with him.”
While some rockers have mixed feelings about working with Mustaine, Scabbia’s story contrasts with the reputation he’s built over the years. “So, Dave Mustaine has a reputation of being kind of prickly or whatever. He has been the most accommodating, most friendly dude,” said Phil Labonte of All That Remains in an interview. “Literally, there were people on the tour that were, like, ‘Hey, look, make sure you go say hi to Dave,’ the first couple of days. And they’re, like, ‘Make sure you go say hi to Dave, ’cause he wants to hang out.’ He wants to know everyone.”
Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio also praised Mustaine’s personality on social media: “Dave was easy to work with and a hella awesome host. And it was a great learning experience to use a pick more than I ever had before. I kept that little yellow plectrum in a case as a remembrance that being versatile goes a long way for opening doors to opportunities.”
The rumors about Mustaine’s supposed difficulty to work with began after his departure from Metallica in 1983. However, Mustaine himself has denied these claims, stating that he is not hard to work with.
