Megadeth: Dave Mustaine ‘Doesn’t Speak for the Band’
Though Dave Mustaine is an outspoken Republican and born-again Christian, the rest of Megadeth apparently doesn’t want to be associated with some of the things the singer and guitarist says. Drummer Shawn Drover told Atlantic City Insiders that Mustaine’s conservative and religious viewpoints “don’t speak for the band” and said that “The Conjuring,” from the band’s 1986 album Peace Sells . . . But Who’s Buying, doesn’t vibe well with the frontman’s spiritual beliefs.
“The subject matter lyrically is very dark, and he’s not comfortable singing it,” said Drover. “Ironically, it’s one of my favorite tracks. You have to respect that if someone’s not comfortable with that. Pretty much everything out of our catalog, we can pull out and play.”
Earlier this year, Mustaine said he thought President Obama was behind shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and a Sikh temple in Milwaukee. He had also espoused the “birther” belief that the president was born outside the U.S., and spoke highly of former GOP candidate Rick Santorum during the Republican presidential primaries earlier this year. Mustaine told Rolling Stone earlier this month, “You can’t say what you want to say anymore without people punishing you.”