Dave Mustaine’s beef with Metallica shows absolutely no signs of abating after the Megadeth frontman took aim at drummer Lars Ulrich.
Asked by Rock Hard if Megadeth would participate any further Big Four shows, Mustaine responded that the Metallica drummer is scared of appearing on the same line-up as him.
“It’s not about the Big Four,” said Mustaine. “I believe Lars is afraid to play with Megadeth.”
Mustaine’s 1982 firing from Metallica still cuts deep. He recently refused to give permission for his bandmates to release an extended version of their 1982 demo, ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’.
“I won’t give them my rights, so I will not be part of it,” Mustaine said. “I wrote all of ‘Mechanix’ and ‘Jump In The Fire’ and I won’t give anything to Lars Ulrich. He can give it up. With ‘Phantom Lord’ I wrote all the music and James Hetfield did all the lyrics – 50/50. If James wants to give his share to Lars because he’s scared of him, that's up to him. I'm not afraid of Lars Ulrich and I won’t give him my share.”
Revving up like a motorbike ready to hit the road, Mustaine then turned his attention to Metallica frontman James Hetfield.
“If James wants to give his share to Lars because he’s afraid of him, that’s OK. I'm not afraid of him,” he said. “I'm not giving anything to Lars Ulrich. Everyone knows they got the rights in the past. But the past is past. But I can’t willingly come to an agreement with these people and give Lars credit for something that he not only didn’t do – but was also incapable of doing. He couldn’t write songs so good then.”
So yeah, that Megadeth/Metallica double bill won’t be happening any time soon.
