The Megadeth Encounter

This post describes the story behind how we met Megadeth.

Day 1: 2 days before the gig

We reached Bangalore first thing in the morning and acted on a tip-off we received that Megadeth would be staying in ITC’s Windsor Sheraton. We went there, got thoroughly lost and entered one of their presidential suites. Gawd, that place is nice but confusing.

The hotel attendants, ever the nice chaps, create an impression that Megadeth will be staying at their hotel. Not really content with  their answers we snooped around some more and headed to Taj Westend near the racecourse. 250 buck coffees and 750 buck sandwiches later we questioned the clueless attendants over there only to be greeted by an alarming degree of rudeness.

Day 2: 1 day before the gig

We whiled away our time on tasteless sandwiches and godawful five star coffee. These hyper-rich loonies are so boring.The security suddenly tightened and we knew that the band had arrived. The hotel staff warned us of any movements at all. Not even our eyes, for heavens sake. Dave arrived in one of the most innocuous ways, donning a monkey cap, shades and a stubble. He was hardly recognizable. But there’s something about Dave that is unmistakable, his aura.

Dave walked right past us and didn’t really seem to notice us. We somehow pulled up our hand-made poster reading ‘Dave Mustaine is God’ and he finally acknowledged our existence. He flashed a wry smile and walked to our table.We don’t really know what exactly we mumbled in front of him. We might have told him how we didn’t properly sleep and eat since the last 2 days or something to that effect. Dave smiled, nodded and continued signing our stuff.

We wanted a pic with Dave, but he didn’t really like the idea because he hadn’t shaved and was looking very tired. He said he’d be back after a quick shower. He never really came back and the remainder of the day was spent in literally fighting with the security and the stupid attendants at Taj Westend. Boy, was it bad and I never felt so humiliated in my whole life.I hate Bangalore.

Day 3: Gig day!

You can read more about the gig in my Rock in India Review. After the gig, we decided to take another shot at Taj. It was on the way back in any case. We entered the hotel and discovered that the environment had suddenly changed.  Everyone was a lot more nice, this time around. We waited some more in the restaurant and splurged some more on some silly coffee with which we could have rather brought 3 packs of D’Addario strings. Like, damn.

Mustaine and Co arrived just outside the lobby. He remembered us and readily took pics with us. James LoMenzo and Chris Broderick were there as well. They’re really nice chaps to talk to! Sadly, Shawn Drover was missing. The band manager informed me that he’d already left for US. Boo.

I got to do a small interview with them as well.

Me: So, now that the tour has come to an end, when will you guys work on the next album?

Chris Broderick: We’ve got the Gigantour lined up where we will be touring with Children of Bodom, Inflames and a host of other ass kicking bands. After that we may most probably get down to work in the summer.

Me: Hey James, tell us more about you.

James LoMenzo: When I was 7 years old, I used to play drums then moved on to guitar and then finally settled on bass when I was 12 years old. I really wanted to be like Angus Young back then. He inspired me to become a bass player.

Me: What music do you listen to?

JL: I listen to a variety of music and I am a hardcore funk fan. I also believe you should listen to a variety of music.

Me: Dave, you’re God

Dave Mustaine: Thank you so much. (I forgot all my questions, got my CD signed and got whisked away by the security.)

So that was our tryst with Megadeth. Do punch in your comments!

P.S. There have been some server issues and I am having to post this piece again.

P.P.S Apologies to all the readers for not being regular with the blog. Had 2 outrageously busy weeks, post the gig.