Who is Megadeth’s New Mystery Bass Player?

Megadeth have been teasing fans as to the identity of their mysterious new bass player.

The past few months have been a fairly bumpy road for Megadeth. Having taken an extended break due to Covid-19, Megadeth finally seem to be gearing up to hit the road again. So far they have already booked themselves several festival appearances, such as Download Festival and Hellfest. Unfortunately, last May their plans seemed to be put at risk when bass player David Ellefson found himself at the centre of controversy.

In early May, a video of Ellefson and a young fan began to circulate online, in which Ellefson appeared to be acting sexually inappropriate. This quickly attracted a lot of attention from both fans, and the metal community calling for Ellefson to be fired. Ellefson however, released a statement in which he stated nothing illegal had occurred, they were simply two consenting adults and went on further to say he was merely a victim of revenge porn. His statement reads;

“Recently, a very private video was illegally posted on the internet and false allegations were made against me. The actions in the video were between two consenting adults and were recorded without my knowledge. I am working with Scottsdale Police Department in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted this video. Also, my lawyers are preparing a defamation lawsuit to be filed against this person. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Where Ellefson stated his defence, his band mates were less than supportive. Shortly after the video began to circulate, Megadeth were quick to announce that they were parting ways with Ellefson and assured fans that they will continue their current touring plans without him. However, there seems to be more to this than meets the eye, as many fans have been divided by this decision.

Where some called for Ellefson to be fired, many stood in support of the bassist, claiming he did nothing wrong. But, reading Megadeth’s statement clearly indicated that the video is not the only reason for the firing, as they mention there were other issues with the bass player behind the scenes. Megadeth’s statement reads;

“We are informing our fans that David Ellefson is no longer playing with Megadeth and that we are officially parting ways with him. We do not take this decision lightly. While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward. We look forward to seeing our fans on the road this summer, and we cannot wait to share our brand new music with the world. It is almost complete.”

So it appears that Ellefson will definitely not be returning. Whether it was to do with the video or something behind the scenes, Megadeth have made it clear they will continue their plans without him. So now, the question is who will step into Ellefson’s shoes. As you can imagine, the internet quickly went about spreading rumours and creating wish-lists for the perfect Megadeth bassist.

Many fans have called for former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted to take the spot, one which actually would suit the band rather well. Newsted’s wife, however, put an end to those claims.

Thankfully earlier this week (12th July) Megadeth seemed to have teased the identity of their new bassist. In a Cameo video uploaded for a fan’s birthday, Dave Mustain seemed to show a small glimpse of this new mysterious bass player. The video itself was a birthday video recorded for a fan called ‘Alex’, but was later uploaded to Megadeth’s Reddit page.

In the video Mustain gives a brief tour of the studio he is in, and turns the camera onto what he claimed was the new bass player, though his face was obscured by a chair and a rather interesting looking five string Ibanez bass.

“I’m walking around the studio right now. That’s Chris Rakestraw (producer) sitting back there on the console. And you got our mystery bass player hiding behind the chair down there on the floor, so you can’t see him. We will be saying who that is soon.”

Mustain even went on further to say that Alex was the first person to see the bass player. As you can imagine this quickly blew up among the Megadeth fans, with many trying to guess the player’s identity. The fan who uploaded the video tries to rule out possible options in the title, regarding the Ibanez, the lack of arm tattoos and a potential Black Veil Brides logo on display.

Some fans suggest it could be Felipe Andreolie of Kiko as he often uses five and six string basses and has formerly played with Megadeth. Others believed it could be Ashley Purdy of Black Veil Brides as he too has left his own band. But so far the most popular candidate is Steve Di Giorgio of Testament and Death.

Though these rumours were also quickly shot down by the bass player himself as one fan had tweeted in Spanish, which was translated to English on a Reddit thread; “Tonight before I sleep I’ll just say I’d love to see the great [Steve DiGiorgio] as the bass player for Megadeth”, to which Di Giorgio replied to from his account;”Me too, son of a bitch”.

Needless to say this investigation is making fans go crazy. Luckily fans won’t have much longer to wait as it appears they are recording once again. And with festival dates booked into their diary it is only a matter of time before we find out who this mystery man really is.