In a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine opens up about his past interaction with late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and how he wanted to recruit the guitarist to join the thrash group.
Acknowledging Dimebag was "a better guitar player than I am," Mustaine says the two had very different roles in their respective bands as rhythm versus lead players. "With Darrell, when you look at his playing, he's a monster. He's one of those guys that in trios, with the bottom dropping out, he was really able to keep that going," recalls the front man.
His admiration for Abbott's playing led to a job offer for him to join Mustaine in Megadeth. When asked if he'd like to join the band, Abbott asked if he could bring his brother, Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul, along for the ride. As luck would have it, Mustaine had freshly hired Nick Menza to take on percussion duties for the group, so the pairing didn't work out.
"Fate would have completely changed if I would have called him before I called Nick Menza," Mustaine muses. "Can you imagine what Vinny [sic] and Darrell would have been with me and Junior [bassist Dave Ellefson]? Would've been pretty cool."
Megadeth are currently in the midst of an extensive American tour. Find a full list of dates on their official band website.
