Dave Mustaine Has Revealed More Behind His Decision To End Megadeth Following Farewell Tour: “My Hands Were Letting Me Down”

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has expanded on his decision to set an end date for the band in a new interview with Eddie Trunk, admitting his health concerns played a major role.

Lead singer and guitarist for the renowned metal band Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, has revealed more details about his decision to end the band following an extensive tour in support of their upcoming final album.

In his latest appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk on December 5, Mustaine admitted that his decision was inspired by health concerns that emerged during the recording of their final self-titled album.

Mustaine has suffered a string of health issues throughout his career in Megadeth. In 2002, the frontman would disband the band after a bout of radial neuropathy left him unable to use his left hand properly for months. The ‘Holy Wars…The Punishment Due’ writer would also consistently have issues with spinal stenosis, and would be diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019, and would announce that he was “100 per cent cancer-free” a year later.

The 64-year-old singer would allude to these conditions in his recent appearance, saying:

“It had been a long time coming – just physical stuff that was going on with my hands… My hands were letting me down. And there were other things that were difficult because of all the stuff going on in my neck and my trunk. All that area there has arthritis and it has discs that are bulging. I’ve got a broken lumbar bone. Of course, you know I have my back fused, up by my shoulders, by my neck. And just a lot of stuff.

I always said when it got to the point where I was unable to give a hundred percent every night, that’s when I was gonna start considering winding down. And it wasn’t that I was unable to give a hundred percent, because we finished the record, and I think we did a good job on it, but there was a period when we were working and I said to my manager, I said, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this. My hands are really hurting.’

And I didn’t mean to set the ball rolling. Honestly, I just was making conversation, and it turned into me talking to the band guys and sleeping on it and talking to my family and praying on it. And the answer was clear to me that by the time we’re done with the record, I’m gonna know how the record’s gonna do. If the record does really well, then I’ll be able to have one last really good tour. And the part about the farewell thing, it’s kind of like the same thing, isn’t it? We’ve got some dates that we wanna play to say goodbye to our friends.

The thing is we’re an American band, but we play everywhere. So it’s not like we just are weekend warriors, like country acts here in the States. We’ve got a lot of touring to do in order to do our farewell properly.”

Despite Megadeth’s imminent plunge into its final chapter, Mustaine has been candid that he expects the band’s final tour to extend for the next three-to-five years.

“I don’t think there’s any reason [for us] to [keep playing when we are not able to deliver a hundred percent.] I mean, unless you’re financially in a bad way and you need to keep playing, which, by the grace of God, I’ve been successful. I’ve been able to pay all my bills. All the band guys, they all get their paychecks on time. We do everything right by the book. So, some people, like I said, they may have to keep playing, because there’s nothing else for them to do.

Now, when I think about, what am I gonna do after I hang the guitar up, that’s in relation to touring, and I believe that I’m going to keep doing music in some way, shape or form. But not in the fashion that I was doing with MEGS because if I can’t do it and I need to stop playing with my first love, I’m not gonna go out and try and do it again with someone else.”

Megadeth’s final self-titled album is expected to be released on January 23rd via Tradecraft. You can check out the lead single ‘Tipping Point‘ below.