I wasn’t surprised to hear MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine was this week’s guest on Mohr Stories. In fact, Mohr has managed to get more ’80s metal notables (and Lita Ford) onto his show than any other podcaster, by my count, not that any were seeking that mantel.
It’s actually getting kind of weird. And maybe I missed something. Maybe Mohr clearly explained at some point why his show was starting to cater to the likes of Duff McCagin, Sebastian Bach, Jerry Cantrell and Matt Sorum, and I scrolled past that episode. Or maybe this is some kind of selection bias on my part, if that’s the right terminology. It could be that I’m only listening to Mohr’s shows when I see a name I recognize. Which I should know by now is no way to cruise podcasts. Some of the best shows I’ve ever heard had guest whose names I didn’t recognize.
My only beef with this trend would have to be that Mohr, a known audiophile and music trivia buff, was so close to falling into another superior genre (in my opinion), with Sex Pistol Steve Jones and Stewart Copeland from the Police. But I’m guessing word got out about Mohr’s willingness to promote these metal guys’ latest projects respectfully. Because, let’s be honest, it’s hard to promote Sebastian Bach’s newish album, “Give ‘Em Hell” without taking a jab here and there (see photo).
Anyway I took the bait again this week when I saw Dave Mustaine was on. And I was glad I did. Because this is a weird dude. And he was promoting an album of course, but he has a lot of other things going on. A lot of things atypical to your average metal god, small ‘g’.
Mohr delicately danced around the fact that Mustaine is prone to stirring the pot. He takes his beefs to the airwaves and the internet, and again they are weird beefs. Mohr called him a lightening rod more than once in this interview. Not sure if I’d use that expression to describe him, but he does not back away from confrontation. I recall an article about his distaste for The Men’s Warehouse on Huffington Post and their “I guarantee it” tagline. Which is, after all, just a tagline. But apparently Mustaine took them to task on it. I hesitate to call him touchy, as he is a “Goodwill Ambassador of the World for the World Taekwondo Federation” (official title).
There was some very cool stuff about his performance with the San Diego Symphony and his childhood as a Jehovah’s Witness. And there was some stuff about his intense belief in the validity and existence of black magic.
Mustaine talked about how he put hexes on a couple schoolmates back in the day, and those hexes came to fruition. Yep, that’s what he said. And he delivered that little tidbit in a cogent tone. The listener is left with the impression that Mustaine believes completely in the existence of dark supernatural forces.
Mohr does a good job navigating the sometimes dicey waters of spirituality, and this episode was no exception. But be warned, Mustaine, though a pleasant and intelligent guy, is a far cry from the atheists and religious wishy-washies you hear in podcastia. There’s some real conviction behind his beliefs, and it can be hard to digest, particularly for a religous wishy-washy like myself. But a good listen nonetheless.
