This past November, Megadeth released their latest musical endeavor, aptly named TH1RT3EN. Chock full of the snarls and shreds that fans are used to, it also hums with a new energy that has been building since the addition of guitar player Chris Broderick in 2008. With him, the band has gained a passion in their music that was somewhat missing prior to his arrival and it is especially noticeable when they are standing on a stage in front of their fans. They absolutely come alive.
Megadeth has had to fight ferociously to survive and after thirteen albums and numerous tours they have earned the respect they deserve and now stand side-by-side with Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer as a member of the mighty Big 4.
Recently, while crossing the country on their Gigantour with Motorhead, Lacuna Coil and Volbeat, Broderick called in from Abbotsford, Canada, near Vancouver, where they were about to play a show.
“We’ve definitely been in colder areas, that’s for sure,” Broderick joked about the Canadian weather. He is excited about the current tour – “It’s going really good, very smooth. We jumped right in and it’s rolling right along” – and is extremely pleased with Megadeth’s current musical opus: “I think it’s an awesome CD for Megadeth. To me, it kind of like quantifies the whole discography of Megadeth. It’s almost as if you pulled a track from each CD from Megadeth’s repertoire and put it on that CD. That’s what you would get if you had TH1RT3EN”.
Why don’t you start out by telling us a little about where you grew up, what kind of kid you were and what you liked to do before the guitar took over your life?
Well, I grew up basically in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado; initially in a suburb called Lakewood and then later to a suburb called Aurora. And then I finished growing up in South Denver. Up until I started playing guitar, I was actually a little bit more into sports and things of that nature. Then I basically had a total social clique change and a change of friends and stuff like that. I met a bunch of new friends that played guitars and the rest is history.
How old were you when you started playing guitar?
About ten years old
So would say it was your friends that turned you on to music or was it a song you heard or someone in the family?
No, it was actually my friends. They all played in a band together and I was like, Oh that is interesting (laughs). I’d always go over to my friend’s house and constantly nag him to play his guitar all the time. And he’d be like, “No, no, let’s go ride motocross” or something else. But I’d be constantly nagging him so finally I bought a guitar from one of his friends, spray-painted it red, threw some black electrical tape on it and tried to become Eddie Van Halen (laughs)
How much did that guitar cost?
That guitar was $40. You couldn’t tune it, it only had eighteen frets, it was a Sears guitar.
How did you get the money for it?
I had a paper route with The Penny Saver. I got a penny for every paper I delivered (laughs)
You come from a large family. How many siblings do you have?
Eight total
I read one time that you said you kind of got lost in the shuffle. How did you end up not being like Macauley Culkin in Home Alone? How did you stand out from everyone else?
You know, that never really mattered to me. I was always doing my own thing so I didn’t necessarily need to stand out I guess (laughs). Then when I found music that was all that really mattered from that point on.
What was the first band that turned you on?
My earliest recollection was probably Nancy Wilson in Heart playing “Barracuda”. I loved that. But I only heard it once as a kid and didn’t know who it was or anything. Heard it on the radio and it kind of drifted by and I thought it was really cool but I didn’t know what it was or who it was or anything like that. But if I had to think about the first band I actually really got into it was Van Halen, definitely.
What about Eddie blew your mind?
It was not only his tapping but also he knew a little finger style as well on the guitar with like “Spanish Fly” and stuff like that. I thought that was really cool. I mean, it was everything about his playing; it was very unique and had a lot of fire behind it.
Would you say that Eddie Van Halen was your biggest influence?
One of them. After a while I moved from him to Yngwie Malmsteen for the longest time and then from him I moved on to all the Shrapnel guys, the shredders like Jason Becker and Paul Gilbert. At the same time, I always had a lot of classical guitar influences as well like Eliot Fisk and Flamenco like Paco D Lucia.
What was the first concert you went to and what did you think of it?
It was Kill and Loudness at the Rainbow Theatre when it was open back in Denver. I thought it was killer. I actually went there to see Kill but I came away more of a Loudness fan. I was probably thirteen, maybe fourteen.
What about them captured you?
Honestly, I don’t remember too many specifics about the show. I just remember that Loudness came out and just tore it up.
You played violin when you were young?
Well, when I was in high school, yeah. I started taking it in high school orchestra and then I went to college for the classical guitar. I took lessons while I was in college as well.
Was it easy?
You know, I thought it was fun, thought it was great. It’s been a while now since I played the violin but I thought it was a killer instrument and I just liked the tone you could get out of it and some of the things you could do on it were really cool.
What was the first band you were in?
It was a band with a friend of mine, the one that first got me into guitar. He and I started a band together and it was called Slaymaker or something like that. It was totally silly and horrendous (laughs) I’m sure it sounded horrible but I’m sure that’s how most first bands would sound.
What kind of music did you play?
I remember we did a cover of some Motley Crue and at that time I think we did “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin” by Judas Priest. So we were doing some covers and stuff like that and I’m sure we were jamming too but that was about it, you know.
Were you paid well?
No (laughs). Getting paid was like my friend’s mom getting us pizza while we were rehearsing.
Who was the first real rock star you ever met?
The real first rock star? I don’t know cause for me it was always more about the music than the individual, in a way. And I never got the chance to really meet Eddie at any level or anything like that. But I can tell you the one time I geeked out was when I finally met Paul Gilbert. I couldn’t say anything, and this was probably like five years ago, so it wasn’t that long ago and the only thing I could think to say was, “You’re great” (laughs). I totally fanboyed out on him.
What would you say is your all-time favorite album and what makes it so special to you?
I don’t have an all-time favorite album. It would suck if my listening stopped at one album like that. But I would have to say one that I can really still go back to all the time is Meshuggah’s Destroy Erase Improve, and Chaosphere which is really good too.
What captures you about those albums when you listen to them?
The rhythmic complexity and the groove that they had. Also, some of Fredrik Thordendal’s solos were very, for me, reminiscent of Allan Holdsworth’s in a way. There’s a really cool mix of extremely complex rhythms with groove and then these kind of Jazz solos as well.
You’re out on your Gigantour. Whose idea was it to do the little video snippets from the different cities?
Oh Ellefson loves doing that stuff so he is always posting video clips and stuff like that. He’s definitely the Megadeth PR man (laughs)
It must feel good playing some of the new songs out on the road?
Oh yeah, because you try and put your fingerprint on them and for me that is a huge accomplishment.
Does it feel like you’ve been in Megadeth for as long as you have, even though it really hasn’t been that long?
(laughs) You know what, in a way it feels like an eternity because it’s almost like a different life since I’ve joined Megadeth. I do remember what I was doing before them but it is so different. It’s almost like the difference between when you’re touring and when you’re not touring. It feels like two different lives that you have.
Do you remember playing your first live show with Megadeth?
Oh yeah, that one is burned into my skull.
Is that good or bad?
Overall it’s good but I thought I was going to explode I was so nervous. It was in Helsinki, Finland.
So what is going on with you for the rest of the year?
Well, we’ve got some more dates coming up. We’ve got some one-off shows, we’ve announced the festival in Brazil that we’re doing so we’ve got a lot of touring coming up [including a tour with Rob Zombie throughout the month of May]
You ready for it? All pumped up?
Oh yeah, definitely
