MEGADETH Bassist JAMES LOMENZO

MEGADETH Bassist JAMES LOMENZO - "I Was Pleasantly Surprised And A Little Shocked By How Cool It Was To Work With DAVE MUSTAINE"


Blasting-Zone.com recently caught up with MEGADETH bassist James Lomenzo to discuss the band's new album, United Abominations:

Blasting-Zone: In hindsight, how would you describe the recording process for United Abominations?

James: "It was definitely a labor of love and respect in retrospect looking back at the whole project. We started just before Gigantour last year, which was weird because it meant I had only played three gigs as a member of Megadeth. We went right into the studio and Dave already had a whole bunch of material ready to go. I guess he had been preparing for this for a while. So our job was to interpret it and make it sound as Megadeth-y as possible. It was actually a really cool environment. I was pleasantly surprised and a little shocked by how cool it was to work with Dave Mustaine. After all the things that people had cautioned and warned me about, I found them all to be not true at all. He’s actually a cool guy to make music with. So we plodded forth in the studio and to make a long story short, we had to stop recording for a while to do the Gigantour last Summer. Looking back at that, it was actually a blessing in disguise because it gave us a little bit of time, all of us, to sit back and look at what we were creating and how close it was to being a classic Megadeth album…and Dave had a lot of time to fine-tune his lyrics and decided where he wanted to do. So that worked out really well.”

Blasting-Zone: What type of set list have you been working with? How much of an impact does the region you are touring in have on what songs are ultimately played?

James: “We’re actually trying to pull back from the path as much as possible and keep the kids happy, especially since were in Europe right now. We also just blew through Canada not that long ago. Since we don’t get to service these areas as much as we’d like to, we’re trying to showcase the classics to them. We go back as far as Killing Is My Business…And Killing Is Good. We go through the whole history of the band as best as we can. The sad part is that we’ve gotta throw a lot of stuff out because a lot of these sets that we do land us at a sixty or seventy minutes sent instead of a normal ninety minuet set. We wanna be able to play some of the new material. We wanna be able to play 'Washington’s Next' and 'Sleepwalker'. Right now, we’re starting to add 'Never Walk Alone, so with all of that we're just trying to scrunch it all in and keep everybody happy. I can remember when I went to see DEEP PURPLE years and years ago, I was thrilled to see them because it was one of their reunion things where they had gotten back together with (vocalist) Ian Gillan, but they just would not play 'Smoke On The Water'. I think Ritchie Blackmore just took off for the hills, ya know? I remember what that felt like, so I understand that the fanbase with Megadeth is just vehement. They love this stuff. It’s kinda hard because we’re tryin’ to hit everyone’s sweet spot, but there’s also been so many versions of this band that’s there’s little factions of the fan base, ya know? Everyone has their favorite version of Megadeth from the past. Dave’s pretty cognitive of it and I know the Drover brothers are really tight on it, so they can kinda put their finger on the pulse of what we should be doing.”

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MEGADETH Bassist James Lomenzo - "What A Fantastic Trip It's Been So Far This Year"

MEGADETH bassist James Lomenzo has issued the following update:

"What a fantastic trip it's been so far this year. It's been such an honor to cross the ocean once again and play for you all with the mighty Megadeth. I haven't had much time to reminisce, family health problems have kept me pretty much on vigil since I've returned. Now that things are improving allow me to take some time to catch up. The enthusiastic response from the fans and the press here in the states and internationally has been mind blowing! It's one thing to talk to a journalist on the phone and have him or her say 'this is Megadeth back to form', but it's quite another thing to see the vehemence of the crowd as they sing along to 'Washington's Next', 'Never Walk Alone' and 'Sleepwalker' in each and every city. You have no idea what a payoff that is, to see that kind of response. I humbly thank you. Now, on to my broken toe. You travel the world, a different hotel room every night. Not a whole lot of sleep... perhaps a bit of the spirits... not a scratch, not even a bruise. I return home and on my first night, I walk to the corner of my bed to grab the phone which is ringing, when all of a sudden. I'm alarmed by a strange "click" from my right foot. I look down, only to realize that a slight miscalculation of about 2 mm put my toe in an unnatural and very painful position. I immediately reach down and try force the digit back into it's rightful position next to the other little 'piggies', no go. So now, it's finally my turn to visit old Doc Barton. Anyway, I'm hobbling about here considering the relative safety of the continuation of our 'Tour of Duty', I may just tie myself to this chair until September... just to stave off any other potential hazards around the house. I'd like to extend myself to you bass players out there. Post any questions or discussions you'd like to address directly to me in the musicians forum. I'll be happy to participate in as many posts as my time will allow. In the past I've use my website for this but since the last spam-inator's hostile take over, I've had to shut the forum down. I'd love to pick it up right here at old Megadeth.com. Best to you all for now. Oh, one more thing. I may have something real interesting to post next week... see you then!"