Megadeth made headlines with the addition of Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari stepping in for longtime axeman Kiko Loureiro. Now, in a recent interview with Brazil’s A Rádio Rock (transcribed by Blabbermouth), Dave Mustaine spoke about why he feels Mäntysaari‘s – who made his debut last September during the “Crush The World” tour, filling in admirably for Loureiro, who decided to prioritize family commitments in Finland – is the right man for the job.
“Kiko had recommended Teemu, and Teemu is an exceptional guitar player. Kiko was at the top of his game when this happened, so we were obviously disappointed, but it is what it is. If Kiko would have said, ‘I don’t know anybody, and you’re on your own,’ that would have been a lot harder. But Teemu is the right guy for Megadeth. And Kiko knows that Teemu is the right guy for me. So, he actually did us a really big favor, and I love him and I wish him the best with everything that he does.” Mustaine explained.
When discussing the upcoming Megadeth‘s South American tour, Mustaine added: “Teemu is gonna make a lot of people happy because we’re gonna be playing some songs that we haven’t played for a long time. When he came in, I figured instead of just saying, ‘Well, you’ve gotta learn these 30 songs here,’ I asked him to learn a couple more. I mean, what’s the difference when you’re learning 30 songs? What’s 33, right? Well, if he learned three and I said he’s gotta learn 30, that’s different. But I asked him to do some other songs that Dirk and James have been asking me to play for a very long time, and we’re adding them now, which is great.”
