Chris Poland has a full schedule these days — he says he runs a couple of hundred studios during the day — but the former Megadeth guitarist says he plans to make it out to at least one show on the band’s ongoing farewell tour.
“If it’s the final one, I should go see one,” Poland told George Dionne from KNAC.COM (via Blabbermouth). “I’ll have to make the time. But I will. I’ll make time for Dave.”
Whether the tour actually turns out to be Megadeth‘s last is another question. When the interviewer suggested it might end up being “the world’s longest final tour,” Poland wasn’t entirely dismissive of the idea, but he also offered a reason to think Mustaine might mean it this time: “I don’t know, though. I think Dave is ready. I think Dave‘s ready to go fishing.”
Poland played with Megadeth from 1984 to 1987, appearing on Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? — two records that helped define thrash metal’s early character. His first live show with the band left a lasting impression, even if it wasn’t entirely comfortable at the time.
“I remember my first time on stage, where I freaked out, was at L’Amours in New York. And luckily, I pulled it off. But I was freaking out ’cause they were playing the song ‘Am I Evil?’ and the whole room was singing it, and it was packed to the gills and the ceiling was sweating. That’s my first experience with a thrash metal crowd. I was just blown away. But I got over it after a while.”
He’s measured about the band’s history, including his own exit from it: “We had good times. We had our moments, and we had our problems, but somehow we pulled it off. I think we all had guardian angels or something.”
The relationship between Poland and Mustaine has never been entirely clean. Poland returned as a featured soloist on Megadeth‘s 2004 album The System Has Failed, but the reunion came with complications. Around the same time, Mustaine included demos from Rust In Peace — featuring Poland‘s playing — on a reissue of that album without Poland‘s consent or payment. Poland says he made repeated attempts to sort it out before involving a lawyer.
“I tried to call Dave at least a dozen times, and I never heard back from him. Then I called Dave‘s manager a dozen times, and he wouldn’t get back to me. The last time I called him, I said, ‘Hey, man. If you don’t call me back, I’m going to call [my lawyer], and we’re going to have to get into it.’
“The manager calls me back and totally insults me, saying, ‘You played a couple of solos. So what?’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean, “So what?”‘ He said, ‘Dave thought that you would do it for the fans.’ I said, ‘Is everybody else who played on that demo doing it for the fans? Are they getting paid?’ He said, ‘Chris, that’s not the point.’ I said, ‘Listen, man, we have to do something here. I’m not just going to walk away. I love the fans, but I’m just not going to do it. If everybody else is getting a performance royalty for this, I want one.’ I want everybody to know that it wasn’t a nuisance suit, it wasn’t anything like that. I made every attempt to work it out, and they just ignored me.”
Poland eventually settled for $9,500. Mustaine’s account of events has differed from Poland‘s over the years, though in a 2020 interview, he acknowledged Poland‘s playing in notably direct terms: “Chris Poland, as much as I don’t really like the guy, he was a great guitar player.” Mustaine also pushed back on the idea that Marty Friedman’s style developed independently: “When people say, ‘Hey, this sounds like Marty Friedman‘ — no, Marty Friedman sounded like this, because Chris played it first.”
The song “Liar,” from Megadeth‘s 1988 album So Far, So Good… So What?, has long been understood to be about Poland. He confirmed as much a few years ago, characterising his reaction to it with minimal drama: “It’s like the pot calling the kettle black, man. When you point your finger, there are three pointing back at you. I just rolled my eyes and was, like, ‘Really?'”
