In a candid conversation on The David Ellefson Show, guitarist Chris Poland joined former bandmate and host David Ellefson, alongside co-host Joshua Toomey, to revisit the shadow cast by their time in Megadeth — not with bitterness, but with a clarity that comes only after years of distance.
“I have no regrets about everything that’s happened — except one,” Poland said. “I regret that Mustaine, for years, would go on stage and call me a liar. I never really thought much about it, but then I did the math and I realized that’s why things were so hard for me to try and get deals.”
He recalled a specific incident that crystallized how deep the damage went. “I walked into Carvin Guitars one day, and I thought, ‘You know what? These guitars aren’t bad. I wanna talk to their A&R guy.’ So I spoke to the guy and he goes, ‘Dude, we don’t use people like you on our roster.’ So, I was, like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I have a feeling that Dave‘s anger with me about what it was really was like dragging around a fucking 50-pound ball all the time — back then.”
Ellefson, who was fired from Megadeth in 2021, offered his own take on the pattern of public criticism by frontman Dave Mustaine. “Well, look, he did it to Jeff Young. There were some derogatory comments Dave made that kept Jeff from getting work for a long time. I could say the same was attempted on me. Fortunately, I just kept moving. I just kept going and was, like, ‘All right, I’m just gonna ignore that comment and keep moving.’”
The bassist described these moments of conflict as familiar, recurring within the orbit of former members: “It’s interesting. There’s always been a lot of these ‘former Megadeth members unite’ situations. And it’s not an intentional thing. It’s not.”
Recounting a tense moment from 2010, he added: “In fact, when I was going back to Megadeth, Jeff was really taking an issue over Dave saying in interviews that he whistling or singing guitar solos to him or something, and it was a public thing. And he is going, ‘Come on, we gotta unite.’ And I said, ‘Hey, Jeff. I just got home from San Diego. I literally just rejoined Megadeth.’ And this was 2010.”
Ellefson continued: “And I remember Dave came to me about it, and I said, ‘I’ll handle it. I’ll take care of it.’ And I made it go away — as I do. Because that’s just part of — I don’t know — part of the gift I’ve been given on this planet. It’s, like, we’re gonna come to peaceful terms, we’re gonna make that go away, and we’re all gonna just move on.”
For Poland, the wounds aren’t fresh anymore, but the scar remains. “It’s not sour grapes or anything. It’s just it finally dawned on me just how much damage that really did.”
More than three decades after the fact, Poland has confirmed what many fans long suspected — that the track “Liar” from Megadeth’s 1988 album So Far, So Good… So What? was, in fact, about him. “Oh, yeah. Dave was very upset with me when I left the band — when he fired me, basically.”
Asked whether the song angered him at the time, Poland replied, “No, man. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black, man. When you point your finger, man, there are three pointing back at you. I just rolled my eyes and was, like, ‘Really?’”
Chris Poland’s history with Megadeth goes back to its early years. He played guitar on the band’s first two landmark records — Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? — and returned for a guest spot on The System Has Failed in 2004. But it’s clear that his relationship with the band, and particularly with Mustaine, has been as complex as the music they created together.
2 Comments
Lol cry babies
Hmmm…well Chris, are you sure it was Mustaine who soiled your reputation? You sure it wasn’t WHY you were fired, the whole pawning your band mates’ equipment for drug money? At o point did you own up to THAT.
Get real, dude.