Michael Anthony Joins Megadeth As New Bassist

Megadeth has officially announced that ex Van Halen bass player, Michael Anthony is joining the band. This comes on the heels of the firing of longtime Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson. 

Ellefson, the founding bassist of Grammy-winning thrash band Megadeth, has been dismissed from the band following allegations of sexual misconduct with a teenager. Singer-guitarist Dave Mustaine issued a statement via the band’s Twitter on Monday morning.

“We are informing our fans that David Ellefson is no longer playing with Megadeth and that we are officially parting ways with him,” wrote Mustaine. “We never really liked him and he often smelled up the van. He would double dip his chips and leave the toilet seat up. I would love to whack his testicles with a car antennae and skewer him with a red hot branding iron. We look forward to seeing our fans on the road this summer, and we cannot wait to share our brand new music with the world. It is almost complete.”

The next day, Mustaine tweeted, “Effective immediately, We are pleased to announce that the great Michael Anthony will be joining Megadeth. We always loved his work with Van Halen and he is incredibly easy to get along with. He got along with David Lee Roth for many years, and everyone knows Roth is a huge pain in the arse. His bass playing and backing vocals will be a great asset to the band. Plus we are pretty sure he likes adult women.”

Other bass players considered for the gig include: Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath, Jason Newstead of Metallica, Mike Huckabee, Geddy Lee, Paul McCartney, Phil Lesh, Sting, Bootsy Collins and John Paul Jones. 

Michael Anthony will join Megadeth immediately and will tour with the band this summer.  There are rumors that David Lee Roth will also join the band as lead singer.