Dave Mustaine: ‘Chris Adler is done with Megadeth’

Dave Mustaine is still looking for a new drummer for Megadeth after insisting Lamb of God rocker Chris Adler has “nothing to do” with the group.
Adler was recruited to play on the heavy metal stars’ latest release, Dystopia, and even joined Megadeth onstage for a series of shows promoting the album earlier this year (16).
In May (16), Mustaine took to Facebook.com and claimed Adler would be rejoining the band’s line-up in late June (16), with Soilwork drummer Dirk Verbeuren filling in for him on Megadeth’s ongoing tour dates.
However, the frontman now appears to have backtracked on his comments, stating Adler has since parted ways with Megadeth for good.
During a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on Friday (01Jul16), on the eve of the band’s concert in the city, Mustaine declared: “Chris Adler is not with Megadeth; he’s in Lamb Of God. He was a session guy. It was what you could call ‘work for hire.’ And he has nothing to do with us anymore, and he is with his band, which… I’m very grateful for his contributions. I’m grateful for him introducing us to Dirk.
“We still haven’t announced who our new drummer is gonna be. (But) it won’t be Chris Adler, because he’s in Lamb Of God.”
Mustaine had previously addressed his hopes of having Adler officially join Megadeth, after admitting he would welcome the chance to work with him in the studio on the band’s next album.
“I think it’s too early to say that, but my hunch is that the answer would probably be yes,” he told New Jersey radio station WSOU in March (16). “I think Chris wants to do it. I have no reason not to have him do it. I thought it was really inspiring being around him and his positive energy and really optimistic outlook towards life and music in general. It was good for me, it was good for the band, and, yeah, if he wants to do the next record… I mean, the drum position is his if he wants it until we get into a position where we have to make a decision otherwise.”