Chris Poland helped define the thrash metal sound with his work on Megadeth’s landmark first two records. He is returning to those thrash roots as the featured guitarist in the all-star project Nuclear Messiah. Their record Black Flame is out everywhere, and Chris took some time to talk about it as well as his days in Megadeth.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws Chris Poland interview –
On how he became involved in Nuclear Messiah – I had worked with Brian Perera over at Cleopatra Records in the past and he gave me a call one day and ran the idea by me. I thought, “Wow, that sounds pretty daunting. I doubt that’ll ever happen”. Then he goes, “Okay, we’re starting”. Every week he gave me a new name and a new song. I was like, “What?” It just came together. Brian, man, he just willed it to happen.
On picking some of the lesser-known covers – I’d like to say the whole thing was my idea, but it wasn’t. Brian and John Lappen, this was their brainchild man. They even chose who played on what song, and they picked those deep tracks that, that most people have never even heard. Yeah, the record was their brainchild. They just asked me to be the axis on every song. I’m really happy I did it because it came out really good. I am really proud of it, man. I think everybody that played on it is too, because it just one of those projects that just came together.
On how it was decided which artists play on which song – I don’t think the artists that played on the songs had any say. I think Brian Perera and John Lappen just thought about it and they said, “Yeah, Bumblefoot is gonna be good on this song, and then Marty Friedman’s gonna be good on, “Electric Burn”.” It was their brainchild. I’m just glad I got to be a part of it.
On putting the pieces of the record together – Usually when you turn something in to a label, that’s it, you’re done. But there were a couple solos I did, and I was like, “That solo’s terrible, man. I need to try that again.” So, they let me they gave me another shot on a couple of ’em, so that was nice of them. But the thing is everybody that played on the record has decades of experience in the studio recording remotely in the studio. It’s this isn’t new to anybody. So, I think the hardest, probably the hardest thing to do would be record the drum parts, for me, because I couldn’t play drums if I had to. So, when I think about how Chris Adler, his tracks are like impeccable and but then, that’s what he does so well.
On the drummers holding the record together – Yeah, I think so too, man. Especially Vinny (Appice) and I love the snare sound on “For Mad Men Only”. I just love, there’s so many good moments on the record. It’s got some magic, man.
On if he was involved in bringing in the ex-Megadeth members – : No, that’s something that, Brian asked me, he said, “You don’t mind?” I said, “No, I wouldn’t mind having everybody on it.”
On putting a project like this together – But it’s just crazy, man. Rick Wakeman (is on this record). I was getting these calls, every 10 days I’d just finished this song and then Brian would call me and go, “Yeah, Rick Wakeman’s on. You’ll have that song in a couple days.” I’m like, “What? Are you kidding me?” I’m still blown away by the whole thing. I guess the unsung heroes of this record are Derek Hughes and Jürgen Engler, because how do you mix a record that has a different rhythm section on almost every song and a different singer and a different guitar player, and a different bass player and a different vibe and make it all gel? I really want, I need a shout out for those guys because they really brought it together, man.
On writing the original tracks on the record – I’m pretty sure that Derek and Jürgen had everything to do with those songs, and then everybody else just gave their 2 cents.
On people he was surprised by on the record – When I heard that Arthur Brown was gonna be on the record, I didn’t think much of it because, I listened to, when I was a kid, “Fire” was on the radio. I liked it, but when I heard “Ride the Sky” with his vocal on it, I started going online looking for Arthur Brown stuff and I became a huge fan all over again because his performance on that song is one of the best on the record, if not the best, maybe second only to Sebastian Bach’s performance. All the singers, everybody’s singing is awesome. But I was just blown away by Arthur Brown. The guy’s 80 years old and he’s singing better now than he did four decades ago.
On if he thinks that a constantly changing lineup hurt Megadeth – Nah, I don’t think so. I think it’s part of the Megadeth deal. It was happening from the beginning of the band up until most recently. If it didn’t happen, we would’ve never had the Drover brothers or any other version of Megadeth. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.
On playing with the late Gar Samuelson and the early days of Megadeth – I joined Megadeth because Gar was in Megadeth. I didn’t join Megadeth because of any other reason. I liked the music when I saw the band, I was like, “Yeah, I’d take this music, I can, I could play this.” But I had been playing with Gar my whole life, so I just, wanted to be in a band with him still. But Gar brought so much more to Megadeth. “Peace Sells” was like eight minutes long and Gar, we’re in rehearsal. and Gar just puts the sticks (down), stops playing and goes, “Dave, we gotta shorten this song, man”. Usually, you don’t tell Dave what you gotta do, and Dave was like, “Yeah, you know what, you’re right”. Poof, Megadeth has its first, single. And how does a band called Megadeth have a single?
I swear, man. It was just, that was a crazy time. I remember I was at what we called the Ranch. That’s where we all lived. Gar lived with Gail, the three of us lived together in Silver Lake, and I’m doing dishes and (David) Ellefson’s writing a bassline, to a tape machine, and MTV was on all the time. I’m doing the dishes, and all of a sudden, I hear (sings the “Peace Sells” bass line that was used for MTV News) and then it’s gone. I’m like, “Dave, did you hear that?” He was playing and he goes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. So, about an hour later, it comes on again and we were like, “What the hell is going on, man?” It was really cool. It was super cool moment. It stayed on there forever until Dave asked for publishing.
On what he was listening to when he joined Megadeth – Oh my God. I was listening to Weather Report, Jeff Beck, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams Lifetime with (Allan) Holdswoth or (John) McLaughlin. Anything, just anything that I, that John Abercrombie’s Night record was a favorite record of mine. If I got five records on a desert island, that would be one of them. I listened to other stuff too, like I listened to Joni Mitchell with Jaco. I really liked the first Rickie Lee Jones record. Scratch the single, “Chuck E.’s in Love”. It’s a great single, but the rest of the record, if you’ve never heard it, is crushingly good. I listened to a lot of everything and as far as metal goes, I considered Led Zeppelin, my metal. If you can get a Led Zeppelin tone, you could play in Megadeth, you just gotta, figure out how to pedal and try and remember Dave’s riffs.
On if he will be part of Megadeth’s final run – No, and you know what? I can understand why, Dave doesn’t want to have all that, it’s a bunch of extra work and a bunch of extra tension. Can you imagine that? Yeah. “Okay. We’re pulling into Cincinnati, did Ellefson fly in? Where’s Poland? Where’s this guy?” Forget that, logistically it’s not gonna happen. Have you ever heard of any other band doing something like that? I think Dave’s just gonna take some time off. Eventually, he’ll get the bug again. Maybe he’ll make a record called Mustaine. You don’t just walk away from more than half your life of guitar playing and just walk away.
On upcoming plans – Randy Burns is producing the latest Ohm record. And it’s 99% done. We’re waiting for Carlos Cruz to get back from Europe to have him okay his parts. Plus, Carlos is heading up the artwork on the record, so we need him to dot all the i’s and cross all the T’s. But the record is really strong, and it was recorded in three days and then two days of just adding, backing tracks here and there.
So basically, we made the record in five days. But when you hear it, it doesn’t sound like it. It has everything that Ohm has live. It’s just recorded so well that when you hear it, it’s a great record, man. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s magic, man.
On possible touring – Right now, I have a mortgage. I have to pay health insurance for my wife and daughter and car payments and pets, and I don’t I don’t see music paying all those bills for me quite yet, but, we’ll see. Hopefully, the Ohm and Black Flame record will cut me some slack. I dig my job, man. I’m with musicians all day long. It’s always about music and my studio’s 10 feet away and I don’t have to worry about money.
On a new version of Return To Metalopolis – I forgot to mention that Randy Burns, a little bit over a year ago gave me a call and asked me if I still had the two inch tapes for Return to Metalopolis, and I said, “Yeah, I’ve been taking care of them.” So he goes, “Here’s some money. Go to this address, hand the tapes over, he’s gonna bake ’em and send me the digital stems. We’re gonna remix that record.” We were starting that before he came on board to produce the latest Ohm record. We’re gonna get right back on that when he finally finishes the Ohm cd, I’m sorry. It’s gonna be on vinyl too. Anyway, look forward to that because we’re not gonna follow the, we don’t even care what the first record sounded like, man. There’s so much technology that’s happened that where we can make this record sound like we made it like this morning, I just wanna let you know that’s on the horizon.
