Dave Mustaine has heaped praise on Megadeth’s new guitarist, Teemu Mäntysaari, calling him a “monster” player and “the guy I’ve been looking for for a very long time”.
During a recent interview with Colombian YouTuber Alejandrosis, Mustaine shed more light on Kiko Loueiro's departure, and detailed what it's been like having Mäntysaari's monstrous talents onboard.
Waxing lyrical of his skills, Mustaine said (via Blabbermouth) “Teemu is a monster. He is the guy I've been looking for for a very long time. I ask him to learn a song, he learns it. I ask him to learn a solo, he learns it. I ask him to learn a vocal part, he learns it.
“He has a really great right hand,” he adds. “It's very intelligent. It's a lot like mine. I love watching him play and I love watching him learn, because he learns as fast as anybody else could, and it's made me really interested in my craft again.
“I was not looking at [the] guitar like something I needed to make part of my day, every single day. Sometimes I would set the guitar down and I wouldn't touch it for a couple of days.
“Ever since Teemu came in, I'm ready to warm up, I'm ready to practice, I'm ready to go over the solos, and I'm ready to fucking rip.”
Mustaine also delved deeper into the departure of Mäntysaari's predecessor, reflecting: “Kiko leaving was bittersweet. Kiko is a really good dad, and he loves his family, and he also loves his craft. He's a wonderful guitar player, and he's been a good friend to me, Megadeth fans, and the band.
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“We found out that Kiko was having stress and strain on his family, being away so much, and we knew that it wasn't gonna get any better; it was just gonna be more shows and more time away from home.”
He adds that Mäntysaari, who had originally stepped in as a touring member, joined to help Loueiro relieve some of that strain on his family.
“We all agreed [to] bring in an understudy,” says Mustaine. “Teemu came in and helped us for a little while, and then we realized that this is probably the best thing, is for us to stick with Teemu and [for Kiko to] step aside and take care of [his] little ones until everything's okay.”
Since entering the fold, he’s blown Mustaine away for his ability to learn the music and adapt into his new surroundings.
In his interview with Alejandrosis, Mustaine continues: “I talk to Teemu and I say, 'We need to add a new song to the set.' [And he says] 'Okay. What song?' Are you fucking kidding me? You know how much I had to beg for the last 30 fucking years to get any of the other guitar players to learn somebody else's solo?!
“And here you come in and flail this stuff out like you're eating Rice Krispies. I'm so excited, and I can't wait for you to see this dude.”
Mäntysaari played his first show with the band in September 2023, having done “detective work” on the techniques employed across the Megadeth discography.
Speaking to Guitar World for his first official interview since joining the American thrashers full-time, Mäntysaari said he’s “excited to bring my spice to the Megadeth soup” and has even hinted that there might be some “Rust in Peace vibes” to forthcoming material.
Loureiro, meanwhile, has recently teamed up with Plini to pen a song for Neural DSP – and made a huge impression on the Aussie maestro in the process.
