Alex Skolnick was once “on standby” to join Megadeth: “I learned the songs. I was ready”
Testament’s Alex Skolnick has revealed that he very nearly shared the stage as a fill-in guitarist for one of the ‘Big Four’ of thrash metal back in 2016.
Speaking with Eonmusic, Skolnick – who’s played with numerous bands over the years including The Alex Skolnick Trio, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and the heavy metal supergroup Metal Allegiance – shares that he was, in fact, on Megadeth’s radar at one point.
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Asked if Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine had approached him to join the band, Skolnick says: “I can’t really speak for him, but I remember I did hear through the grapevine there was some interest. There were a couple shows, actually, as recently as the Kiko Loureiro era, where I was on standby to fill in.”
“Kiko’s wife was giving birth, so there was a possibility of that, and they didn’t know exactly when it was going to be, and there was a possibility it was going to conflict with a show or event. So it was on standby,” Skolnick explains, adding that he’d “learned the songs” and “was ready”, though Loureiro didn’t end up missing any shows in the end.
“I’ve always been friends with the Megadeth camp, you know, mad respect for the band,” says the guitarist “but I like my role as… occasional possible understudy is as far as it’s gone.”
Skolnick also says he had “heard through the grapevine” that Megadeth were interested in recruiting him many years ago, noting how things might have turned out differently had he actually reached out to the band.
“I heard through the grapevine, many, many years ago [that they were interested]. I don’t know, if I’d made a call secretly, and reached out to management, or whatever, and said, ‘hey, I really want to give this a shot’, I’m sure maybe it could have happened, but it was, pre-Marty [Friedman, 1989], and it was during the time Testament was just up and running, and I knew ‘okay, if I were to join this other thing…’”
“At that time with Testament, we were really finding our footing,” Skolnick continues, “and establishing a sound with albums like The New Order and Practice What You Preach, like, now essential albums, and it just seemed like ‘okay. I’m a part of this thing’.”
“And I think at that point Megadeth had already had three guitar players, and there’d been so many members, so it was just clear ‘okay, if you’re in Megadeth, you don’t know how long it’s going to last’. Obviously, Marty ended up having this great run with them, and it was terrific for him.”
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