Drummer Nick Menza was part of what many considered to be the golden era, classic
lineup of Megadeth from 1990 to 1998 along with frontman Dave Mustaine, bassist David Ellefson and
guitarist Marty Friedman. Sidenote guys i’ve done a whole video on Marty Friedman’s career in the
band,as well as what happened to him after he left the group. the link to the video is down below.
Menza would be fired from Megadeth but in the years that followed he appeared
to have a complicated relationship with his former bandmates & he would die in a truly
shocking way long after he left Megadeth.. Today, let’s explore the life of Nick Menza.
Born to a musical family, Menza was born in Germany to a jazz saxophonist named Don Menza. His
father had a pretty storied career playing with Buddy Richs band starting in 1968 and performed as
a member of Johnny Carson’s tonight show band. Don would introduce his son to jazz, a style of music
he continue to love during and after his time in Megadeth. Drummer Buddy Rich would even give drum
lessons to Nick as a child & the aspiring drummer would play in front of his first audience at the
age 2 when someone placed him on Jack DeJohnette’s drum throne during an intermission at a gig
His professional music career began at age 18 and he would play in a series of groups including
Rhoads who was fronted by Randy Rhoads brother. He would even record with John Fogerty. By the
late 80’s he would land a job as the Megadeth’s drum tech for Chuck Behler. Behler would be
fired by mustaine over his drug use leading the frontman to ask Menza to join the group in 1989.
He would appear on four megadeth albums with 1997’s cryptic writings being his last.
The following year while out on tour to promote the album Menza learned of a tumor in his knee.
He required surgery to remove it and thankfully for him it was benign. According to menza,
while he was in hospital recovering from surgery
he would recall frontman Dave Mustaine calling him to let him know he was fired from the band.
Bassist David Ellefson would tell Metal Hammer why Menza was fired saying "It's funny,
Nick has been and still is the most hailed and beloved member of the Megadeth legacy.
"Playing drums is hard, playing drums in Megadeth is even harder,
and it beats the shit out of you "Nick put in a lot of good years with us,
but by 1998 [when he got fired], he was struggling to do the gig.
"There was a defining moment in Macer, Arizona, where I looked at him during
some breaks in 'Darkest Hour' and it was like he was not present. He was beat up, you know?
Following his firing Menza turned his attention to raising his two kids and took up woodworking.
. Menza would recall to Metalholic “I took about 10, 12 years off to raise two boys” It was during
this time that Nick made a living through his woodworking selling a perurvian percussion
instrument known as a cajons. It was also during this period in his life menza famously said “ i
don’t want to be nick menza the drummer from megadeth. That chapter of my life is closed.”
In addition to raising his kids Menza would still play music on the side, putting out
a single album under the monicker Menza. And play with the jazz fusion project called Ohm.
In 2004 Menza was thought to be rejoining Megadeth on the road as part of the
blackmail the universe tour, but frontman Dave Mustaine revealed to radio station WRIF 101.1
"I had Nick Menza come in and play drums [during the rehearsals for the tour],
and he just wasn't prepared. It just didn't work out. We tried for two weeks to get everything
to happen, and it just didn't click. Five days before the tour started, I had to send him home.
According to Loudwire in 2007 Nick almost lost his arm due to a power saw accident.
It would require him to get reconstrutive surgery. The saw responsible for the accident
would be auctioned off by Menza years later and still had his blood stains intact. The accident
didn’t stop menza from jumping back into music as he would continue to play with OHM.
In 2014 it was rumored that the classic lineup of Megadeth would be reuniting following the
departure of guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover . Menza was approached by Mustaine
and David Ellefson to replace Drover at the end of 2014 and he would in fact begin working on
new music with the band, but the reunion would be short-lived and fell apart after the topic
of money came up. Menza was offered what he referred to as and i quote “an unfair deal.”
Menza would reveal in a statement through his management “They didn't feel I was
worth anything to the band. Dave blocked my emails, changed his number and then,
apparently, Ron Laffitte was fired as the band’s manager. Here is one of my favorite
bands and a huge part of my life achievements and I was shut out for wanting a fair deal.
Mustaine for his part defended his behavior while promoting the book Rust in Peace the inside
story of the megadeth masterpiece in revealing "Nick said some shitty things about me at the end,
especially to Blabbermouth, where he would just wail on me," "And I would think, 'Nick, why are
you doing this? I never did anything to you. I'm always fighting for you. When I would read the
stuff that he would [say about me], I would just be so hurt. 'Cause when we went to do the reunion,
you see Ellefson tell the story, I wasn't the one that said Nick wasn't ready — Dave said that.
I wanted things to work out with Nick. And then in fact, I even said, 'You know what? If it's
not gonna work with him playing in the studio, let's have somebody else go into the studio and
play, and then we can have Nick play live.' I was bending over backwards to get a place for Nick.
And then he said he wanted this exorbitant amount of cash to work for us and to be able
to sell all kinds of merchandise that he had." In may of 2016 Menza’s was playing a gig with his
band, Ohm, who was three songs into a semi-regular set at the Baked Potato in Studio City
when the drummer collapsed, Friend and author of Menza J. Marshall Craig told the Associated
Press that friends and audience members rendered aid while paramedics were called. He would be
pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital and he would pass away at the young age of 51.
It was initially speculated that at the time that Menza’s death may have been drug related
but it would be confirmed by an autopsy his death was due to a massive heart attack. It
was reported at the time of his death that he had been in fact sober for 8 years.
Two weeks before his death Menza appeared on the metal podcast The Wave Northwest where he talked
about his time in megadeth admitting that he did miss playing in front of large audiences
revealing“I miss the playing part of it, very much so, rocking people and having people come
up afterwards. That’s the only part of it I miss.” Following his death Dave Mustaine would pay his
respects to Menza at a gig that Megadeth were playing the day after his death dedciating
the song trust to him and asking the audience to take a moment of silence for the drummer.
Mustaine would also publish an online post praising Menza and would state that the band was
looking into the feasibility of doing a benefit show with past and present members invited to take
part. But the benefit show would never happen Bassist David Ellefson would reveal how the
record label stopped the tribute show from happening revealing to loudersound we even
talked to Universal and Capitol Records about doing something, and we got some pushback from
them because we’re in the middle of Dystopia. We’re on a new album, they’re putting a lot
of money and attention behind it, and they don’t want another bunch of product and stuff out there.
“If they need our help they know where we’re at. We love them, and want the best for them.”
Following Menza's death a GoFundMe page would raise money for Menza’s family,
while former Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young would play two benefit shows for the departed drummer.
In the years that followed after Nick's death, the relationship between his estate and Dave Mustaine
appeared to be strained. Mustaine would claim that he was very close with Menza even after the
2014 reunion attempt, but that was something that Nick's mother would dispute.According
to her she never received a call or letter from Dave concerning her son’s death
saying in a statement “He never called, “I am really upset at him (Mustaine). They
were NOT good friends, no matter what he says now that Nick’s not here to answer
what’s being said about him" she'd say. e Before his death Nick was working with an
author named J. Marshall Craig on a book called MegaLife: Nick Menza - The Book.Craig would
reveal in a statement “ Dave knows exactly why there was no reunion, since he pulled
the plug - again - as can be clearly seen in mail exchanges between him and Nick, which Nick gave
me complete access to. I’ve put the conversations in the book, unabridged. Dave’s at once friendly
and encouraging and then, in an instant, childish and rude; Nick comes across like,
well Nick: Polite, agreeable and accommodating, trying his best to get along and make it work.
Ellefson for his part would claim he has a good relationship with menza’s family reaching out to
them following the drummer death. In an interview with Loudersound Ellefson would reveal the silver
lining in Menza’s death saying. “I think Nick died happy onstage playing his drums. He used to say
‘When I die, I hope I die onstage playing drums.’ He used to joke about that, that’s so Nick Menza,
and he did. When I heard it, as sad and shocking as it was, I went ‘That son-of-a-bitch got to
go out the way he wanted.’” That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure
to hit the like button and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.