INTERVIEW: David Ellefson teams up again with Jeff Scott Soto
Photo: Bassist David Ellefson has once again teamed up with singer Jeff Scott Soto. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by O’Donnell Media Group with permission.
David Ellefson is a musician who never stops making music. He is involved in multiple projects at any given time, which offers his many fans numerous chances to take in his skilled bass playing. One of his most heralded gigs is teaming up with singer Jeff Scott Soto for Ellefson-Soto. They released their debut album a few years ago, and now they’re back with a sophomore effort called Unbreakable, out now via Rat Pak Records.
“We started writing songs in 2023,” Ellefson said in a recent phone interview. “I usually get the process started when we meet up in Wembley in London, and we seem to just crank out the better portion of an album in just a couple days. The songs just fall right out into the studio, you know, and then from there, we sit on them a bit. In this case, we didn’t even know if we were going to do another Ellefson-Soto record. We were just writing.”
In late summer 2024, Ellefson reached out to Soto about recording a cover song to keep things fresh and see if they could recapture the magic of their first album. That creative process went well, and they just kept on playing.
“In that process, I asked him about doing another album,” said Ellefson, who is most famous for being the original bass player of Megadeth. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’ Out of nowhere, we had a whole new enthusiasm for a second record, and [guitarist] Andy [Martongelli] and I fortunately had the better part of an album written. So it was really just a matter of then collaborating with Jeff on the lyrics and melodies and getting everything done. Everything was pretty much done and ready to go by Nov. 1. We got everything over to the label at Rat Pak, and Rat Pak was super excited that we had a second record ready to go because they really loved the first one. They did really well with it, so it all just fell into place in its own time.”
Joining Ellefson, Soto and Martongelli on the album is Paolo Caridi on drums. There are also guest appearances by Tim Owens of KK’s Priest and Laura Guldemond of Burning Witches.
“These guys are all educated players,” the bass player said. “They teach at music schools as their day jobs. These guys are on point. They record, they tour, so their chops are super sharp. They’ve got a youthful energy about them. They’re not jaded and burned out, any of that stuff. That provides a really good musical energy as well as an enthusiasm that really keeps everything in motion while we’re going through the process. So then when Jeff and I and Andy, basically the three of us, really get down to the brass tax of finishing lyrics and melodies and getting things recorded for real, that’s a really fun process. There’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of laughter. There’s a lot of jokes. It’s a great time. It’s definitely something we really look forward to.”
The title track of the new record, “Unbreakable,” was released earlier this summer and gave Ellefson’s fans a sneak peek into the 11-track album. The bass player loves the lyrics for the song, which talk about a person trying to “break” the singer, but in fact that negative person is simply staring into a mirror.
“I think everybody has someone in their life they could probably apply that lyric to,” he said. “When you’re writing about your own life, you automatically connect with other people because we all have similar experiences at some level, so I think that’s the thing when we write these lyrics is that this is a record that’s very personal to us. And I’ve always found that those lyrics connect.”
Ellefson, who spoke to Hollywood Soapbox before news of Megadeth’s pending retirement, added: “They’re rowdy, they’re fun, they’re upbeat, they’re kind of battle cry songs, you know, and I love those because that’s not something that’s been a hallmark of my legacy that I did in previous bands. … There’s a thing that Judas Priest did with a lot of their lyrics, especially in the ‘80s, during their big heyday. They always wrote these songs that were anthems, and they were always encouraging, lifting people up to try better, be better and together we win. Jeff and I, we talked about that. That became a conscious effort that we both agreed on that we like as a lyrical approach to the record.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Ellefson-Soto’s new album is called Unbreakable, out now from Rat Pak Records. Click here for more information.
