# Before Megadeth, Dave Mustaine formed a band with two fellow telemarketers

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/before-megadeth-dave-mustaine-formed-a-band-with-two-fellow-telemarketers/
- Published: 2026-10-26T06:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-26T06:10:52+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/before-megadeth-dave-mustaine-formed-a-band-with-two-fellow-telemarketers/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Mustaine worked as a telemarketer after leaving Metallica.
- Fallen Angels included two colleagues from the job.
- Neighbours Ellefson and Handevidt helped lay groundwork for Megadeth.

## Summary

Before forming Megadeth, Dave Mustaine briefly started a band called Fallen Angels with two fellow telemarketers, Robbie McKinney and Matt Kisselstein. The episode shows that Megadeth did not take shape immediately after Mustaine’s dismissal from Metallica; he first needed work and a new musical line-up.

After returning to Los Angeles, Mustaine found a telemarketing job through McKinney and later moved into a Hollywood apartment with the aim of starting a band. Fallen Angels lacked the chemistry he wanted, but neighbours Dave Ellefson and Greg Handevidt became part of his circle after an encounter that ended in drinks and a shared interest in metal; drummer Dijon Carruthers also joined. An early lyric Mustaine wrote on a Sno Balls wrapper eventually became “Set the World Afire”, released on Megadeth’s 1988 album *So Far, So Good… So What!*.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.