Before Megadeth, Dave Mustaine formed a band with two fellow telemarketers
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!*.
In short
- 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.
Explained simply
Dave Mustaine is an American guitarist and songwriter who was dismissed from Metallica in 1983. He went back to Los Angeles, where he took a telemarketing job and began looking for musicians to play with. Robbie McKinney and Matt Kisselstein, colleagues from that job, joined him in a short-lived band called Fallen Angels.
Mustaine later connected with neighbours Dave Ellefson and Greg Handevidt, who shared his interest in heavy metal, and drummer Dijon Carruthers also joined the group around him. This circle helped lay the groundwork for Megadeth, the band Mustaine formed after leaving Metallica. The early period shows how finding work, a place to live and compatible bandmates all shaped what came next.