Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was just in Australia for a spoken word tour in support of his autobiography My Life With Deth. The metal veteran sat down with Australian news website Glam Adelaide to promote the tour, but during the interview he also talked about his faith and his relationship with Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.

Ellefson told the outlet that faith is a common ground he shares with Mustaine. “As far as faith goes, it brings people together. It has as far as Megadeth goes anyway, it’s given us a common menu to read from,” the bassist explained. “The faith part of it has helped in a really cool way; it’s a commonality for us. I believe that there’s a fundamental idea of God inside each of us, however you choose to understand it. It’s made things so much better for us- our music, lives and everything else, actually.”

In fact, this commonality has been shared for several years. In 2012, we reported that the bassist was studying to become a Lutheran pastor and was taking online courses after enrolling in an two-year program at a seminary in Missouri to help achieve his goal. That same year Ellefson revealed that he and Mustaine have studied scripture together, saying the frontman is “well versed and read on scripture.”

Ellefson has overcome many obstacles in his lifetime, and has credited his faith as part of the reason he was able to quit drinking alcohol. Towards the end of his Glam Adelaide interview, the bassist had some words of wisdom to share with his fans about how to triumph in the face of adversity. “Pain is the touchstone to all growth. It’s usually in our mistakes, our faults and our darkest hours that we grow the most," he stated. "At certain points in life we’re embarrassed of [and] afraid to share them- it’s our pride getting in the way. When you set your pride aside and go through those dark valleys you come out the other side completely evolved & changed as a person. That sets you up to be able to handle the next phase.”

Megadeth are working away at their new album. Late last month Ellefson said that the writing for their next disc was almost completed and that they expect to head into the recording studio in early May.

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