Megadeth frontman, Dave Mustaine was once again asked about the No Life ‘Til Leather demo tape and songwriting dispute between him and Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich. Mustaine explained to Rock Hard magazine that he wasn’t afraid of Ulrich and wouldn’t relinquish any writing credits to him. During his explanation, he discussed his contributions to several Kill Em’ All songs such as “Metal Militia”, “Jump in the Fire”, “Phantom Lord” and “Mechanix”.

Along the way, Mustaine managed to bring vocalist James Hetfield into the conversation and implied that Hetfield might be afraid of Ulrich and would succumb to handing over his writing credits.

“I’m not gonna give [Lars] my credit, so I’m not gonna be part of it. I wrote all of ‘Mechanix’, I wrote all of ‘Jump In The Fire’, so me giving any percentage of that to Lars Ulrich, he can pound sand. And as far as the song ‘Phantom Lord’, I wrote every note of that music, James wrote all the lyrics. That’s 50/50. If James wants to give his percentage up to Lars because he’s afraid of him, that’s up to him. I’m not afraid of Lars Ulrich, and I’m not giving him my percentage. And the same thing with ‘Metal Militia’; I wrote every single note of that music, James wrote every note of that lyric — that’s 50/50.

If James wants to give Lars his percentage, that’s fine if he’s afraid of him. I’m not afraid of him. I’m not giving nothing to Lars Ulrich. Now, they took it in the past — everybody knows that — and the past is the past. But I could not willingly enter into a new agreement with these guys predicated on Lars getting credit for something that not only he did not do but he was incapable of doing — he was incapable of writing songs that good back then.”

Further in the interview, Mustaine was asked if the Big 4 would ever play together again and he replied in typical Dave Mustaine fashion:

“Oh, I don’t know about that. That has nothing to do with the ‘Big Four.’ I think Lars is just afraid to play with Megadeth.”

You can always count on Mustaine giving his honest opinion, especially when its about Metallica. Let’s see if James or Lars issue a rebuttal.

[via Blabbermouth]