Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and Sons Of Apollo vocalist Jeff Scott Soto have been working on a new project together dubbed Ellefson-Soto. That project finds them joined in the studio by Ellefson‘s solo backing band: guitarist Andy Martongelli and drummer Paolo Caridi. Below you can hear their cover of Riot‘s 1981 track “Swords & Tequila” with Rick Hughes of Canadian metal band Sword guesting.
Ellefson stated of the project:
“Jeff and I have been friends for so many years that it’s great to finally collaborate on some material together. He has such a distinctive voice and perfect style for some new ideas my guitarist Andy Martongelli (Ellefson) and I have been composing. We are excited about the progress of it all and thought this would be a perfect time to give a little sneak preview.”
As for this cover choice, he offered:
“The first time I ever heard of Riot was on the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock album from 1980. For me, they were the USA representatives during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. And, ‘Swords & Tequila‘, along with the entire ‘Fire Down Under‘ album for that matter, show the band delivering it’s rowdy and high energy rock n roll like no other band in the USA was doing at that time. So, it is an honor to offer them much deserved reverence, as well as a reminiscent tribute to the mighty Guy Speranza, who fronted the band like a god during that period.”
Commenting of the project itself, Soto said:
“As COVID-19 became a big negative around the globe, it actually offered many artists a chance to finally collaborate with one another that might have never happened otherwise…as I have known David for many years, I knew from our other efforts outside of our day jobs that we could come up with some badass jams…and here we are, letting you in on our cool little secret!”
He also had the following to say of this cover:
“What can I say? This was a classic metal track from Riot that we all knew growing up, when David brought up that we should cover it I was thrilled. But when we added Rick Hughes from the band Sword onto it, it truly came to life! 40 years after its release, we hope you dig this new version we built for you!”
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