James Lomenzo Can’t Stop Moving His Feet

You could say James Lomenzo has been around the block a few times. The bassist has played with White Lion, David Lee Roth and Black Label Society. These days, he's rocking with metal gods Megadeth – and showing more stage enthusiasm than musicians half his age.

"Megadeth is thrash Metal, and that requires a certain amount of energy," Lomenzo explains thoughtfully. "The bass stuff isn't hard, some parts of it are challenging, but basically you hold things down. It gives me an awful lot more stuff that I can do as far as rousing people in front of me. That's what I love! I come from back in the day, looking at Jimi Hendrix, watching The Who, that stuff is mandatory. You've got to make art out of it and you've got to participate. The only way to participate is to make it seem somewhat bigger and more theatrical live. I can't help it, my feet start moving and I can't stop!"

Moving his feet around the stage for more than 30 years has Lomenzo reflecting on both has past – and future. "I come from a background of rock and blues-based heavier music and that's what I gravitated to as a kid. When I got into White Lion, they were more pop oriented and that suited me fine. I sort of liked that music better back then. So to go from that to one of pioneers of thrash, I wouldn't have put that together," Lomenzo admits.

Like most accomplished musicians, Lomenzo is thinking about a solo effort – but don't expect him to do all the work. "Back when I was a baby control freak like most early musicians are, I thought 'I'll do it myself!' Then I realized you lose that richness of having other people contribute and getting what they have and even what they have is a limitation – in context – that can become a real plus. Having said all that, I still might sing a few songs!"