David Ellefson and Jeff Scott Soto have formed a new project! Behold … Ellefson-Soto! The legendary Megadeth bassist and the famous singer have been working on some new material, but they have also already released their own version of a Riot classic song (“Swords & Tequila” off the “Fire Down Under” album-1981). This cover song has just been released across all digital streaming outlets via Ellefson’s Combat Records and the playthrough video can be seen below.
Ellefson-Soto’s version of “Swords & Tequila” was produced by David Ellefson and Andy Martongelli, mixed by Alessio Garavello in Wembley, England and mastered by Maor Appelbaum in Los Angeles, California. The video is directed by Elia Turra for Fisheye Studio in Verona, Italy.
The Ellefson-Soto recording lineup:
David Ellefson – Bass
Jeff Scott Soto – Lead Vocals
Andy Martongelli – Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Paolo Caridi – Drums
Rick Hughes (founder of Sword) – Lead Vocals on “Swords & Tequila”
Ellefson said: “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 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.”
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.”
Ellefson said about the choice of the cover song: “The first time I ever heard of Riot was on the Castle Donnington ‘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 its rowdy and high-energy rock and 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.”
And Soto added: “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!”
