Nick menza biography

American drummer (–)

Nick Menza
Menza on the back cover of Rust in Peace,
Birth name	Nicholas Menza
Born	()July 23, Munich, West Germany
Died	May 21, () (aged&#;51) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock, thrash metal, jazz fusion
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Drums, percussion
Years active	–
Formerly of	Rhoads Cold Fire Megadeth Menza Chodle's Trunk Fear Assembly (Mindstreem) Memorain Orphaned to Hatred Deltanaut OHM Sweet Eve

Musical artist

Nicholas Menza (July 23, – May 21, ) was an American musician who was the drummer of the thrash metal band Megadeth from to He recorded drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (), Countdown to Extinction (), Youthanasia (), and Cryptic Writings ().

Early life

Menza was born in Munich, Germany, where his father, jazz musician Don Menza, had been stationed with the U.S. Army. He began playing drums at the age of two, at which age he performed at his first public concert when during the intermission someone sat him down on Jack DeJohnette's drums and he proceeded to play.

Menza's influences stem from being nurtured around the tutelage of such notables as Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Nick Ceroli, Jeff Porcaro, and Louie Bellson.^[1]

Career

– Rhoads,The Green, Von Skeletor, Cold Fire

Beginning his professional musical career at the age of 18, drumming in the band Rhoads featuring singer Kelle Rhoads, brother of the late Randy Rhoads, Menza released his first record with Rhoads, titled Into the Future, in Europe in

Following Rhoads, Menza was part of a succession of Los Angeles metal bands, including The Green (with Rhoads bandmates John Goodwin on guitar and Darwin Ballard on bass), Von Skeletor (another collaboration with Goodwin and Michael Guillory on guitars, Cam Daigneault on drums, and Menza handling lead vocals on the band's demo and self-released album, Injection of Death), and Cold Fire (also featuring Warrior guitarist Joe Floyd) before joining Megadeth.

– Megadeth

Moving on to session playing including styles ranging from R&B to gospel, funk and heavy metal, recording with the likes of John Fogerty, Menza caught the attention of then Megadeth drummer Chuck Behler and became his tech. When Megadeth needed a drummer in , Menza was asked by Dave Mustaine to join the band.

This prior experience and personal relationship led to the invitation to join Megadeth for the recording Rust in Peace.

Nick menza biography Nicholas Menza July 23, — May 21, was an American musician who was the drummer of the thrash metal band Megadeth from to Menza nearly suffered the loss of an arm in , after having an accident with a power saw. Retrieved May 22, Arsenal of Megadeth Video.

For the next ten years, Menza became associated with Megadeth's "classic" period and also his Greg Voelker Rack System. This included a double-bass drum kit with the tom-toms mounted on a lower chrome rack and all cymbal crashes mounted on a higher rack, which was supported by two chrome bars behind the drummer. This was later adopted by Megadeth on 's Blackmail the Universe tour, which featured a similar rack system.

During his tenure in Megadeth, Menza also played drums on his bandmate Marty Friedman's three solo albums, Scenes (), Introduction () and True Obsessions ().

By the summer of , while the band was still touring in support of Cryptic Writings, Menza was having knee problems and sought medical advice. He was informed he had a tumor, which was later found to be benign, and had it removed.

Rather than cancel any dates, Megadeth hired Jimmy DeGrasso as a temporary replacement. When the time came to record a follow-up album, Menza was not asked back and DeGrasso became the band's official drummer. Menza has said in several interviews that, while in the hospital recovering from knee surgery, he received a phone call from Mustaine that simply said "Your services are not needed anymore".

Nick menza myspace Megadeth - BBC Music. He began playing drums at the age of two, at which age he performed at his first public concert when during the intermission someone sat him down on Jack DeJohnette 's drums and he proceeded to play. Nick Menza, Demo track ". Memorain [ edit ].

Post-Megadeth

After his departure, he began work on Menza: Life After Deth^[2] with guitarist Anthony Gallo,^[3] bassist Jason Levin,^[3] and guitarist Ty Longley.^[3] The album was initially intended to have a release date and tour to follow; however, on the tour in with the reformed Great White, Longley was among the people killed in The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island^[4] and a year later Jason Levin died of heart failure, Menza and Gallo were devastated and the Life After Deth tour was never announced.^[5] Guest guitarist Christian Nesmith, son of The Monkees' Michael Nesmith, did some leads and Menza hired producer Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth).

Following the reissue of the entire Megadeth catalog, Menza reunited with Megadeth in July of ^[6] Months later, Menza was fired after rehearsals and replaced with Shawn Drover. Mustaine said that this was because Menza "just wasn't prepared" for a full-scale U.S. tour, physically.^[7]

In April , Menza joined the Los Angeles–based metal band Orphaned to Hatred.

The group describe their sound as "a continuation of the heavy style of s Pantera".^[8] He left the band in late

Menza nearly suffered the loss of an arm in , after having an accident with a power saw. He required reconstructive surgery and metal plates in his arm and a lengthy rehabilitation, but later recovered.

Menza later auctioned off the blood-stained saw blade and an original copy of an X-ray from the incident.^[9]

In March , Menza appeared in a music video for Mindstreem's "We Up Next", a song originally written by SIN 34 guitarist Anthony Gallo featuring Tony Lanza and Daniel Wayne, Jr. on vocals. The actual recording is Menza (drums), Gallo (guitars), Gregg Babuccio (bass), and Tony Lanza and Daniel Wayne Jr.

(vocals).

Also in March , Menza's band Deltanaut posted a video for the song "Sacrifice" in conjunction with the release of their Roy Z produced digital-only five-song EP. The lineup consisted of Menza, his old Rhoads and The Green bandmate, bassist Darwin Ballard, guitarists Christopher Grady and Colin Reid, and lead vocalist Brian Williams.

Menza's father Don plays saxophone on the song "The King"; other guests include Roy Z on guitar and Ed Roth on keyboards.

Nick menza drugs and alcohol: Rather than cancel any dates, Megadeth hired Jimmy DeGrasso as a temporary replacement. Zonda Books Limited. Nice Guy Split. Around the BBC.

In , Menza played on the demo version of the song Babylonian Ships.^[10]

In , Menza contributed drum tracks to the song "Are We Alone?" on the album Warless Society (The Global Invasion) by Ci2i, with John Goodwin and Darwin Ballard on guitar and bass, respectively.

In , he also began working with Los Angeles band Sweet Eve on their follow up album "The Immortal Machine" as producer and drummer.

Death

On May 21, , Menza was performing with his band OHM at The Baked Potato jazz club in Studio City, Los Angeles. Only three songs into the set, Menza collapsed onstage.

Nick menza funeral Friedman, who left Megadeth two years after Menza, wrote on Facebook , external : "We all know the great and unique drummer that Nick Menza was, but he was also a trustworthy friend, a hilarious bandmate, as well as a very loving dad. For the next ten years, Menza became associated with Megadeth's "classic" period and also his Greg Voelker Rack System. Hidden categories: Use American English from August All Wikipedia articles written in American English Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles needing additional references from May All articles needing additional references Use mdy dates from August Short description is different from Wikidata Articles with hCards Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts. Megadeth, formed by Dave Mustaine in , became one of the "big four" thrash metal groups of the s, alongside Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica.

He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy later showed the cause of death to be atherosclerotic, hypertensive-induced congestive heart failure. Menza was ^[11][12]

Groups/acts worked with

• Rhoads (–)
• Cold Fire ()
• Megadeth (–, )
• Marty Friedman (–)
• Menza (–)
• Chodle's Trunk (–)
• Fear Assembly (Mindstreem) (–)
• Memorain (–)
• Orphaned to Hatred (–)
• Deltanaut (–)
• OHM (–)
• Sweet Eve (–)

Discography

Rhoads

Megadeth

Marty Friedman

Menza

Memorain

Von Skeletor

• Injection of Death ()

Deltanaut

Sweet Eve

• The Immortal Machine ()

References

External links