Kiko Loureiro shares Megadeth audition tape for Holy Wars and Trust - one day after learning to play the songs

A few weeks ago, Kiko Loureiro posted an audition video of himself playing Megadeth’s Hangar 18, which he shot as a tryout for the lead guitar slot in the band in 2015. Amazingly, Loureiro had only learned the song the day before filming the clip.

Now, Kiko has posted two more songs from his audition – Trust and Holy Wars… The Punishment Due – both of which, like Hangar, he had just tackled the day before shooting.

Regarding Holy Wars, he says, “that’s a tough one. Pretty hard to learn and to memorize.”

He continues, “I missed the coolest thing on the main riff, which is a small 16th note pause. I didn’t notice when I was learning because I had two days to learn the solos and the riffs and I missed that.”

Discussing Trust, Loureiro says, “It’s an easier song to memorize, to learn how to play. The chords are a little bit off timewise, also the solo is not exactly as the original.

“And the interlude, the clean part, I’m improvising something like the album. But actually my line that I play live nowadays is the second voice and is something completely different.”

When it comes to looking back at his audition videos, Loureiro continues, “[It’s] interesting because for me it’s kind of impressive that I memorized because I’m not reading anything.

“That shows that I was really focused on learning the song and also very excited to prove that I would be able to play those songs.

“I don’t think I would able to do this again five years later.”

We’d have to respectfully disagree.