In a brand new interview with Spotlight Report, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about how life has changed for the band following the recent departures of drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick.

"It is obviously going to be different without them," he said. "We spent five years together with them in that lineup; that is a long time. We did multiple live albums with them, two studio albums, [and] we toured together. So it's a bit like some family members are gone. Especially through the holidays, I've kinda been a little sad about it.

"I realize that they wanted to move on to something else, and I support them as my friends, but selfishly, I'm definitely going to miss them, for sure.

"Things are moving forward, of course, and there will be a new development happening on that front."

Asked about the progress of the search for Drover and Broderick's replacements and whether MEGADETH will be bringing back some former members, Ellefson responded: "I can't talk about it yet; I can't say anything. Most importantly, we're moving forward with writing a new album. Once we get into the studio to record it, then the lineup will naturally evolve around that."

Only hours after Drover announced his exit from MEGADETH on November 25 to "to pursue [his] own musical interests," Broderick revealed he also quit the legendary metal band, saying that he was leaving the group "due to artistic and musical differences."

Broderick joined MEGADETH in late 2007 as the replacement for Glen Drover, who left the group in order to focus on family life.

Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group. Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007's "United Abominations", 2009's "Endgame", 2011's "TH1RT3EN" and 2013's "Super Collider".