Recently, legendary former Megadeth axeman Marty Friedman was kind enough to take a break from his decidedly hectic schedule to speak with us regarding, among may other things, why most of his album covers suck and the release of his latest solo effort Loudspeaker…

Todd: How did you originally become involved with Megadeth?

Marty Friedman: “It was the typical audition type of thing. I had a buddy who was friends with Megadeth’s manager at the time. He told me they were auditioning and I went in and auditioned. It was totally normal. It’s a real boring story, actually (laughs). It was just an audition and it went really well right off the bat. We kinda had a lot in common and the personalities were copasetic. Obviously, the musical direction was good. It’s a pretty simple story, really.”

Todd: Overall, how would you describe you time working with (former Cacophony/David Lee Roth guitarist) Jason Becker?

Marty: “It was great. It was a really healthy relationship between two musicians. We both could obviously play, but we each played what the other didn’t or couldn’t. He was the guy that could literally play anything that was in front of him better than anyone else. And I was the guy that thought up unique things that might not have been played by anyone else before. That was a wicked combination. Playing with him made me want to play more accurately and him playing with me probably made him want to stretch his imagination as a writer…as far as writing melodies. It was very good relationship. It wasn’t like two guys that played the same thing where one guy would be unnecessary. …On top of that, he was obviously a really great guy.”

Todd: Did you ever find yourself competing with any of the other guitarists from that era?

Marty: “I was never ever competitive with any other guitar player. If there was another good guitar player or good player of any instrument, I would make it a point to absorb as much information from them as possible and just be a sponge, ya know? And if they wanted to learn something from me, I’d be happy to show them stuff. I’ve always found that I play better when I’m surrounded by people that are good players…people that I respect. I’ve always wanted to make sure the people around me are totally top class, so I’ve never thought about competing. As a player, what level do you compete at? Whose making more money or selling more records? Who can play faster to a metronome or who can play faster in time? What do you compete at, ya know? (laughs) I wouldn’t even know where to begin competing with somebody. …I couldn‘t even imagine it, really”

Todd: What initially prompted you to move to Japan?

Marty: “Back in the mid to late ‘90’s, I really started to get into Japanese Rock and Pop music. Really heavily into it. And I thought if I’m going to play it, actually get into the scene for real, I’m going to have to be based in Japan, ya know? There’s only so much that you can do from L.A. or New York, so I decided to come to Tokyo about four years ago and it’s turned out to be the greatest decision of my career, by far. It was really the perfect time to do it and as soon as I got here, things started to go in the direction I wanted them to go. It was a kinda risky thing to do…to just pack up and mover from America to Japan, but thank God I did it, ya know? I’m really happy about it.”

Todd: I’m assuming you now speak the Japanese language fluently…

Marty: “Oh, yeah. I’ve been fluent since probably the late ‘90’s and could speak it decently even in the mid ‘90’s. By the time I moved here, it was not even an issue. There’s no way I could do the things I do here without the language. There’s just no way.”

Todd: What can you tell us about the television show your involved with?

Marty: “Actually, I’m on five weekly TV shows, if you can believe that. It’s out of control. The main one that people in the States might have heard of possibly is called Rock Fujiyama. There’s nothing like it anywhere else. It’s kinda hard to explain in English. Basically, I’m a regular on that every week and there’s two more hosts on the show along with me. Every week there’s a guest and the guest is either an actor, model or singer, writer or a Rock band kind of thing. The idea is to basically get people who aren’t normally associated with Rock into the coolness of Rock music. A lot of times, the guest might be a television actor or something and you get those people to expose their Rock tastes, their Rock fantasies and all sorts of fun stuff. It’s like a variety show with games, music and a lot of goofing off and a lot of very strange mixtures of music that I play on guitar. I’ll play a well know Japanese song but morph it with a well known American song ad we’ll just play off of that. It’s not really an all music show. It’s closer to a variety show…almost a comedy, but with a lot of music. …A lot of Japanese stars come on it and sometimes foreign musicians come on there like when they’re on tour from America. We had (guitarist) Kerry King from Slayer come on, we’ve has Andrew W.K., Steve Lukather came on there, Kiss came on once. We have a lot of foreign guests, but it’s mostly Japanese guests. …Inside everybody, there’s a little bit that wasn’t to Rock out and that’s what this show’s about, really. There’s nothing like it here or over there.”

Todd: What was the inspiration behind the cover art for Loudspeaker?

Marty: “…Well, that’s a funny story. I’ve had a lot of sorta hellish covers over the course of my career. There aren’t a whole lot of covers from my entire career that I actually like. A lot of ‘em just plain suck. This time, I wanted to make damn sure that the cover would be something that I would be like happy to show people (laughs). I just wanted to have something bitchin’, really, so I got together with the best graphic designer that I know at the record company, the best photographer that I know in Tokyo and the best all around staff and we just basically threw around ideas. We had a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions with a lot of ideas and shapes. I knew that I wanted to have a logo, but there’s more to making a logo than just a logo…there’s so much into it, ya know? I’ve always been into makin’ music and letting the album jacket be just whatever, but this time, I was like ‘…I’m gonna have a good cover even if it kills me…’. I went through a lot of different options and many versions of the same cover and it came out really cool. I wanted to have a logo mark that, the first time you looked at it, you don’t realize that it’s my initials. If you look at it quite a while, you can probably figure it out pretty easily, ya know? And I think they pegged that exactly right. I think if you could read it right away, that would be pretty lame and if you couldn’t read it at all, it would be pretty lames, so it was hard to find that exact balance, ya know?”

Todd: Did you have a particular favorite prior to this?

Marty: “I basically think they all suck with the exception of maybe Youthanasia by Megadeth…that was pretty cool and the cover for my last album Music For Speeding. I liked the cover although a lot of people thought it was too simple. Maybe it was, but I thought it was pretty good. Aside from those two, and Loudspeaker, (laughs), I’m not a fan of any of the covers. The Megadeth, Cacophony, and Hawaii stuff…the Hawaii stuff is hella embarrassing. I have to say Loudspeaker by far is my favorite followed by Youthanasia. The rest…I’m not really very happy with (laughs), but I’m never gonna have a shitty cover again (laughs). But there’s no accounting for taste, ya know? One person might like one thing and hate another one, so basically, as long as I’m happy with it, it doesn’t really matter. With this record, I finally have the people around me that I need to get what I want done. Finally, I’ve got an overall product that I’m very happy with.”

Todd: Do you currently have any plans to tour the United States?

Marty: “Not at this point. I’m touring Europe at the end of March and then I’ll do some stuff in Japan. I don’t have any immediate plans for the US other than the actual release… I’d love to do it, but it’s really hard for me to get away from Japan for any period of time due to all the obligations that I have here. I get offers to do shows and tours from promoters in the US and one of these days, I’m gonna take ‘em up on it. But as of right now, I just can’t get away long enough to make a decent size tour. …It’s hard because I do a lot of weekly television shows. We tape a couple of weeks at a time, but I can’t really get away for so long because you can’t really miss anything like that. TV goes on, ya know? You can only tape so many weeks ahead of time and you gotta keep going. It’s really hard when you have weekly commitments like that to get away for any extended period of time. But I love playing in America and I’d love to do it again. …It was very nice. I’d do it again in a heartbeat…probably within the next few years because I already have a ton of material written for my solo albums that would fit in nicely with a symphony. And I’ll probably write a few more for the event, too because it’s gotta be done right.”

Todd: Any truth to the rumors that you’ll be recording a live album during the European tour? Any idea what type of set list you’ll be working with?

Marty: “Yes. That’s correct. It’s only my second solo tour ever. I did a short tour of America for Music For Speeding, but this is still only my second solo tour. I’ve done a lot of solo gigs and events in Japan, but…I don’t plan on doing a whole lot of touring for my solo music, so it’s really a kinda special event that I wanna have documented. As far as a set list is concerned, I’ve got six solos albums, so I’ve got mot than enough material to choose from. We’re recording the majority of a bunch of shows and whatever comes out best is what it’s gonna be. The set list will probably change from night to night somewhat. I have a set list now that I plan to use, but we haven’t started playing yet, so I can’t really say.”

Todd: Is there any chance the performance you made with the Toyo Philharmonic Orchestra will ever see a worldwide release?

Marty: “It’s doubtful. It was broadcast on TV, so it’s possible it’ll show up on one of those YouTube type things, but there’s no plans for that particular performance. I only did three songs, but there’s been talk of me doing an entire performance and I’m totally into that idea, except for the fact that to do something like that, it takes and incredible amount of time and commitment. If I’m gonna do something like that, I’m gonna do it right. I’m glad the offer is there and I’ll probably take them up on it at some point. Then, the rest of the world can hear it. Right now, there’s just too much going on and I can’t devote the time that’s necessary to do that right. I’m definitely not gonna go wank through that thing. Something like that takes a ton of commitment like a record, ya know? Someday I’ll do it, through. It was a great experience.”

Todd: You’ve obviously had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of different musicians. Is there anyone left that you’d still like to work with?

Marty: “There’s a lot of people in Japan. I don’t know if your readers will be familiar with the Japanese music scene at all…if not, they’re probably not going to know these people. There’s a lot of great producers and artists here in Japan that I’ve yet to work with, although since the time I’ve been here, I’ve been able to work with some of my absolutely favorite musicians and producers. It’s been an absolute dream come true…liberally…but there’s so many more here in Japan. Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, I’ll be able to do some type of collaboration with them. …It’s cool how little by little, Japanese music is sorta seeping into the American scene, ya know? There’s such a great and varied music scene over here that if you ever got into it, you’d never get bored. It’s the language barrier that kinda keeps people outside of Japan away from it, ya know? If you don’t understand the lyrics, it’s pretty hard to get too deeply into the music. Little by little, there are things that are seeping into the American and European scenes from Japan. Hopefully I’ll be able to be part of making that transition happen. I definitely see it happening.”

Todd: Musically, what are your influences?

Marty: “…The main reason why I’m even here in Japan is because I’m just way into the mainstream Japanese Pop and Rock scene. It’s very wide, ya know? It’s not narrow at all…from full-on ballads to raging Death Metal type of music to everything in between. What ties it all together is the Japanese sense of melody and the Japanese sense of…there’s a word for it in Japanese, but there’s no English translation. It has to do with songs when you have a contrast where everything all of a sudden gets really exciting and then it gets kinda quiet. …I would say peaks and valleys, maybe. And there’s a certain style in Japanese Pop songwriting that I really latched onto. I’m heavily influenced by that and have been for the last ten years. That’s something that comes up a lot on Loudspeaker that non-Japanese people might not notice. And Japanese people might not notice, too because it goes right by. It’s in the song structuring…the songs are really structured and build up to these climaxes in certain points. That style of songwriting is actually very much a part of J Pop music, but the way I interpretate it is in Heavy Metal music, so it’s a kind of completely different way to write heavy, aggressive Rock music and I think that’s the main difference between Loudspeaker and any other Heavy Metal record out today.”

Todd: Have you ever seriously considered returning to the “rawer” production style you used on some of your earlier recordings such as Dragon’s Kiss?

Marty: “I think by raw, you mean low budget (laughs). The only reason that was anymore raw than now was because the budget was probably only a tenth of what it is now. Unfortunately for myself, I tend to write music that costs a lot to do properly but doesn’t necessarily have a huge commercial appeal. It just costs a lot of money to get my ideas down on tape, unfortunately. On Dragon’s Kiss, there was a lot of deep stuff goin’ on, but when you do all of that in two weeks, there’s no way to get the clarity and the depth…so it comes out sounding raw. I’m pretty much the same artist now as I was then, but I’ve grown enough to write better and to play better and to understand how to use the studio better. I had great ambitions at the time, but I just didn’t have the budget to faclitate what I wanted to play, therefore it comes out sounding a bit on the raw side (laughs), ya know? People say ‘…oh, man…that sounds great…’ and I’ll take that as a compliment. I like it, but now I just won’t do it unless it’s done properly.”

Todd: It must feel great to have finally had that luxury afforded to you…

Marty: “Yeah. Once I got into Megadeth, I saw that you just work on a record until it’s done and when it’s done, you put it out…that’s the only way. Before then, I just wanted to get the record out no matter what it took. There was no budget. You just got in there, player you ass off and let it go, ya know? And of course there were a lot of things you wanted to go back and fix but just couldn’t. In Megadeth, we made records properly…there was no rushing. We weren’t wasting time, but when it was done, it was done. After I left Megadeth, that was one thing that I definitely took with me. It took me four months to make Music For Speeding and it took me fourteen months to make Loudspeaker. …That’s why it sounds so good and why I can live with it a lot better.”

Loudspeaker (2006) *****

Music For Speeding (2002) *****

Risk (1999) ******

Cryptic Writings (1997) ******

True Obsessions (1996) *****

Hidden Treasures (EP) (1995) ******

Introduction (1995) *****

Youthanasia (1994) ******

Countdown To Extinction (1992) ******

Scenes (1992) *****

Rust In Peace (1990) ******

Go Off! (1990) ****

Dragon’s Kiss (1988) *****

Speed Metal Symphony (1987) ****

The Native Are Restless (1985) ***

Loud, Wild And Heavy (1984) ***

One Nation Underground (1983) ***

Made In Hawaii (1982) **

Deuce (EP) (1980) *

* as a member of Deuce

** as a member of Vixen

*** as a member of Hawaii

**** as a member of Cacophony

***** as a solo artist

****** as a member of Megadeth

martyfriedman.com