Guitar Hero Marty Friedman (Interview)

Some people think that guitar shredding is a young man’s forte. With agile fingers and intense unwavering concentration, the sky can be the limit conjuring notes at warp speed.  Guitar players such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen brought power playing to the forefront via Shrapnel Records and the genre is alive and well today, settled into the progressive heavy metal jungle.

As for Marty Friedman, one of Shrapnel’s earliest superstars and once a member of Megadeth, he reached the 50 year age mark a few years ago yet his music remains meaty, emotional and fast-paced. Last month he released Inferno, his first album of original material in four years. It is stock full of fast-charging fretboard antics and cleverly hypnotic slowburners. A rollercoaster ride best describes “Hyper Doom,” while Danko Jones adds a chiseled venom to “Lycanthrope;” and the rhythm section of Tony Franklin and Gregg Bissonette give the more ballad-y “Undertow” a visual oasis to fly on. This could very well be Friedman’s most well-rounded amalgamation of music he has ever concocted.

Friedman, who lives full-time in Japan, called in to talk about this new palette of songs, his beginnings at Shrapnel, his adoration for his adopted home, why making music still invigorates him and what absolutely drives him nuts in a recording studio.

What put you in the mood to do this album? Because from what I understand, this is your first album of original material in four years.

Yeah and it’s also the first album that I’ve done for a simultaneous international release in a real long time. So it’s a big one for me. I’ve done pretty much an album every year for the last twelve years or so with maybe a year and a half between each one. But this one I had to put aside a whole lot of my normal activities. I have a lot of musical and television commitments over here in Japan that take up a ton of time. But I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get a record like this done and continue to do that all at the same time without killing myself. So I knew that I was going to have to make a commitment to the album and turn down a lot of things happening here and put a lot of things on the backburner and spend time outside of Japan recording and writing and take pretty much a year of time to make the record that I wanted it to be.

Why did you go over to LA and not just do it there in Japan?

I wanted to work with certain people and I didn’t make any compromises. Obviously, I did as much as I could here in Japan but the engineer that I wanted to work with is in America; the drummer I wanted to work with is in America. So between those two guys, I definitely wanted to spend some time in America. But while I was there I was able to really get a lot of people that normally wouldn’t be in Japan at my disposal.

Danko Jones is on a couple of your songs. Why did you think his voice fit your music?

We’ve been friends for a long time and I always admired him as a singer and as a songwriter. We always talked about doing something and this was the first time that he went past the point of talking about it and actually doing it.

The song “Undertow” has so much emotion in it. What can you tell us about that song?

Thank you so much. The main overall concept of the album was just to do the most aggressive, intense, powerful record that I possibly could and to have one spot that is kind of like an oasis; maybe peaceful might be the wrong word but kind of something to contrast the rest of the record. That whole ballad-type of my music is a really important part of my musicality and I just really love the kind of things where you get goosebumps, you know, when you play. That’s a really big challenge for me to always work on things that do that. It’s a very important part of my playing so there is at least one song like that on just about every album I’ve done. But I’m really happy with “Undertow” and I’m really glad you like it.

Why did you pick Tony Franklin and Gregg Bissonette to be on that particular song and not on another one?

Well, that’s their game. If you’re doing a ballad, there’s really no better drummer in the world than Gregg Bissonette. When you have him come to the studio, it’s like you do one take of the song and then you spend the rest of the day joking around because the work is done. I love working with him. And Tony is the same way. We’ve worked together in the past and the rest of the album is a much younger affair. It’s got a lot more youthful energy and power and adrenalin. But “Undertow” is where I’m going for a real classy-type of sound and a real grown-up sound, so to speak, and those guys are super pros.

“Hyper Doom” was like the total opposite. When I listened to it, I felt like I had been on a rollerc oaster.

That’s really cool. I love to hear that kind of thing and I love the word roller coaster as well cause I use it a lot when describing stuff that I like. I like music that kind of makes you feel that way, like you’re involved and it kind of takes you up and down. So yeah, I guess I like to feel that way when I’m listening to music so that’s what I kind of tried to do when I make it.

What would you say was the so-called surprise song on this album – the one that came in at the last minute or the one that was completely changed from it’s original conception?

Wow, you know, there really isn’t one and that’s because this is the first time that I’ve really had a super long time to live with everything before I decided it was good enough to make it on the album. A lot of times you’re recording and at the last minute you come up with this idea and it’s really cool and it makes it to the album. But I wasn’t like that at all. The ideas of everything was done long before it actually got completed. There are demos after demos after demos after demos and I lived with them for so long. So by the time I recorded everything for real, I knew that everything was going to be exactly what I wanted it to be. So it was very calculated and there were no last-minute surprises. Sorry to disappoint you though.

No, because it has such a fresh sound you wouldn’t think these songs had been worked on for a long time.

I’m happy to hear that. I think that’s a result of doing what I just said. It’s like living with the stuff. If you get a chance to live with the music and you’re listening to it a lot for a long time and you don’t get sick of it, that kind of means it’s worth keeping. So if I keep like twelve or thirteen songs like that, chances are that I’ve already thrown away maybe twenty other potential ideas because I kind of got tired of them after a month or two months. But these kept me interested and kept me wanting to keep them on the record. But I think they sound fresh just because they were worth keeping around that long and I wanted to take them to completion.

When you are sitting down creating music, do you focus more on improvisation or are you very methodical and work them out?

I do a lot of improvisation at the very beginning, just complete blind improvisation. I record everything I do and so if you do that long enough, you completely forget that you’ve done it and then when you listen back to it it’s almost like listening to somebody else. And when you listen to somebody else, you have a much better judgment than when listening to yourself play. You’re much more critical, I think. You know whether you like it or not. But if you remember playing it and remember working on it, it’s too personal. So I like to record stuff really quickly and then forget about it and then listen back to it as if I was listening to somebody else. Then I can be a little bit more honest. Once I decide exactly what I’m going to do, then I’m very, very calculated and make sure it’s all perfect. And at the last minute in the studio that’s when I like to improvise things on top of that. When the whole thing is perfectly done and I’m happy with it, then I will go over it and keep playing and improvising just in case I get lucky at the end.

Have you ever written a song that was so intricate and complicated that you’ve never attempted to play it live?

There is one song like that on this album. It’s called “Horrors” and it was an insane song to do. I think it could be done live but it would have to be changed because it was so complex, the recording process was very complex, because there are strange time signatures and polyrhythms. When you’re recording in Pro Tools, which is the standard recording system, everything has to be on a grid, which means that you have to make complex grids to keep everything in tempo and in time. What was a lot more complex than the actual performance of the song was the setting up of the recording of the song because it was so intricate and there’s so many strange twists and turns in it that it might be a little bit difficult to replay live. And I might never try to do it live because I’m lazy (laughs) but it came out so cool that I’ll eventually make the effort to do it sometime.

And that’s the song you collaborated on with Jason Becker

That’s right

When you’re in the studio, what drives you crazy the most?

Oh this is a good one. I hate it when whoever is working there, like an engineer or a tech, takes one second longer than is necessary to do anything (laughs). Oh my God, I mean, I’m very fortunate that most of the people I work with are fantastic and they just kick my ass. But occasionally, there will be like a second engineer or an assistant that is not up to par and that just drives me out of my mind. Really, really drives me out of my mind. I guess because I like to get a really fast pace and move along quickly, get a lot done and I don’t like a lot of stalling around. So sometimes with people when you have to explain something more than once to somebody, ugh, that drives me crazy. I like to get into like the type of thing where even without spoken words the engineer knows what you want to do next or he knows how you want to retape the part of your playing or whatever. You can get into a zone where you don’t even have to talk very much to get your work done. I just hate explaining, “Well, I’d like to take it from the third measure of the second bar of whatever, whatever.” I really hate to over-explain what I’m trying to record. Obviously, I’m over-explaining this to you so I don’t mind over-explaining (laughs). But when it comes to recording, that drives me crazy, explaining stuff.

Have you always been like that?

Yes, yes, always been like that. But obviously the more you do and the more experiences you have, the better people you end up working with so your standards get higher. I’ve worked with fantastic people. I’ve worked with people who are absolutely amazing. So I expect that out of everybody and even though that’s unrealistic sometimes, I expect it so the longer I continue to do music the tougher I am in the studio. I can really make people nervous but I just love it when guys are fast at what they do. They just kick ass and it makes me play better; just makes me feel good.

What surprised you the most when you went in to record your first solo album for Shrapnel?

Well, I had been recording for years and years before that, ever since I was in my very first band as a kid and we recorded like every day we ever played together. So chances are there are more recordings of what I’ve played since I started than me playing without being recorded, which is a strange thing. I usually rarely play unless there’s a purpose. I don’t sit around noodling or practicing or goofing off or just playing for fun. Usually the red light is on for some reason. When I did Dragon’s Kiss, I was already accustomed to recording. It was a slightly higher budget affair than what I was used to prior to that but it was still a very quick low budget situation where I had to do an album in like three weeks. That’s really rushing it but it was good fun.

And what a powerhouse you had in Deen Castronovo playing drums.

Oh my God, before he joined Journey, not a whole lot of people know this, but he was probably the pioneer of that kind of just uber-exciting drumming. There wasn’t a whole lot of drumming like that before Deen came around and he influenced a whole generation of drummers even before he joined Journey. So I was really lucky to be a part in bringing him to people, really, because I challenged him like crazy.

What do you think that album, Dragon’s Kiss, has in it that people gravitate to it? It has such a devoted following.

I didn’t know it had a devoted following (laughs)

People love that album

What kind of people are YOU hanging out with? (laughs)

People who love music

I’m very happy to hear that. You know, to still be talking about that album now is enough to make me very happy. To me, it’s just like anything else that I’ve ever done. I just did the best I could at that time and it was a fantastic experience. It was my first solo album, the first album that my name was going to be on the headline. So I guess there was somewhat of a high standard that I was achieving but I probably would have went for that same standard anyway because I’ve never been the type to be lazy when it comes to something that is going to be released. So I’m sure that I put in plenty of blood and sweat and tears on it but that really doesn’t stand out to me more than anything else that I have done.

I think that what I’m doing now on Inferno is almost like the grandson of Dragon’s Kiss because each generation is supposed to be better than the generation before and I just have continued to grow since then, hopefully, and I think if you like Dragon’s Kiss at all then the new album is going to really be a pleasant experience. I would never, ever want to be one of those guys that you say, “Oh man, I loved this guy’s music, especially in the early days.” I never, ever wanted to be one of those guys and I made sure that the coolest thing I was doing was the most recent thing that I was doing. I’ve always been that way. So to make sure that people don’t go say, “Well, his first album was the best. He’ll never top that,” I’ve always tried to top that. Now thirteen albums later, hopefully, it’s come somewhere since then (laughs)

There are some wonderful, emotional songs on here and ones that just kind of fry your brain.

Thank you very much. I’m very excited. Actually, I’ve done some press for the record but I think you might be the first female interview I’ve had so far and hearing a girl’s voice say this stuff is very cool.

Some people consider shredding an art form while other people see it as noise. When you first picked up a guitar and started playing, what came out of you?

I just found something that I could do. I mean, I would much rather have been able to do sports at the time because that’s what I was into but I sucked, let’s not cut corners here (laughs). I wasn’t set up to be a football player as much as I would have liked to, or hockey or baseball. But when I played guitar, I figured it out right away and I was like, wow, this is way easier than playing sports. And I probably won’t get my ass kicked by doing this. And it’s a funny thing, I was kind of a small, skinny kind of gawky kid and once I started playing guitar all these big jock types were always like protecting me and stuff. Before I started playing guitar, and I never really got picked on or anything but I certainly didn’t have big football player friends at all until I’d gotten my first band. Then all of a sudden, they treat me like a king or something. That appealed to me right away (laughs). Even though I could barely play, it totally changed everything.

So what would you say was THE song or THE album that literally changed your life?

If I had to pick an album I’d probably say KISS Alive or something like that. Or one of the Ramones albums. It was like life changing. You either like it or you completely hate it, especially if you’re like thirteen or fourteen, it’s going to take you one way or the other, especially at that time.

I was in fourth grade and I had a KISS t-shirt. I was the only one in my class.

Everybody’s the only one in their class, you know (laughs). Somehow when you go to the concert, it’s just jammed with people but there’s only one person in the class who was the KISS fan. You had to stick up for KISS because everybody else hated them.

Who was the first real rock star you ever met?

I actually met Johnny Ramone. I met the Ramones. I was like sixteen and went early to the show and was hanging out with my friends by the entrance where the bands would come in and sure enough they showed up and I talked to them and my life was over right then and there. That was enough. But he was very nice. He was friendly. I asked him a couple of questions. I was heavily, heavily into the Ramones at the beginning and I think I asked him something about picking on the guitar and he only does downstrokes. And that’s the only way to play Ramones music and to this day when I see people play that type of music and they don’t use downstrokes, I think they’re cheating. I remember him saying that and I totally agreed with him. He was friendly and I was just in awe.

Since this is a big Beatles anniversary year, their 50^th anniversary of coming to America, as a guitar player, what do you think is George Harrison’s greatest moment on the guitar?

Believe it or not, I’m not the biggest Beatles person. I think they’re an absolutely legendary, fantastic band but they never just really fit into my cup of tea of music. When I think of him and I think of what some of his crowning moments are, obviously it’s the Bangladesh concert that he put together, the big charity concert. But I absolutely love Paul McCartney and what he means in the world of music and what he does and what he continues to do. I loved The Beatles before they started getting high. Have you ever seen that movie Backbeat? It’s a movie about the early years and I think there was one other member in the band and it was the early years and I definitely recommend it. If they would have stayed like that, I would have been the biggest Beatles fan ever. It was punk, it was rock, it was black leather jackets and it kicked ass. I really loved the early Beatles but I’m kind of the anti-drug guy so I never got into that hippie experimentation stuff too much. But I certainly respect their accomplishments for sure.

What was the hardest thing to acclimate to when you first moved to Japan?

Nothing was really that hard because I had been here like twenty times on tour and for promotion before moving here and I’d spoke the language fluently before I moved here. So there were no big surprises or big culture shocks. The only thing that is kind of weird is when I go back to America for recording or press or family, I find that my English speaking, and even as I’m speaking to you, is very proper and I’ve lost a lot of the cool slang that I would be talking if I still lived there. I speak very properly and politely. It probably prints really well but probably sounds like a really boring individual because I use absolutely nothing but proper English it seems. I catch myself speaking that way and I’m like, what the hell has happened to my English? (laughs) It’s very strange.

Do you speak predominately Japanese now?

Yeah, a hundred percent. The only time I speak English is doing press like this and talking to my family. That’s it (laughs). All speaking, all writing, is in Japanese; except if I like post something in English on the net or write an email having to do with international business or whatever. Day to day is all reading and writing and speaking in Japanese. My English has changed. I mean, it hasn’t gotten worse but it’s gotten very proper for whatever reasons.

Some people think that the albums you made with Megadeth were the band’s best. How much input did you have with creating those songs and making them the way they are?

I had quite a bit of input. I certainly wouldn’t want to take credit for more than is due but definitely I had a lot of influence on the sound, just from my melodic sense is a big part of the albums that I worked on. In the songwriting, the melody department was definitely a lot of my influence and of course I did the majority of the lead guitar playing. So that sound is a big part of those albums. Even some of the arrangements, I was definitely in the loop on that. My playing is all over that stuff. So I would say mainly in the lead guitar department is where you can most feel the influence but there is a lot of influence from everybody. It was certainly a band effort while I was in the band.

What are your plans for this year?

I’m going to tour. I will be touring America in the Fall and possibly Europe again and of course Japan.

You do a lot in Japan.

In Japan, I’m doing a lot of television as usual. Less than before I made Inferno because I put a lot of television stuff on the backburner to make the album itself but I do TV and radio and things related to my solo music and things unrelated to my solo music. Just a real wide variety of things.

How you’re not exhausted, I don’t know

(laughs) When you work in Japan long enough, you get accustomed to constant work mode and I’m kind of a workaholic so it works out for me. But it can really get insane when you’re adding other countries and continents in there as well.

What still excites you about playing music?

Man, it’s just constantly the pursuit of doing something that is going to get you those goosebumps; something that is going to make you say, YEAH! When the speaker is turned up and you’re doing something that you’re working on and you’re listening back and you’re going, “Yeah, alright,” or whatever it is you say. That’s what I go for and as long as I am getting that, as long as it keeps getting better, that’s how long I will keep doing it.

Live photographs by Jo Anna Jackson