INTERVIEW WITH MARTY FRIEDMAN AND DAVID ELLEFSON
Marty Friedman and David Ellefson discuss their recent participation in Woodstock, which Friedman downplays as 'just another concert', and the internal dynamics of the band. Ellefson highlights cooperation and mutual understanding as key to Megadeth's longevity. They address the controversy surrounding the new melodic sound of 'Risk', defending it as a necessary evolution to stay challenging and relevant, without giving in to trends like funk metal or industrial. Friedman elaborates on his gear, revealing he uses Seymour Duncan JBJ pickups and Crate 'Blue Woodoo' amps with little modulation. Both conclude that the band relies on its musical quality, not on sensationalism or the intimidating name, which is now just a 'brand name'.
Date
September 18, 1999
Media
Hotel Scandic, Suecia (SE)
Interviewer
NA
Interviewees
Rolling Stone
OK, I saw you at Woodstock? That happened very recently, so how was it?
Marty Friedman
“It was cool. Although it was just another gig. I mean, none of us are particularly interested in the "Woodstock" culture, we are just... actually, it was just another date on our itinerary. Anyway, it was a good show.”
Rolling Stone
Any interesting anecdotes?
Marty Friedman
“No more interesting than any day between us. It's something I always say. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen some girls' boobs while we're playing. Nothing important. Just another show.”
Rolling Stone
You have other recorded CDs. I've seen your name with the label "great artists of the new era"...
Marty Friedman
“Well, thank you. Yes, I suppose. I have recorded 4 solo albums.”
Rolling Stone
Are you doing anything now?
Marty Friedman
“No. We are all focused on "Megadeth". I'm not planning anything new now.”
Rolling Stone
When did you join the band?
Marty Friedman
“1990”
Rolling Stone
to David: .. because you were there from the beginning, right?
David Ellefson
“Uhm.”
Rolling Stone
It looks like everyone is married, with children and everything.
Marty Friedman
“No, Jimmie is not married. And I don't have children.”
Rolling Stone
But it looks like you are a family band.
Marty Friedman
“No, not at all.”
Rolling Stone
Does it really influence anything when children come and...
Marty Friedman
“I think, if we were 18 and married, trying to be in a band, we would have had reason to worry because most of our friends who got married could never get a band going. We were all kids starting out. We've been doing Megadeth little by little, like thinking that we know we're doing a little bit, then... if we go out and do things in our private life, it's simply our private life, that doesn't affect what we're doing.”
Rolling Stone
Who is doing what in the band?
David Ellefson
“We know what we think through the years, just that, that is one of the things about working in a band... When you get a rhythm and get the hang of it..., you know who is good at doing what, and I think that now we have... There were times in the past when I thought we really didn't have our own thing, I hate to say vulgarities, but you know what I mean, we've been stepping on each other's toes because we try to explain it. And I think that now at this point we've been doing this long enough to know who is good at doing individual things. Even doing interviews. If we see interviews in a gossip magazine, or who is going to do what with whom, Dave and Marty playing solos, what Jimmie and I have to play as "rhythm musicians" (laughs)... Who is going to speak on stage... There are a lot of those kinds of things in a band, maybe an audience member just doesn't think about it, but as a musician in a band or if any of your listeners were in a band, you know what I'm talking about. It's part of the business of being in a band, you have to, in a way, figure it out. Many bands broke up because they couldn't figure it out... So there has to be a lot of cooperation and a lot of give and take.”
Rolling Stone
Someone said it's difficult to keep a marriage together, with 2 people involved, but with a band it's more difficult, more people....
Marty Friedman
“Plus you can't screw the guys in the band (laughs). That would help... No, I mean, yes. We spend much more time together with each other than with our families, so it's different. You have to manage it as you can, your band has to survive long enough to realize that everyone is good without killing each other. You get the hang of it, and you can see that the life we lead is very comfortable and as long as everything people see, that band that rocks and kicks ass, that's all they need to know. But they don't need to know all the details of what we did to get there.”
Rolling Stone
The lyrics, are they only Dave's work?
Marty Friedman
“I don't have any lyrics.”
Rolling Stone
David Ellefson
“I wrote a little bit and besides another man, Bud Prager, is listed as one of the writers on "Risk", he did a lot of work on the lyrics theme. But most of the concepts, and many of the catchy things you know from Megadeth's lyrics are inherently Dave Mustaine's ideas. That's simply how he thinks. And I think that is a great signature of our band.”
Rolling Stone
I think I've seen your name somewhere on a celebrity list.
Marty Friedman
“It must have been a "most wanted" list (laughs)... "Kill this man"...”
Rolling Stone
David Ellefson
“"He killed too many cows, catch him" (laughs)...”
Rolling Stone
Marty Friedman
“No way, I'm like... a steak-eating son of a bitch.”
Rolling Stone
Everyone says Dave got into spirituality, into religion...
Marty Friedman
“None of us are like "wierdo", religious cult people or anything like that. We are simply regular, normally educated American guys, none of us are very much into all that voodoo crap. We are perfectly normal.”
Rolling Stone
I heard he changed after the overdose and...
Marty Friedman
“You would have to talk to him about those kinds of things. I'm not going to say anything. I don't know. I really don't know, to be honest with you.”
Rolling Stone
Can I ask something specific about what pick ups you use?
Marty Friedman
“Ha ha. I can answer that easily! (laughs)”
Rolling Stone
David Ellefson
“This is probably one of the most diverse interviews!”
Rolling Stone
Marty Friedman
“No kidding! You change the subject very quickly. He he. Well, I can't really talk about that man, that's very personal. Nooo, I use, what do I use?... Seimor Duncan Pickups. They call them JBJ. That's it. No secrets.”
Rolling Stone
What else do you have between the guitar and the speakers?
Marty Friedman
“I use an amplifier (laughs). No, I don't use a rack. None of that stuff. I need a couple of stomp boxes, but most of my sound is direct guitar into an amplifier that is a Crate "Blue Woodoo". And mostly my own Jackson KE 1 guitar but I don't use a lot of processors that you know.”
Rolling Stone
Because I also have Jackson...
Marty Friedman
“You do?? They're good, huh?”
Rolling Stone
I like how they feel.
Marty Friedman
“They feel good. They really feel good.”
Rolling Stone
Dave also plays Jackson, right?
Marty Friedman
“Jackson, yes.”
Rolling Stone
How does it actually work when you are sponsored by Jackson?
Marty Friedman
“This is how it works. You love playing guitar all your life, and you're hungry and you don't have any money, and as soon as you start making enough money to want to afford to buy a guitar, the companies give them to you for free. That's how it works. That's the system! (laughs)”
Rolling Stone
But do you play with any others?
Marty Friedman
“Yes, I mean, the contract is not "You have to play this guitar all the time or else...", it doesn't work that way. You can't play just one guitar! What is that? We do concerts all over the world and we have a lot of different types of songs, so I play my own model a lot, but I also play Les Paul, and a Strat, and there's not much of a problem. You don't have the police coming after me, if that's what you mean. Lawyers! (laughs)”
Rolling Stone
David Ellefson
“Sponsor Police! (laughs)”
Rolling Stone
Musically everyone is amazed at how the new album is going to look, nowadays everyone gets into the industrial thing...
David Ellefson
“I remember that in the late '80s, funk metal was very popular. People, fans and whoever came to us, fans of "Faith No More", "Anthrax", -"Oh, are you guys going to do funk metal?" We "No!". And then the next big craze was industrial. "Oh, are you going to do industrial?" - "No!", and, now here years later, I simply think we have incorporated modern instrumentation and modern ideas into our music, we have made many studio albums, we probably have about 100 songs in our entire Megadeth repertoire, and at a certain point you want to start doing something new, so not only does it sound like you live in the real world in 1999, not 1989, but we also have to do things that challenge us. Because otherwise it's boring, just picking up the guitar and playing the same old style of things, I think that's very boring. That's boring. It's really boring. In fact, now if at any moment something sounds with some reminiscence of what we used to do, we immediately try to change it so it sounds like something new, because that's fun. That's the fun part of doing what we do, writing songs, playing music.”
Rolling Stone
I heard there was a cover of the "Duke Nukem" theme.
David Ellefson
“Yes, we did a cover of that. But it's not on most copies of "Risk"”
Rolling Stone
Ahá! I heard about a bonus track on the Japanese version of "Risk"...
David Ellefson
“Yes yes yes.”
Rolling Stone
OK, in general, you are listed as a heavy metal band, called Megadeth, because violence is everywhere today, so what about extreme music?
David Ellefson
“It's funny, it's like we're almost like family entertainment compared to what many artists and musicians are now, because I think that for us, we never tried to be extravagant and sensational, and we tried to shock with rock. And I think there are many bands now that don't really have good songs that put on makeup, I'm not referring to Kiss, who were great at what they did, but new bands that now put blood on their faces and put on makeup and dress up with crosses and spears and things like that is the only way they have to make a mark on the world. And for us we have always relied on the fact that we are good musicians and write good songs and we rock live. And the name "Megadeth", our band is familiar with the name. And the name is like a household name now. When you say Megadeth you really don't think "Oh my God it's a great heavy name, those guys must be evil!"... People don't think like that anymore, it's like a brand name.”
Rolling Stone
Marty Friedman
“Coca Cola”
Rolling Stone
David Ellefson
“Yes, Chevrolet... well, Saab maybe (laughs) "Volvo", here in Sweden...”