INTERVIEW WITH MARTY FRIEDMAN
Marty Friedman reflects on the mixed reception of the album 'Risk', stating that the polarized reaction from fans ('some love it, others hate it') is 'good' and respects the band's honesty in not repeating themselves. He admits that he personally would have liked to take more risks with the sound, closer to 'Insomnia'. He discusses the notion of 'guitar heroes', arguing that the traditional verse-chorus-solo structure has become boring and that he prefers orchestration and evolution in his style, citing Brian May as inspiration. He also describes his solo album 'Dragon's Kiss' as a unique work due to its technical intensity and aggressiveness, and regrets that 'True Obsessions' lacked a unified concept. He concludes by talking about the mutual benefit of the band's charity auctions.
Date
December 1, 1999
Media
Revista Madhouse (AR)
Interviewer
Frank Blumetti
Interviewees
Rolling Stone
Lately Megadeth's main activity has been touring. How was the tour in Europe with Maiden, for example?
Marty Friedman
“It was a good tour in Europe, because there Iron Maiden has an extremely large audience, and much more now that they have returned to what I suppose is their most popular lineup. So the shows turned out to be much bigger than we expected, and much bigger than they would have been if we headlined the tour alone. Thanks to this tour we had the opportunity to play in front of many more European fans than usual, it was very convenient.”
Rolling Stone
Regarding the USA, I understand you started the tour in October, right?
Marty Friedman
“Actually we started in June. We did a bunch of summer festivals and now in October we started the tour with us headlining, I think that's what you mean.”
Rolling Stone
Exactly.
Marty Friedman
“Well, we also played at Woodstock and at various wrestling events, especially one date in Canada. We did a lot of crazy things but basically we've been touring since the album came out.”
Rolling Stone
And what has been the fans' reaction to "Risk"? Did people like it? Because to be honest with you our editorial office is flooded with letters...
Marty Friedman
“(With interest) Really? And what do they say?”
Rolling Stone
There's a big discussion among the fans. Some love the album, others hate it, and the weird thing is that everyone doesn't seem to know what to think...
Marty Friedman
“I see...”
Rolling Stone
What do you think about that?
Marty Friedman
“That's a good reaction. I mean, we made the album we wanted, we're not trying to please any particular type of person, nor to please the record company or anyone, we're just trying to make the music we feel like making, you know? I think our fans respect our honesty; some may want us to go back and re-do the albums we did in the past and some people may want to hear what we are doing in the present... As for me, I definitely stick with the present. There is a lot of good material from the past that is cool, we are going to play it live and of course we are not going to abandon our history. But there is no reason to live by repeating ourselves.”
Rolling Stone
It's interesting that you say that... A letter says "Why the hell should we care or be so bothered by what bands do? Why do we feel like their owners and are only pleased if they do what we expect?"
Marty Friedman
“Yes, I understand... Look, we are going to play this material more than a hundred times a year. People who have our record collection can play each CD once a day if they wish. But as far as we are concerned, we are going to play this material every-night-live. So there has to be a little variety, even though our material is basically simple and direct hard rock: it's not that we have country, soul or black metal songs. It's still heavy rock. hard rock... Anyway. I think we made a great album. we have had a great response and I also think we have a lot of people who can't stand it. but I think all bands go through this kind of thing...”
Rolling Stone
I like the Album, especially the song "Insomnia". Why didn't the rest of the album sound, so to speak, as "risky" as that song?
Marty Friedman
“That's a good question. In a way I wish... I completely agree with you. I would have liked to go even more in that direction and take more risks, but between all of us and the management we talked a lot, believe me, and I think there may have been a little fear of exposing people to such a big change. But my opinion is different. I would have wanted to go far, far in that direction. Anyway, it's not just my opinion, there are more people involved and sometimes you have to reach a compromise.”
Rolling Stone
Speaking of current music, risky or not, we recently spoke with Bruce Kulick and he cited the lack of guitar heroes as a problem today... Do you agree?
Marty Friedman
“I don't think that's the problem, nor do I think there are problems with current music, which is quite healthy, there are a lot of good bands around. As for guitar heroes, a guy playing solos all the time and making them the main part of the song doesn't seem very exciting to me. I think there is a whole attitude issue, but what really matters is that the music is good, period, that's all that matters. If there is a guitarist in a band, he is going to be a guitar hero, no matter what he plays.”
Rolling Stone
The question was because in the '80s you were usually placed among a whole batch of guitar heroes. Don't you think the guitar might be losing prominence today?
Marty Friedman
“I think the days of traditional guitar and traditional song are over, that became boring. Verse-chorus, verse-chorus, eight-beat chords, guitar solos, the structure of rock is so boring to me that I'm glad it changed... (Laughs) When we were making "Risk" Dan Huff (the producer) tried to get me to stick to a more traditional guitar style, more traditional solos, and I didn't want to do that. I wanted something more orchestrated and more worked out passages rather than saying "OK, here comes the solo" and trying to impress everyone... I already did a lot of that in the past, today there's no reason to do it even more. Now everyone listens to how I play and says "oh that way of playing guitar is great" instead of "oh, that solo was the best part of the song". I don't like that! I don't want the solo to be the best part of the song. No one said that about the Beatles or a lot of great bands. I've heard it a lot of times in my career and it always annoys me. When I was learning, of course, I sped up the song until I got to the solo, that vibe, but that's an empty musical experience, very few people can identify with that.”
Rolling Stone
Yours is the opposite of people who have a lot of technique but never vary the music, your style seems to have evolved.
Marty Friedman
“Thanks for saying that. You have fun trying; when I was a kid I admired guitarists who always did something new and interesting on every album. There are those who took drugs or forgot how to play, but I'm talking about those who tried to evolve, explore to grow; Brian May from Queen was always like that. every album was "wow, that's great, he never did that before". I admire that in a guitarist and I try to emulate it.”
Rolling Stone
You played on several tributes like Queen's "Dragon Attack", Alice Cooper's "Humanary Stew" or Ace Frehley's "Spacewalk"... How do you feel about doing other people's songs?
Marty Friedman
“In these cases... in Frehley's, well, I grew up listening to Kiss, they were the reason I picked up a guitar, it was a fan thing. I had a little band in high school and we played Kiss songs, I loved it, I wanted to play exactly like Ace Frehley, it was all very fun. The guy was the greatest. With Queen I chose a song that doesn't have a guitar solo, "Sheer Heart Attack", I created my own solo and shaped it inspired by the influence of Brian May. He hadn't put a solo on this song, but I tried to do it well. As for Alice Cooper I didn't necessarily want to participate, but Dave was there, he did a very good job singing and suggested to the producer that I be there. I was happy that they called me, so I went and did it.”
Rolling Stone
Can you briefly describe your solo albums? "Dragon's Kiss" ('88), for example...
Marty Friedman
“"Dragon's Kiss" was... it's weird, I was just listening to it...”
Rolling Stone
Do you listen to your old material, things from Cacophony, Hawaii or Vixen?
Marty Friedman
“Not too much, but if the opportunity arises, like when a friend comes over to play guitar with me and wants to hear it... Going back to "Dragon's Kiss", there's so much really cool material on that album, I'm very proud of it regarding the guitar, I don't know another album with such intense and heavy guitar, there is so much orchestration, so much aggression and such a technical style, I never heard such a combination... Of course there are very technical albums, others very aggressive or very intense, but I don't remember any that combine those qualities like that...”
Rolling Stone
Is it your favorite solo album?
Marty Friedman
“I wouldn't want to say that, I like them all, it's like talking about your favorite child. When you release an album you expect it to be the best of all, but I don't prefer one over the other.”
Rolling Stone
And what is your favorite today, shall we say? “Scenes" ('92), "Introduction" ('94), "True Obsessions" ('96)...?
Marty Friedman
“I think the one I regret the most is "True Obsessions". I believed too much that I could make everything sound like it didn't belong on the same album, you know, the instrumental tracks, the vocal parts... Looking back I think the music is fine but it doesn't necessarily fit on the same album. You listen to "Dragon's Kiss" and it's a single concept, it kicks your ass, it's spectacular. I wish I had achieved the same thing on "True Obsessions". But I liked the material itself, perhaps I should have approached it in another way.”
Rolling Stone
You have been doing Internet auctions of promotional material for charity. Do you like those things?
Marty Friedman
“Sure, we like to do charity work when possible; in this auction case people make their bids and a lot of money is raised for charity. What we did was invite the winner to our tour bus. chat with us, watch the show they want from the side of the stage, be backstage... it's no effort for us, money is raised to help people, and the winner also has a fun time. Everyone wins, we like situations like that.”