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| HAPPY 2006! Interview |
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10 January 2006 |
new interview with Marty
FOR JAPANESE GO HERE:
http://www.martyfriedman.com/faqdetail.php?id=44
HI Everybody! Maysan here once again wishing all of you an excellent
2006! I have put together a special year-end interview with Marty for you all so
let`s get started! Enjoy!
MAYSAN (.COM) Thanks for taking the time to do
this, Marty. 2005 was a big year for you with 6 months on a hit TV series, 3
live DVDs, lots of new music of your own as well as with artists that you are
currently producing, but I`m sure you`re aching to talk about the New Year`s
show you just did! We`ll get to all that but I`d like to start by getting the
status of your new solo album.
MARTY FRIEDMAN (MF) Cool by me. The album
is moving along well and I plan to be finished with all of the tracking by the
end of January. I started recording in March but it has been really hard to get
a lot of recording time in between all the touring and television I`ve been
doing. The good thing about that is I`ve had more time than usual to live with
the rough mixes and that allows me to make valuable adjustments that usually I
don`t have the luxury of making when I make an album in 2 or 3 months.
.COM You said before that the album will come out on AVEX in Japan, what
about the other countries?
MF I have good labels in mind for the US and
Europe, and AVEX has territories outside Japan in Asia.
.COM So how
about putting up some samples on the site?!
MF Maybe when it gets closer
to the release date, which will be in late spring. I did play a rough mix of a
song called `Black Orchid` for all the fans at Masa Ito`s Heavy Metal
Soundhouse. I sandwiched it between Ministry and Avenged Sevenfold, and I think
it held up pretty good!
.COM You mentioned a guest player on the album,
who is it?
MF Let`s just say he`s a monster guitarist! We`ve agreed to
do the song together and all systems are go, but it`s always a good thing to
keep those kind of things quiet until tracks are in the can, just in case
something unexpected gets in the way. I`m sure I`ll be telling you how cool the
track is by the end of the month!.
.COM You have concentrated your
efforts in Japan for the last couple years which has done extremely well for you
in Japan, but what about your many fans in other countries? We get literally
thousands of emails here at the site asking when you will be playing here or
there and even people flying to Japan to see your shows for fear you may not
visit their country ever again! Do you have any plans outside Japan anytime
soon?
MF Thanks for your patience! I got to Italy, South America and
Asia in `04 and `05 and I was blown away by everybody`s support. It was better
than ever. You can be sure it will be worth the wait by the time I get back. My
next album will be released worldwide, and I plan to do concerts and/or special
promotional events all over the world to coincide with the new album. The main
thing that has kept me from leaving Japan more often is the intense TV schedule
that started for me in `05. To be honest, I never expected in my wildest dreams
that I would wind up doing so much TV in Japan.
.COM Are you talking
about gHebimetasanh? I saw an episode on the internet, and I couldn`t
understand the language, but it looked pretty crazy.
MF It kind of all
started with gHebimetasanh. Right after the first episode aired, I started
being managed by the top television production company in Japan, so I wound up
doing even more TV than the 6 months that I did with gHebimetasanh.
.COM So you made the transition from musician to TV personality? Why did
you go in that direction and what did you learn in the process?
MF First
off, I didn`t make any such transition, and it`s very important to me that
whatever I do, I`m a musician first, and anything outside of that is just fun
and if it helps introduce my music to a wider audience, that`s great. That said,
doing TV lets me do so many things that normally I would have no chance to do,
and get so many cool experiences to draw from. As far as learning, it`s an
ongoing thing, for sure.
.COM I`ve known you as a guitarist for so long,
it`s hard for me to imagine that there are people in Japan who only know you
from TV.
MF It`s strange for me too. People just kinda treat you
different. It`s an amazing thing to be a part of a hit TV show, and especially
one that I was there from the very beginning of, every step of the way. It`s
real hard work to keep having fresh and entertaining stuff to do every week and
I`m real proud of the work I`ve done on the show.
.COM Is the show going
to return next year? And is it ok if we put a few episodes up on this site?
MF Let`s just say I believe a new season is very likely, but again until
the first one is in the can, let`s just wait and see. I doubt that we can put up
any episodes, but I`m sure we can try to put up a few clips on the site. Which,
by the way, what is going on with the new site?
.COM It`s coming
together! I`ll be showing you some updates to check out soon. We`ve got a great
new designer, and even though I think our site now is one of the best out there,
the new one is going to be a whole new level up, that`s why it`s taking so long.
MF Well, break it out!
.COM OK, tell me about your New Years.
MF Yeah, on New Years Eve I did a show called gKouhakuh which is a
show I have wanted to be on ever since I lived in Hawaii. This is the 56th
annual broadcast. It is a legendary show, but the main reason I have always
loved it is because instead of giving out awards and listening to long winded
speeches, there are about 40 of the most popular Japanese artists, I guess to
put in English terms, that stylistically range from Frank Sinatra to Marilyn
Manson to Cristina Aguilera to Bob Dylan and everything in between. Each act is
more extravagant than the next. I played a song with Suzuki Ami. It seemed to go
by on a flash.
.COM That`s great! Can the show be seen outside Japan?
MF Yes, on a delayed worldwide NHK broadcast.
.COM You did three
tours of Japan in 2005 and each of those tours became live DVDs (all released on
AVEX). How were they different from the other tours you have done, and can you
tell us a little bit about each one?
MF Musically the Suzuki Ami tour
was fresh because the music is straight up dance/club pop, but the producers and
staff are all rock and metal freaks so they encouraged me to add rough edges and
lots of guitar to the music. I was more than happy to do so because I think pop
needs fat, aggressive guitars a lot of the time.
.COM Tell us about
Suzuki Ami. What kind of girl is she?
MF She is breathtakingly cute in
person. Of course she can sing and dance great, but I`m convinced that her
presence and charisma is a huge part of why she has so many loyal fans. We had a
lot of laughs, and one thing I`ll never forget is when we did a duet of an Enka
song (Amagi Goe) at an after show party! Somewhere there is a bootleg video of
that floating around.
.COM Maybe it will appear on the live DVD?
MF I doubt it!
.COM I saw the Kirito live DVD, of course again I
didn`t understand the Japanese, but it was cool to see the rehearsal footage and
backstage footage and how it all builds up to the live show. That show was
really different than what I expected, very rock, but very Japanese and visual
oriented.
MF Kirito`s a super talented and unique guy. You know, I only
do tours and recording other than my solo stuff when there is truly a special
connection between me and the others involved. Kirito and I hit it off
especially on stage, there was a natural rapport that felt like we were in the
same band since high school.
.COM I couldn`t help but notice the
audience was all girls-what was that like? Do you think Kirito just gets
dismissed as an idol singer?
MF First of all I don`t understand why more
guys don`t show up, because the music is very heavy, powerful and full of
guitars. What I did learn about some heavy bands that have lots of female fans
in Japan like Pierrot(Kirito`s band), Sex Machine Guns, and TM Revolution, is
that they do have male fans but they are embarrassed to show up to gigs that are
filled with screaming girls. So what these bands do is have `guys only` shows
where only guys show up and they play maybe some more obscure or heavy material.
The whole thing fascinates me! That said, I like girls as much as the next guy,
probably more, so that tour was a whole lot of fun!
.COM It was a big
year for you and Aikawa Nanase as well. There are lots of news blurbs on the
site about what is going on there, but maybe you can give me some details? I`m
looking forward to the new live cd/dvd because I really enjoyed the gLive
Emotionh DVD you sent me last year as well as the fact that you play with Pata
from X JAPAN!
MF X JAPAN is one of the main reasons I got into J-pop and
J-rock in the first place. I was stoked to tour with Pata! He`s a great player
with a cool presence and tons of fans! We did the Japan tour which is on the
live CDs and DVD, plus a great show in Korea. We also recorded the new Aikawa
album together as well as doing 2 videos for the first 2 singles off the album.
After all of that, I did the annual unplugged fan club only concert which was
amazing! There are so many sides to Nanase`s music, kind of like my own music; I
love to play everything from the extremely heavy to the sweetest ballad. That is
one reason we hit it off so well, for sure. There will be a DVD of this show
coming out so I guess that makes 4 live DVDs in one year. No rest for the
wicked!
.COM This makes your third year with Aikawa Nanase, to what do
you attribute this longevity?
MF I think it`s because as much as we work
together, I just never stop being a fan. Sometimes in concert, it`s like an
out-of body experience, I often forget I`m even playing! Our chemistry is
special, and you can really hear it in how my guitar style matches well with her
moods on the new album. Now I`m working with her in the studio on a song in
English, and she is doing great!
.COM Has she sung in English before?
MF Never a complete song. I`m being way strict on the pronunciation.
.COM Hopefully fans outside of Japan will be able to get to hear it. I
hear a lot of the music you are doing in Japan, and it sounds good, but for most
of us it`s really hard to get into because of the language. You can surely tell
it`s you on guitar, but to be honest, when the singing is going on I lose
interest sometimes. Do you find that this affects your fans outside of Japan the
same way?
MF I`m sure most people would feel the same, and not only
that, most of them do not get a chance to hear the music in the first place.
What may be a household name in Japan is very likely completely unheard of in
Italy for example, and vice versa. I love Paula & Chiara from Italy but they
couldn`t get arrested in Japan!
.COM Who?
MF See what I mean?
.COM Marty, I `d like to thank you on behalf of all of us working on
this site as well as everyone who visits us. We`re going to make this site even
better this year, and we are waiting impatiently for your new solo album!!
MF Thanks so much for your support! I hope to play for every one of you
this year.
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| © 2002-2018 MARTY FRIEDMAN OFFICIAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PORTION OF MARTYFRIEDMAN.COM MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF MARTYFRIEDMAN.COM. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS WEBSITE, PLEASE EMAIL: MAYZAN (INDONESIA)
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