Ex-MEGADETH Guitarist MARTY FRIEDMAN: 'Drugs Are Very Silly To Me'

Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman spoke to Australia's Silver Tiger Media about the music industry's "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" ethos and how it has somewhat been taken over in recent years by a desire to be healthy and fit.

"You know, I'm not a guy who likes to promote drugs, but I think the whole 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' attitude is right for the music," Marty said. "I don't think 'sex, smoothies and rock 'n' roll' sounds so good. [Laughs]"

He continued: "I think that the image is cool, but I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty that if you do do a lot of things like drugs that are definitely not good for your health, there's no way you're going to have a long career. And not that every superstar needs a long career. I mean, some things were not meant to be done forever, and every single person has a different way of presenting their art, so I'm not for or against every person's personal choice — it's completely up to that person. But in my case, I'm not one of those health maniacs, but I'm very conscious of not doing things that can be prevented. So drugs are very silly to me, because it can be completely detrimental to your health, your looks, your athletic ability, your everything. So when you play music, I like to be completely in the moment and completely energized and motivated and stuff like that. But, you know, every single person's different and I haven't done any of those sorts of things since I was sixteen."

Friedman previously addressed the topic of drugs in a 2017 interview with Ultimate Guitar. Revealing that he wanted the "Self-Pollution" track off his latest studio album, "Wall Of Sound", to have a "stoney" section in the middle, he explained: "I'm not a big drug person or pot person but when I was on tour for [2014's] 'Inferno' last time, I noticed in every city it smelled like pot everywhere I was going. Not just the venues, but you go into the 7-Eleven and it smells like pot in there and the airport smells like pot... I started to think back when I was a little kid and doing that stuff, certain kinds of motifs really spoke out to me when I was under the influence of certain things. They were my go-to jams at that particular time and I tried to channel that."

He continued: "I'm not condoning doing drugs or not doing drugs — I'm really quite against it — but people are gonna do it. It was an important part of my childhood and I remember how important the music was when I was under the influence. I wanted to have a section somewhere on the album that spoke to that and I knew I was gonna sandwich it between some really, really brutal, wake-you-up-out-of-your-stupor-type riffs."

Friedman is continuing to tour in support of "One Bad M.F. Live!!", which was released in October 2018. The album was recorded in Mexico City on April 14, 2018 during the final concert of Friedman's world tour in support of "Wall Of Sound".

Joining Friedman on "One Bad M.F. Live!!" are his bandmates Kiyoshi on bass, Jordan Ziff (RATT) on guitar and Chargeeee on drums.