Ex-MEGADETH Guitarist MARTY FRIEDMAN Interviewed On 'The Danko Jones Podcast' (Audio)

June 28, 2012

Canadian rocker Danko Jones recently down to talk about KISS with none other than legendary ex-MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman for this week's edition of "The Danko Jones Podcast". You can now listen to this spirited discussion about the hottest band in the land using the SoundCloud player below.

As previously reported, three recent albums by pioneering guitarist Marty Friedman — whose groundbreaking work with MEGADETH and CACOPHONY continues to receive international acclaim to this day — will be released in North America by Prosthetic Records on August 14. Two of the titles — 2010's "Bad D.N.A." and 2008's "Future Addict" — have until this year only been available in Japan, where Friedman now lives, while 2006's acclaimed "Loudspeaker", originally released Stateside by Shrapnel Records, will be made available domestically once again. You can head over to the Prosthetic store now to pre-order a bundle consisting of all three titles.

Friedman rose to prominence when he co-founded the revolutionary guitar band CACOPHONY with his friend Jason Becker. From there, he joined metal legends MEGADETH in 1990, who would soon go on to write and record the thrash metal classic "Rust In Peace". Throughout his decade-long stint with the iconic group, during which the band sold 10 million albums worldwide, aside from lending his unmistakable "exotic" sound to the band, Friedman co-wrote the music to several notable songs, including the title track to the multi-platinum "Countdown To Extinction", "Youthanasia"'s fierce opening statement "Reckoning Day" and "Cryptic Writings"' haunting "Trust".

During his tenures with MEGADETH and CACOPHONY, Friedman recorded four solo albums for the seminal guitar label Shrapnel Records. He continued making solo albums after he left MEGADETH in 2000, releasing seven — including "Music For Speeding", which was released in the U.S. by Steve Vai's Favored Nations in 2003 and supported by an American tour alongside Chris Poland and Alex Skolnick — over the past decade alone. Until now, most of those releases have been unavailable outside of Japan, where Friedman moved in 2003.

In Japan, Friedman became an enigma of sorts: Armed with a fluency in the Japanese language, he left a platinum-selling American band to start from nearly zero to pursue his longtime dream of becoming a unique part of the Japanese domestic music world. That mission was accomplished, for between his solo releases and works with Japanese musicians, Friedman has performed at the largest venues in Asia, including three shows at Budokan, and played on and wrote several Japanese Top 10 hits, including a #1 single in 2011 and a #3 single in 2012.

At the same time, Friedman also became a popular Japanese television personality who not only hosted several programs, but was even featured in national ad campaigns for Fanta and Sumitomo Bank. He estimates he has made well over 400 network TV appearances in Japan, including three televised sold-out solo performances with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Although Friedman has focused on his Japanese music career for the past several years, he has recently remained active in the international metal scene by guesting on albums by the likes of Jeff Loomis, SKYHARBOR and FIREWIND; by voicing the character of "Mr. Gojira" on Cartoon Network's "Metalocalypse"; and through periodic tours outside of Japan, including a 22-country European trek with his solo band last year.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).