MARTY FRIEDMAN: 'I Can't Think Of Anything I'd Rather Do Than Play Music For People'

During a recent interview with "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon", former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman was asked if he thinks there will ever come a time when he might decide that retirement makes sense. "Hopefully never," he responded. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do than play music for people. So, as long as I'm able to do that, and as long as I'm able to continue making what I consider to be better music than I did the year before, the month before, then I'm gonna keep doing it. And I think had I stopped at any point, I probably would have rotted, because that's just what I do — I do that, just like you brush your teeth, you play music; it's really like that."

Friedman also commented on the recent announcement that KISS wil embark on its "farewell" tour, dubbed "One Last Kiss: End Of The Road World Tour", in early 2019. "That's really up to them," he said. "They've given way, way more than you could ask of anybody, and they've gone far beyond the call of duty of any band. So many decades… I have nothing but appreciation for what they've given to my life and to other people, and just knowing that they're there.

"The first couple of [KISS] concerts I saw when I was a kid just absolutely blew my mind and set me off on a musical path, which I'm very thankful for," he continued. "And then when I saw 'em again on that reunion tour — some other people can probably share the feeling — it was like watching a friend who had died come up from the grave and be living again; it was so weird."

Adding that he first saw KISS "maybe in '76 or '77," Friedman said: "Imagine seeing 'Rock And Roll Over'… you're, like, 12 or 13, and you see 'Rock And Roll Over'. That's gonna mess you up."

He went on to say: "They were so incredibly great at that time. And this is just my opinion, but between the two live albums, 'Alive!' and 'Alive II', they were so ubelievably great that if even a fraction of that magic still existed now, it's worth checking out. And I think that's why it's still worth it to keep playing, because what they had was so incredibly magical at that time that it just will never die. I mean, it's one of those things. Of course, things are different, times are different, they play different songs, the technology is different, the players are different, things are a little bit different, but when I saw 'em at that reunion show in '96 at Madison Square Garden, I swear to God, if you just… You don't even have to blur your eyes a little bit; you just open your eyes and you were there in that super-, super-magical moment. It was just an amazing thing. And I think that magic period of time between 'Alive!' and 'Alive II' has allowed them to continue to spread that to different extents to many, many generations, and I have nothing but appreciation for the work that they've put into doing that, because they could have stopped anytime and just hung out in Hawaii, or whatever, and just had an easy life, but they're still working. I have nothing but appreciation and highest regard for people who work like that."

Marty's new album, "One Bad M.F. Live!!", was released October 19 on Prosthetic Records on all digital platforms, CD, as well as a vinyl 2LP gatefold set with glow-in-the-dark wax as one variant and black sparkle with clear splatter as the other.

Recorded live during Friedman's 2018 "Wall Of Sound" tour on its final show in Mexico City at Centro Cultural on April 14, 2018, "One Bad M.F. Live!!" is chock full of his own brand of "feelgood aggression" and an all-out celebration of his music in its rawest form. It's the follow-up to "Wall Of Sound", which was released August 4, 2017 on Prosthetic Records, and debuted on the Billboard chart at No. 12.