MARTY FRIEDMAN On DAVE MUSTAINE: 'We've Been Talking Quite A Bit In The Last Few Months'

Chile's Cooperativa.cl recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman. You can now listen to the chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether it's true that he doesn't play material from MEGADETH during his guitar clinics because he is not very proud of his work with the band:

Marty: "That's not true. That's not true. I'm very, very, very, very proud of what I did in MEGADETH. Very, very proud. I love it. I love it so much. But that was the past. And I have no interest in going around the world celebrating the past. I have no interest in that. I'm all about new things and the future, so that's how I feel about it. But sometimes… That's the thing about these guitar-clinic things… Sometimes someone in the audience will ask me to play a MEGADETH song or a MEGADETH guitar solo, and I do it just for them sometimes. But I haven't planned anything like that or prepared anything like that."

On the rumors that he was going to rejoin MEGADETH following the recent departure of Chris Broderick:

Marty: "Well, I'm not in the band [laughs], and I don't plan to be in the band. But I'll tell you this: I'm very, very good friends with all of the bandmembers, and I love them like brothers, and I'm supporting them. Maybe some day, but I wouldn't get excited about it."

On whether there has been any attempt by MEGADETH to get him to rejoin the band in the years since he left the group:

Marty: "There has been, there has been, but there's really no reason for me to rejoin the band right now, or anytime, really. If there's a reason to join the band, I would consider it, but just because there's a member out of the band, that's not enough of a reason for me to join. You need a better reason than that."

On how difficult it was for him to deal with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine:

Marty: "I've been good friends with Mustaine forever. I have no problems with him. But he talks really funny sometimes. He's not difficult for me. I mean, we got along for ten years, when I was in the band, just great, and we have no problems. So I wouldn't say he's difficult at all."

On what he thinks of MEGADETH's musical output since he left the band:

Marty: "I haven't heard, really, anything since I left the band. I didn't follow them, so I don't really know much about what happened after I left. But I'm sure it's very good, I'm sure they work very hard, and I know they have a lot of fans in Chile and all over South America and all around the world, so I know that they're still doing good music."

On whether it's true that one of the reasons he left MEGADETH was that he was tired of playing the same type of material all the time:

Marty: "That was one of the reasons. I mean, it's a lack of respect to the fans to play music that you don't really believe in. When I was thinking about quitting the band, I didn't believe in the music anymore. I just was bored, I wasn't happy. I loved playing my guitar, but I just thought the music was just too old-fashioned and not going anywhere, not growing, so I was just bored. But I was still accepting people's money for the tickets and still accepting money for everything. And I just thought, for me, that was kind of disrespecting the fans. They deserve a show where everybody's a hundred percent into playing the music, and I just didn't feel that way towards the end."

On whether he is still friends with Dave Mustaine today:

Marty: "Absolutely. We've been talking quite a bit in the last few months. We're good friends."

As BLABBERMOUTH.NETexclusively reported as a "rumor" on March 14, it was made official last weekend that MEGADETH has hired drummer Chris Adler (LAMB OF GOD) to play on the band's new CD.

In addition to Mustaine, Adler and bassist David Ellefson, the recording lineup for MEGADETH's new album is rumored to include Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with ANGRA.

MEGADETH has yet to announce permanent replacements for drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist Chris Broderick, who quit the group last year.

The band was still finalizing the recording lineup for its new album earlier in the month, with Mustaine tweeting on March 10 that he was "excited to be auditioning one of my final picks for my new guitarist today."