MARTY FRIEDMAN: 'Undertow' Video Released

"Undertow", the new video from former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman, can be seen below. The clip features an unsullied look at Japanese culture, says Friedman, who moved to Japan in 2003.

"'Undertow' gives you a look at the Japan not usually seen by the typical Japanese exports, like crazy TV shows, ultra-cute singers and anime," he says. "It shows a day in the life of Japan as the Japanese see it, not the stereotypical Western 'Japanophile' view of it."

Regarding the video's concept, Friedman explains that "the 'Undertow' video attempts to show that when you see a thing of beauty, there is often an undercurrent of true sadness and hardship behind the scenes which creates the motivation to do something extraordinary."

Friedman recently spoke to Wondering Sound about his decision to leave MEGADETH in 1999 in order to make the kind of music that he was passionate about: Japanese pop music, or J-Pop, which Friedman calls "embarrassingly happy."

"I found myself touring with MEGADETH, and in my hotel room I'd be blasting this Japanese music all the time. What's wrong with this picture?" he said.

As his interest in J-pop grew, Friedman started enjoying MEGADETH less. "I thought I was doing myself a disservice just playing the same old stuff and not really enjoying it," he told Wondering Sound. "Making money from fans who want to see you play when you're not into it didn't really sit right with me."

According to Marty, he simply outgrew metal, explaining that MEGADETH's music began to bore him, and he singled out the band's popular ballad "A Tout Le Monde" as an example.

"The melody's like duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh. It's kind of the same thing over and over again," he told NPR in a separate interview. "I'd go play the show at night with MEGADETH. And I'd be like, you know, what what I'm listening to is just so much more exciting than what I'm playing as my gig."

Friedman told his MEGADETH bandmates that he would leave the group at the conclusion of a 16-month-long tour, but "only stayed three more months." He explained to Wondering Sound: "It was just too much. I'm the kind of guy who can't fake it that well. It wasn't very nice, but I just couldn't go on anymore."

Focusing on the J-Pop genre, Friedman noted that going for the opposite of metal was the whole point.

"There's not a whole lot of happy music going on," he told NPR. "Especially in the heavy metal world, where everybody's just trying to out-lame each other, you know, with darkness and monsters and crap like that."

Marty's new solo album, "Inferno", sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 186 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on May 26 via Prosthetic Records (except in Japan, where the album was made available through Universal Music).