Friedman happy to talk Megadeth

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By ( Louder ) published

Marty won't clam up over his time with Mustaine - even though he'd rather discuss later work

Marty Friedman says constant questions about his time with Megadeth don’t get to him as much as they used to.

The guitarist is a star in Japan, where he’s been based since 2000, and he’s better known there as a TV personality than as the former Megadeth guitarist.

But he still fields questions about his time with Dave Mustaine’s band, including recently being linked with a return to the band as they searched for a new guitarist and drummer.

Freidman tells Ghost Cult: “I used to get a little bit, not upset – but I’m doing all of this cool stuff now. Why do you keep bringing up Megadeth?

“Then I realised that it takes a long time of doing other things before people notice it. After a while, people ask less about it and more about what I’ve been doing lately. So it’s better.”

He says the Megadeth questions come mostly from media and fans outside of Japan, and that fans in his adopted country are as interested in the music he has created since moving there.

He adds: “I’ve done so many other things. Maybe if 10 people meet me, two of them would know me from Megadeth, two of them know me from this thing and two would know me from something else. It’s all different things.”

But he insists: “I’m proud of all of that Megadeth stuff so I really don’t mind.”

Friedman last year described J-pop sensations Babymetal as Japan’s answer to Meshuggah. He also released solo album Inferno last year. Megadeth are currently recording their 15th album with new guitarist Kiko Loureiro and Lamb Of God drummer Chris Adler.

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.