Marty Friedman has said that the “ex-Megadeth guitarist” tag often associated with his name “really, really bugs the shit out of me”.
The 61-year-old, who played with Dave Mustaine’s thrash metal crew from 1989 to 2000, revealed his gripe with the label in a new interview with That Rocks!.
“Of course, once I left Megadeth, the tag ‘ex-Megadeth’ was stuck to my name, and I understood that for about a year or two,” the guitarist said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
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“And then I really, really wanted to cut that out because I was no longer in Megadeth and I was doing my own thing, doing other things not related to Megadeth at all.”
Friedman later added that part of the reason he dislikes the term is the difference between his post-Megadeth solo music and his former bandmates’ material.
“Of course, sometimes they even still do it now, and it just really, really bugs the shit out of me, because it’s not doing Megadeth any favours either,” he explained.
“It’s not doing me any favours. It’s 25 years ago. They have their own band, and I’m the biggest fan of their band, and my thing is completely different from theirs.”
Friedman amicably left Megadeth over creative differences and later relocated from America to Japan, though he rejoined Mustaine et al onstage at the legendary Budokan venue in Japan last year.
The guitarist recently reflected on the one-night-only reunion in an interview with The Guardian.
“The only piece of unfinished business that [Mustaine and I] had was Budokan,” he said.
“It was equally important for both of us because we’re both rock fans at heart – growing up with Cheap Trick at Budokan, and all our heroes who played there, we both wanted to play it together.”
Friedman continued: “Dave got hold of me and said ‘Dude, have you ever played Budokan?’ I said yeah, and he said: ‘Do you wanna play it again?’ It was the sweetest exchange.”
Of the night itself, Friedman reflects: “People were crying and screaming and smiling from ear to ear. It was just a different kind of night!
“The show couldn’t have been any better, and to be completely honest, the band sounded better than when I was in it.”
Friedman released his new solo album, Drama, this month and is currently working on a memoir, Dreaming Japanese.
