Ghost Cult recently spoke with former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman where they asked him if the subject of his former band comes up a lot, from both the public and the press alike, in Japan, where Friedman has lived since 2003. “Not nearly as here (the US), because here that’s what I’m known for. But it’s taken a long time in Japan, not to wipe that out…I’ve done so many other things. Maybe if ten 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.”
He shares his thoughts on the subject and whether it truly hinders on deciding on what music he chooses to tackle at that moment.
“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 realize that it takes a long time of doing other things before people notice it. So then after a while, people ask less about it and more about what I’ve been doing lately. So I feel that it’s better. But I’m proud of all of that MEGADETH stuff so I really don’t mind.”
He speaks about the rising popularity of BABYMETAL, a group who have been making waves Stateside and has a connection with.
“My guitar player (Takayoshi Ohmura) plays in that. I’ve never played with them but we did some media stuff before, some magazine stuff.”
“I just think it’s really, really good. So I’m not surprised at the success. I’m glad it got found. There’s a lot of really good things in Japan that don’t get discovered and it never gets discovered. They’re not really normal for America so the fact that they’re popular is a great thing and will inspire a lot of people to look into Japan a lot more.”
