One of the most fascinating musicians I’ve ever known, Marty Friedman has been and remains a rock star, a guitar hero, and a man who after achieving his wildest dreams through huge music success in America during the 80s and 90s, completely started over and became an unlikely media celebrity in the early 2000s in a country half a world from his homeland.
It’s hard to believe that Friedman has now lived in Japan for almost 23 years.
“The problem with paying your dues is that it never ends,” Friedman eloquently opines in his 2024 autobiography Dreaming Japanese. “You never stop paying your dues. Every single day.”
From his riveting book, I’ve gathered Friedman’s life has always been about recurring reinvention and adaptability. He gets knocked down repeatedly and has to get up and completely start over again, followed by feelings of isolation and deep reflection, which ultimately leads to a resolution of an improbable reinvention that propels him to greater heights.
Through his relentless perseverance Friedman struggles to start again from nothing, going from tasting local band success as a teenager in rural Maryland, to the verge of homelessness in L.A., to ubiquitous rock superstardom followed by a near nervous breakdown, to a radical reinvention as an American living in Japan as a mainstream TV celebrity and J-Pop musician.
I interviewed Friedman about his extraordinary life and career that continues to be an open book while visiting City Winery in the West Village. Earlier this year, I’d seen Friedman perform in this same venue with his eponymous band during their U.S. Tour.
Friedman’s Early Life
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1962 and raised in rural Maryland in a Jewish household, Friedman was destined to live and thrive in an unorthodox lifestyle, whether through his social interactions with his peers or fledgling music career.
Friedman admittedly grew up from a place of privilege and security compared to other big-league musicians. His father was a National Security Agency (NSA) executive working on highly classified projects. Friedman often moved to different parts of the world for years at a time with his family due to his dad’s assignments, adjusting to life in Germany and later forming and performing in bands in Maryland, Hawaii, California, and Japan.
While life moved on, Friedman lacked motivation until accidentally discovering the guitar at the age of 14 inspired by his enthusiasm for the band KISS.
Here are some excerpts from our interview.
KR: I went to see you at City Winery in New York City on February 4th. What a fun show! One thing I totally loved is your onstage vibe with your band. You always have another great guitar player in the band, and you not only unselfishly pass the baton and allow them to shine, you turn it into a hilarious comedy act, especially during the call response solo of Tornado of Souls. You constantly badger him. It’s funny, dude. How did that shtick start?
MF: You know, it’s one of those things you never know what people are gonna like about any parts of your career. People still bring up that song, Tornado of Souls, and they really connect to it. So instead of me playing it, he plays it and then I stop him. I get pissed off at him for playing my solo. Then we argue on stage and everyone loves it. You know, like you said, it was really funny!
We do that in every country in the world. And the language barrier or lack of language barrier just makes it a completely different, hilarious experience. I think the funniest has to be in Japan because Naoki doesn’t speak English, but I speak Japanese to him and he’s from Kobe, which is in Osaka.
So we argue and when I speak in his dialect, it just sounds completely ridiculous. It kind of adds to the whole craziness of the situation. We have fun with it and bring the audience into it!
KR: Joking around about stuff with your buddy guitarist Jason Becker was also a big thing back in Cacophony. I can feel that special camaraderie you guys had when you did that U.S. tour in 1988 having extracurricular activity after the concerts. You met a Latino one night in one of the southwestern states and he really teased you about that.
MF: Ha ha. That was funny. I put all that kind of lowbrow humor in the book. People like to think if I’m a musician or someone they admire that I’m somehow like a really classy guy. I’m just like everybody else — just as crude as the next guy.
I like to disarm people in that way. We’re all the same, and we all think about the same things, and we all kid each other about the same things. So I put a lot of that stuff in the book.
KR: What do you think of the younger generation of shredders today? Ichika Nito, Marcin, Tim Henson and Max Ostro. Do you think they’re missing something despite their technical proficiency?
MF: Absolutely not. I’m friends with all these guys and have worked with all of them. I’m here to tell you that they’re all fantastic.
I’ve done the most work with Ichika. We’re ready to put something out together in the next couple of days. He’s the real deal. Marcin is just mind blowing and Tim Henson is really great. I’m very happy that these guys came up because it revives interest in guitar.
For more information visit: Martyfriedman.com
Marty Friedman on His Life as a Guitar Hero: Dreaming Japanese to a New Reality
Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.