Guitar Chords are Louder Than Words Ever Will- Marty Friedman Talks “Wall of Sound” |

We had the chance to talk to American Guitarist, Japanese resident Marty Friedman about his North American Tour and new album, Wall of Sound out via Prosthetic Records. If you have not yet heard the new album make sure you do, it features collaborations by Jinnx, and Shiv Mehra. This is an astonishing record, and this is what Marty Friedman had to tell us.

Jose Barrientos- “It took nine days to track down the guitar what song were you excited to record first?”

Marty Friedman- “I had been playing the songs for about 18 months. It took about a year and a half for the actual recording, by the time I started recording, it only took nine days for the actual guitar recording. I had been playing for the previous 18 months or so those songs, by the time I had to record I had been playing those song to death.”

Jose Barrientos – “Would you say that this was the easiest process in terms of recording?”

MF- “Definitely the hardest process, and longest one. To get to the point where I can do all the main guitars in nine days, it means I had to be pulling my hair working on this stuff for 18 months. By that time I really had it in my system, it;’s the hardest but it is the most gratifying and satisfying feeling. At the end, I have no regrets having taken that long to record this album.”

JB -“That is great, the album is a blistering amazing composition. It is hard to decide on a favorite song, the highlight of this album to us is the titled track “Whiteworm”, it has a nice intro and it breaks into a latin style, perhaps Flamenco style, what pushed you to add that sound?”

MF- “I dont know if I call it flamenco, its a semi-latin sound I put in there. It comes from many experiences that I had in the last two years playing with latin musicians. I played with Rodrigo and Gabriela at the Hollywood Bowl, and played in Argentina it’s a latin sound that I kind of stuck it in my music in a weird way.”

JB – “It is Marty Friedman for god sakes, fans are going to love each sound you introduced, we loved the fusion of latin with heavy riffs following it. For “Pussy Ghost”, the first notes are calm and intriguing did Shiv Mehra write those riffs?”

MF- “The initial notes at the beginning of the song were written by me, Shiv wrote that really heavy riff right after the intro. It was a full collaboration, we arranged it together it is really hard to tell who wrote what. We both intended to record something very ferocious and very wild.”

JB – “The track “For a Friend” is it for anyone in particular?”

MF- “The idea is – Usually kind of difficult on how man tell their friends how they feel about them. Specially rock fans or metal fans, they trade guitar picks, music mix, in a way of telling one another how they felt about them. It is kind of like saying I think you would like this, I was thinking about you. It’s a way of telling emotion, a way of telling a friend about how you feel about them. I kind of wanted to put that emotion into a song, as long as you can do it without saying a word. That is where I was going with that.”

JB- “Each track you wrote has emotion, impact. Your music speaks louder than words could ever do. With each note you play you touch everyone, any of these songs are you expressing a moment in your life?”

MF- “Thats the headline right there. They definitely reflect the was I going through as I was writing the music. Regardless of what I was doing during those 18 months. I was living those songs and melodies, I was always thinking of ways to make them better to make the song feel better or get more tear drops, more chills down your spine. Whether I was traveling, working, jogging or shopping, these melodies were in my mind in my conscious, I was definitely living with them so basically definitely taking a peak into my life during those 18 months.”

JB- “Every song reflects a lot of emotion, and the soul you put in each song. You can hear it even in the tracks where you have collaborations with artists like Jinxx, and Shiv Merha. You added a stunning replica of Jinxx violin notes with your guitar, you did a killer job doing what you do best and that is shredding, what were the responses of the collaborating artists once you heard the songs?”

MF- “On all the collaborations we were all very excited once the song starts to get shape, if we would not be excited the songs would not get done. Every time I would do an edit or the guest would do an edit, we both worked on the song the same amount of time, it was never lopped sided at all. We both were very committed to it. We were very excited about it and it all pretty much snowballed.”

JB- “You are nearing the end of the tour, with a few shows left, how have your fans react during this tour and with the new album?”

MF- “The reaction has been really good, we have played a couple new songs on tour, they have been responding great. They have probably been watching the video to “Whiteworm”, and listening to the teaser to “Self Pollution”. I think people are more acceptable of wilder music than they were ten years ago.”

JB- “You were appointed a Japanese Ambassador in the country’s upcoming Olympic games, have you thought of playing any songs during the event at one point?”

MF- “One of my big goals that I have not achieved is having my music in some kind of olympic event, being Ambassador of Japanese Heritage could help me get my music there, but not sure what could happen. As for now I’m just going around, commemorating places on Japanese events, commemorating special shrines, special parts of the country; things we really want to bring attention to. As the Olympics come along those kind of events will get more and more if it winds up having my music in it that would be great. The closes I have come to is, I just played at a para-olympics event and played the opening ceremony at the Tokyo Marathon which was an honor. People think that I’m up to the task of playing my music in the Olympic games, which would be an honor.”

JB- “Well as a legend you are we would be excited to see you opening the ceremony for the Olympic games, and certainly support all the music you create.”

MF- “Thank you, I has been awesome talking to you.”

We signed off and thank the legend, as he was heading to sound check and ready for his next show. Marty Friedman is paving his way in the instrumental metal realm and with the new record Wall of Sound his skills are recorded for future generations to enjoy majestic music. The album was released on August 4th, via Prosthetic Records make sure to get your copy.

Written by: Jose Barrientos

Photo By: Jose Barrientos

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