Marty Friedman, one-time guitarist for thrash band Megadeth, came to the UK for two live dates; I managed to get to the Nuneaton gig on the 22nd May.
So why am I writing about an American guitarist in a blog about Asian culture? While obviously not an Asian artist, Marty Friedman now lives and works in Japan, and has done so for many years now. He is fluent in speaking Japanese, has made and appeared on several Japanese TV shows, and has performed on records of a number of Japanese artists' music, such as Suzuki Ami, and Nanase Aikawa. He is also married to a Japanese cellist.
I first heard about Marty working in Japan when I saw clips of his TV show "Rock Fujiyama" on YouTube. He, along with singer/guitarist of 90's Japanese rock band Scanch, invited famous musicians onto the show to play music-based games, and talk about rock music. The show was a lot of fun, with some great guests, including one of my favourite guitarists, Paul Gilbert, and there was also a lot of guitar playing on the show too, which for me was what made the show so great. I've since managed to see all the episodes, and ever since then, I've followed Marty's career more closely than before. So it was great to find out he'd be on tour not only here in the UK, but actually playing a venue not too far from where I live. Often, musicians of his calibre only play in London, which can be a bit of a pain to get to sometimes.
Another reason for his inclusion here is that in Marty's band, the other guitarist is Takayoshi Ohmura, who I believe is considered a bit of a "guitar god" in Japan. I thought I had never heard Ohmura before, but it turns out I had! He is also one of the guitarists in BABYMETAL's backing band Kami Band, who I'll be going down to London to see live next month. He was sporting one of their t-shirts that night too.
