I Wrote an Article for RollingStone.com About My Day with Marty Friedman in Tokyo

Some schmoe wrote a fascinating article for RollingStone.com about Marty Friedman’s life as a celebrity and musician in Japan: oh wait… it was me! Operating under a mysterious pseudonym, naturally.

As I’ve written about already in this space, I had a fantastic time in Japan when I visited the country for two weeks in June. Prosthetic Records, the label that released Marty’s new solo record Inferno, reached out before the trip and asked if I’d like to spend a day with him in Tokyo… to which, of course, I said yes.

Marty picked me and MetalGF up at our hotel in a cab, took us to a lecture he was giving to songwriting students visiting from America, then out to lunch at one of his favorite restaurants in Shinjuku and to a photoshoot at the Hanazono Jinja shrine. All the while Marty told us about his life in Japan: why he decided to move there, how he came to be a national TV star, and what led to his new album Inferno. I felt I had some really interesting material that would make a solid long-form piece, different from the kind of stuff we usually publish on MetalSucks, so at Prosthetic’s publicist’s suggestion I pitched RollingStone.com on the idea… then one thing led to another, and here we are!

Read the piece here. In particular, I think MetalSucks readers will find interesting the part about Japanese pop music and how musically complex it is, progressive even. Enjoy!