If you’re like me, you watched the trailer for Nyaight of the Living Cat , saw cats acting like zombies, and were already in. But then the trailer threw up an added bonus of an absolutely crushing metal song and you were even MORE in. What more could you want out of a show? Lucky for you, there is another added bonus. The shredding guitar you’re hearing is performed by none other than the legendary Marty Friedman! Friedman has been delivering riffage for decades and has become one of the most iconic guitarists of all time thanks to his work with Megadeth, on various television and anime productions, and of course with his solo projects. This track, composed by Koji Endo and which brings together Friedman and Heidi Shepherd from Butcher Babies, is sure to be the soundtrack of your summer. I spoke with Friedman about his performance on the main theme song for Nyaight of the Living Cat and how living in Japan has inspired his music. You've done work for anime in the past, musically. But did you ever imagine you'd be doing music for an anime like this one? Marty : No! This story is like out of this world. I think a lot of people are going to find it fresh and new and exciting. The anime that I've done before, I enjoyed all of them but this one is just kind of wow! This is an idea that I think a lot of people are going to pick up on quickly. I was very flattered to be asked to play on this thing, and it was really easy because there's just so much to work with. The song was a really good representation of what I think the anime is going to be so it was a very easy, fun process. It's definitely a story that only anime could tell, and that's what I love about it already. Marty : Right, right. You touched on it a little bit, but what about this project most appealed to you? Marty : Well, first of all, the song is right in my wheelhouse. I do so much music that is so completely outside of what people think I'm doing. For example, I'm playing a Piazzolla concert in concert halls, and I play with orchestras, and I'm playing this week with Momoiro Clover Z, and it's very wonderful. I love it. But it's not what I was born playing, which is metal. So when I hear a song like this song that we're doing for Nyaight of the Living Cat , I'm like, this is in my blood. I don't really have to try to channel other parts of my musicality. It just comes right out. So it was just a very natural experience to do so. I really enjoyed that. It's nice to fully just be able to be yourself while also being part of an anime production. Marty : Right? Usually, there are a lot of specific things that I get asked to do. This time I was just playing guitar. I wasn't writing any music, but sometimes if I'm writing a piece for anime, I get asked certain specific things, and those can be challenging. Fun too, of course, but this time it's like, here's the track. It kicks *ss. It's metal. Here's the story, go. So that was very natural for me, and I enjoyed that. RELATED: Sleep Theory's Cullen Moore: Here's How Anime Shaped Me How did you approach playing on this song? Was it similar or different to your approach to playing live? Marty : Like we both know, it's a full on metal song. But something I learned a really long time ago was to try to channel the concept of the lyrics when you're playing on a song. This can be hard because lyrics can be abstract and ethereal. And how do you channel that? Sometimes it's easy. If you got a song about aliens, you play like you're coming from Mars or something. But a lot of times, you don't get a lot of clues like that. But this time the story was definitely very visual, and there's a cat involved, and I remembered, and some of my maniac fans will know this, in one of my early bands I had a song called “Black Cat,” and I remember the producer saying, “Hey, dude, make this sound like a cat. Make your guitar sound like a cat meowing,” and I always remember that because I really like getting advice from the people around me, and some things stick with me, and that one did. So I'm like, well, this is about a cat. This is a full on cat concept. So I took that exact same thing and tried to make my guitar, even if it's subliminal, even if you're just kind of barely noticing it, I was shooting for it to sound like a real gnarly *ss cat. Now that you say that I'm going to forever hear that when I'm listening to the song. What was it like to work with the legendary Heidi Shepherd from Butcher Babies on this song? Marty : When I heard the demo of the song, she was not yet on it, so I didn't know what it sounded like or what she was going to come in and do. But I was familiar with their music and her voice, so I knew that she was going to hit a home run on it. I think somewhere in the US or in Europe, we were on the same bill together, and I just remember her and the band tearing it up. I think I was done before she even started her work on the track. I just knew that they were going to hit major grand slams. And when I heard the final track, of course she did, so I was glad to hear what she did. It's an all-star team, I think, for a lot of fans who have seen you and them around the scene for so long. It's so great to have you both on the same track. Marty : Yeah, I like that. It's a real modern way to do work, and you don't have to be in the same continent to do things. But I think whoever put together the casting on this track really had a good idea of what they were going to shoot for the final product to be, and I think it shows in the final song. How has living in Japan influenced your musical composition? Marty : Of course, all of the musical collaborations that I've done with literally everybody here. Well, not literally everybody, but every possible kind of music in Japan obviously sinks in. But I think when you've been playing music as long as I have, things that are not necessarily musical influence you more than other things. Lifestyle, pace of life, life experiences the people that you meet. The process of making music is different in Japan than it is when I was growing up in America. So all of these non-musical things influence my music even more than the musical things do. Because my music, the way I play, it's almost like a chameleon. I think I adapt to situations better now that I live in Japan than when I was back in America, because so many off the wall things come at me in Japan. I've become better at adapting to things than when I was living in America. So I think that there's a lot more growth and a lot more challenges in Japan. Hopefully, those things have made a good influence. I'm sure, working on those various anime projects and getting those special directions and unique approaches has probably taught you as well. Marty : Right, right. Were you interested in anime prior to moving to Japan, or did you get more interested after you got there? Marty : It's funny, because for all of the anime theme songs that I've done, and all of the anime work that I've done, I'm not the most knowledgeable about anime itself. I usually get involved with the project that I'm working on. Maybe they'll say, watch this episode, or you need to know this, this, this and this about the character, and through that I get to know certain things. But I'm not any kind of aficionado at all. I watched some anime before I moved to Japan, obviously to learn the language, it helped. But you'd be surprised how unknowledgeable I am when you look at how many anime songs I've been involved with. I guess it's just. I'm more on the musical side of everything I do. But of course I like anime, and I think it's really come leaps and bounds from what it was even 10 years ago. It just keeps growing and getting better and cooler and more interesting and deeper and attracting more people from every country. It's really quite a phenomenon. Would you say you have a favorite of all time, even if you haven't necessarily seen that many? Marty : The one that left the biggest impact was probably Kimi no Nawa . I don't know what the title is in English. I think it’s Your Name. A lot of it was actually in Shinjuku, where I live. All of the architecture and buildings and landmarks were so on point that it really felt like I wasn't watching anime. I was like in this parallel universe, and I just was very impressed with the whole entire project. And of course, the Radwimps song on that was just a superstar great song, that was probably the one that left the biggest impact on me. RELATED: The World Through They EYES of "Spinner" It's kind of cool to look at your own neighborhood through a different lens like that, like you're a tourist in your own neighborhood. Marty : Absolutely trippy man, trippy. Did you see where you live in the movie at all? Marty : Not my actual house. But I saw that neighborhood, and it looked totally real. And the train station and a lot of, you know, hills and streets, and they really nailed it. it really made you feel like you were in a different place. And I guess that's the charm of anime in general. But they've really made a science out of that, and improved on what it was even recently. So you've worked on songs for anime. You're the metal man. There's a lot of heavy songs in anime. A lot of the way that Western audiences get introduced to heavy music in many ways. Have you seen an overlap in your fan base and anime fans, or do you have any thoughts on why anime fans and metal fans overlap so much? Marty : I might have a good answer for this, but it's only my personal theory and idea, and I could be totally wrong. I think it started with the early days of anime in Japan, and those anisongs, even in the early days of Japanese animation, before it was a thing overseas, had a lot of guitar in it. It usually had a guitar based riff and a lead guitar solo in it, and granted it was very old school, but still, it was guitar, and guitar is the foundation of heavy metal, and lead guitar solos and stuff. So that evolved and became more metal and more metal and more metal as anime grew in popularity. So like you say, I think a lot of people in Western countries are discovering metal, the sound of metal music, through anime. But what I think is great here in Japan is that people who have no interest in metal at all are enjoying metal through anime. They kind of have this blank, genreless way of listening to music over here. It's not like “metal or die!” like it was when I grew up. But in Japan, anything goes, and I think that comes from anime a lot. What I have noticed in my experience touring outside of Japan, my fanbase has totally grown and a lot of people have discovered me through being anime fans. They weren't guitar fans. They weren't metal fans. They didn't know my music or my history. But through the anime that they're watching, they become fans of Japan. And then inevitably, they find out about me somehow. Then they might find my Tokyo Jukebox albums and then they become fans. So I've got a whole new fanbase to add on to my hardcore fans, which I'm very thankful for. Also a lot of people are just interested in Japan in general, not necessarily anime, but Japanese things. So I'm kind of like a double agent spy, so to speak. A lot of people ask me about Japanese things that they wouldn't ask a Japanese person, and they could get a direct answer from a Japanese person. But I think it's maybe easier to ask me about it. And so I kind of give them inspiration to come to Japan and live out their Japanese dreams, you know, because there's a lot of cool things about Japan that Americans admire. And obviously, I'm one of those who came here to live their dream. I went and made things happen. Language is the key to that. I find that a lot of my new fans, hopefully, are getting inspired by that. I'm no genius, but I could do things I wanted to do in Japan that you can do it too. So if I'm inspiring to those people, it makes me very happy. That's beautiful, and long may you continue to win people over to anime and metal for as long as that could be possible. My last question for the day is, is there a character from any anime that you've watched that you think would be a good bandmate? Marty : This is a good question. I haven't really thought about anybody being in my band other than the people who are in my band or have been in my band. So it wouldn't be like, I want that guy in my band. I've got the perfect band. I'm sure there are a lot of anime characters who would make good bandmates, but for my band it's such a specific, strange blend of personality and musicianship and character and type of person. There's a lot of fantastic, wonderful musicians out there, but very, very few could be in my band. It's the weirdest thing. When you see my band play, you'll know what I mean, but I can't name one for you. I'm really sorry about that. No, that's great. I like hearing the answer. That there's not even a fictional character who could beat who you've got is probably the best thing a band member could ever say about their bandmates. So that's awesome. Marty : Yeah, yeah. Now that you put it that way, yeah, it could be. I, really, I love my bandmates, and I wouldn't want them to change, and I can't really think of anyone replacing them.
