Continued from page 34 it ’ s called “ For A Friend ,” it ’ s hard to tell your
guy friends how you really feel deep down . And we love our friends but it ’ s not like you go around telling your guy friends that in so many words . And how do you show that to your guy friends ? Often times I find it ’ s easier through music . I wanted to capture that emotion in the melody . So if you had no words to say to somebody , if you just played this melody or this piece of music to another person , maybe your feelings would get across to that person .
Mosh : I ’ ve read that you spent more time working with the tracks compared to previous albums . Did you find yourself overanalyzing them or was it to your advantage ? Marty Friedman : It ’ s definitely overanalyzing , but overanalyzing is extremely to my advantage in my case . Some people say they don ’ t like to overanalyze and keep it fresh and put it out . In my case , that ’ s really a copout . You can ’ t analyze something enough . You can ’ t live with it enough because that gives you a chance to be honest with something . If you love something when you just finish it and then you put it out and then you realize two-three months later that it really sucks . And the only reason you liked it is because it was interesting at that particular moment . But if you live with things for a year or 18 months in my case and be honest . By the time you change it so many times and you really understand what you like about it , why you liked it in the first place and how to make it best . Then I have absolutely no regrets about putting anything out . There ’ s nothing that has a shelf life , it all made it through a very long period of time of scrutiny . I ’ ve looked in every nook and cranny of these
things and there ’ s nothing else I would want to change . At least I know that I put out exactly what I wanted to put out .
Mosh : “ Something to Fight ” is the only song with vocals . Did you have Jorgen Munkeby of Shining specifically in mind to sing it ? Marty Friedman : He did a collaboration with me on my last album Inferno but he just played sax , which is very strange for a metal context . I had to be convinced . I never thought sax and heavy music should ever go together , but he certainly proved me wrong . We became super friends from that and when this album came around I said he had to sing on it . He ’ s a super musician . He ’ s more than a sax player or a singer . He also plays guitar and bass on that song and wrote the song with me . I ’ m paying him back by working on one of his records now . I think people are going to love the vocals on this song . That ’ s the type of vocals I envision for my music .
Mosh : Some of the other tracks sound a little melancholic-yet-uplifting at the same time . Marty Friedman : There ’ s a darkness kind of sad and then there ’ s an uplifting kind of sad that has a melancholy tinge to it . On that song and also the song “ Miracle ,” it ’ s a very uplifting , melodic motif . But it kind of has a deep , melancholic undertone which I ’ m trying to get you to have goose bumps or get you teared up . I do it in the background without making something sound like scary vampires or something like that .
Mosh : You ’ ve played at Reggie ’ s before . What is it about Chicago fans that connect with your music ?
Continued on page 52
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38 illinoisentertainer . com august 2017