Marty Friedman announces new album ‘Tokyo Jukebox 3’

March 1, 2021 James Weaver

MARTY FRIEDMAN has announced a new album!

Titled Tokyo Jukebox 3, the upcoming album from the legendary former MEGADETH guitarist is his brand new solo effort and is scheduled to be released in April this year, via The Players Club.

On the upcoming album, MARTY FRIEDMAN takes J-pop hits and offers his own interpretations of contemporary repertoire that includes LISA’s Gurenge and OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM‘s Shukumei, alongside DA PUMP’s dance track U.S.A., SEKAI NO OWARI’s ballad Sazanka, and more.

Much of the recording process was done at Power House Studios in Tokyo, with Friedman, who was also the producer on the project, joined by bassist Kiyoshi and drummer Anup Sastry. The recording process started in January last year and the mixing was handled by Jens Bogren at his own Fascination Studios in Sweden.

The record is the third in a series that began with Tokyo Jukebox in 2009, and then Tokyo Jukebox 2 following in 2011. The trilogy presents Friedman’s inspired performances to Japanese repertoire he’s chosen to cover. Speaking about the album, he says, “I’ve been playing stuff from the first two Jukebox albums live all over the world, and it’s taken on a life of its own. Especially in places like North and South America, Australia, Italy, France and even India. My fan base is very dedicated, and what I have found is that lots of new fans have been introduced to Japanese music and culture through me, which is very gratifying. On the tours it seems like aside from the dedicated guitar fans, the Japan fanatics have been noticeably growing, so now felt like the right time to do Tokyo Jukebox 3.”

Alongside the announcement of the new album, MARTY FRIEDMAN has released a new music video for a new song lifted from the upcoming album; Makenaide. The song is a cover of the hit from Japanese pop-rock group ZARD and talking about the video Friedman adds, “I feel so incredibly fortunate and grateful for the love and support of wonderful people from so many countries and cultures around the world. With this video, I tried my best to share that unique feeling with you, and what better way than to have those cool folks jam for us. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time and energy to learn this song and make this video so fun to look at.”

Watch the official music video for Makenaide here:

Also, you can view both the track list and artwork for the upcoming new album below:

Track List:

1. Makenaide
2. Senbonzakura
3. Gurenge
4. Kaze Ga Fuiteiru
5. Echo
6. The Perfect World (ft. Alfakyun)
7. U.S.A.
8. Shukumei
9. Ikuze Kaitou-Shoujo
10. Sazanka
11. Time Goes By
12. Japan Heritage Official Theme Song