Former MEGADETH guitarist MARTY FRIEDMAN has teamed up with Taiwanese superstar A-MEI for a tour of Asia and Australia which started in late November.

Marty's official website reports:

Thanks for visiting www.martyfriedman.com! I recently had the chance to speak with Marty at good length so let's get straight to it. Enjoy the first part and the next one will be up next week.

Q: Thanks for chatting with me today, it's been a long time. Actually our visitors probably don't know this, but I have been running your site since the very beginning but I have yet to meet you in person! I'm going to see you live in Singapore and I'm really excited.

A: "Me too. It's about time! Just so everyone knows, you started up this site completely on your own and I was just blown away by your cutting edge web abilities, which especially back then was very impressive."

Q: Thanks, man! I remember walking you through basic computer stuff back then, hopefully you are ok on your own by now.

A: "I forgot all about that! I sucked! We don't need to go into too much detail about that now."

Q: Okay then! Today I want to talk about this year which has been a huge year so far for you, but first off, tell me about the new single! You have been talking about this collaboration with ANDREW W.K. literally for years now, and it's finally for real?

A: "I could not be happier about it. He is by far my favorite USA rock artist and I think we have made the ultimate mixture of our styles. The day I heard his first album, I said someday I'm definitely gonna work with that dude. Since then he guested on 2 of my TV shows over here, and I joined him on stage at his Tokyo concert a couple years back. We got along instantly. But who wouldn't like the guy? He is about the friendliest, most positive and cooperative musician out there."

Read the full interview at this location.

Marty's Asian tour itinerary is as follows:

December

12 - Shanghai City, China
16 - Macao, China - The Venetian Macao Cotai Arena
19 - Beijing City, China

January

9 - Quanzhou City, China

29/30 - Singapore - Singapore Indoor Stadium

March

6/7 - Hong Kong, China - Hong Kong Coliseum

19/20 - Taipei City, Taiwan - Taipei Arena

27 - Gaoxiong City, Taiwan - Gaoxiong Arena

April

24 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
30 - Sydney, Australia