Shockwaves/HardRadio podcast #56, available now, featuring interviews with guitar legend Marty Friedman (ex-MEGADETH), Bay Area metal band ELECTRIC SISTER, and SILVER MOUNTAIN founding guitarist/vocalist Jonas Hanssson. Click here to check it out.

The Shockwaves/HardRadio podcast is also available via iTunes here.

Friedman recently checked in with the following update:

"I have already started work on a ton of music for this year and I cannot wait to get it to you..In the meantime, here is a bonus track guitar version of a song that just came out. I quite like a lot of this."

As previously reported, Friedman made a surprise guest appearance at the Saitama Super Arena on stage on December 25th, 2011 with Japanese phenomenon MOMOIRO CLOVER. They played two songs and a guitar solo corner with an excerpt from Friedman's 'Valley Of Eternity'.

Friedman recently recorded Momoiro Clover's upcoming single, 'Moretsu', with producer Maeyamada Kenichi at the helm. Maeyamada is being hailed in Japan as the hottest new producer in recent times, racking up several hits with his twisted and instantly recognizable style.

Adds Friedman about the collaboration, (translated from ENTAME magazine) "...this song is like the (QUEEN's) 'Bohemian Rhapsody' of idol/girl group music. It has all the elements you would never expect in the genre-aside from the five girl singers, there is a 100 person choir, odd-time signatures, high speed tempo changes, unusual key modulations, and my guitar over the top of all of it. Actually, if you could imagine a two-hour long Japan-themed Broadway show fast forwarded and squeezed into five and a half minutes, that might describe the song. No question this is my favorite collaboration since I moved to Japan. It`s also the kind of thing you either loathe with a passion, or you love it so much you can`t get enough of it."

The single will be released in early 2012, and even though it will be a Japan only release, for fans of Friedman's playing all around the world it will be well worth looking into.