A man who needs no introduction... Steve Vai interview, G3 European Tour, summer 2012

For the year 2012 you joined forces with Joe Satriani once again for a huge G3 tour, so it seems you still love to jam with him…

S- I always look forward to Jamming with Joe. I would go as far as to say it’s perhaps my most enjoyable musical communicational experience. He has amazing ears and listens to the musical environment that’s going on around him. It’s a wonderful sharing experience.

What do you expect from the European shows with Steve Morse?

S- Besides a lot of notes, I expect that the audience will be thoroughly entertained and fulfilled with a celebration of the electric guitar. It’s a diverse show and all the G’s offer up their passion and love for the instrument. It’s a unique event. - Steve Morse is a giant of a musician and guitarist and I’m looking tremendously forward to doing this tour with him. I recently did a show with him where we got to play together a little bi. He is so dedicated to the instrument. I think he fits perfectly well into the G3 forum.

Which particular G3 tour did you enjoy the most until now?

S- They all offer something special and it would be difficult to choose a favorite.

Musically they have all had various highlights but perhaps the last Australian tour with Steve Lukather was a personal highlight because Steve is one of the funnies and most enjoyable guys to be on tour with, not to mention an amazing guitar player, and once he, Joe and myself got together it was all laughs.

Could you introduce your current touring band?

S- The band I will have with me on the EU 2012 G3 tour will be different a bit from my solo tour touring band. The G3 band will be Eric Valentine on drums, Dave Weiner on guitar, Philip Bynoe on bass and Jem Godfrey on Keyboards. The solo touring band will have Dave and Philip but Jeremy Colson will be playing drums and Deborah Henson Conant on keyboards a harp.

How is your current stage setup? Could you introduce the whole rig including guitars, amps and pedal board?

S- I usually do not need to bring a lot of guitars on the G3 tour but since the Jams will be tunes down to Eb I will need to bring two extra guitars.

I use Ibanez Jem guitars and will bring 4 on the G3 tour. I use Carvin Legacy heads. Out of  the front of the head I go into an Ibanez Jemini distortion, Bad Morley Bad Horsie Wha wha, MXR phase 90, and out of the FX loop I go into a Morley volume pedal, into a Digitech Whammy pedal and then into a Fractal Audio Axe FX unit.

In the mid-70s when you took lessons from Joe Satriani, have you fantasized even in your wildest dreams that you guys together will be amongst the most influential and most respected guitar players ever?

S- I had some pretty wild dreams but this was not even on my radar. It’s been a beautiful life experience to evolve and grow with Joe through our careers. I feel as though we have a special relationship and now and then we look at our success together and just laugh at the incredibleness of it all. It’s as if a dream. Who could have thought that we would grow to such wonderful heights together. I am very grateful for the way things turned out.

Despite you guys never played in the same bands, for most people you are inseparable.  Satriani and Vai or Vai and Satriani – Sun and Moon, different sides of the same coin, if you know what I mean. Obviously, you are different in technique, both of you have unmistakably unique approach and command on the instrument, but your visions about music are quite similar in some ways. Do you agree with me?

S- To some degree I believe our musical visions run parallel but for the most part we are very different artists with different musical sensibilities. Some of our music may line up but for the most part they sound like two different guys. It’s important to keep in mind that Joe was my teacher when I was the ages of 12-15 or so. He had the biggest influence on me because I could actually see and jam with a world class guitar player every week. Joe was always great, even when he was a teenager. He was always original and every time he touched a guitar music came out of it. That left a big impression on me.

Do you guys are still able to learn from each other?

S- I constantly learn from Joe on more levels than just musical and guitar related. He’s a burning light of inspiration. The way he lives his life, deals with people, his sense of family, etc. He’s always lifting you up.

During your career you won countless awards including three Grammys. No question, you deserved them. On the other hand, Joe has never won a single Grammy, though he was nominated fifteen times, which is ridiculous. What do you think what could be the reason behind that? I think it’s a shame on the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences…

S- I think there are some factors. I believe that he deserved many grammies but there is a particular awareness that the voters need to have and it also ahs to do with the competition at the time.

I won my grammies on the strength of other artists I was associated with for those Grammies. One was for the performance of a Zappa song shortly after Frank passed away. There was a sympathy vote there. Another was for a ZPZ track (Zappa Plays Zappa) and I was part of that band. We won on the strength of Frank’s name again, and another was for a Lukather Carlton CD I produced. The instrumental category that Joe and I were usually nominated in also had guys like Jeff Beck and other very prominent pop artsits that had instrumental tracks at the time.

The voters usually go by name recognition but the fact that someone has 15 nominations is very admirable. Sadly, winning an award is sometimes not so much a reflection of an artists passion, talent sacrifice and influence, but name recognition at that time.

As the CEO and founder of Favored Nations Entertainment, what’s your opinion, does it make sense to produce physical CDs to sell any longer? The music industry has collapsed since most people would rather download music illegally than buy records. I guess this phenomenon has a negative effect even on the most popular artists’ record sales. What could be the solution for that? Maybe a label something like Digital Nations?

S- The way we create, record, sell and listen to music is always under flux and change and will continue to be. I believe that now is the best time in the music business for a young artist who wants to be independent. It just takes looking around the corner a bit and identifying with the news ways music will be distributed and listened to.

I like CD’s but the time has come for something more practical and the digital age offers ways. The solution for an independent artist is to use the technology to obtain independence and find new and various ways to collect income for their work. They are out there.

Digital Nations is one way for an artist to get their music in Digital stores around the world (perhaps 200 or so) at the click of a button and collect virtually all their money. Through a major label and artist would be lucky to receive $.06 a download. By doing it themselves through a service such as Digital Nations they can collect up to $.70 a download.

Go figure!

What was your initial goal when you founded Digital Nations as a part of the parent company?

S- It was a simple way for Favored Nations to offer a service to artists so that the artist can retain their copyrights, masters and intellectual property while gaining the most financially for it.

Two years ago you’ve launched VaiTunes. Could you tell me something about it?

S- Technically, VaiTunes is all new music in that the tracks have never been released. It’s not uncommon for a musician to record more work than they release. In my case I have a digital ocean of snippets in various degrees of completion. Some are left over’s from assorted project recording sessions, projects that were never completed, sound check jams, demo snippets, etc. 

There are enough lonely unreleased notes in my world to fill an “infinity shelf”. VaiTunes are tracks that are culled from this melodic abyss, brushed off, sometimes severely hosed down, and released as digital singles.

These tracks may be specific to a particular project that has never had the chance to be a completed big picture, but now, with the advent of all this digital technology and distribution, it’s possible to release a variety of tracks from a potential project without having to complete the whole project itself. Eventually, if there is enough tracks completed that fall into a precise endeavor, perhaps they will be compiled and released as a cohesive CD. In any event, it’s a good way to release a constant stream of music.

Although the plan is to continue to create wholesome full-bodied CD releases, VaiTunes can serve as temporary pacifiers for some delectable melodies to be sucked through the ears and absorbed into the soul.

 As a Berklee alumni, do you still follow what’s happening there these days?

S- Occasionally I do. I visit the school whenever I’m in Boston. It has come a long way since I went there. Very updated. You don’t have to put a towel over the window of the rehearsal room you are playing in if you are playing rock music.

Who are the most gifted young guitar players now in your opinion?

S- Anyone that finds what they like most about the guitar and exaggerates it in a unique and passionate way.

These days a lot of guitar players and master builders are experimenting with 8 string guitars, fretless guitars with aluminum fretboard, unique fretting and bridge systems, etc. It seems there’s a new revolution on the horizon. What do you think?

S- There will always be a new revolution on the horizon and it’s nice to watch it go down.

I take certain things from various new and old trends and incorporate them into my music while retaining a musical identity. In regards to the guitar I’m pretty much married to the Ibanez Jem. Iv’e carved my style on this guitar for the last quarter century. It’s like being in a comfortable bed in your own home whenever I play it.

You were one of the few, who started to use Anders Thidell’s True Temperament Formula 1 fretboard. Was it shocking when you first saw those curved frets?

S- They looked quirky and peculiar so they had my name written all over them.

Also, there’s a new bridge system out there called Evertune. Have you ever tried it? Joe uses it if I’m right…

S- Yes, it’s very ingenious and I do have it on a few guitars but I’m very sensitive to string tension so I use it sparingly.

So far your solo career, you last “real” studio album was released in 2005. Don’t you think it’s time to make a new one?

S- Yes, as a matter of fact it comes out in the USA on August 14 and in Europe on Sep 3. It’s called “The Story of Light” and is the second installment of the “Real Illusions” Trilogy.

Last year Whitesnake finally released their legendary Donington gig from 1990 on DVD. Have you seen it yet? If yes, what are your thoughts about it?

S- I saw parts of it and it was a nice blast from the past. I really enjoyed my time in Whitesnake and seeing us up there rocking it out in front of all those people was special.

It was a great time to tour with big rock bands and I’m grateful I had that opportunity.

In the past couple of years you were heavily into orchestral things, so to speak. What was the most important conclusion for you regarding this experience?

S- That orchestras need a lot of rehearsal time and it’s not a good idea to write things that are too difficult for them to play. And did I mention it’s tremendously expensive? The entire “Sound Theories” CD and DVD (Visual Sound Theories), when you add up the costs to copy the music, rehearse the orchestra, record it, put on the shows, edit and mix everything, the cost was over $1,000,000.00 USD. And if I didn’t do most of the work myself it would have cost $2 million dollars!

But it sure is rewarding to listen to it.