Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s collaboration on the Satch/Vai tour has to go down as one of the great guitar team-ups of all time. It’s also a feel-good story in a time when we could use one. But with the set for the Satch/Vai Tour to be culled from both players’ catalogs, how does this momentous electric guitar spectacle come together onstage?
At least Pete Thorn knows what he has to do; he’ll be will be holding it down on rhythm guitar. But will we hear hear Vai playing the solo to Surfing With the Alienor Satch handling For the Love of God?
Speaking to British gear retail giant GuitarGuitarthe latter explained how he and his old friend are sharing lead guitar duties, and why it’s essential that they don’t get in each other’s way.
“We’ve had so much experience playing with each other over the decades, it really makes things very easy,” says Satriani. “However, some of Steve’s songs are better left to him performing them on his own. The level of technical difficulty and the importance of one clear voice playing the melodies and solos are things we take seriously, song by song.”
If Vai’s Teeth of the Hydra is on the setlist, then we can see why discretion would be the better part of valor. And if Vai himself admits that And We Are Onefrom 2016’s Modern Primitiveis his “greatest accomplishment” on the guitar, telling Guitar Player that it has “more phrasing and melodic intimacy” than anything he has ever recorded, then perhaps that’s best left for Vai to handle.
But Satriani doesn’t rule anything out. He tells GuitarGuitar that they soon discovered during rehearsals that their respective arrangements could be expanded to make room for them both.
They will certainly be playing together on The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1the first original composition the pair ever wrote together, and on the newly released I Wanna Play My Guitarwhich premiered on Guitar World and Guitar Player last month and features Glenn Hughes on vocals.
Satriani wrote the track and originally intended for Hughes and Justin Hawkins of the Darkness to share vocals. Hawkins was unavailable. Hughes was all in. Satriani recorded his vocal idea on Voice Memos and sent it to Hughes. “I pray no one ever hears that demo of me singing into my iPhone!” he said.
Both tracks are thematically linked. Satriani might be 68. Vai turns 65 today, Friday, June 6 (many happy returns, Steve!). But they draw upon the formative experiences of both of them growing up. Think of them as companion pieces, that Dazed and Confused social milieu of teenagers in the ‘70s, two of whom just happen to be the world’s preeminent guitar virtuosos.
“This song depicts all that Joe and I used to think about as teenagers. All of the things we loved about pounding rock ‘n’ roll and the glorious guitar,” said Vai. “It is phenomenal for us to be able to present to you now our teenage aspirations in this song.
“I remember those days and how absolutely exciting it was to play the guitar. Our whole world revolved around it as if it was a mysterious monolith, as it is, and I know that there are teenagers right now that are feeling the same thing about this sacred instrument when they play it.
“It feels like freedom and joy and I recommend everybody find some time in their life to play the guitar – enjoy!”
The Satch/Vai Band features the legendary Kenny Aronoff on drums, with Marco Mendoza on bass guitar.
The Satch/Vai Band’s Surfing With the Hydra Tour arrives in the UK on June 13, at the Barbican in York. See SATCH/VAI Band for full dates and ticket details.
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