![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Steve-Vai-JulyAugust-2012.jpg\" "\\"Steve-Vai-JulyAugust-2012\\"")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nThe legendary shredder crosses boundaries to deliver the unexpected<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n By Russell Hall\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Steve Vai is mulling over his process to get songs ready for the stage. \u201cI don\u2019t write my songs and then record them,\u201d he muses. \u201cI build them as I record, which means I have to learn them after they\u2019re finished. My first reaction when I\u2019m getting ready for rehearsals is anxiety and fear. It\u2019s like, \u2018Do I really have to learn all this stuff?\u2019 But that only lasts a second.\u201d<\/p>\n Hard to imagine anxiety and fear are part of the monster guitarist\u2019s vocabulary. Even at age 12\u2014when he began studying under fellow six-string maestro Joe Satriani\u2014Vai seemed destined for virtuosity. Following a two-year apprenticeship in Frank Zappa\u2019s band, Vai self-released his first album in 1984. Tenures with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake, as well as dazzling contributions to Public Image Ltd.\u2019s acclaimed album, Album<\/em>, solidified his reputation as a shredder\u2014and a master of tone, color and nuance. \u201cEven when I was learning Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix riffs, I understood that wasn\u2019t what I wanted to play,\u201d says Vai. \u201cI knew I needed to come up with my own voice on the instrument.\u201d That voice has always been expressed on his records\u2014ambitious projects that push the boundaries for guitar technique and explode conventional\u00a0notions of guitar-based music.<\/p>\n Vai\u2019s new record, the loosely conceptual The Story of Light<\/em>, expands that sonic palette. Sessions were completed at his two studios\u2014L.A.\u2019s Mothership Studio and his new backyard facility, the Harmony Hut. Surprises include \u201cNo More Amsterdam,\u201d a beautiful ballad written and sung with Aimee Mann, and a stormy rendition of the Blind Willie Johnson classic \u201cJohn the Revelator,\u201d which offers Vai trading fire-and-brimstone vocals with Beverly McClellan, a finalist on TV\u2019s The Voice<\/em>. \u201cI wanted ebb and flow, tension and release,\u201d he explains. Vai spoke with us about the new album, finding his style and why the seventh track on his records is always special.<\/p>\n Was making the album a long process?<\/strong><\/p>\n It took about a year and a half. There were some distractions\u2014I did one of those Experience Hendrix tours, plus I have a couple of companies that I run. But I pretty much worked straight through. At a certain point you sort of click into gear. Everything around you goes away and you become really focused. You have to enter that frame of mind to keep the inspiration going.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Did you enjoy wearing many hats?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been the engineer, producer, mixer and editor. The only things I didn\u2019t do were the artwork and mastering. It\u2019s very time-consuming, but I\u2019ve always wanted to keep the vision pure. I don\u2019t want any dilution in the music. But I think I\u2019m going to change things up with the next album. I really enjoyed the collaboration with Aimee Mann. I think next time I\u2019ll get together with various people and hand over the producing and engineering reins to someone else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did the duet with Mann happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve known Aimee since college. We went to school together and actually lived in the same building. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, was in a band with her. I\u2019ve always felt there was something special in her songwriting. She\u2019s like a poet and there\u2019s something beautifully vulnerable about her voice. I was having trouble with the lyrics for that song, and my wife suggested I call Aimee. She listened to the track and really liked it. It turned out really nice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Does having a concept in mind help?<\/strong><\/p>\n It does. Pulling various threads into a story affects the melodies. If you make an emotional investment in a character, what comes out is a reflection of what you\u2019re feeling. Suppose I create a character who\u2019s miserable and whose life has been filled with greed. But she has an epiphany, and sees the damage she\u2019s caused to people in her life. That\u2019s the character I was thinking about when I wrote \u201cWeeping China Doll.\u201d The result is a melody that has a heavy sorrow but also a beautiful redeeming quality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why is the seventh track always important in your records?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always found that to be the sweet spot for instrumental ballads. For this album I chose \u201cMullach a\u2019 tS\u00ed\u201d an old Irish folk song. I\u2019m always looking for ways to expand my musical vocabulary. One way is to listen to something outside your radar\u2014like a traditional Celtic player or a Bulgarian pipe player. You pick up different musical sensibilities, different phrasing and articulation and dynamics, and a different sense of rhythm and harmony. If you try to emulate the idiosyncrasies of that music, you find yourself playing things you otherwise would never play.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What first attracted you to guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was love at first sight. I remember first seeing a guitar as a little boy, and everything around it disappeared. It looked exciting. When I saw someone playing it, there was something \u00fcber cool about that. It looked like it fit the person\u2019s body well. I always wanted a guitar but I was also afraid of it. It was a bit intimidating. I felt people who played guitar were really cool, and I wasn\u2019t. When I got one at 12, it became my own little secret. No one knew except me and my\u00a0guitar teacher, Joe Satriani.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How would your style be different had you not studied with Joe?<\/strong><\/p>\n Everything would have been different. His lessons were the air I breathed. I soaked up everything\u2014vibrato, how he played chords and bent notes. Every time he put his fingers on the guitar, music came out even if it was just an exercise. Joe was always the best. He was my mentor and I knew I wanted to be as proficient as\u00a0Joe\u2014but in my own way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did you meet Frank Zappa?<\/strong><\/p>\n I sent him some scores by Edgard Var\u00e8se, which I knew he was looking for. I also sent a tape of my band and a transcription of one of his pieces of music called \u201cThe Black Page.\u201d I wanted to prove to him I was a musician, that I understood music. I transcribed<\/p>\n music for him for a year and a half, and then moved to California when I was 20, auditioned and became part of his band. Those years with Frank were like music college. I learned a bit of\u00a0everything\u2014how to take care of yourself on tour, how to retain all your intellectual property and how to protect yourself from some of the more unsavory parts of the record business. Most important, he instilled the idea that you must make music\u00a0that\u2019s important to you.<\/p>\n What\u2019s better, solo artist or sideman?<\/strong><\/p>\n Each has rewarding aspects. When I was with those bands in the \u201980s\u2014David Lee Roth, Whitesnake and Zappa\u2014I didn\u2019t have the pressure of being a bandleader. I showed up, did my gig, and it was great. Still, I knew it was fleeting because there was a type of music I was hearing in my head that I really wanted to create. And that\u2019s where the great advantage of having your own band comes in\u2014you can make the music you want. For me, having my own band is not a democracy, it\u2019s a dictatorship. I use that term loosely. You have to keep the band excited, too. Of course, there are economic\u00a0responsibilities as well.<\/p>\n Do you think your legacy will be as a player or a composer?<\/strong><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter to me, frankly. I try to move in the moment and do what\u2019s most compelling and natural. If I\u2019m eager to get my point across on guitar, I do that. If I want to compose, I do that. The way an artist is perceived is in the hands of the people doing the perceiving. And that\u2019s all over the place. I would guess most listen to me because they like the way I play guitar. But there are others who like it when I compose things and work with orchestras. There are people who like when I sing. And there are people who don\u2019t like those things. It\u2019s a smorgasbord\u2014and everyone is welcome at the table.<\/p>\n STEVE VAI The legendary shredder crosses boundaries to deliver the unexpected\u00a0\u00a0 By Russell Hall\u00a0 Steve Vai is mulling over his process to get songs ready for the stage. \u201cI don\u2019t write my songs and then record them,\u201d he muses. \u201cI build them as I record, which means I have to learn them after they\u2019re finished. 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