Interview: Steve Vai [01/3/99]

MW: It's kind of early isn't it?
SV: Actually I get up very early. I'm up at 6:30 - 7.

I talked to Joe (Satriani) a couple days ago and he told me you joined him at his show at the Wiltern last weekend.
Yeah, it was very nice. We had a really good time. Occasionally when he's in town playing or vice versa we'll kind of join each other on stage.

Was it pre-planned or did you completely surprise him?
No, he actually emailed me about a week before the show and I checked it out on my schedule and it looked good so I emailed him back and I just saw him at the gig.

So was it a lot of fun?
It was great! Steve Lukather came up and played with us too and Steve is just a different kind of guitar player. We hit some musically emotional highs.

What did you guys play?
We played a Jeff Beck old favorite called, "I'm Going Down." We did that on the G3 Tour, then we did one of Joe's songs called, "Rebina" and that was just beautiful. It came out really sweet.

The audience must have been going crazy. They were probably waiting for that all night. The new album, "Merry Axemas, Volume 2," why are you not featured on the album?
Well, I came up with the idea about four years ago to do an instrumental guitar Christmas record and I just didn't have time this year. I wanted to feature people who really have brought something to the guitar, who have a voice on the instrument. So I put together a wish list and went to Epic Records and they were really into it. I got together with John Kolodner, my partner in crime on this project and we just put it together. When it came time to do the second one, we thought it would be best not to have any repeat players or repeat songs so I thought if I was the only one that was being a repeat player it would probably seem really self-serving.

Yeah, I guess so. I'm sure your fans were maybe a little disappointed.
Well, but there would probably be more people turning their nose up at me.

I like the little note you wrote on the liner notes.
(laughs) I'm glad you got that.

How did you decide who to approach and what songs to play?
You'd be surprised how actually difficult it is to get the right players for a record like this because you want to bring somebody that really has a voice on the instrument. Somebody who can make the thing sing and really has a tone that'll do justice to a beautiful, timeless melody. There are guys out there that can do that, but to find people who really make it unique unto themselves you need inspired players and if you notice when you listen to this, the people on here really deliver what their potential is on the instrument and also their personality is very evident.

I'm not musically inclined, as far as playing an instrument, but I do love music and listening to this album I've learned to differentiate between the styles of guitar playing.
That's definitely a good reference ground because all the people on there, no one is copying each other. When you hear Jeff Beck doing his piece, it's obviously him. He's not trying to sound like anybody else and it's really a choir and his fingers. The same thing goes with Steve Lukather and it's like that with everybody.

Every song is very eclectic.
We're really thrilled about the way everything turned out. The musicians really rise to the occasion for this record.

Did they seem to enjoy doing something like this too?
Oh, yeah. It gives them more privileges and space that you just don't get on your solo records because if you're say, Joe Perry (Aerosmith). He's in one of the biggest rock bands in the world and when he writes a song for Aerosmith, the guitar solo is usually tucked into a certain choir and the whole record has to gel as a whole and they have to worry about having the right singles and that the tour is planned and all the press is in place, but with this, Joe Perry got to be the guitar player that he really is. You can really hear it on Merry Axemas, Volume 1. Merry Axemas, Volume 2 for instance, you got Ted Nugent, who's a whacko. He's a very cool guy, but he's just whacked out. You can really hear it in his track. You hear everything; you hear the technique that he has as a player. His ability to arrange and put things in a certain place but also his bombastic, approach to things. In his words, he calls me up and goes, "Steve, well I finished the track and I've decked the halls with balls."

I've seen a few interviews on TV on him and he just seemed so crazy. It was funny. He's definitely out there.
Yeah, he's definitely cool, smart guy and very entertaining.

Is Christmas your favorite holiday?
It might run a close second to Halloween.

So what did you do for Halloween?
I took my kids trick or treating.

What did you dress up as?
I went as a dad.

Are you pleased with the praise you've received from the critics for Merry Axemas?
Yeah, it's tough to garnish the approval of the hierarchy. As a musician you go through your career and when people criticize you harshly you say, "Oh, the hell with them. I don't need them. Or they don't know what they're talking about." Then when they say nice things you love them and you want to call them up and kiss the phone. But after a while you realize there are inspired journalists just like there are inspired musicians and there's hacks too and if you have the eyes to see it you can cut through the waxing and the meandering adjectives and really get some constructive criticism for yourself, whether it's good or bad. I realize that when you're onto something seize the moment and identify with it and see how you can incorporate that integrity into other things.

You know I can't really imagine the critics saying anything really bad about you, just because you're such an accomplished musician.
Oh, thanks but I have notebooks filled.

Oh, you save all your bad press?
Well the record company scans all the press and I get all of the reviews at the end of each project. Literally two or three huge loose leafs filled with stuff. You can tell the projects they like. I get criticized very harshly.

Does it bother you?
Not at this point. Well, I say that but I'm a sensitive musician too and whenever anybody says anything painful - you know there's constructive criticism and there's attacking. I've been attacked monstrously, but I've very rarely read things about me that didn't have some shade of truth to it.

Well, at least you're honest with yourself. Why did you name the series Merry Axemas?
That was a consensus among the record company and a bunch of us. At first I didn't like it because it sounded too "heavy." Too….

Violent?
Yeah, but it turned out to have a good fit.

I really like the artwork on the cd.
Yeah, isn't it great?

Do you think this will be an ongoing project?
Well there's been whispers at Epic that it'll be a yearly thing.

So, they're deciding for you?
They'll approach me on it. I'm interested in it. I work with good people, the labels behind it. It's gravy, you know. It would definitely have to take on different permiations. I'm thinking of doing genre specific, where maybe we would have a jazz record, maybe a thrash record. Get some of these alternative quote "guitar heroes."

Who do you think in alternative music is great guitar players?
I think Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) does a nice job. Kim Thayill (Soundgarden), maybe Dime Bag Darryl.

What current music do you like?
I buy a ton of different stuff. Just recently out of the stack of cd's I bought I really like the Brian Setzer record. Now there's a guy who sticks to his guns.

He was on the first album, right?
He was on the first album and did a great, great job and he just kind of is what he does. He's not putting up a front or anything.

Yeah, and he's been that way for years.
He's dedicated to music, it's his lifestyle, it's his hair, the way he dances, the way he drives.

I'm sure he drives some kind of classic car.
Oh, he does. He drives this big, old Harley and this '57 Chevy.

I can't even imagine what his house looks like, that would be interesting to see.
Yeah, he probably has a jukebox, a soda machine.

What else did you buy on your latest trip to the record store?
Well, it's funny I buy quite a variety. I bought this cd that's called, "50 Years of Jazz Guitar."

Is that a compilation?
Yeah, a big compilation. I like Rob Zombie's new record. He's got a sound and a groove that won't quit. I just bought a stack of Hendrix stuff that I didn't have because it kind of just built up because so much stuff comes out every year.

You must have thousands and thousands of cd's.
I have quite a bit. It's funny, I go online to CD Now and buy them from there,

Really, it's nice to know that you do your shopping on the internet. It's very convenient isn't it?
I hate to say it, but it's really convenient. Sometimes I just like to go to the record store and touch and feel the cd's and just gaze and look around, but when it comes to buying it's cost effective and it's simple and it's just fun to buy over the internet.

Do you buy books too?
Yeah, I buy books, I buy videos. I just bought three videos because it's all right there.

What projects do you have in store next?
Well, I have a cd that just came out, called "Flexible Leftovers." What it is, is my second solo record. I printed about 2,000 copies maybe about ten yeas ago, actually about fifteen years ago. They sold out and it was an EP and it's a very quirky, peculiar record.

So you actually recorded it fifteen years ago?
Yeah, and I added about five more songs on it from that period and some of them I doctored up a bit. It's being re-released now.

Why do you describe it as peculiar?
Well if you listen to it, it was done back on equipment that I had that was pretty primitive. I wasn't trying to follow any trends, I was being very influenced by Frank Zappa. I was working for Zappa at the time, so I was pretty influenced by him. My recording techniques were newborn and the music is really quirky.

Is it characteristic of Zappa's style?
Yes. It's very characteristic of my first solo record, "Flexible."

Do you plan on touring anytime soon?
No. It's been a while since my last record "Firegarden" came out about two years ago. I wanted to get something out and I was planning on releasing another studio record but I had some unfortunate situations in my family and I went to NY and was with my dad who passed away.

Oh, I'm sorry.
Thanks. It was actually a very beautiful thing because I got to spend a lot of time with him.

Did you make a lot of music during that time?
Not really.

You know, sometimes in situations like that making music can be an escape and influence the music that is made.
Well, those things stick with you forever and change your life. I'm sure it influences what you do. Any artist, when you go to your creative brain muscle you pull from your personality and your experience and it can change in one second and that changes your whole output as a creative person. That's why when you do something creative it's a snapshot of your psyche at that particular moment. I'm working right now on a new record that will be coming out, hopefully in May. It'll be very guitar driven. Then in September of '99 I have a ten-cd box set.

Yes I remember hearing about that, but I thought it was suppose to come out this year.
It was, but it was another one of those things. It has great stuff on it.

Oh, I'm sure. Ten cd's?
Yeah, they're all long. It's an archiving of sorts. It's not like I'm taking all my records and putting them in a box. A lot of it is stuff no one has ever heard. There's these three discs called, "Archives Volume 1, 2 & 3" and what Volume 1 & 2 are, are compilations of anything I've contributed my guitar playing to outside of my own projects. There's a lot of great stuff in there, some beautiful music.

How many studio albums do you have?
You know what, let me think…5.

So you have 5 of the studio cd's and 5 cd's from the vault?
Oh in the box set I will have, "Flexible" my first solo record, and "Flexible Leftovers" but I'm thinking of replacing them with two other cd's.

The actual studio albums are not even in the box set.
No. There's a double cd in there called: "The Elusive Light and Sound, Volume 1 & 2." It's all the music I've ever composed for films. I've done some scoring and I've contributed music to soundtracks and it's got that whole crossroads duel in it. That's Volume 2. Volume 1 is all new music that was written for a film that was never made and I've got to say, that's some of my best music. It's just brilliant stuff, I hate to say it (laughs). It's really very orchestral. It's a cross between "Flexible" and "Passion and Warfare."

Do you enjoy doing music for movies?
Sometimes it's painless and sometimes it's just a real pain in the ass. The deadlines are ridiculous; the budgets sometimes aren't that great and when you're composing music for film, you're not like this free agent that's splattering out all your deepest emotions. You're very secondary to the scheme and the characters and you have to guide the image of the film with your music. You have to know what's going on, where it's going, how to underscore the film. That has so much to do with the actual film. Then there's the fact that you can work really hard on something and the director can come in and in three seconds say, "I don't like it, do it again. And by the way, we need it by tonight."

It seems in a way that you wouldn't be able to be as creative personally as you would if you were making your own album.
Absolutely not. Now some people really rise to the occasion with film scoring. I have at times and at times I've felt it really confining and also non-confining in the sense that you're given a set of perimeters and you got to work within them and you could be really creative.

Interview: Steve Vai 1/3/99

Interview: Steve Vai
1/3/99