Steve Vai Interview

Vai: The name is synonymous with guitar excellence. For over 40 years, Steve Vai has been pushing the boundaries of his respective instrument, following in the footsteps of Hendrix, Zappa, and Van Halen before him, and paving the way for generations to follow. Each album is a glimpse into the mind of this never resting genius, encompassing such diverse genres as metal, prog, blues, jazz, avant-garde, and more. As the world awaits his tenth full length offering, Inviolate, we had the chance to sit down with Vai to discuss his creative process, his gear of choice, and how he ended up playing the theme to Halo 2, among other things. We had questions. He had “Answers”.

Greetings Steve and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing this afternoon?

Steve Vai: I’m doing great! How are you doing Joe?

I’m doing fantastic. Now we’ve got a lot of news to get into, so let’s hop right into it. On an unfortunate note, it was just announced that this upcoming round of dates you had planned has been postponed to this fall, due to another upcoming shoulder surgery. How are you feeling?

SV: I’m feeling great. I’m fine. A year ago, I had surgery on my shoulder after years and years of *motions strumming*. It was great. It worked out great. I healed. I did Inviolate, but over the summer I was doing something stupid with my arm and I tore another tendon *laughs*. I thought I could get away with getting through this tour because I’m planning a mega tour. It’s got over 250 shows all around the world. It’s probably gonna take a year and a half. I consulted my doctor and he said, “You ain’t gonna get through a tour. It’s not gonna happen. It’s gonna get worse and you’re gonna have permanent damage.” I was like, “Ugh!” We decided obviously it’s best to get fixed before the tour. The tour is booked in chunks, so we took this chunk and moved it to the fall.

We’ll be looking forward to it. Of course today the rock community is mourning the loss of Meat Loaf, with whom you recorded a couple songs with for his 2010 album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Are there any stories or memories that come to mind having worked and crossed paths with Meat?

SV: Oh yeah. When we started this interview and you said “unfortunate news”, I thought that was the news you were gonna bring up because that’s a lot more unfortunate than my tour being rescheduled *laughs*. I loved every opportunity I had to be with Meat. He was great. I did gigs with him. I golfed with him. I played on his record. I’ve been in the studio with him. He was a giant presence. He was just such an interesting guy. As you can tell by the way he performed, he was an incredibly passionate performer. He was like that in life too. Exuberant and interesting and funny. I remember once I was invited to perform with Queen in Vegas, many years ago. Meat was there and he came onstage. It was me and him and Queen, without Freddie (Mercury) of course. We just had such a great time. He did this funny thing where he’s introducing me. You know how he would start screaming? He’s going, “Ladies and gentlemen! This is Steve Vai! He’s the greatest fucking guitar player in the world!” He’s just going on and on and on. Veins are bulging and everything. I’m thinking, “Woah man. We better play this song before he passes out.”

He was a lot of fun and his contribution was so powerful. We think back and he was totally a different color crayon in the box. When you think about Bat Out of Hell, for a guy like me, I think of that time. Records, when they’re that good and that popular, when you think of them, they create a snapshot of a time and a place for you. That record holds so many treasures of that time and place. I’m so grateful to him for that. He came and he delivered big time.

I was lucky enough to meet him last summer. Even from the brief time we spent together, the thing about him and I’m sure you’ll agree, is that no matter who you were, he treated you like he knew you forever. He was a kind, warm soul.

SV: He never looked down on anybody.

Absolutely. On a happier note, next Friday, January 28, will see the release of Inviolate, your first album since 2016’s Modern Primitive, and even that album was built upon unfinished ideas from the 80s. When did the ideas for this album start coming together?

SV: All the time. I think for people that are geniuses, they’re constantly inspired. I have to wait for the fairies of inspiration sprinkle dust on me, but when they do, I try to capture something, whether it’s a riff or if it’s a lyric or an idea. I usually put it on my iPhone. Then when I wanna create a record, I’ve got thousands and thousands of snippets of these little ideas. They go back from when I was 12 years old playing the accordion. I’d sit there with my cassette player *laughs*. When I’m ever looking for inspiration, I just go to this vast body of snippets that I call the Infinity Shelf. I listen for a riff or something that has some energy in it.

Something like Modern Primitive, a lot of people say to me, “Oh, it’s been six years since your last solo record.” I’ve done so much between then and now. I just don’t do things conventionally. Most artists will make a record, tour, make a record tour, make a record, tour. I spent two years composing orchestra music. I’ll be getting four albums out of that. The songs come when I’m building a record and I feel what it needs. What it is I’m trying to get across, what the concept of the record is. For this record, Inviolate, it was different than a lot of past records in that a lot of times in the past, I have a tendency to heavily produce. Also, I add a lot of quirky things. Sometimes filler in between songs and funny little voices and things like that. For this record, I kept it real honest, just the songs. Because of the lockdown, I had a lot of time to experiment with some guitar techniques and stuff that I really wanted to do, but never really had a chance. It all worked out pretty good for me.

I’ve listened to this album a few times already. One thing I’ve noticed is there is, as you mentioned, a very organic feel to it. Some tracks even have a demo quality to it, in the sense that I feel like a fly on the wall of the studio. Was that the purpose at certain moments on this album?

SV: Well I like to have diversity. One end of that diversity is a very intimate performance, where you feel like what you said, you’re in there. I think I was able to capture that to a degree on songs like “Candlepower” and “Greenish Blues”, where it’s just very intimate sounding.

On the other side of this spectrum are cuts like “Teeth of the Hydra” and “Avalancha”, which remind me of modern prog metal acts such as Animals as Leaders. Then I remember that your work was essentially the catalyst for this entire scene. What are your thoughts on this influx of young guitarists and bands of the past decade who cite you as an influence?

SV: It’s really nice to be acknowledged for your contribution. I think I can speak on behalf of everybody for that. It’s nice when somebody says, “That was cool. Thank you.” I don’t do it for that obviously, because if you expect that, then you could put yourself in a lot of suffering. I was very fortunate in that I kind of hit the scene back at a time where the guitar scene was very influential. I was thrust into the top of the game. As a result, a lot of young players that were into all the crazy guitar playing, they were listening to what I was doing. Like me, they come into the world, they look around, and they say, “Okay, what’s going on? Okay, this is where I’ve got to start.” I did that with my heroes. Young kids saw me and said, “Wow, okay. That’s where we have to start basically.” While they’re working through the inspiration, they take their own course. Then you get guys like Tosin (Abasi). Tosin, he may say, “I used to listen to Steve Vai.”, but you listen to his music and it’s like, “Where?” He’s brilliant.

It’s very interesting for me to see certain things that I may have introduced on the guitar that were just variations of what I learned from somebody else. I just added my own little spit and glue to it so to speak. And then to see how some guitarists take that to a different level. It’s very interesting. It’s been so long now, I see three different generations of guitar players that have come after my time. When I look at some of the things these guys are doing now, besides being very inspirational to me, they’re extraordinary. If I watch Tim Henson play, and you read an interview with him where he says, “I used to listen to Steve Vai.”, but you watch him play and you’re like, “Where?” *laughs* That doesn’t sound like anybody! It’s just brilliant. It’s the same thing with Tosin. There’s a whole handful of those guys. If Jimmy Page was to maybe sit and listen to something like “For the Love of God” or one of my crazy guitar songs, he might say, “That guy is inspired by me? Where’s that?” No doubt for me, Jimmy Page was #1 and that’s it. You never know how influences can seep into what you do and then expand.

Which is a truly beautiful thing.

SV: Yeah, it’s amazing.

What guitars did you use to record this album?

SV: I used a variety of guitars. The first song, “Teeth of the Hydra”, I used the Hydra obviously. One of the things I’m pretty sure people don’t understand when they see that Hydra reveal video, the music in the background is “Teeth of the Hydra”. The way it’s performed, all the bass, seven string, twelve string, and harp strings that you hear, are performed on the Hydra at one time. I really couldn’t do it on any other guitar *laughs*. The second song is “Zeus in Chains”. For that, I used the second seven-string ever made. It was a prototype. It’s number two. That’s the one I always go to to record, because for some reason, it sounds big. It sounds beautiful. It was perfect for “Zeus” because I love big, fat, seven string, tuned down, tension chords drenched in distortion and delay. That to me is a good time, and that’s what “Zeus in Chains” is.

The third track is “Little Pretty”. I used a Gretsch because when I listened to the riff from the little demo that I made, which was just the first few chord changes, I knew that a solid body guitar wasn’t gonna do it. The riff will tell you what guitar to use. I have a lot of hollow body archtop guitars. I like to collect some of those. I always liked the Gretsch. I’m a Brian Setzer fan. The Gretsch has a particular sound, unlike other semi hollow bodies. I just knew that that was the guitar most appropriate for that song.

The fourth song is “Apollo in Color”. For that song, there’s this luthier in Slovakia. I have a good friend there. This luthier made my friend a guitar. I was at his house in Slovakia playing it and I’m like, “This is an amazing guitar. It feels really nice.” The luthier said, “Please let me make you a guitar!” So I said, “Yeah!” He made me this beautiful custom guitar. That’s what I used for “Apollo”. There was something nice about the midrange on this guitar. Sometimes I like to use something different just because it’s nice.

I think the fifth song is “Candle Power”? Actually, the fourth song is “Candle Power”, fifth song is “Apollo in Color”. “Candle Power”, for the video, I use this…I love strats, but strats and Les Pauls, I can’t play them very well. They’re not JEMs. JEMs are my comfort zone. I can’t play any other guitar like I can play a JEM. It’s built for me, but it has a particular sound. If you want to branch out, you gotta fool around with other things. I must’ve went through, I don’t know how many stratocasters, to find the one. And really, having Ibanez is fantastic because they can make anything and they want to for me. We have a 35 year career. I don’t abuse that privilege. Maybe they didn’t feel that way they had to build the Hydra *laughs*. I wanted a strat like guitar that had as close to the sound as possible, with vintage type pickups, and a cutaway that I could actually play higher notes, and more frets in a JEM form, so I got that guitar.

The sixth song is “Avalancha”. That was recorded back when I was recording Real Illusions, the bass and the drums. That’s why Billy Sheehan is on that track. I had to balance out the Real Illusions record. I had either “Building the Church” or “Avalancha”. I chose “Building the Church” and put “Avalancha” on the shelf, but I knew it was there. I broke it out, fleshed it out, and it turned into what you hear. I think I used EVO on that track, which is my JEM. The seventh song is “Greenish Blues”, and I used my new black onyx PIA for that. “Knappsack”, I used the black onyx PIA, and also “Sandman Cloud Mist” is the black onyx PIA. I’ll mention this. There’s a lot of other guitars on the record. They’re just for more background stuff. These are the main guitars.

It’s funny you mention “Building the Church”. What I’ve always wondered for a predominantly instrumental artist such as yourself is what inspires your song titles? For example, how did “Building the Church” become “Building the Church”?

SV: “Building the Church” is part of the Real Illusions trilogy. Real Illusions is a series of my plan, it’s three records, that have this story that runs through it. It’s not in chronological order and it’s very cryptic to figure out what the story is with the information is that I’ve given. The third record, which is originally what I was gonna work on before the pandemic, the story comes together and it’s a whole presentation. Each song in the three records represents a particular event that’s happening in the story. In the story, for “Building the Church”, there’s this town. This wizard of sorts appears in this town and he builds this living edifice. It’s this giant living, breathing church for a lack of a better term. When you go in it, it’s extraordinary.

It’s all fantasy, weird stuff, but it’s really cool. When he’s building this church, he’s wielding these powers of the universe. The church is coming into manifestation, this giant building. It’s all for the townspeople to come to the next day. This is when they go in the church and have these wild experiences. “Building the Church”, the song, is the audio to the pictorial of this wizard. Not a wizard with the hat and all that, but just this magic man of sorts. His name is Bapu. No, Pomposh! I changed it to Pomposh. He’s wielding this church and it’s coming together from the ethos and all these weird things, while the song “Building the Church” is going on.

That answers a question I’ve had most of my life! Going back to the Hydra guitar, I saw the press release for it a few days ago and my jaw was on the floor. How long did it take to create this instrument and what inspired you to embark upon such a massive undertaking with Ibanez?

SV: Because I can *laughs*. Well, I’ve always had an attraction to multi-neck guitars. I’ve had quite a few in the past, but I never really felt like I integrated them into a real piece of music. With the heart guitar I recorded “Fever Dream”, and I got some stuff going on there, but I wanted to create a piece of music where everything would be performed on this one instrument, with the exception of drums and some keyboards. I knew I needed multiple necks. I thought, “I want a twelve-string that’s half fretless, I want a seven-string, I want three quarter size bass neck that has the A and E string fretless, and harp strings.” I was also into steampunk fashion at the time. This is like five years ago. I gathered some materials and sent it all to Hoshino. The designers just flipped out. They saw this and they said, “Yeah, we’re in!”

They sent me this rendition, a drawing, of the Hydra. I was like, “Holy shit. You’re kidding. You’re gonna make that?” “Yes, Mr. Steve! We’re gonna make it!” I’m like, “Alright! Let’s do it!” It was perhaps three years of going back and forth. They’d come here and have cardboard cutouts and everything. We just worked on it and they installed all of these incredible elements. It’s got a whole guitar synthesizer section and piezos and sustainers and sample and hold. A lot of people I notice are wondering what the ethernet cable is for. Well it’s a cat six cable.

When we were trying to consider how to get all of the various audio, because there’s six audio sources, where do you put the outputs and what do they look like? None of that was gonna work, so these brilliant designers came up with a cat six cable. You plug that in and it goes to a brain. Do you notice at the beginning of the video there’s that big gold box? That’s the brain of the Hydra. That cat six cable carries in it everything. That’s the outputs for all the necks, the outputs for the digital, the outputs for the piezos, the outputs for the synth guitar.

There was no way to do it with outputs. It’s all in that cat six, and then it goes to the brain. It’s not compromised at all. The brain splits it up into separate outputs. Those are separate mono outputs and they go into the only device I know of that they could properly go into to make my life a little easier and that’s the Fractal Axe-FX III because it has four inputs. Then you can make them stereo. You can do anything. When you listen to the track, all of that is the Hydra through the Fractal. That’s what that is.

It’s definitely epic.

SV: You know what Joe? I knew that if the guitar was gonna be extraordinary looking and as wild as it came out, I have to be able to use it appropriately or else I’m a chump. It was really just envisioning it and then sitting down and slowly figuring it out. It just took some time to negotiate the whole thing, but it came out really good.

It certainly did. Switching topics, a lot of younger fans around my age discovered you through video games, whether it be Guitar Hero, Rock Band, or perhaps most famously, Halo 2. How did the Halo 2 collaboration come to be?

SV: I did Halo 3 also, but it started with Halo 2. I didn’t know very much about video games. My kids were, at that time, at that perfect age to be engrossed in video games. I didn’t know much about it. My good friend Nile Rodgers was working on soundtracks for video games because it’s a big field. They actually have a lot of money because they use full orchestras. Nile Rodgers is a genius. He called me and asked me if I wanted to play on the soundtrack to this video game. At first I thought, “Meh. I don’t know.” But because he was my friend, I said, “Yeah, I’ll do it.” I was on tour though. He said, “I’m gonna be in Seattle on this day, so maybe we can do something.” I said, “Sure.”

I had a gig in Seattle and he came in and rented a studio. I just sat there for an afternoon and we had a lot of fun. I was just ripping away on it. I knew the game. I had heard of the game of course, but I didn’t really know it was that popular. I didn’t know it was the number 1 video game in the world at the time. I remember I called my kids and I said, “Hey guys, I’m working on the soundtrack to this video game.” “What’s the game?” I’m like, “What’s the name of this game again?” Nile says, “Steve, this is Halo. It’s the biggest video game in the world.” I’m like, “Okay!” “The name of the game is Halo. Do you know it?” There was silence. I’m like, “Hello?” They’re like, “Halo?! Like thee Halo?! You’re playing on the Halo soundtrack?!” This was the first time my kids thought I was cool *laughs*. It went very well. They invited me to play on their third one too.

Yeah like I said, between that and those rhythm games growing up, that was a big gateway in the mid to late 2000s roughly. Guitar Hero III had “For the Love of God” and Rock Band had those Where the Wild Things Are download tracks.

SV: Yeah, I remember when Guitar Hero came out. I got it for my kids and “For the Love of God” was in it. I licensed it. I license my songs to a lot of video game companies. They like that stuff. And they (my kids) kicked my ass on that. I played them. I played Guitar Hero with my kids, playing to my song, and they just annihilated me *laughs*.

As we all know, you got your start with Frank Zappa. What was the biggest lesson you took away from your time with him?

SV: Well Frank was a very free thinker. He was always creative. The thing that I got most was, if you have an idea for something that’s compelling to you, you have every right in the universe to manifest it. Matter of fact, that’s your job. Frank was a contrarian in a sense. Anything that had limitations or convention, he figured out ways to bust through, because he just didn’t follow natural logic, worldly logic, which is very limited. He followed the logic of his own creative instincts. I was very young and impressionable. When I set out into the world to do my thing, I took that with me. It’s like, what do you wanna do because you can do whatever you want. Nothing has power over you unless you give it your power, and your only function is to do those things creatively that are compelling to you, and do them in a joyous way because that’s what expands the universe. That’s what we’re all doing. Frank was an incredible manifester, as you know, and so many other things I learned while working with Frank that I think about everyday. That’s one of them.

Expanding upon that question, what is your biggest piece of advice to young, aspiring guitarists?

SV: Find what’s interesting and exciting to you inside of you, not a fantasy, future thing, right now, and throw yourself into it without any excuses, knowing that you’re the boss.

The new Steve Vai album, Inviolate, comes out Friday, January 28 on Mascot Records. For more information on Vai, visit www.vai.com.