“SHUT UP – WE KNOW YOU CAN PLAY!”

Steve Vai (SV) took time out from talking to muso mags to shoot the breeze with me backstage at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 4 June 1997. Mike Keneally (MK) also joined us on the fat floating sofa in Steve’s dressing room.

IB: Most of us are aware of how you came to work with Frank, so I’ll by-pass all that. Tell me about the song ‘Solitude’ which you performed for Gail at the Zappa’s Universe rehearsals

SV: How do you know about that?

IB: I, er, have a tape of it.

SV: Jeezus, how did that get out?

MK: (laughs) You can’t stop it!

SV: It was a song that we rehearsed in the 80 band. Frank had written it before then, but we had rehearsed it in an attempt to persuade Frank to play it - which you really can’t do.

IB: It wasn’t a typical Zappa song.

SV: It was the least typical Zappa song I ever heard. When I asked him if it was written for Gail, he said ‘No”. But I know it was because Gail told me it was. Obviously it’s written for her.

IB: It wasn’t actually recorded - just rehearsed?

SV: Well I have heard a tape, I believe, of tracks for that song with the David Logeman band - for the ‘You Are What you Is’ album. And we rehearsed it, and Frank came in as he does sometimes if he’s in a certain mood - he just started chopping songs from the list. We learned a hundred songs and that was one that got chopped. But I remember Arthur Barrow had a cassette of it from rehearsal and years later I wanted to record it. I wanted to do something with it but Gail’s very sensitive about that song. It’s a very special song for her and rightly so.

IB: Did you actually sing it at that time?

SV: Yeah, I did. I got the tape from Arthur. I believe it was Arthur - it was either Arthur or Scott Thunes. I think it was maybe Scott Thunes, I can't even remember now. And then I learned it and I did a little version of it for Gail at the sound check for Zappa's Universe. I totally blew it. I remember she just sat there with her hand over her mouth. But I talked to her about that song.

IB: So probably it’ll never see the light of day officially?

SV: Well there were other people that wanted to record it, but I think Gail wants Dweezil to record it first.

IB: Are you still in touch with the family?

SV: Occasionally. I was talking to Gail a few months ago before the G3 tour because we were gonna do ‘My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama', and I kind of wanted her blessing. And I got it.

MK: Did you ever tell her I was singing on it?

SV: No (laughs) - why, you think she’d say don’t play it? I don’t think so.

IB: (To Mike) Do I take it from that that you’re not so well in with the family?

MK: As far as I know they don’t wish to speak to me. I’ve talked to Ahmet a few times; he’s totally cool with me. But I think it’s Dweezil in particular who doesn’t really want to know about me.

IB: That’s a shame. (To Steve) You did a concert at the Eastman Concert Hall in New York with Joel Thome and a 60-piece orchestra last year - how did that go?

SV: Well the thing at Zappa's Universe went kinda good....

IB: . . .you got a Grammy, didn’t you?

SV: We got a Grammy for the performance of ‘Sofa’. It was a nice arrangement by Mike and Scott. So Joel and I talked about doing something else together.

IB: Was it your own material that you played?

SV: Yes, what we did then was my material. And we did a couple of Frank’s songs, and we did a piece by Joel.

IB: Did it include ‘Rescue Me Or Bury Me’?

SV: No.

IB: Oh, I really like that song.

SV: Thanks. But it was a nice event. It was really hard to get it together. I worked really hard for a couple of years just getting the orchestrations together. And the logistics of putting together an orchestra show are pretty staggering.

IB: I understand there’s another one coming up in Israel?

SV: There was, but it turned into a big disaster.

IB: But you’ve actually written a long orchestral piece?

SV: Well the thing is, it’s an avenue that I can walk down one of these days. I have all this material from the past that I’ve orchestrated - just pieces of music like ‘For The Love Of God’, a couple of new things - but what I’d like to do is create a new piece for orchestra and rock band and have it performed. But you’re talking 5 months of undisturbed writing and then $200,000 to record it.

IB: Are you two going to record together - you’ve obviously done the G3 stuff live, but are there plans to work in the studio?

MK: Yeah, I’m sure.

SV: Yeah, I really hope so. We just did a Christmas song for a record that’s coming out on Epic. Mike played piano on that - it’s beautiful.

IB: Is it something you’ve written yourself?

SV: It’s this record I’m trying to put together with Epic. It’s all instrumental guitar. And it has different players - Joe Satriani is on a track.

IB: Something like Dweezil’s ‘What The Hell Was I Thinking’?

SV: Yeah.

MK: But that’s all one song - this is a collection of different Christmas tunes.

SV: And we did ‘Christmas Time Is Here’, which is that Charlie Brown... .(to Mike) who wrote that again?

MK: Vince Guaraldi - it’s a beautiful song.

SV: It came out really good.

MK: We were actually playing it live on the tour that we did at the end of last year.

IB: So will it come out under your name, or ‘various artists’?

SV: Various Artists.

IB: Do you have any plans to work with Terry Bozzio again?

SV: Well nothing in the near future, but I have tapes of Terry.

IB: From the Vai band project?

SV: Right before that when Terry and I started hanging out. A friend of mine owned a studio he was turning into a video-editing facility and he gutted it so it was like this 20,000 square foot room that had three floors in it. And we set up Terry’s drums - he was wired for 48 track SSL - and I recorded 3 hours of Terry Bozzio improvising. It’s some of the most wonderful stuff and I hope to take that one of these days and orchestrate around it.

IB: Tommy Mars - still a friend?

SV: Yeah. Mars, he’s an alien (laughs). There’s few people that are as musical as he is.

IB: He’s appeared on some of your solo stuff.

SV: Yeah, but you can’t get Tommy Mars to come in and do little plinky piano stuff. He’s like a wild cat. You’ve got to put spurs on and ride that bucking bronco!

IB: He of course has been involved with the Banned From Utopia.

MK: I think they actually ended up doing this thing Steve was gonna do in Israel.

SV: Yeah.

IB: Do you know what happened to Scott Thunes after the 93 tour? I saw him on Top Of The Pops with the Waterboys, then he seems to have disappeared.

MK: If you can find a back issue - from about 4 months ago - of an American magazine called Bass Player, there’s a fairly lengthy interview with him called ‘Requiem For A Heavyweight’. It’s basically his farewell to the music business. He has decided it’s caused him enough pain and he’s done now. So he’s just gotten re-married and he just wants to be a househusband. The last couple of times I’ve seen him he seemed to be happier and more content than I’ve ever known him to be.

IB: (to Steve) Your time with Whitesnake - is that something you look back on fondly?

SV: Well, when I was doing it I was enjoying it but afterwards it got kind of weird because I just started reading funny things in the press. Some of the guys were saying stuff.

IB: Anyone in particular?

SV: I don’t want to get into that. It was good when I was doing it because touring with a big rock arena band, you get treated like a king, first class everything, I made a ton of dough, and I got to go on stage every night and act like a lunatic.

IB: And you also did some of your own songs.

SV: Yeah, my solo section was a good opportunity for me to promote ‘Passion & Warfare’. But afterwards, because the record didn’t sell 14 million like the previous one, some people were a little upset about that. I have nothing bad to say about that. David Coverdale’s a total gentleman; we always got along real well.

IB: I think he’s gone back to the bluesier stuff now.

SV: Well, he’s making a blues record but, contrary to popular belief, that Whitesnake record that I did was the furthest thing from the blues (laughs).

IB: Are you still friendly with Laurel Fishman?

SV: Oh yeah - she’s my best friend. She writes for a lot of magazines. She’s one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with.

IB: Did you record an interview with her - or was it Frank - about the time of ‘Stevie’s Spanking’? There was talk of a lengthy tape.

SV: I think Frank talked to her about that.

IB: On ‘Sex & Religion’, Ahmet provided backing vocals on just one track?

SV: Yeah. There was another called ‘Manic Panic’, but it didn’t make it to the record. But the best stuff I got of Ahmet is where he’s standing in the studio just talking (laughs). He’s possessed, that guy. He’s really funny - totally out there.

MK: (laughs) He’s actually writing songs and rehearsing with a band apart from Dweezil now. He’ll get into a rehearsal studio every couple of months and work up a new batch of tunes, and I’ve heard tapes of them and they’re good. Ahmet has tremendous potential as a front man.

IB: Yes, I was really impressed when I saw him at the Marquee in 91, the first time he toured.

MK: He just keeps getting better. He’s taking a more serious attitude towards singing and the lyrics. He’s got a lot on his mind. As he gets older he starts to have more serious thoughts and the lyrics have really evolved from there.

IB: (to Steve) I was surprised to hear ‘Bangkok’ on the ‘Fire Garden’ album - I never had you down as an Abba fan. How come you chose that?

SV: Oh, that’s a long story. I have a stack of music: when I was on tour I would just write whenever I had an idea and I threw it in a pile. Then I would get my engineers - when they weren’t doing anything - to type them into the computer so I could hear them. That’s how I discovered a lot of the songs that I have recorded, from these pieces of scrap paper. So I listened to one of the tapes and I heard that melody (sings) and I thought ‘That’s kind of nice, I could make a song out of that’. And I saw the manuscript and it had my name on it, it said ‘Taurus Bulba’. I remembered writing a song called ‘Taurus Bulba’; the melody was so familiar. So I recorded this whole thing and I sent it to my manager, and her boyfriend listened to it and said “Yeah, that’s ‘Bangkok”’ And she calls me up and she goes “Is this ‘Bangkok’ from ‘Chess”’ And I said ‘I’ve never heard any of that - that’s crazy. No, it’s just like a Russian folk dance’. So she played it for me over the phone and I almost died. I thought I was in a dream - how did those guys get my music? Then I realised what had happened: years ago, when I was with David Lee Roth, he gave me this tape - didn’t tell me what it was - and said, “Transcribe this. Let’s learn it and play it in the band between set changes”. So I transcribed it and we only did it a few times. Then I took the music and threw it in my pile. I didn’t know the name of it or anything. So ten years later when I dug it out and listened to it, I couldn’t remember that was the event so I thought I wrote it. It’s a great melody - I thought it was too good to be mine!

IB: A few years ago you mentioned you were going to remix and add some more ‘leftovers’ to the ‘Flex-Able’ album.

SV: Yes, that’s my next project. I want to release a box that has: ‘Flex-Able’ remastered; ‘Flex-Able Leftovers’, with some tunes from the ‘Passion & Warfare’ days; a remastering and licensing of the Alcatraz record; a disc that I want to put together of all the film cues that I’ve done...

IB: . . .from ‘Crossroads’, ‘Bill & Ted’...?

SV: Yeah. And a bonus disc that’s sort of like ‘Lumpy Gravy’, all this talking and funny things.

MK: Most of which was recorded on the bus last night (laughs)!

SV: Yeah, when these guys got back in a drunken rage. Oh! Everybody: Mike Keneally. Wow! (laughs) - poor guy.

IB: So, do you have a backlog of ‘leftovers’?

SV: I’ve got a real, real lot of stuff. The fact is I just used to record, never thought I’d ever release it or that anyone would ever want to hear it.

IB: Being signed to Epic, is that a problem - you can’t release as much as you’d like?

SV: No, it’s not that. I just don’t have the time. The time to record it and finish it. I’m touring so much and I have a family. No, with Epic I can record anything I want.

IB: You mention your family - are Julian and Fire gonna record any more songs?

SV: We’re gonna find out, huh? I still have a lot of them on tape.

IB: So, after the band project, the half instrumental/half song oriented ‘Fire Garden’, G3, the orchestral collaborations - what direction is Steve Vai heading off into next?

SV: For my next proper studio record I want to really focus on the guitar and make it a guitar record. It’ll have vocals, but I want to try to sit back and think where will the guitar go from here - what’s the next evolutionary stage? And I’m not talking about in the mundane pop world of the guitar. You know, a real development of the guitar. And I want to try to saturate my consciousness in that frame of mind and see where that takes me and try to make it a reality. I don’t know if it’ll be the be-all and end-all, but it should be fun to listen to. It’ll be fun to play!

IB: Okay, final question - tell me about the sample at the start of ‘Kill The Guy With The Ball’, where did that come from?

SV: That’s not a sample. It’s a guitar going through a DSP 4000, an Eventide piece of gear. It’s a vocal filter that I constructed. What it does is, you hit a note and it makes it go ‘Ai-yeh, ai-yeh, ai-yeh’. On top of that I have the whammy pedal, which takes the pitch and throws it around in octaves: ‘Ai-yeh, ai-yee, ai-yeh, AI-YEE, ai-yeh’. So that’s with one foot, and with the other I’m using the wah-wah. So then you’ve got ‘Ai-yaw, wah-yee, ai-yeh, wah-yeh’. And then when I’ve got the whammy bar and I’m foxing with the notes: ‘Ai-yaw, ah-rai-uh, wuh-yehh-urr-yeh’. That’s how I did it!

MK: That might be the next evolutionary step of the guitar (laughs)!

***

A fredited version of this interview originally appeared in Issue 59 of T’Mershi Duween. Photo of Steve at Tower Records, Piccadilly on 23 November 1993 taken by the Idiot Bastard.

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