Brian ‘Head’ Welch Says Munky Was Obsessed With Steve Vai

Korn’s former guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch revealed James ‘Munky‘ Shaffer’s obsession with Steve Vai during an interview with Guitar World.

Steve Vai is an inspiration for many guitarists with his excellent skills. He improved by working with notable names like Frank Zappa, Whitesnake, and Alcatrazz. Throughout his music career, Vai has gained three Grammy Awards. Moreover, Vai worked with significant musicians like Joe Satriani. As a long-time friend, Satriani has always mentioned Vai’s guitar skills and passion for the music he has done.

In a previous interview, Satriani talked about how Vai has impressed him, overcoming any obstacles to creating music. As he stated, Vai has recently made a three-neck guitar despite his shoulder problem. Brian ‘Head’ and James ‘Munky’ are the other names who recently mentioned their admiration for Steve Vai.

As Head stated in an interview, although he and Munky were big Steve Vai fans, Munky’s admiration was at the level of obsession. Munky was following Vai’s path, even when buying guitars. Head talked about a memory of how Munky went to a store to play the same guitar Vai used before buying it.

Welch said in his words:

“I was a Vai fan too, but Munky was obsessed and followed everything he did. When he found out about the seven-string, he went to Guitar Center and was like, ‘I need this!’ He’d work little odd jobs to save up, getting 50 to 100 dollars a week. After a few months, he had enough money, but even in the meantime, he was always in that store playing the guitar, telling us it was his before he’d even bought it.”

As a talented guitarist, Steve Vai has inspired many musicians and audiences. Korn’s former guitarists Head and Munky are two of the important names influenced by Vai, but Munky was obsessed with Vai’s musical path as Head revealed.