The clip below, shared today (May 11th) on guitar legend Joe Satriani's official YouTube channel, is a flashback to a 1992 segment of The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno, where Joe and his band took the stage to hype up the release of his album, The Extremist.
Satriani: "I was so sick with the flu during that very important performance. High on Sudafed and a bit nervous to be on live TV, it’s hard to believe it went as well as it did. Gregg and Matt Bissonette on drums and bass, with Phil Ashley on keys were great. Jay Leno was very supportive, and funny as always."
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai's friendship with each other (and the guitar) started as kids in New York. It’s still going strong five decades later, and for the first time they have joined up for the Satch/Vai tour. In anticipation of the tour, the duo collaborated on a new three-part piece of music, "The Sea Of Emotion".
The duo recently spoke with Guitar World about the collaboration. Following is an excerpt from the interview.
Satriani: "When Steve and I decided the time had finally come for us to collaborate on an album I immediately thought of our humble beginnings, where we came from, and our teenage rock ’n’ roll hopes and dreams. To anybody else, it may look like just a field, part of the sprawling Carle Place Public School complex, but for some of us, back in the early ’70s, when the sun went down and the moon came up, (that field) became 'The Sea of Emotion'. We would hang out there late at night and share our deepest thoughts. The memories we shared at that location so long ago became the inspiration for a musical journey in three parts. Each part of the song has little reminders of what we were so into musically back then, including a chord sequence that Steve and I would sometimes jam over during guitar lessons."
Vai: "As young teenagers, we would sit overlooking this magnificent field and wax on generously for hours about the meaning of life and many other deep, rich discussions. We deemed this field 'The Sea of Emotion'. Connecting with Joe on this track, and the other music we are working on, is perhaps the most rewarding musical collaboration I’ve ever engaged in. Although we’ve toured and recorded jams together through the decades, for this music we are intimately bringing together our melodic impulses and playing techniques and creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts."
Read more via Guitar World here.
Check out the official video for "The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1" below.
The Satch/Vai tour kicked off on March 22 at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL, and it wraps up tomorrow (May 12th) at Luther Burbank Center For The Arts in Santa Rosa, CA. Tonight they play the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Wheatland, CA
Tickets are available here.
