Steve Vai: The Reluctant Genius
Guitarist Steve Vai was at college when he was spotted by Frank Zappa and launched on a career path that earned him three Grammys. Ahead of playing Adelaide, he shares a secret with The Note: He never believed he was that good.
Words by Tyler Jenke | Photo by Larry DiMarzio
At 63, Steve Vai admits he’s still working towards greatness. “When I was nine years old, I’d listen to music, I’d lay in bed, I’d put the headphones on and picture myself as an adult playing the guitar in an unbelievable way,” he says via a Zoom call from his studio. “I’d play almost like a wizard, with effortless elegance, moving gracefully, connecting with an audience, and lifting them up.
“I’m still working on that image,” he adds. “I’m a work in progress.”
It’s a typically humble response for an artist who, in addition to being consistently named as one of the greatest living guitarists, has curated a career over the past five decades that seems to be quite in line with that vision.
First picking up a guitar at age 13, the New York native found himself receiving guitar lessons from future guitar superstar, Joe Satriani. At age 18, he caught the attention of the enigmatic Frank Zappa, beginning his career by transcribing Zappa’s music – literally writing notes onto the page – while a student at the Berklee College of Music. Just two years later, he would become an official member of Zappa’s band, with his technical prowess seeing him listed as a performer of both “stunt” and “impossible” guitar parts in the liner notes of some albums.
“Frank had a lot of very special musicians,” Vai explains. “If you were in Frank’s band, it meant that there was something that you could do that was kind of extraordinary. He pulled that out of you – even if you didn’t even know you had it.
“I’m not an intellectual on any subject, except music perhaps, and he found great use for [my knowledge of music and rhythm],” he adds. “This allowed him to use my tools as a colour in his paint box.”
After three prolific years with Zappa, Vai would go solo as an independent artist, writing a large collection of music in his home studio that, despite not being intended for release at first, would ultimately make up his debut album, 1983’s Flex-Able.
“I didn’t have management, I didn’t have anything; I was just a kid that loved music and had a particular ear for a style of music,” Vai says. “I had some experience with Frank, so I understood the recording process and I just thought, ‘Hey, if I could teach guitar for the rest of my life and make enough money that I could just sit here and make music, I’m content’.
“But once I started making it, one thing led to another, and I said, ‘I want to get this album out’.”
Despite a foray into the world of being a solo artist at just 23, it wouldn’t be until 1990 that Vai would release his second album, Passion And Warfare, which contained his signature song, ‘For The Love Of God’. The interim period wasn’t one of lethargy though, with Vai spending his time replacing Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, performing in former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth’s band, joining English rockers Whitesnake, and even acting in Walter Hill’s 1986 film, Crossroads.
By the start of the ’90s, Vai’s influence had begun to fully take root, with Japanese luthiers, Ibanez manufacturing his signature model of guitar, and countless aspiring artists citing him as an idol.
“I’m fortunate in that I have fans that really resonate with what I do, and through the years I would receive certain accolades, awards and things like that, and that aspect just seemed a little too extraordinary to believe,” Vai explains. “I was like, ‘Nah, they don’t know my secret, which is that I’m not really that good.’
“People have that voice in the back of their head; ‘If they only knew what a poser I am,’ or something like that. But what I didn’t realise was that I was doing real quality stuff, and after some time my career just kept doing well.”
Vai’s career has indeed done well, with the past few decades being star-studded with numerous bands and solo albums, three Grammy Awards, and frequent global touring as a member of G3 – a three-guitarist series of concerts spearheaded by Joe Satriani.
In recent years though, Vai has found time to also release new material, including 2023’s Vai/Gash – an unearthed hard-rock collaboration from 1991 between Vai and late friend, vocalist and motorcycle enthusiast Johnny ‘Gash’ Sombretto – and 2022’s Inviolate, his first solo album since 2016.
Additionally, the release of these new records have also resulted in Vai’s first tour of Australia since 2013, taking place across the country throughout October and November. Once a seemingly regular fixture of our live circuit, Vai admits that rising costs have made the Australian tour seem less feasible these days.
“Australia’s not an easy place to get to when you’re an American musician because it’s just very expensive bringing gear and all that stuff,” he explains. “When I was finally able to tour Australia, it was a labour of love in a sense, because it’s hard to make any money doing it.
“It’s a unique place,” he continues. “It’s got a different kind of culture, you’ve got the nicest people, areas of Australia are just gorgeous, and the audiences are so supportive and respectful. So, I try to go whenever I can, but you have to balance that. If an artist like myself went every year, people could get used to you.”
Clearly not overstaying his welcome just yet, the Inviolate tour will also see Vai perform at the Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide on November 8. As he recalls, Adelaide has always been a special place for him, with his numerous visits featuring a performance at bygone venue Heaven in 2000 which saw him cross paths with a future homegrown guitar icon.
“I remember walking into my gig, and there was an opening act that had started playing,” he recalls. “I walk in, I hear this wicked guitar playing, and I’m like, ‘What is that? They’re not supposed to book guitarists that are better than me!’
“I look in and there’s this little girl on the stage, just tearing it up, and it was Orianthi. She was 15, and I was so fascinated. She was just this sweet young girl and she had all this talent.”
After this fortuitous meeting, both musicians would stay in contact, with Vai supporting Orianthi’s journey to becoming a modern-day guitarist.
Of course, Vai says he was simply paying it forward, having benefitted himself from crucial support of luminaries like Satriani and Zappa. He returns to his daydreams as a nine-year-old, the wizard conducting his imaginary audience. “I was picturing it, feeling it and being it,” he recalls. “It just seemed like a fun fantasy – but back then I didn’t realise that you become what you think about.
“I’ll get there one day, but I think I’m closer to it now than ever before.”
See Steve Vai perform at Hindley St Music Hall on November 8. Tickets on sale now.
