Interview: Generation Axe

Interview: Steve Vai of Generation Axe
03.30.16

The Seattle Music News crew had a chance to pull up a seat with Steve Vai in talks of super group, Generation Axe featuring Steve, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi. They will be performing at the Paramount Theatre on April 5, 2016.

Seattle Music News: Hi Steve, nice to meet you.
Steve Vai: Hey Neil, same here.
SMN: Ah, it was great to see you. I was one of the photographers on the Monsters of Rock Cruise last month so it was a pleasure to see you playing again. It was fantastic.
SV: That was a fun cruise. I really enjoyed that.
SMN: Yeah it was really great and I loved your Q&A’s and the great stories. It was a really fun experience to see you in such an intimate setting like that even though it wasn’t too small.
SV: Thanks, yeah. It was great. It was great. It was my first cruise so I’m not opposed to doing more.

SMN: Ah, very very cool. Well I guess what we’re talking about today is obviously Generation Axe and what I wanted to find out, your first tour date here is in Seattle on Tuesday, April 5th which is next week. How are the rehearsals going and can you give us a little idea of what we have in store?
SV: You got it. Are you recording or typing?
SMN: I’m recording.
SV: Okay great. Well, the idea for this I was kicking around for many years. I was just waiting for the stars to come together. The Generation Axe concept is kind of genre specific … In my head … I sat and I wrote down all these genres like rock, rock metal, jazz, blues, acoustic, fusion, and I just put all my favorite guitar players under these categories. I thought how cool would it be to have five guitar players with one backing band, you know, to come out, each guy would do a set of their own material for about 15 or 20 minutes and then be joined by somebody and then after that person leaves, somebody else plays and then be joined, and then kind of build it up to where there’s five guitar players playing a couple of tracks that are more organized and arranged parts because I’ve been in many situations with jamming with many guitar players on a stage and it ‘s great. It’s really great to be in that kind of situation, but it can get messy if there’s not professional etiquette so to speak. This is very different because it’s almost like tag team musicians. The idea was to create a couple, have a couple of pieces of music, maybe some classic rock songs, that are organized with guitar parts that make it really speak because … Think about the tone of the guitar, especially these guys that are on this tour. It’s such a beautiful instrument that blends so well when it’s playing harmony. Just take Brian May. I picked the Rock/Metal list because, I don’t know, I just felt that’s what I want to do right now and I was so lucky because the guys that we reached out to, I had a big list of people. The ones that came aboard were some of the first that I had hoped could do it. They get the picture and they’re very enthusiastic. Everybody’s working hard … You can never have enough rehearsal.
SMN: Right.
SV: We’re doing great. The rehearsals are coming together nicely. Actually Yngwie and Zakk are coming today, because well … they had other obligations but I’ve been rehearsing with the other guys for a few days and it’s coming together. The first show is Seattle. It’ll be interesting. So far so good. I think that it’s pretty enthusiastic. I just love touring and I’m really looking forward to being out there with these guys, being at sea, playing this music and just blending as a unit and it’s really great. It’s something that I’ve never seen. I’ve never quite saw it this way. That’s one of the big payoffs. If you’re a guitar fan, you’re gonna have a note hernia.
SMN: Yeah.
SV: If you’re not necessarily attracted to that sort of thing, there’s something that we’re going to be presenting here that’s totally different and really really cool. You don’t want to miss it if you’re a guitar player or even if you’re not.
SMN: I think if you’re a music …
SV: That’s kind of broad but you know what I mean.
SMN: I think if you’re a music fan, everyone’s really excited. When it first came out I was blown away. I was like how did all five of these incredible guitar players get together. I figured it must have been your brainchild but wow. It’s just so diverse.
SV: I just put it out there. These guys are all consumate professionals and accomplished, massively accomplished. They’ve got it. They know, they get it. There’s no, you know, everybody is completely richly experienced and they know what we’re doing here and they’re all down for it. They all … We all feel privileged really to be playing with each other.
SMN: That’s amazing. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I’m going to kind of trying to figure out how that will be working for a photographer because each of you are going to be playing separately at different times. Obviously.
SV: Well, it’s not the only time I’ve heard that question this week. I know photographer traditionally get the first three songs but the first three songs when you got all these guys coming out. I don’t know. I’ve turned a blind eye to it.
SMN: Yeah. That’s not your problem. You’ve got a show to play. What I was wondering is if you could describe briefly, which is going to be challenging, what aspect of each Generation Axe guitarist that you are mostly looking forward to jamming, say with Tosin what do you love about his style that you’re going to be playing with as opposed to Zakk which is, they are two very different guitar players.
SV: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. You know, within, no I mean that sincerely. Within this genre, even though it’s specific to say Rock/Metal, these guys rule. Wildly diverse from each other. Someone like Tosin, he represents more that new breed of underground intense and technical and gifted players. He’s a phenomenon to watch. The colors of music are very abstract compared to what the other guys do. It’s, there’s a beautiful energy in there. Out of all the new kind of … we use the word shredders, that are on the scene, for me his music resonates much deeper because there’s a complexity in it that I like but there’s also a beauty in it and there’s a harmonic melodic things that are just, they’re evolutionary in that field. That’s really exciting to have him up there. Yngwie, I’ve known Yngwie for 30 years. He’s a legend. I say that sincerely because he is in the sense that he introduced something fresh and new when he came out and he stuck to his guns through all these years. When he hit the scene, he stunned us all. He still does. I’ve toured with him. We’ve done two or three tours and such. Standing next to him is like there’s a mountain on the stage. A guy like that just pushes you to be the best that you can be at what you do because he’s always on 10 you know. It’s really good to have him in that environment. Someone like Zakk, oh my god, Zakk’s about as meat and bony as you can get. He just this huge presence and he’s such an amazing guy actually. I don’t know if you know Zakk.
SMN: Yeah, I’ve met Zakk several times. He’s great.
SV: … He never has a bad word to say about anybody, very practical thinking, and just really can, just really loves rocking out. He’s a great player. In regards to all the guitar players that have been in bands in the 80’s, 90’s whatever, whatever he does he contributes perfectly to. Then there’s this side to Zakk that a lot of people I think are becoming more aware of and it’s a very soft side. He does acoustic work … I saw the video for his new record. It’s just great. It’s very Americana, earthy, traditional yet with hair.
SMN: Very true.
SV: It’s like traditional on steroids or something. Nuno is … I’m uncomfortable using the word underrated because the guitar community really knows what a great guitar player is. He really is a formidable player. The thing I love so much about Nuno is his enthusiasm for music and what we’re doing here. He’s an incredible team player and he’s very intuitive, very with it. He’s a musical director for these huge acts too sometimes. That Rhianna for a long time.
SMN: Rhianna, yeah.
SV: When you’re with people in an environment like this, you get to feel out their creative potential, their ability to see it as a whole or whether they’re being myopic or not. Nuno is all encompassing in the concept. He gets it… He blends so well and he’s such a great player. All of these guys are a real treat to be with and to learn from because essentially that’s what we’re going to be doing because we’re pushing each other, well, we’re gently massaging each other out of our comfort zone so to speak into something that’s potentially is more appealing, can be more appealing and more of a blow away factor than any one of us individually.
SMN: I think it’s going to be an incredible evening of just musicianship, just for the fact that all five of you have such unique styles and just see how you come together. It’s going to be an amazing experience I think. I’m sure the tour is doing really well. I’m looking forward to seeing the first one myself. It’s going to be cool.
SV: Oh thank you. The tour is, we put the tickets up and it’s doing great. That’s encouraging.

SMN: Yeah. That’s awesome. My next question is, after the Generation Axe tour and then you’ve got some festival dates this summer and G3 possibly … Is the year full of touring for you?
SV: Oh yeah. I just finished, put the finishing touches on a new record that’s coming out in June.
SMN: I’m going to ask you about that.
SV: It’s an accompanying disc to my 25th anniversary release, Passion & Warfare, which was a solo record I did that was my most successful. The name of the new record is called Modern Primitive.
SMN: Fantastic.
SV: It’s music that I had written or recorded before I did Passion Warfare, after I did my first solo record Flexible so I mean it doesn’t sound like old music. It’s definitely brought up to contemporary standards and also, it’s as quirky and bizarre as I was in that period. It’s sort of the missing link between my first two solo records. I’m finishing that so that I can hop on the Generation Axe tour. The day that I get home, the next day I go into rehearsals for Passion & Warfare tour. My goal is to perform the whole Passion & Warfare record along with having some other surprises. It’s too early to really tell. We kick off that tour in Europe and we do a couple of months in Europe and then I’m home … I’m going to be appearing at Joe Satriani’s guitar camp G4 on Long Island. I’m really excited about that because it’s being held virtually in the next town over from where Joe and I grew up.
SMN: Fantastic.
SV: Then I’m going on a bicycle tour through Italy. That one’s on my bucket list.
SMN: Wow.
SV: Down-time. Then I’ve got the American Tour of Passion & Warfare… Right now my plans are to go off the grid for 2017. A lot of stuff started piling up that was there you know. There was potential to continue Passion & Warfare on an international basis. My tours usually consist of not just Europe and America but Australia, South America, Japan, Russia, China, all over Asia. I wasn’t planning on that but if it’s wildly successful then I’ll consider that. Otherwise I kind of want to get working on a record that I have in mind that I’m really excited about.

SMN: Very cool. Sounds like a busy year ahead for you. The last question I have for you is pretty much our Seattle Music News bonus question in a way. If you were stranded on a desert island and you could take one book, one movie, and one album, what would it be and why?
SV: Oh these questions. One book?
SMN: One book, one movie, and one album.
SV: It would be The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. If it was one record? It might be Overnight Sensation, no probably, it would be Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. What was the other one? One movie?
SMN: One movie.
SV: Oh gosh. Anything by Woody Allen or Christopher Guest.
SMN: Oh, Fantastic.
SV: Yeah.
SMN: Really cool choices.
SV: Yeah, well it may be Bullets Over Broadway by Woody Allen or maybe Best In Show by Christopher Guest. I just like that quirky humor.
SMN: It’s such a bizarre film but it was so good.
SV: Those guys are like total geniuses man. If you resonate with their work, be it Eckhart Tolle, Frank Zappa, Christopher Guest, or Woody Allen … You feel like you found the life treasure. Those are the guys for me I guess.

SMN: Well Steve, really it has been a pleasure talking to you. I don’t want to keep you too long. Thank you for the time you took today to talk to us …
SV: Well, thank you.
SMN: Looking forward to seeing you guys on the first date of the tour next week.
SV: You got it. Thank you. We’re looking forward to it.
SMN: Have fun with the rest of the rehearsals. I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
SV: Me too.
SMN: Great.
SV: All right. We’ll see you. Thanks again for the support.
SMN: Thank you so much Steve. I appreciate it.

Interview by Neil Lim Sang