Steve Vai - His First 30 Years Documentary

**twonabomber** · 09-07-2022, 06:41 PM

Vai's tech Elwood Francis is now the bassist in ZZ Top...

**Nitro Express** · 09-07-2022, 08:20 PM

I remember when Steve Vai wrote for Guitar Player magazine several years before he worked with Roth. He was a talented transcriber who transcribed a lot of guitar music into notation and tab.

**Nitro Express** · 09-07-2022, 08:27 PM

I liked how it went when Dave went solo. Dave had a unique band and it was no Van Halen copy. It was definitely it’s own thing and how Sheehan and Vai played off each other was great. Nobody did anything like that before or since.

**Seshmeister** · 09-07-2022, 09:56 PM

It says Walmart refused to stock Passion and Warfare because of the cover.

I had to go back and look, I guess it was the porn of the angels/sprites? They don't even have nipples.

Fucking nuts...

**Nitro Express** · 09-08-2022, 02:19 PM

Vai never became a legend like EVH, Hendrix or SRV. That level of uniqueness is so rare. Vai was a gun fire hire and one talented enough to satisfy the hard to satisfy Frank Zappa. Vai replaced Yngwie and had to be good enough to play in Roth’s post VH band. Vai never was a rockstar. But what Vai was successful at was taking the resources he made from working for other people and doing his own thing as an independent artist. He has his niche and has made a good living doing it.

**Vinnie Velvet** · 09-08-2022, 02:53 PM

Originally posted by Nitro Express

Vai never became a legend like EVH, Hendrix or SRV. That level of uniqueness is so rare. Vai was a gun fire hire and one talented enough to satisfy the hard to satisfy Frank Zappa. Vai replaced Yngwie and had to be good enough to play in Roth’s post VH band. Vai never was a rockstar. But what Vai was successful at was taking the resources he made from working for other people and doing his own thing as an independent artist. He has his niche and has made a good living doing it.

Agreed. And thats a pretty remarkable thing to accomplish. Even by today's standards to still be relevant and able to draw in great crowds in theatres etc.

**Seshmeister** · 09-08-2022, 09:17 PM

And actually still makes Dave early solo stuff still relevant among the millions of metal guitar players out there who are still learning and playing stuff from EEAS and Skyscraper.

For that reason I think an EEAS band tour would sell better than a Dave solo tour at this point and there is room for it to be tuned down a step or two to help with Dave's vocals since it was originally recorded higher than Van Halen.

**ZahZoo** · 09-09-2022, 07:56 AM

The difference with Vai compared to Hendrix and EVH is most of his music didn't gain the commercial and especially broad pop appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Technically Steve is right up there in unique playing ability with the legends... but outside of his stint with EEAS his music has been limited to smaller niche realms of rock with his time with Zappa and most of his solo work. Bottom line... he can play the strings off a guitar and compose masterful, scorching guitar wanking pieces... he just can't write catchy pop songs.

**Kristy** · 09-09-2022, 11:36 AM

Just like Kenny Wayne Shepherd!

**Terry** · 09-09-2022, 12:05 PM

Originally posted by Nitro Express

I remember when Steve Vai wrote for Guitar Player magazine several years before he worked with Roth. He was a talented transcriber who transcribed a lot of guitar music into notation and tab.

That was the first tab for Eruption I saw, that Vai one in Guitar Player magazine in either 1983 or 1984.

Never heard any of the stuff he did with Zappa I don't think. I've only listened to a small amount of what Zappa recorded.

I remember reading that Vai was tapped to replace Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, so I assumed he had to be good.

A bud of mine back then got the Flexible album, and I listened to it once or twice.

The first real exposure I had was the EEAS album. Back then, several years into playing myself and still totally into that 80s flash/EVH style of playing, hearing EEAS was a jaw dropper. Perhaps not quite as jaw dropping as when I first heard Yngwie on the Steeler album, but that combination of Vai and Sheehan on EEAS was a "holy shit!" reaction. Particularly since EEAS came out a few months after 5150, which was a disappointment to me. Honestly, EEAS to my ears was much more in the spirit of CVH than the totality of what Van Halen did with Hagar.

Think I saw Crossroads on HBO/Cinemax/Showtime/The Movie Channel later in 1986, or maybe early 1987...whenever it was. An okay movie. Having the Karate Kid came across a bit lame even back then, but the guitar duel at the end was cool.

Skyscraper was good. Not as good as EEAS. Felt that way back then, still feels that way today. Skyscraper did have a few great Roth solo tracks, no doubt. Wasn't start-to-finish great, though.

Didn't much care for the album Vai did with Whitesnake.

Listened to Passion And Warfare a few times when it first came out. By the time the 1990s began, I wasn't really listening to shred rock anymore and was working on other aspects of guitar playing-wise besides the Totally Bitching Everything And The Kitchen Sink Ultimate Flash Guitar Solo. Haven't listened to anything Vai has done since Passion And Warfare was released.

**Terry** · 09-09-2022, 12:15 PM

I hesitate to call Vai a 'technician' or a 'flash guitar shredder for hire' because it probably wouldn't be fair to sum up the entirety of his abilities that way, especially since I haven't heard anything he has done since 1990.

Fantastic player, though. I think the one thing that is sort of along the lines of what ZahZoo said, is that Vai never was adept at writing catchy pop songs...or particularly catchy rock songs, either. I don't really know the breakdown of who did what musically on EEAS far as the writing went other than the published songwriting credits, but as far as the tunes went, the ones that were original and stand out to me today are Ladies' Night In Buffalo? and Goin' Crazy! Mostly because with those tracks they seem to have a purpose both beyond being merely skeletons for Vai to lay down (yet another) blistering speedy solo and the solos themselves are memorable and melodic. In other words, both have something other than Vai merely showing off his considerable ability.

**Terry** · 09-09-2022, 12:29 PM

Originally posted by Kristy

Just like Kenny Wayne Shepherd!

Ugh.

That kid came off like a Banana Republic version of Steve Ray Vaughan to me from the get-go. Too white, too milk-fed, too pretty and too safe to be anything other than a practitioner of the blues at best. Doubtless he knows all the 'right' blues scale notes. Doubtless he knows just when the cameras are on him so he can soulfully close his eyes in an expression of 'emoting' while he kills those blues pentatonic runs.

He's the type of blues player acceptable for fans of bands like Train, Dave Matthews, Matchbox 20 and the like when they feel like getting 'down and dirty' by listening to some 'blues'...a culture appropriator before the term was even coined.

I mean, Elvis Presley ripped off blues guys, too. But at least Elvis went on to get wasted on pills and bloated on fried peanut butter and bacon sandwiches and experience some real-life blues. Without knowing much of anything about Shepherd's career post mid-1990s, I'd be willing to wager his lifestyle still reflects his music: safe and soothing as a glass of unsweetened iced tea or 2% milk. And that's totally understandable, because addictions and depression are something a reasonable person would want to avoid.

**twonabomber** · 09-09-2022, 05:23 PM

Originally posted by Terry

Ugh.

That kid came off like a Banana Republic version of Steve Ray Vaughan to me from the get-go.

And when KWS toured with VH the last time around, he had SRV's rhythm section backing him.

**Terry** · 09-09-2022, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by twonabomber

And when KWS toured with VH the last time around, he had SRV's rhythm section backing him.

Not a shock, I suppose. Good work for SRV's rhythm section, too.

Yeah, that kid rubbed me the wrong way the first time I saw him on tv in the mid-1990s and heard phrases like 'blues prodigy' attached to him...the kid wasn't even old enough to drink legally yet, and his upbringing hardly sounded like it was on 'the wrong side of the tracks'...SRV at least went through some shit in his life to get blue about and paid some dues along the way before he made it.

Nice for KWS that he still has whatever career he has. Doubtless he comes off as an authentic bluesman to whoever still reads Guitar World magazine these days.

I see he had married one of Mel Gibson's daughters. I'm sure his love for a style of music rooted in the experience of Black America made for many an interesting conversation at the Mel Gibson house around the holidays...

Steve Vai - His First 30 Years Documentary

Steve Vai - His First 30 Years Documentary

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