Virtuoso guitarists Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have featured in Classic Rock regularly over the past 300 issues, influencing many of the players in these pages too. Satch showed Vai the ropes (strings?) in the 70s while they were at high school in Long Island, and half a century later these lifelong friends are at the top of their game. They’re on fine form, too, as they Zoom in to talk new albums, memories, and music in 2022.
Joe, you’re in San Francisco; Steve you’re near the San Fernando Valley. When were you last in the same actual room together?
Joe Satriani: It was 2020. We were on stage together in late January at [US music trade show] NAMM.
Steve Vai: And then you and [Satriani’s wife] Rubina were in town between lockdowns, and we went to dinner. But that NAMM show, that’s the last time I was on stage.
Same here. Recently I was in Miami doing these art exhibits,
