Satch is back with a new look and a new sound. Producer Glyn Johns brought in world class musians to lay down the tracks including drummer Manu Katche, bassist Nathan East and rhythm guitarist Any Fairweather- Low. For the first time, Satriani didn't do all the instruments himself and he soars in this new recording format. There's a looseness and heightened expressiveness from all the musicians being in the same room, yet the touring lineup takes the music to a new level.
Sheila Rene': Happy to hear from you.
Joe Satriani: I've got to warn you I'm doing this from a phone booth
outside a pizza parlor in Tallahassee, Florida. There was just no other place
to do it from. I'm waiting for my tacos to be made across the street before
we head for the show.
SR: Your show in Austin was so exciting and I have a whole new
appreciation for you with this album. The sound and lights were perfect.
I've always thought of you as a virtuoso. Now with your new appearance
and this album you're really more down to earth.
JS: That's good. I'm glad you feel that way. The album certainly was just
an exploration with the best of intentions. I probably started out making
three albums at once and didn't even know it. Eventually, about six months
later, when I took a break I saw more clearly what I was up to and that's
when I brought in Glyn Johns to help me see what it was I was trying to
reach. After being on tour for a while it became more obvious. When I'm
recording I just get so consumed with the recording I have no idea where
I'm going. I'm just enjoying the process of changing. That's what I like,
always changing.
SR: Weren't you just a little scared with John's idea of hooking up right
into the amps without a lot of your special effects?
JS: That's the funny thing. I should have been, right? Usually no one can
change my mind. I just go into everything head first and then after the
record is done, I realize that perhaps, I should have been scared. When the
feedback starts coming in and people ask why I'm changing so much, I just
tell them it's a exhilarating ride. It's just what makes the world go around
for me, like shaving all my hair off. It's just one of those things you do
that's fun. People ask why I do certain things as if I have some serious
reason for it, but you just do what strikes you at the moment.
SR: I assume you've properly thanked Mick Brigden from your
management team for bringing Glyn Johns on board.
JS: (laughing) Yes, it's funny because Mick had also suggested Glyn's
brother Andy Johns many years ago for the project, The Extremist. Both
times I jumped at the Johns name because I've always been so impressed
with their work over the years with The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton,
the Clash, the Beatles, the Eagles, Steve Miller, the Stones and John Hiatt.
SR: I always figured you could play pretty much any style you wanted. In
the Guitar Magazine interview you said you couldn't have made this kind
of change before now. I assume touring with Mick Jagger and touring as
Richie Blackmore's replacement with Deep Purple helped. Are there any
tapes of you playing with Deep Purple?
JS: I know we recorded some of those shows. Most definitely the Deep
Purple tour was a stronger experience. The Jagger tour was really fabulous
and definitely the most outrageous project I'd ever been involved with up
to that time. It was a band that had 11 people in it and there was a lot of
show biz going on there. The Deep Purple guys still perform like they did
in 1968. They go out on a flat stage with no drum riser to speak of and
they start the songs. When you get to the middle everyone looks at each
other and each member goes off on tangents. Then when you want to get
back into the song you give him the horses's eyes an suddenly you're back
into the song. I did that every night. The last tour I did with them was two
months of that in Europe and it really got my chops up for playing that that
highly communicative way where you didn't have to worry about running
an eighth of a mile up a ramp to get a spotlight on you and knell down for
a cue. A lot of the Jagger thing was a well done show. Deep Purple was
more gut level rock and roll music. They are really, really great musicians
and a fantastic rock and roll band. I don't think anybody out there really
knows what a great band they are and how deep their roots are in
American rock and roll. I've got to tell you that they're just the nicest guys
in music today. I had such a great time with them.
SR: Is Chris Duarte still on tour with you? He put on such a good show in
Austin.
JS: He only opened for us on five shows. He was simply great that night.
We had fun playing with him again.
SR: You documented this whole recording process.
JS: We did shoot a documentary of the making of the record which focused
on the last two weeks of recording. With the weird things going on with
Relativity Records, we had a budget to finish it and then we didn't and then
we did. I'm not sure where it stands now, but at some point we'll get that
released.
SR: I read you're also going to do something with a CD-enhanced disc. I'm
totally hooked on CD-ROM discs.
JS: Hold on, there's a big truck going by. That might be the first offering
for the amount of footage we have at the moment. Then we're going to
supplement that with some live performance to make a longform video.
SR: You worked with the studio musicians John's brought in doing about a
song a day in the 14 days you had booked. Any first takes?
JS: Sure, "SMF" was effortless to play. "Cool #9" and "Sittin' Round" were
just so much fun to play. Every song was a roller coaster ride. They really
excelled as experiences for all of us in the direction that the meaning of the
song propelled it. For instance, on "Down Down Down" we did four
versions and after that no one could play it any more. It was too deep and
traumatic to return to that emotional spot each time to give a good
performance. Glyn caught the right one.
SR: I've always wondered how an instrumental track gets named. With
lyrics you can draw from a line in the song.
JS: Generally the titles come first and they suggest and tell me a story. The
songs are about people or places or situations. The titles help me focus on
how to write the music.
SR: What's the story behind that first single, "Luminous Flesh Giants?"
JS: (laughing) That's in a similar vein to Flying In A Blue Dream or
Surfing With The Aliens. It's a combination of Dreams and half-hearted
humorous day dreams about aliens, giants and monsters. I use that as a
mental theme to get my musical point across.
SR: Do you give Hamm and the boys leeway to put their own licks into the
live show? It sure sounded like it to me.
JS: Oh, yeah, that's the only way you can stay on tour for nine months and
get people to feel good about breathing life into a song. You've got to give
them space to change things. Actually about very two weeks there'll be a
change. Someone in the band will come up and tell me they really want to
play this song differently and we just do it to check out new possibilities.
It's a good healthy way to keep everybody on their toes and interested in
the arrangements.
SR: Thinking ahead, if you get a chance would you want to do the next
project with this touring band?
JS: You know that's always the desire but by the end of the tour very often
people just split apart. That's what has happened in the past. Since Stu and
Jonathan, in particular, have always been interested in pursuing their own
solo careers, the end of a tour is always a good point for everyone to split
up.
SR: While you were away for those four years you signed with Epic,
changed your mind and returned all the money, at which point they tore up
your contract. I don't remember every hearing of that happening before.
JS: Word has come that dinner is served. Here's the final note in that
chapter. Dave Glew, the president of Epic Records is a great guy and I've
known him for many years. He signed me to Epic in 1990 and I did give
the money back. He was gracious enough to just tear up the contract. I met
him just about three weeks ago again and he's going to be signing me again
to Epic Records because of the demise of Relativity. I don't really know
how to explain it, but Sony Music owns Relativity and they've asked them
to restructure the company and concentrate 100 percent on Urban and Rap
music. That means that Steve Vai, myself and a number of other rock and
roll bands suddenly have to go looking for a new home. Luckily, I was
asked by the larger label in the Sony family,Epic, to just walk across the
hall and start fresh with them. Actually, I prefer that because I'm signed to
Epic everywhere else in the world.The next few records will finally come
out on one record label all over the world.
SR: Isn't it fun when one of your band members i.e. Stu Hamm gets as
many calls of his name as you do?
JS: We had such a great time in Austin. The audience was really into the
show. It's great when a member of my group gets that much attention. Stu
is world famous and a great friend. We are all having a lot of good times.