By Steve Newton (photo too)
I’ve been a huge Joe Satriani fan since the first time I heard him, back in ’87 or so, around the time of Surfing With the Alien. I interviewed him for the first time in January of 1990 before a show at the 86 Street Music Hall in Vancouver, and have tried to secure a chat whenever the opportunity arises. The last time was May of 2009 when he brought Chickenfoot to town.
Satriani is a musical genius, in my books. Right up there with Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray.
Not to mention his former guitar student, Steve Vai.
So I was pretty psyched to check my mailbox yesterday and see that the fine folks at Sony Music Entertainment has sent me his new CD, Shockwave Supernova. At first I thought the funky-ass tune “In My Pocket” was my fave, but then I got to track #13, “If There Is No Heaven”, and that’s the one that really blew me the fvck away. There’s something in Satch’s melodies and phrasing that’s just magical, I reckon.
And it doesn’t hurt that he’s got ace drummer Marco Minnemann slamming everything into place. (I had the pleasure of seeing him in action with his band the Aristocrats a month back at the Rickshaw, and that was pretty sweet).
“This is about doubting, doubting everything, including life after death,” Satriani told the Wall Street Journal about “If There Is No Heaven”. “The intro and outro are soundtracks to feeling lost and adrift. The body of the song reflects how one would struggle to accept such an idea that we are all ‘here’ for just a short time and then gone. My guitar is saying, ‘Life is precious, make the most of it.’”
Hell yeah! Life is precious, alright, especially with guitarists like Satch around to light it up!
Thanks Joe!