That time Kim Mitchell described guitar wanking by comparing Joe Satriani to Eddie Van Halen

By Steve Newton

I did my fourth interview with Canadian rock-guitar great Kim Mitchell back in July of 1992, when he was touring behind his Aural Fixations album.

He’d hired a new batch of musicians to accompany him–because Tom Cochrane had lured some of his regular band members away–and while he was describing how the new crew were “getting each other off” musically, the talk turned to virtuoso guitarists who tend to wank for their own self-satisfaction.

(Just to be clear, I don’t agree with his comments about Joe Satriani at all. I love Satch, and think every note he plays is golden.)

Have a listen:

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