John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist. GuitarOne ranked him as the 9th Greatest Shredder of All Time.
Biography
Petrucci first played guitar at the age of eight when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboardist of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest whilst exercising physically. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".
Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.
While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.
Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.
In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.
Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.
In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.
Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic.Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara. He is also an avid fan of bodybuilding and dedicates much of his off time to weight training.
John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year 2007" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.
He is a voting member of NARAS.
Musical style
Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. One of the most notable of these is his high speed alternate picking which, as he himself claims, requires a "strong sense of synchronization between the two [playing] hands."[4] He has performed alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their annual G3 tour 6 times. Guitar magazines and fans worldwide consistently vote Petrucci as one of the world's finest guitar players. He has been labeled as a virtuoso on some fansites and webzines, including Sputnikmusic, and TheFunkyGibbons, among others.
Equipment - Studio Albums
* When Dream and Day Unite
* Images and Words - Triaxis 2/90 (dirty), Roland JC120 for cleans. A Marshall preamp was used for "Metropolis Part 1"
* Awake - Only album to be quadruple layered. 2 takes using Dual Rectifier, 2 takes using Mark IIC+
* A Change of Seasons - Mark IIC+, Mark IV, TriAxis
* Falling Into Infinity - Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, TriAxis
* Scenes From A Memory - Mark IIC+, Mark IV
* Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Mark IIC+, Dual Rectifier
* Train Of Thought - Road King Series I
* Octavarium - Road King Series I & II, Lone Star, Mark IV
* Systematic Chaos - Lone Star, Mark IV
* Suspended Animation (solo cd) - Roadking Series 1, Mark IIC+
* Liquid Tension Experiment - TriAxis, 2:90 power amp
* Liquid Tension Experiment 2 - Mark IIC+, Mark IV
Equipment - Live
* I&W Tour - 2 Triaxis Preamps (one for backup), 2:90 power amp, Mesa Abacus+Mesa Midi Matrix for switching
* Scenes From NY - Triaxis, Dual Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Formula Preamp, 2:90 power amps
* Live At Budokan - Road King Series 1 (x3), Lonestar (x2)
* Score - Custom Built "Nunya" Preamp, Formula Preamp, mesa 2:100 power amp, 4 Mesa 4x12's and 4 Mesa 2x12's. Midi switching by Steen Skrydstrup.
* 2005 G3 Tokyo - Dual Rectifier (x2) Road King (x2)
* 2007 G3 tour - Mark IV (x2), Formula preamp
* 2007 Systematic Chaos Tour - Mark IV (x2), Lonestar (x1). TC Electronic 2290, M3000, Eventide Ultra Harmonizer, Jim Dunlop rack wah & various stomp boxes. Midi switching by Axess Electronics
Discography
Year Title Label Notes
1989 When Dream and Day Unite MCA/Mechanic First Dream Theater studio album.
1992 Images and Words Atlantic/ATCO Again with Dream Theater, introducing the new lead singer James LaBrie.
1993 Live at the Marquee WEA International First Dream Theater live album.
1994 Awake EastWest The last Dream Theater album with Kevin Moore as Keyboard player.
1995 A Change of Seasons (EP) EastWest Dream Theater EP, introducing Derek Sherinian as new Keyboard Player.
1996 Working Man Magna Carta A Rush Tribute.
1997 Falling into Infinity Elektra Last Dream Theater album with Derek Sherinian.
1997 Dragon Attack CNR Music A Tribute to Queen
1998 Guitar Battle Viktor Various Artists
1998 Liquid Tension Experiment Magna Carta Project with Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin
1998 Once in a LIVEtime Elektra 2CD recorded in Paris, France.
1998 Age of Impact Magna Carta Explorers Club
1998 Wicked The Orchard Jon Finn Group
1999 Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Magna Carta Second album with Liquid Tension Experiment
1999 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory Elektra Jordan Rudess as new keyboard player for Dream Theater, the band's first concept album.
2000 An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess Sound Mind Music A Live album with keyboard player Jordan Rudess
2001 Feeding the Wheel Magna Carta Jordan Rudess solo album, Petrucci is featured on guitar.
2001 Live Scenes From New York Elektra 3CD recorded in New York, U.S..
2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Elektra Dream Theater's first studio double album.
2003 Train of Thought Elektra Dream Theater's heaviest album released to date.
2004 Live at Budokan Atlantic Dream Theater 3CD/2DVD combination recorded in Tokyo, Japan.
2005 Suspended Animation Sound Mind Music First solo album.
2005 G3: Live in Tokyo Sony Plays on G3, with Guitarists Steve Vai and Joe Satriani
2005 Octavarium Atlantic Dream Theater's last album with Atlantic Records Group.
2006 Score Rhino Entertainment 3CD/2DVD recorded at the Radio City Music Hall on April 1, 2006 New York, U.S..
2006 Blood of the Snake - Derek Sherinian Inside Out Music Played Guitar on first track "Czar Of Steel".
2006 Loudspeaker - Marty Friedman Mascot/Avex Special Guest Guitarist
2007 Systematic Chaos Roadrunner Records First album released under Dream Theater's new contract with Roadrunner Records on June 5th, 2007.
2008 Chaos in Motion Roadrunner Records A live album documenting the band's 2007/2008 Chaos in Motion and Progressive Nation tours.
2009 Black Clouds & Silver Linings Roadrunner Records To be released on June 23rd, this is Dream Theater's tenth album.
Videography
Year Title Notes
1993 Images and Words: Live in Tokyo
1995 Rock Discipline - VHS
1998 5 Years in a LIVEtime
2001 Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York
2002 Rock Discipline - DVD
2004 Live at Budokan
2005 G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 Score
2007 Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos
2008 Chaos in Motion Released September 30, 2008. Documents the band's 2007/2008 Chaos in Motion and Progressive Nation tours.
(from Wikipedia)
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Van Halen
Van Halen is a hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s they also had more Billboard Hot 100 hits than any other hard rock or heavy metal band. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 19th best selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the USA is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the USA.
In addition to being recognized for success, the band is known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The (multiple) exits of singers David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage with various contrasting press statements between them and the band. The band changed style dramatically following the departure of Roth, with his solo career being more similar to the band's original work than Van Halen's own songs with later singers. More recently, Michael Anthony was kicked out of the band for controversial reasons. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, when new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen's place was confirmed and Roth-reunion rumors began to re-surface coinciding with the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007. After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth in late 2007 across North America, which has been extended into 2008. An album is proposed to follow. Along with this, a live tour DVD was announced at their May 13, 2008 concert at the Izod Center that would contain recordings from several performances on their current tour.
History
David Lee Roth era (1974–1985)
The Van Halen brothers started playing music together when Eddie took up the drums and Alex took up the guitar, but secretly, while Eddie would deliver newspapers on his paper route, Alex would sneak over and play on Eddie's drumset. Eventually Eddie switched to the guitar and formed Van Halen years later, excluding Alex Van Halen. In 1972 the Van Halen brothers formed a band called "Genesis" which featured Eddie as lead vocalist/guitarist, Alex Van Halen on drums and Mark Stone on bass. They initially rented a sound system from David Lee Roth but decided to save money by letting him join as lead vocalist even though he had previously auditioned unsuccessfully. By 1974 the band decided to replace Stone. The band then found out there was a far more successful band in England also named Genesis. It was at this point that they changed the band name to "Mammoth."Then Michael Anthony, bassist and lead vocalist from local band "Snake" was auditioned. Following an all night jam session he was hired for bass and backing vocals.
Mammoth discovered in 1974 that their name was already being used and changed to "Van Halen". According to Roth, this was his idea. They played backyard parties and on a flatbed truck at Hamilton Park. Van Halen played clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity through self promotion: before each gig they would pass out fliers at local high schools. This soon built them a major following.
In 1974, the band got their break out of Pasadena, with their first job at Gazzarri's on the Sunset Strip, a formerly famous but down-at-the-heels night club. They had earlier auditioned for Bill Gazzarri, the owner, but he claimed they were "too loud", and would not hire them. However, their new managers, Mark Algorri and Mario Miranda, who had coincidently taken over Gazzarri’s hiring, did the deal. Shortly afterwards, with their managers, they recorded their first demo tape at the now defunct Cherokee Ranch Studios, in Northridge, where Steely Dan had just completed an album. They then became a staple on Hollywood's Sunset Strip during the mid-1970s, consistently playing at well-known clubs like the Whisky a Go Go. In 1977 Gene Simmons of Kiss saw Van Halen at Gazzarri's and financed their second demo tape, flying the band to the Electric Lady Studios in New York City to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With The Devil". Eddie disliked the demo because he was not using his own equipment and had to overdub guitar parts. Simmons wanted to change the band's name to "Daddy Shortlegs" and had designed cover art (a daddy longlegs wearing a top hat), but the band stuck with Van Halen. Simmons then opted out of further involvement after taking the demo to Kiss' manager and receiving the words of denial. He told Gene that "They had no chance of making it" and that he wouldn't take them.
In 1977, Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records saw Van Halen perform at the Starwood in Hollywood. Although the audience was small, the two were so impressed with Van Halen that within a week they offered them a recording contract.Van Halen recorded their eponymous first album at Sunset Sound Recorders studio in mid September to early October 1977, recording guitar parts for one week and then recording vocals for two additional weeks. All of the tracks were laid down with little over-dubbing or double tracking. Minor mistakes were purposely left on the record and a simple musical set-up was used to give the record a live feel. Despite its simple components, Van Halen proved innovative in musical technique, production, and arrangement.
During this time, they continued to play various venues in Southern California, including some notable concerts at the Pasadena Convention Center produced by their promoter and impresario, Steve Tortomasi, himself a fixture in the local rock and roll scene.
On release, Van Halen reached #19 on the Billboard pop music charts, one of rock's most commercially successful debuts. It is a highly regarded hard rock album. The album included songs now regarded as Van Halen classics, like "Runnin' with the Devil" and the guitar solo "Eruption", which showcased Eddie's use of a technique known as 'finger-tapping'. The band toured for nearly a year, opening for Black Sabbath and establishing a reputation for their electric performances. The band's chemistry owed much to Eddie Van Halen's technical guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth's flamboyant antics, which later turned them into rivals. They returned to the studio in 1979 for Van Halen II, similar in style to their debut. This album yielded the band's first hit single, "Dance the Night Away."
Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim and became one of the world's most successful and influential bands. Their party-loving spirit and hard rocking anthem-like sound made them popular with teenagers. Women and Children First was released in 1980 and further cemented Van Halen's status. But in 1981, during the recording of the Fair Warning album, tensions rose. Eddie's desire for more serious and complex songs was at odds with Roth's poppy style.[citation needed] Although Roth (and producer Templeman) acquiesced to Eddie's wishes, Fair Warning was a commercial disappointment, with no hits. In later interviews Eddie would reveal that he was drinking heavily and using cocaine during the production of Fair Warning. This may have resulted in the album's darker tone.
Diver Down performed better. The band then earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest-paid single appearance of a band: $1.5 million for a 90 minute set at the 1983 US Festival. Despite this return to form, Roth and Eddie's differences continued, and this caused friction with other band members. According to bassist Billy Sheehan, after his band Talas completed a tour with Van Halen, he was approached by Eddie Van Halen to replace Michael Anthony. The reasons for this were never clear to Sheehan, because nothing came out of it.
Van Halen's next album, 1984 (released on January 9, 1984) was their commercial pinnacle. Recorded at Eddie Van Halen's newly-built 5150 Studios, the album featured keyboards which had only been used sporadically on previous albums. The lead single, "Jump", featured a synthesizer hook and anthemic lyrics, and became the band's first and only #1 pop hit, garnering them a Grammy nomination. Other hit singles included "Panama", "I'll Wait", and "Hot for Teacher". Many of the songs had popular music videos on MTV. 1984 was praised by critics and fans alike, peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts behind Michael Jackson's Thriller.
However, the album was also a breaking point. In the midst of the tour, the artistic and personal tensions among the musicians reached a fever pitch. Reasons for the breakup vary based on the band member interviewed, but were rooted in control of the band's sound and image. Roth was upset about Eddie playing music outside of Van Halen without checking with the band and Eddie was sick of Roth's flamboyant behavior and stage persona. Roth was also having a successful solo career with a hit song and EP (a remake of the Beach Boys classic "California Girls" and the old standard "Just a Gigolo") Roth was also offered a movie deal from Warner Brothers (which was later withdrawn). On April 1, 1985, Roth left Van Halen.
Sammy Hagar era (1985–1996)
Eddie invited Patty Smyth of Scandal to replace Roth but she refused. Eddie was then introduced by way of a mutual auto mechanic to Sammy Hagar, formerly of 1970s band Montrose, and at that time a solo artist coming off a very successful year (his 1984 album VOA had yielded hit single "I Can't Drive 55'"). Hagar agreed to join, also serving as a rhythm guitar onstage to add to the Van Halen sound. The 1986 Van Halen album 5150 was a hit, becoming the band's first #1 album on the Billboard charts, driven by the keyboard-dominated singles "Why Can't This Be Love?", "Dreams" and "Love Walks In". The album included diverse songs ranging from the thrashiness of "Get Up" and party rock of "Summer Nights" to the more riff-driven "Good Enough" and a guitar heavy title track. To further introduce the new era for the band, a new Van Halen logo was put on the cover. The new logo retained elements of the original, but now the lines extending from either side of 'VH' wrapped around and formed a sphere. 5150 is generally considered the strongest album of the "Hagar era".
Following the release of the 5150 album, a tour was launched to support it across North America. Named the 1986 Tour, the title was a homage to the previous 1984 Tour in support of the 1984 album. The band proved touring with Hagar was as successful as with Roth, and footage was released on VHS/DVD as Live Without a Net. In the tour Hagar wanted to minimize the use of pre-Hagar Van Halen songs in the set, other than the band's best known classics. This was a trend that continued, with the expanding repertoire of Hagar-era songs slowly whittling away at the number of Roth-era songs on the set list.
The Van Halen logo used to signify change when Sammy Hagar joined the band.
During Hagar's tenure, the band established a musical formula that proved commercially successful in the United States. Hagar's style enabled Van Halen to become accessible to a wider audience, with lyrics that were more conventional and refined. Eddie's keyboard work brought a wider variety of sonic textures within each song, and the production was altered toward the pop side, and the songs became longer: During the Roth era, Van Halen songs rarely stretched beyond three and a half minutes, and some albums struggled to cross the thirty minute mark. With Hagar, some songs exceeded five minutes in length. The result was markedly different from the hard charging, rollicking riffs of the group's earlier work. The mix of pop and hard rock styles created a new sound for Van Halen.
All four studio albums produced during this period reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart. In addition, Van Halen was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the 1991 Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal award for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen continued to enjoy tremendous success throughout the mid-90's. In 1995 Van Halen surprised many fans by supporting Bon Jovi on their European Summer stadium tour.
The band's commercial success and new "Van Hagar" sound did little to woo many fans who still held a strong resentment over Roth's departure and refused to move on. However Eddie repeatedly said he was happier with Hagar singing and that "Roth was not coming back".
During the recording of songs for the film Twister, escalating tension between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers boiled and Hagar departed on Father's Day, 1996. The band had recorded a song, "Humans Being", for which Eddie claimed he had to write all the lyrics since Hagar's were "too cheesy". This upset Hagar, and when they were to record a second song for the soundtrack, Hagar was in Hawaii. He wasn't keen on doing soundtrack work since it would make the music hard to obtain for fans, 'abusing' them, so the second track the band were due to record became an Eddie/Alex instrumental, Respect the Wind.
The band was also working on a compilation album, which Hagar was not keen on since he felt it was not what fans wanted, nor was it something the band needed to release, since they presumably had a long career ahead of them. This led to conflicts with Hagar and the group's new manager, Ray Danniels (Ed Leffler's replacement and Alex Van Halen's brother in law) who suggested the idea. Reluctant to work on compilation album songs before a new album came out, the band fell out, leaving the management siding with Eddie and Alex. Hagar was also rumoured to have concerns over comparisons on an album which featured both his work and Roth's.
Hagar claimed that he was fired; Van Halen claimed that he quit. The media storm surrounding the dramatic exit of Hagar helped him immediately restart his solo career. However, the publicity did not help Van Halen, serving to highlight the vacant lead singer spot. The band's past successes set high expectations, and fans everywhere were waiting for the band's next move. Throughout this time, Michael Anthony managed to remain on good terms with Hagar.
With Mitch Malloy and a temporary reunion with Roth (1996)
When Sammy Hagar left Van Halen, they very quickly recruited Mitch Malloy as a replacement. They jammed and recorded demos with him. He was a friend of Eddie and knew the band, who decided it was appropriate to invite him into the band.
David Lee Roth called Eddie to discuss what tracks would be included on a planned Van Halen compilation (work on which actually began before Hagar's departure). They got along well, and Eddie invited him up to his house/studio. Shortly afterwards, David Lee Roth re-entered the studio with the band and producer Glen Ballard. Two songs from those sessions were added to the band's Greatest Hits album and released as singles to promote it.
David Lee Roth with Van Halen at the MTV Video Music Awards 1996
In September, Van Halen were asked to present an award at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. They agreed, and on September 4, 1996, the four original members of Van Halen made their first public appearance together in over eleven years. This helped to bring the compilation to #1 on the US album charts. However, unknown to Roth, Eddie and Alex were still auditioning other singers. Following the band's MTV appearance, Malloy decided the band could not be successful with a new vocalist since people would now want Roth. He called Anthony, and quit. Millions of people viewed the show, and Roth claimed to be back in the band.
The band's appearance on the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards fueled reunion speculation. Several weeks after the awards show, it was discovered Roth was out of Van Halen again. Roth released a statement in which he apologized to the media and the fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a Van Halen publicity stunt by them and manager Ray Danniels. The next day, Eddie and Alex released their own statement, claiming they were completely honest with Roth and never suggested he was guaranteed to be the next lead singer. However, they could not resist getting in a dig at Roth by saying in a press release, "Thank you for reminding us why we broke up with you eleven years ago."
Reportedly, Eddie was upset that Roth had "upstaged him" during the broadcast by interrupting him while Van Halen was speaking and taking over the microphone; video footage does show Eddie seemingly tense as he steps away and turns his back to Roth, but then the two hug one another to the cheers of the audience.
Gary Cherone era (1996–1999)
The band recruited Gary Cherone, frontman of the then defunct Boston-based band Extreme. The result was Van Halen III. Many songs were longer and more ethereal. It was less about rocking out, and more thought-provoking ("How Many Say I", with Eddie on vocals). These changes alienated many fans while failing to attract new fans. Sales were poor by the band's standards, only reaching Gold certification, despite the album peaking at #4 on the US charts. Van Halen III did produce a hit however, "Without You", and additionally the song "Fire in the Hole" appeared on the Lethal Weapon 4 soundtrack. Later it was also revealed that Anthony was only permitted by Eddie to play bass on three tracks on the album and that Eddie played the rest. Anthony received a full credit, masking this apparent behind-the-scenes difficulty.
The album was followed by a poorly attended but widespread tour. The III Tour saw Van Halen playing in new countries, including first ever visits to Australia and New Zealand.
Shortly afterwards, Van Halen returned to the studio. In early 1999, they started work on a new album, rumored to be called Love Again. Working titles of songs included "Left for Dead," "River Wide," "Say Uncle," "You Wear it Well," "More Than Yesterday," "I Don't Miss You...Much," "Love Divine," and "From Here, Where Do We Go?".
Van Halen's new album was left unfinished when Cherone left amicably in November 1999. Citing musical differences, it is likely III's sales and critical reception had a big impact. Touring with Cherone had proven disappointing in terms of attendance. Unlike the previous two singers, there was no bad blood and Cherone remained in contact with Van Halen. As when Hagar left, speculation resumed on a Roth reunion.
Hiatus from public (1999–2003)
Eddie recovered from his hip surgery in late 1999, but from 2000 to early 2004, no official statements were made by Van Halen and no music released. However, information about members past and present trickled in. The Van Halen brothers continued writing at 5150 studios, Gary Cherone recorded an album and toured with new band Tribe of Judah. One of the songs that Cherone had written for the scrapped 2nd album with Van Halen entitled "Left For Dead", would see its lyrics set to a completely new musical arrangement with Tribe of Judah. Meanwhile, Hagar and Roth continued their solo careers.
In 2000, the band worked with David Lee Roth at 5150, writing new music before falling out again. Eddie kept quiet, but made a rare appearance at the Los Angeles Police Department charity golf tournament during May 2001. Any band progress would have been interrupted on October 15, 2001, when Eddie and his wife of 21 years, actress Valerie Bertinelli, separated (though the couple only filed for divorce on December 8, 2005). In November 2001, Anthony claimed Roth had been working with the band again for a few months, but lawyers had shut it down. Strangely, Anthony later denied this. The band's record label (Warner, who had first signed them in 1978) dropped them this year also. More positively, Eddie underwent treatment for cancer and announced his recovery on Van Halen's website in May 2002.
Eddie's only live performances during this period were joining Mountain to play "Never in My Life" in August 2002 and a private audience jam at NAMM January 2003. This took place at the Peavey booth (Peavey produced Eddie's signature "Wolfgang" model guitar). Word quickly spread through the NAMM show that Eddie was to play at the Peavey booth, and it filled up. Eddie showed up late, drunk. When he finally appeared, he was incoherent. Shortly after this, Peavey lost its license to produce the "official" Van Halen guitar, and Fender, which had purchased Charvel-Jackson, was awarded the license, but the guitar produced was a copy of Eddie's earlier Strat-style guitars.
In the summer of 2002, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar teamed up in the Song For Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll tour (also known as the 'Sans-Halen' or 'Sam & Dave' Tour). The joint tour headlining both former lead singers attracted media and audience fascination because it seemed more improbable than even a Van Halen with Roth or Hagar could be. The tour drew large crowds and featured no opening acts, Roth and Hagar would alternate opening as the first act during the tour. In an interview, Roth contrasted his personality with Hagar's, saying, "He's the kind of guy you go out with to split a bottle with a friend. I'm the kind of guy you go out with if you want to split your friend with a bottle." Michael Anthony guested with Hagar's band, The Waboritas, numerous times and sometimes even sang lead vocals. During performances, Hagar would tease Anthony by asking, "Do the brothers know you're here?". Anthony never played with Roth. Gary Cherone appeared on occasion. Hagar released a live album (Hallelujah), featuring vocals by Mike and Gary, and a documentary DVD, Long Road to Cabo, about touring with Roth. Next, Hagar joined with Joe Satriani and Journey guitarist Neal Schon to form a side project, Planet Us, along with Michael Anthony and Deen Castronovo (also of Journey) on drums. The band recorded just two songs and played live a few times before dissolving when Hagar and Anthony rejoined Van Halen.
While the two lead singers promoted the tour and publicly claimed mutual respect, rumours of bitter acrimony and mutual loathing between the two singers swirled. The allegations were later revealed in back stage video showing Roth and Hagar camps maintaining strict separation.
On July 4, 2004, Roth performed with the Boston Pops at Boston's annual Pops Goes the Fourth celebration. Hagar remained active, releasing five albums and creating his own merchandising brand Cabo Wabo, which lends its name to his line of tequila, as well as his franchise of cantinas. He reunited with Montrose in 2003 and 2005 for a few performances and maintained contact with Michael Anthony, often playing with him. With Van Halen inactive, Anthony worked on merchandising projects such as his signature Yamaha bass and set up a website. He became involved with the annual music industry NAMM Show.
Also in this period, rumors cropped up that Anthony had been fired - despite his name being included in messages 'from the band' on their website. His official website denied the rumors, though it was later revealed that on the Van Halen III album Anthony only recorded three tracks, and subsequently his position became tenuous (it relied entirely on Hagar's demands that he remain in 2004). His departure was confirmed in 2006.
Reunion with Hagar (2003–2005)
Van Halen during their 2004 reunion period, left to right: Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen
During January 2003, the VHND (Van Halen News Desk) website reported that Sammy Hagar was working with the Van Halens. No official confirmation came for an extended period of time. In late March 2004, Van Halen and Sammy Hagar announced that Hagar would reunite with the band for a Best Of album release and a Summer concert tour of the USA.
In July 2004, Van Halen released their second Greatest Hits compilation (a double album, unlike the first), featuring three new songs with Hagar: "It's About Time", "Up For Breakfast", and "Learning to See". These songs were newly written by the Van Halen brothers and Sammy Hagar. The songs were credited to Hagar/Van Halen/Van Halen, which was unusual since normally the entire lineup (which also included Michael Anthony) would be credited. However, the performance was credited to the entire band; Michael Anthony would later reveal in interviews that Eddie Van Halen had in fact not wanted him to be a part of the reunion and for this reason Anthony had not been allowed to perform in the sessions (explaining his lack of a songwriting credit), with Eddie playing the bass parts himself instead. Though it was the only new album since the band's first Greatest Hits, no songs with Gary Cherone from Van Halen III were included. It was certified platinum in the USA in August 2004.
The tour grossed almost US$55 million, and Pollstar listed Van Halen in the top 10 grossing tours of 2004. Most of the concerts received positive feedback from professional reviewers. On some shows, Eddie's son Wolfgang came onstage and played guitar with his father during 316 a song dedicated to his son, taking its name from his birthday. However, serious problems surfaced. Promoters lost money, tickets were often deemed overpriced, and few shows sold out.
Reports from the first half of the tour were largely positive. Later, however, stories of Eddie being drunk and playing poorly also circulated. At the end of the band's final show of the tour, in Tucson, Eddie smashed one of his guitars during the show and quickly walked off stage.
After the tour, things broke down. At first Hagar stated he had yet to decide what he would be doing with the band but he was in Van Halen. However, Hagar and Anthony soon admitted that Eddie had problems with alcohol during the tour that affected everyone involved. Hagar stated that he was "done with Van Halen" and wished that everyone would have "taken it more seriously". Despite this, Eddie later described himself as 'satisfied' with the tour.
After the tour ended, Hagar returned to his solo band The Waboritas, and Anthony appeared with him on tour occasionally. The band quickly faded from view after Hagar left again. In December 2005 Michael Anthony revealed in an interview with Mark & Brian that he had not talked with the Van Halens and was unsure of their plans.
Reunion with Roth (2006 - present)
Rumors of a David Lee Roth reunion re-emerged and on January 3, 2006, Roth explained during an interview that he spoke to Alex Van Halen the previous week and a reunion was "inevitable".However, he also said that Eddie Van Halen was "off in his own little world" recently. When asked if any problems occurred with Sammy Hagar during the 2004 tour Eddie Van Halen answered, "Sammy is Sammy, and for the most part that's just fine". Roth persisted with suggestions of a reunion, saying. "People want the reunion," and "No one will pay respect to what any of us do [musically] until we get the reunion out of the way." In May 2006, he told Billboard.com, "There's contact between the two camps."
On June 3, Michael Anthony began a successful tour with Hagar billed as "The Other Half" (a reference to them being half of Van Halen with the other half being Eddie/Alex), with Anthony singing lead vocals sometimes. Meanwhile, on June 19 the Van Halen brothers jumped onstage with Kenny Chesney at The Home Depot Center performing "Jump" and "You Really Got Me". This unusual performance was their first onstage since the 2004 tour. This was followed by another Eddie Van Halen performance in July 19, 2006, at the House of Petals in Los Angeles, playing new material. He followed this with an announcement on July 27, 2006, that some of his new music would be released on the soundtrack for the pornography film Sacred Sin.
In March 2006, Michael Anthony spoke to Japanese rock magazine Burrn!, claiming the brothers did not want him on the 2004 reunion - Hagar did (and would not play without Anthony), but he had to agree to reduced royalties and end absolutely all association with the band after the tour in terms of rights to using the name to promote himself. It was in this same interview he admitted he was not involved in the new songs on Best of Both Worlds and only recorded three tracks for III.
On September 8, 2006, Howard Stern's Eddie Van Halen live interview broke the band's long silence. Eddie said he was willing to reunite with Roth and revealed a solo album in the works. Michael Anthony's departure was confirmed with Eddie's son, Wolfgang, taking his role. Wolfgang had played guitar alongside his father on some 2004 concerts. When queried about The Other Half tour, Eddie said Anthony could "do what he wants" now. This shocked and offended many fans. In November, Eddie's spokesperson, Janie Liszewski, claimed the Van Halen family was writing/rehearsing for a Summer 2007 tour, which Billboard magazine's website shortly confirmed. However, the Van Halen website remained in the state it had been in since the Hagar reunion.
On December 11, 2006, Eddie Van Halen stated to Guitar World magazine that David Lee Roth had been directly invited to rejoin the band. However, on December 28, Roth announced that he had not talked to Eddie in two years, and a reunion with Van Halen could result in a "Jerry Springer style fight".
News from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame slipped out on January 8, 2007, confirming that Van Halen would be inducted. They had jointly led the ballot and been long rumoured for inclusion before this time. The Van Halen brothers, Anthony, Hagar, and Roth were to be inducted.Billboard announced on January 24, 2007, that Van Halen would reunite with David Lee Roth for a US tour. This was confirmed shortly after on the official Van Halen website.
The Van Halen News Desk announced on February 15, 2007, that a Van Halen "Best Of (1978-1984)", a single-disc compilation of Van Halen's David Lee Roth era, would be released by April 3. Shortly after, information arrived in a flood. Various sources claimed the tour was shut down as was the new "Best Of" CD. On March 8, 2007 Eddie announced on Van Halen's website that he was in rehab. Along with the announcement, a change was made to the website. The logo at the top of the page changed to the Roth-era logo.
As the band's Hall of Fame induction drew near, media focus shifted to that. Velvet Revolver would induct the band and speak on their behalf. On March 12, 2007, the band was inducted at a ceremony held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Anthony and Hagar were the only inductees in attendance (ironically, both ex-members). Velvet Revolver played "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", and Anthony and Hagar performed "Why Can't This Be Love" with Paul Shaffer. At a post-induction press conference, Hagar said he would love to work with Van Halen again but that the Van Halens should tour with Roth first.
On April 21, 2007, Eddie Van Halen served as an Honorary Race Official for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. He looked fit and well, better than he had on the last tour, and on May 24 posted a note to the Van Halen website confirming that he had exited rehab successfully. After nearly 10 months of speculation and numerous rumours, on Monday, August 13th, 2007, Van Halen (and David Lee Roth separately via his own website Roth claimed in the press release that, "the idea is that this will continue on and on and on" and also that a world tour and new album were in the works.
Press reaction to the reunion was largely warm, but the re-designed website sparked controversy when Michael Anthony was removed from images of old album artwork.[39] The album covers were reverted to normal a day later without a word after bitter reactions. The tour was originally 25 dates, but the reunion now stands to be much longer, extending into 2008 with a second leg.
Van Halen started their new tour on September 27, 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Playing to sellout crowds, the tour generated positive reviews.Amid rumors of Eddie being back in rehab, multiple dates of the tour were postponed. The official reason was the need for medical procedures to be run on Eddie.
On March 5, 2008 World Entertainment Weekly to CBS News reported that the reason behind the tour stoppage was due to Eddie Van Halen needing to reenter rehab. The report also indicated that it was a "furious backstage bust-up in Florida with his 17-year-old son and bandmate Wolfgang" which motivated Eddie to seek help once again.
In response to rumors about Eddie Van Halen being back in rehab Valerie Bertinelli said that "he is not in rehab." She did not, however, say if he had recently been in rehab, stating only that he wasn't currently.
Wolfgang Van Halen also stated that his father was not in rehab during the 2008 Kids Choice Awards, but did not say if he had recently been in rehab: only that he wasn't in rehab now. Eventually, the tour started back up April 17 at the Reno Events Center in Reno.
The tour ended on June 2, 2008 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI. During the show Roth stated multiple times that this would not be their final show and that they would "see everyone next time." This show also was a special occasion being that the sign in front on the arena had been re done so it read "VAN HALEN ARENA" instead of the "VAN ANDEL ARENA" which is its actual name.
According to the Van Halen News Desk, the reunion tour with Roth was the highest grossing in the band's history, raking in almost 93 million dollars.
Van Halen's song "Hot for Teacher" is included in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.
The opening act of the Festival d'été de Québec in Quebec City was performed by Van Halen on July 3rd, 2008.
In a recent interview with Guitar World about the making of his upcoming new EVH Wolfgang guitar from Fender, Eddie Van Halen had this to say regarding the subject of new Van Halen music: "I’ll be making music ’til the day I die. I’ve done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming. I can’t tell you exactly when right now. Wolfgang is in the 12th grade and he needs to graduate first. Then I’m getting married in June. We’ll pick it up after that."
Although not actually aired, AZ rock station 98KUPD hosts contacted David Lee Roth via telephone for a proposed on air interview on Thurs. Dec 18th wherein Roth stated, "When (Wolfgang Van Halen) gets his cap and gown, we're all going back for the fall semester. I'm not sure we're gonna get good grades in conduct, but you know, you're gonna be able to judge us on our progress report next year and dance with us in time for the prom."
Band members
For more details on this topic, see List of Van Halen band members.
Current members
* David Lee Roth – lead & backing vocals (1974–1985, 1996, 2000, 2006–present)
* Eddie Van Halen – lead & rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1972–present)
* Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
* Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1972–present)
Former members
* Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals (1974–2002, 2004–2005)
* Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1985–1996, 2003–2005)
* Gary Cherone – lead vocals (1997–1999)
* Mitch Malloy - lead vocals (1996 - see above)
* Mark Stone – bass guitar, backing vocals (1972–1974 - only a member when the band still used the name Mammoth)
Discography
* Van Halen (1978)
* Van Halen II (1979)
* Women and Children First (1980)
* Fair Warning (1981)
* Diver Down (1982)
* 1984 (1983)
* 5150 (1986)
* OU812 (1988)
* For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)
* Live: Right Here, Right Now (1993)
* Balance (1995)
* Best of Volume I (1996)
* Van Halen III (1998)
* The Best of Both Worlds (2004)
(from Wikipedia)
In addition to being recognized for success, the band is known for the drama surrounding the exits of former members. The (multiple) exits of singers David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage with various contrasting press statements between them and the band. The band changed style dramatically following the departure of Roth, with his solo career being more similar to the band's original work than Van Halen's own songs with later singers. More recently, Michael Anthony was kicked out of the band for controversial reasons. Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, when new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen's place was confirmed and Roth-reunion rumors began to re-surface coinciding with the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on March 12, 2007. After years of speculation, Van Halen began a tour with Roth in late 2007 across North America, which has been extended into 2008. An album is proposed to follow. Along with this, a live tour DVD was announced at their May 13, 2008 concert at the Izod Center that would contain recordings from several performances on their current tour.
History
David Lee Roth era (1974–1985)
The Van Halen brothers started playing music together when Eddie took up the drums and Alex took up the guitar, but secretly, while Eddie would deliver newspapers on his paper route, Alex would sneak over and play on Eddie's drumset. Eventually Eddie switched to the guitar and formed Van Halen years later, excluding Alex Van Halen. In 1972 the Van Halen brothers formed a band called "Genesis" which featured Eddie as lead vocalist/guitarist, Alex Van Halen on drums and Mark Stone on bass. They initially rented a sound system from David Lee Roth but decided to save money by letting him join as lead vocalist even though he had previously auditioned unsuccessfully. By 1974 the band decided to replace Stone. The band then found out there was a far more successful band in England also named Genesis. It was at this point that they changed the band name to "Mammoth."Then Michael Anthony, bassist and lead vocalist from local band "Snake" was auditioned. Following an all night jam session he was hired for bass and backing vocals.
Mammoth discovered in 1974 that their name was already being used and changed to "Van Halen". According to Roth, this was his idea. They played backyard parties and on a flatbed truck at Hamilton Park. Van Halen played clubs in Pasadena and Hollywood to growing audiences, increasing their popularity through self promotion: before each gig they would pass out fliers at local high schools. This soon built them a major following.
In 1974, the band got their break out of Pasadena, with their first job at Gazzarri's on the Sunset Strip, a formerly famous but down-at-the-heels night club. They had earlier auditioned for Bill Gazzarri, the owner, but he claimed they were "too loud", and would not hire them. However, their new managers, Mark Algorri and Mario Miranda, who had coincidently taken over Gazzarri’s hiring, did the deal. Shortly afterwards, with their managers, they recorded their first demo tape at the now defunct Cherokee Ranch Studios, in Northridge, where Steely Dan had just completed an album. They then became a staple on Hollywood's Sunset Strip during the mid-1970s, consistently playing at well-known clubs like the Whisky a Go Go. In 1977 Gene Simmons of Kiss saw Van Halen at Gazzarri's and financed their second demo tape, flying the band to the Electric Lady Studios in New York City to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With The Devil". Eddie disliked the demo because he was not using his own equipment and had to overdub guitar parts. Simmons wanted to change the band's name to "Daddy Shortlegs" and had designed cover art (a daddy longlegs wearing a top hat), but the band stuck with Van Halen. Simmons then opted out of further involvement after taking the demo to Kiss' manager and receiving the words of denial. He told Gene that "They had no chance of making it" and that he wouldn't take them.
In 1977, Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records saw Van Halen perform at the Starwood in Hollywood. Although the audience was small, the two were so impressed with Van Halen that within a week they offered them a recording contract.Van Halen recorded their eponymous first album at Sunset Sound Recorders studio in mid September to early October 1977, recording guitar parts for one week and then recording vocals for two additional weeks. All of the tracks were laid down with little over-dubbing or double tracking. Minor mistakes were purposely left on the record and a simple musical set-up was used to give the record a live feel. Despite its simple components, Van Halen proved innovative in musical technique, production, and arrangement.
During this time, they continued to play various venues in Southern California, including some notable concerts at the Pasadena Convention Center produced by their promoter and impresario, Steve Tortomasi, himself a fixture in the local rock and roll scene.
On release, Van Halen reached #19 on the Billboard pop music charts, one of rock's most commercially successful debuts. It is a highly regarded hard rock album. The album included songs now regarded as Van Halen classics, like "Runnin' with the Devil" and the guitar solo "Eruption", which showcased Eddie's use of a technique known as 'finger-tapping'. The band toured for nearly a year, opening for Black Sabbath and establishing a reputation for their electric performances. The band's chemistry owed much to Eddie Van Halen's technical guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth's flamboyant antics, which later turned them into rivals. They returned to the studio in 1979 for Van Halen II, similar in style to their debut. This album yielded the band's first hit single, "Dance the Night Away."
Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim and became one of the world's most successful and influential bands. Their party-loving spirit and hard rocking anthem-like sound made them popular with teenagers. Women and Children First was released in 1980 and further cemented Van Halen's status. But in 1981, during the recording of the Fair Warning album, tensions rose. Eddie's desire for more serious and complex songs was at odds with Roth's poppy style.[citation needed] Although Roth (and producer Templeman) acquiesced to Eddie's wishes, Fair Warning was a commercial disappointment, with no hits. In later interviews Eddie would reveal that he was drinking heavily and using cocaine during the production of Fair Warning. This may have resulted in the album's darker tone.
Diver Down performed better. The band then earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest-paid single appearance of a band: $1.5 million for a 90 minute set at the 1983 US Festival. Despite this return to form, Roth and Eddie's differences continued, and this caused friction with other band members. According to bassist Billy Sheehan, after his band Talas completed a tour with Van Halen, he was approached by Eddie Van Halen to replace Michael Anthony. The reasons for this were never clear to Sheehan, because nothing came out of it.
Van Halen's next album, 1984 (released on January 9, 1984) was their commercial pinnacle. Recorded at Eddie Van Halen's newly-built 5150 Studios, the album featured keyboards which had only been used sporadically on previous albums. The lead single, "Jump", featured a synthesizer hook and anthemic lyrics, and became the band's first and only #1 pop hit, garnering them a Grammy nomination. Other hit singles included "Panama", "I'll Wait", and "Hot for Teacher". Many of the songs had popular music videos on MTV. 1984 was praised by critics and fans alike, peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts behind Michael Jackson's Thriller.
However, the album was also a breaking point. In the midst of the tour, the artistic and personal tensions among the musicians reached a fever pitch. Reasons for the breakup vary based on the band member interviewed, but were rooted in control of the band's sound and image. Roth was upset about Eddie playing music outside of Van Halen without checking with the band and Eddie was sick of Roth's flamboyant behavior and stage persona. Roth was also having a successful solo career with a hit song and EP (a remake of the Beach Boys classic "California Girls" and the old standard "Just a Gigolo") Roth was also offered a movie deal from Warner Brothers (which was later withdrawn). On April 1, 1985, Roth left Van Halen.
Sammy Hagar era (1985–1996)
Eddie invited Patty Smyth of Scandal to replace Roth but she refused. Eddie was then introduced by way of a mutual auto mechanic to Sammy Hagar, formerly of 1970s band Montrose, and at that time a solo artist coming off a very successful year (his 1984 album VOA had yielded hit single "I Can't Drive 55'"). Hagar agreed to join, also serving as a rhythm guitar onstage to add to the Van Halen sound. The 1986 Van Halen album 5150 was a hit, becoming the band's first #1 album on the Billboard charts, driven by the keyboard-dominated singles "Why Can't This Be Love?", "Dreams" and "Love Walks In". The album included diverse songs ranging from the thrashiness of "Get Up" and party rock of "Summer Nights" to the more riff-driven "Good Enough" and a guitar heavy title track. To further introduce the new era for the band, a new Van Halen logo was put on the cover. The new logo retained elements of the original, but now the lines extending from either side of 'VH' wrapped around and formed a sphere. 5150 is generally considered the strongest album of the "Hagar era".
Following the release of the 5150 album, a tour was launched to support it across North America. Named the 1986 Tour, the title was a homage to the previous 1984 Tour in support of the 1984 album. The band proved touring with Hagar was as successful as with Roth, and footage was released on VHS/DVD as Live Without a Net. In the tour Hagar wanted to minimize the use of pre-Hagar Van Halen songs in the set, other than the band's best known classics. This was a trend that continued, with the expanding repertoire of Hagar-era songs slowly whittling away at the number of Roth-era songs on the set list.
The Van Halen logo used to signify change when Sammy Hagar joined the band.
During Hagar's tenure, the band established a musical formula that proved commercially successful in the United States. Hagar's style enabled Van Halen to become accessible to a wider audience, with lyrics that were more conventional and refined. Eddie's keyboard work brought a wider variety of sonic textures within each song, and the production was altered toward the pop side, and the songs became longer: During the Roth era, Van Halen songs rarely stretched beyond three and a half minutes, and some albums struggled to cross the thirty minute mark. With Hagar, some songs exceeded five minutes in length. The result was markedly different from the hard charging, rollicking riffs of the group's earlier work. The mix of pop and hard rock styles created a new sound for Van Halen.
All four studio albums produced during this period reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart. In addition, Van Halen was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the 1991 Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal award for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen continued to enjoy tremendous success throughout the mid-90's. In 1995 Van Halen surprised many fans by supporting Bon Jovi on their European Summer stadium tour.
The band's commercial success and new "Van Hagar" sound did little to woo many fans who still held a strong resentment over Roth's departure and refused to move on. However Eddie repeatedly said he was happier with Hagar singing and that "Roth was not coming back".
During the recording of songs for the film Twister, escalating tension between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers boiled and Hagar departed on Father's Day, 1996. The band had recorded a song, "Humans Being", for which Eddie claimed he had to write all the lyrics since Hagar's were "too cheesy". This upset Hagar, and when they were to record a second song for the soundtrack, Hagar was in Hawaii. He wasn't keen on doing soundtrack work since it would make the music hard to obtain for fans, 'abusing' them, so the second track the band were due to record became an Eddie/Alex instrumental, Respect the Wind.
The band was also working on a compilation album, which Hagar was not keen on since he felt it was not what fans wanted, nor was it something the band needed to release, since they presumably had a long career ahead of them. This led to conflicts with Hagar and the group's new manager, Ray Danniels (Ed Leffler's replacement and Alex Van Halen's brother in law) who suggested the idea. Reluctant to work on compilation album songs before a new album came out, the band fell out, leaving the management siding with Eddie and Alex. Hagar was also rumoured to have concerns over comparisons on an album which featured both his work and Roth's.
Hagar claimed that he was fired; Van Halen claimed that he quit. The media storm surrounding the dramatic exit of Hagar helped him immediately restart his solo career. However, the publicity did not help Van Halen, serving to highlight the vacant lead singer spot. The band's past successes set high expectations, and fans everywhere were waiting for the band's next move. Throughout this time, Michael Anthony managed to remain on good terms with Hagar.
With Mitch Malloy and a temporary reunion with Roth (1996)
When Sammy Hagar left Van Halen, they very quickly recruited Mitch Malloy as a replacement. They jammed and recorded demos with him. He was a friend of Eddie and knew the band, who decided it was appropriate to invite him into the band.
David Lee Roth called Eddie to discuss what tracks would be included on a planned Van Halen compilation (work on which actually began before Hagar's departure). They got along well, and Eddie invited him up to his house/studio. Shortly afterwards, David Lee Roth re-entered the studio with the band and producer Glen Ballard. Two songs from those sessions were added to the band's Greatest Hits album and released as singles to promote it.
David Lee Roth with Van Halen at the MTV Video Music Awards 1996
In September, Van Halen were asked to present an award at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. They agreed, and on September 4, 1996, the four original members of Van Halen made their first public appearance together in over eleven years. This helped to bring the compilation to #1 on the US album charts. However, unknown to Roth, Eddie and Alex were still auditioning other singers. Following the band's MTV appearance, Malloy decided the band could not be successful with a new vocalist since people would now want Roth. He called Anthony, and quit. Millions of people viewed the show, and Roth claimed to be back in the band.
The band's appearance on the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards fueled reunion speculation. Several weeks after the awards show, it was discovered Roth was out of Van Halen again. Roth released a statement in which he apologized to the media and the fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a Van Halen publicity stunt by them and manager Ray Danniels. The next day, Eddie and Alex released their own statement, claiming they were completely honest with Roth and never suggested he was guaranteed to be the next lead singer. However, they could not resist getting in a dig at Roth by saying in a press release, "Thank you for reminding us why we broke up with you eleven years ago."
Reportedly, Eddie was upset that Roth had "upstaged him" during the broadcast by interrupting him while Van Halen was speaking and taking over the microphone; video footage does show Eddie seemingly tense as he steps away and turns his back to Roth, but then the two hug one another to the cheers of the audience.
Gary Cherone era (1996–1999)
The band recruited Gary Cherone, frontman of the then defunct Boston-based band Extreme. The result was Van Halen III. Many songs were longer and more ethereal. It was less about rocking out, and more thought-provoking ("How Many Say I", with Eddie on vocals). These changes alienated many fans while failing to attract new fans. Sales were poor by the band's standards, only reaching Gold certification, despite the album peaking at #4 on the US charts. Van Halen III did produce a hit however, "Without You", and additionally the song "Fire in the Hole" appeared on the Lethal Weapon 4 soundtrack. Later it was also revealed that Anthony was only permitted by Eddie to play bass on three tracks on the album and that Eddie played the rest. Anthony received a full credit, masking this apparent behind-the-scenes difficulty.
The album was followed by a poorly attended but widespread tour. The III Tour saw Van Halen playing in new countries, including first ever visits to Australia and New Zealand.
Shortly afterwards, Van Halen returned to the studio. In early 1999, they started work on a new album, rumored to be called Love Again. Working titles of songs included "Left for Dead," "River Wide," "Say Uncle," "You Wear it Well," "More Than Yesterday," "I Don't Miss You...Much," "Love Divine," and "From Here, Where Do We Go?".
Van Halen's new album was left unfinished when Cherone left amicably in November 1999. Citing musical differences, it is likely III's sales and critical reception had a big impact. Touring with Cherone had proven disappointing in terms of attendance. Unlike the previous two singers, there was no bad blood and Cherone remained in contact with Van Halen. As when Hagar left, speculation resumed on a Roth reunion.
Hiatus from public (1999–2003)
Eddie recovered from his hip surgery in late 1999, but from 2000 to early 2004, no official statements were made by Van Halen and no music released. However, information about members past and present trickled in. The Van Halen brothers continued writing at 5150 studios, Gary Cherone recorded an album and toured with new band Tribe of Judah. One of the songs that Cherone had written for the scrapped 2nd album with Van Halen entitled "Left For Dead", would see its lyrics set to a completely new musical arrangement with Tribe of Judah. Meanwhile, Hagar and Roth continued their solo careers.
In 2000, the band worked with David Lee Roth at 5150, writing new music before falling out again. Eddie kept quiet, but made a rare appearance at the Los Angeles Police Department charity golf tournament during May 2001. Any band progress would have been interrupted on October 15, 2001, when Eddie and his wife of 21 years, actress Valerie Bertinelli, separated (though the couple only filed for divorce on December 8, 2005). In November 2001, Anthony claimed Roth had been working with the band again for a few months, but lawyers had shut it down. Strangely, Anthony later denied this. The band's record label (Warner, who had first signed them in 1978) dropped them this year also. More positively, Eddie underwent treatment for cancer and announced his recovery on Van Halen's website in May 2002.
Eddie's only live performances during this period were joining Mountain to play "Never in My Life" in August 2002 and a private audience jam at NAMM January 2003. This took place at the Peavey booth (Peavey produced Eddie's signature "Wolfgang" model guitar). Word quickly spread through the NAMM show that Eddie was to play at the Peavey booth, and it filled up. Eddie showed up late, drunk. When he finally appeared, he was incoherent. Shortly after this, Peavey lost its license to produce the "official" Van Halen guitar, and Fender, which had purchased Charvel-Jackson, was awarded the license, but the guitar produced was a copy of Eddie's earlier Strat-style guitars.
In the summer of 2002, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar teamed up in the Song For Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll tour (also known as the 'Sans-Halen' or 'Sam & Dave' Tour). The joint tour headlining both former lead singers attracted media and audience fascination because it seemed more improbable than even a Van Halen with Roth or Hagar could be. The tour drew large crowds and featured no opening acts, Roth and Hagar would alternate opening as the first act during the tour. In an interview, Roth contrasted his personality with Hagar's, saying, "He's the kind of guy you go out with to split a bottle with a friend. I'm the kind of guy you go out with if you want to split your friend with a bottle." Michael Anthony guested with Hagar's band, The Waboritas, numerous times and sometimes even sang lead vocals. During performances, Hagar would tease Anthony by asking, "Do the brothers know you're here?". Anthony never played with Roth. Gary Cherone appeared on occasion. Hagar released a live album (Hallelujah), featuring vocals by Mike and Gary, and a documentary DVD, Long Road to Cabo, about touring with Roth. Next, Hagar joined with Joe Satriani and Journey guitarist Neal Schon to form a side project, Planet Us, along with Michael Anthony and Deen Castronovo (also of Journey) on drums. The band recorded just two songs and played live a few times before dissolving when Hagar and Anthony rejoined Van Halen.
While the two lead singers promoted the tour and publicly claimed mutual respect, rumours of bitter acrimony and mutual loathing between the two singers swirled. The allegations were later revealed in back stage video showing Roth and Hagar camps maintaining strict separation.
On July 4, 2004, Roth performed with the Boston Pops at Boston's annual Pops Goes the Fourth celebration. Hagar remained active, releasing five albums and creating his own merchandising brand Cabo Wabo, which lends its name to his line of tequila, as well as his franchise of cantinas. He reunited with Montrose in 2003 and 2005 for a few performances and maintained contact with Michael Anthony, often playing with him. With Van Halen inactive, Anthony worked on merchandising projects such as his signature Yamaha bass and set up a website. He became involved with the annual music industry NAMM Show.
Also in this period, rumors cropped up that Anthony had been fired - despite his name being included in messages 'from the band' on their website. His official website denied the rumors, though it was later revealed that on the Van Halen III album Anthony only recorded three tracks, and subsequently his position became tenuous (it relied entirely on Hagar's demands that he remain in 2004). His departure was confirmed in 2006.
Reunion with Hagar (2003–2005)
Van Halen during their 2004 reunion period, left to right: Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen
During January 2003, the VHND (Van Halen News Desk) website reported that Sammy Hagar was working with the Van Halens. No official confirmation came for an extended period of time. In late March 2004, Van Halen and Sammy Hagar announced that Hagar would reunite with the band for a Best Of album release and a Summer concert tour of the USA.
In July 2004, Van Halen released their second Greatest Hits compilation (a double album, unlike the first), featuring three new songs with Hagar: "It's About Time", "Up For Breakfast", and "Learning to See". These songs were newly written by the Van Halen brothers and Sammy Hagar. The songs were credited to Hagar/Van Halen/Van Halen, which was unusual since normally the entire lineup (which also included Michael Anthony) would be credited. However, the performance was credited to the entire band; Michael Anthony would later reveal in interviews that Eddie Van Halen had in fact not wanted him to be a part of the reunion and for this reason Anthony had not been allowed to perform in the sessions (explaining his lack of a songwriting credit), with Eddie playing the bass parts himself instead. Though it was the only new album since the band's first Greatest Hits, no songs with Gary Cherone from Van Halen III were included. It was certified platinum in the USA in August 2004.
The tour grossed almost US$55 million, and Pollstar listed Van Halen in the top 10 grossing tours of 2004. Most of the concerts received positive feedback from professional reviewers. On some shows, Eddie's son Wolfgang came onstage and played guitar with his father during 316 a song dedicated to his son, taking its name from his birthday. However, serious problems surfaced. Promoters lost money, tickets were often deemed overpriced, and few shows sold out.
Reports from the first half of the tour were largely positive. Later, however, stories of Eddie being drunk and playing poorly also circulated. At the end of the band's final show of the tour, in Tucson, Eddie smashed one of his guitars during the show and quickly walked off stage.
After the tour, things broke down. At first Hagar stated he had yet to decide what he would be doing with the band but he was in Van Halen. However, Hagar and Anthony soon admitted that Eddie had problems with alcohol during the tour that affected everyone involved. Hagar stated that he was "done with Van Halen" and wished that everyone would have "taken it more seriously". Despite this, Eddie later described himself as 'satisfied' with the tour.
After the tour ended, Hagar returned to his solo band The Waboritas, and Anthony appeared with him on tour occasionally. The band quickly faded from view after Hagar left again. In December 2005 Michael Anthony revealed in an interview with Mark & Brian that he had not talked with the Van Halens and was unsure of their plans.
Reunion with Roth (2006 - present)
Rumors of a David Lee Roth reunion re-emerged and on January 3, 2006, Roth explained during an interview that he spoke to Alex Van Halen the previous week and a reunion was "inevitable".However, he also said that Eddie Van Halen was "off in his own little world" recently. When asked if any problems occurred with Sammy Hagar during the 2004 tour Eddie Van Halen answered, "Sammy is Sammy, and for the most part that's just fine". Roth persisted with suggestions of a reunion, saying. "People want the reunion," and "No one will pay respect to what any of us do [musically] until we get the reunion out of the way." In May 2006, he told Billboard.com, "There's contact between the two camps."
On June 3, Michael Anthony began a successful tour with Hagar billed as "The Other Half" (a reference to them being half of Van Halen with the other half being Eddie/Alex), with Anthony singing lead vocals sometimes. Meanwhile, on June 19 the Van Halen brothers jumped onstage with Kenny Chesney at The Home Depot Center performing "Jump" and "You Really Got Me". This unusual performance was their first onstage since the 2004 tour. This was followed by another Eddie Van Halen performance in July 19, 2006, at the House of Petals in Los Angeles, playing new material. He followed this with an announcement on July 27, 2006, that some of his new music would be released on the soundtrack for the pornography film Sacred Sin.
In March 2006, Michael Anthony spoke to Japanese rock magazine Burrn!, claiming the brothers did not want him on the 2004 reunion - Hagar did (and would not play without Anthony), but he had to agree to reduced royalties and end absolutely all association with the band after the tour in terms of rights to using the name to promote himself. It was in this same interview he admitted he was not involved in the new songs on Best of Both Worlds and only recorded three tracks for III.
On September 8, 2006, Howard Stern's Eddie Van Halen live interview broke the band's long silence. Eddie said he was willing to reunite with Roth and revealed a solo album in the works. Michael Anthony's departure was confirmed with Eddie's son, Wolfgang, taking his role. Wolfgang had played guitar alongside his father on some 2004 concerts. When queried about The Other Half tour, Eddie said Anthony could "do what he wants" now. This shocked and offended many fans. In November, Eddie's spokesperson, Janie Liszewski, claimed the Van Halen family was writing/rehearsing for a Summer 2007 tour, which Billboard magazine's website shortly confirmed. However, the Van Halen website remained in the state it had been in since the Hagar reunion.
On December 11, 2006, Eddie Van Halen stated to Guitar World magazine that David Lee Roth had been directly invited to rejoin the band. However, on December 28, Roth announced that he had not talked to Eddie in two years, and a reunion with Van Halen could result in a "Jerry Springer style fight".
News from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame slipped out on January 8, 2007, confirming that Van Halen would be inducted. They had jointly led the ballot and been long rumoured for inclusion before this time. The Van Halen brothers, Anthony, Hagar, and Roth were to be inducted.Billboard announced on January 24, 2007, that Van Halen would reunite with David Lee Roth for a US tour. This was confirmed shortly after on the official Van Halen website.
The Van Halen News Desk announced on February 15, 2007, that a Van Halen "Best Of (1978-1984)", a single-disc compilation of Van Halen's David Lee Roth era, would be released by April 3. Shortly after, information arrived in a flood. Various sources claimed the tour was shut down as was the new "Best Of" CD. On March 8, 2007 Eddie announced on Van Halen's website that he was in rehab. Along with the announcement, a change was made to the website. The logo at the top of the page changed to the Roth-era logo.
As the band's Hall of Fame induction drew near, media focus shifted to that. Velvet Revolver would induct the band and speak on their behalf. On March 12, 2007, the band was inducted at a ceremony held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Anthony and Hagar were the only inductees in attendance (ironically, both ex-members). Velvet Revolver played "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", and Anthony and Hagar performed "Why Can't This Be Love" with Paul Shaffer. At a post-induction press conference, Hagar said he would love to work with Van Halen again but that the Van Halens should tour with Roth first.
On April 21, 2007, Eddie Van Halen served as an Honorary Race Official for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. He looked fit and well, better than he had on the last tour, and on May 24 posted a note to the Van Halen website confirming that he had exited rehab successfully. After nearly 10 months of speculation and numerous rumours, on Monday, August 13th, 2007, Van Halen (and David Lee Roth separately via his own website Roth claimed in the press release that, "the idea is that this will continue on and on and on" and also that a world tour and new album were in the works.
Press reaction to the reunion was largely warm, but the re-designed website sparked controversy when Michael Anthony was removed from images of old album artwork.[39] The album covers were reverted to normal a day later without a word after bitter reactions. The tour was originally 25 dates, but the reunion now stands to be much longer, extending into 2008 with a second leg.
Van Halen started their new tour on September 27, 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Playing to sellout crowds, the tour generated positive reviews.Amid rumors of Eddie being back in rehab, multiple dates of the tour were postponed. The official reason was the need for medical procedures to be run on Eddie.
On March 5, 2008 World Entertainment Weekly to CBS News reported that the reason behind the tour stoppage was due to Eddie Van Halen needing to reenter rehab. The report also indicated that it was a "furious backstage bust-up in Florida with his 17-year-old son and bandmate Wolfgang" which motivated Eddie to seek help once again.
In response to rumors about Eddie Van Halen being back in rehab Valerie Bertinelli said that "he is not in rehab." She did not, however, say if he had recently been in rehab, stating only that he wasn't currently.
Wolfgang Van Halen also stated that his father was not in rehab during the 2008 Kids Choice Awards, but did not say if he had recently been in rehab: only that he wasn't in rehab now. Eventually, the tour started back up April 17 at the Reno Events Center in Reno.
The tour ended on June 2, 2008 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI. During the show Roth stated multiple times that this would not be their final show and that they would "see everyone next time." This show also was a special occasion being that the sign in front on the arena had been re done so it read "VAN HALEN ARENA" instead of the "VAN ANDEL ARENA" which is its actual name.
According to the Van Halen News Desk, the reunion tour with Roth was the highest grossing in the band's history, raking in almost 93 million dollars.
Van Halen's song "Hot for Teacher" is included in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.
The opening act of the Festival d'été de Québec in Quebec City was performed by Van Halen on July 3rd, 2008.
In a recent interview with Guitar World about the making of his upcoming new EVH Wolfgang guitar from Fender, Eddie Van Halen had this to say regarding the subject of new Van Halen music: "I’ll be making music ’til the day I die. I’ve done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming. I can’t tell you exactly when right now. Wolfgang is in the 12th grade and he needs to graduate first. Then I’m getting married in June. We’ll pick it up after that."
Although not actually aired, AZ rock station 98KUPD hosts contacted David Lee Roth via telephone for a proposed on air interview on Thurs. Dec 18th wherein Roth stated, "When (Wolfgang Van Halen) gets his cap and gown, we're all going back for the fall semester. I'm not sure we're gonna get good grades in conduct, but you know, you're gonna be able to judge us on our progress report next year and dance with us in time for the prom."
Band members
For more details on this topic, see List of Van Halen band members.
Current members
* David Lee Roth – lead & backing vocals (1974–1985, 1996, 2000, 2006–present)
* Eddie Van Halen – lead & rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1972–present)
* Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
* Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1972–present)
Former members
* Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals (1974–2002, 2004–2005)
* Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1985–1996, 2003–2005)
* Gary Cherone – lead vocals (1997–1999)
* Mitch Malloy - lead vocals (1996 - see above)
* Mark Stone – bass guitar, backing vocals (1972–1974 - only a member when the band still used the name Mammoth)
Discography
* Van Halen (1978)
* Van Halen II (1979)
* Women and Children First (1980)
* Fair Warning (1981)
* Diver Down (1982)
* 1984 (1983)
* 5150 (1986)
* OU812 (1988)
* For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)
* Live: Right Here, Right Now (1993)
* Balance (1995)
* Best of Volume I (1996)
* Van Halen III (1998)
* The Best of Both Worlds (2004)
(from Wikipedia)
Dewa Budjana
I Dewa Gede Budjana or Dewa Budjana (born August 30, 1963 in Waikabubak) is an Indonesian guitarist, songwriter and composer. He is the lead guitarist and songwriter of the band Gigi. Budjana’s style changed dramatically to jazz as he got to know John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Jeff Beck, John Abercrombie, Chick Corea and Weather Report. In his early experience, he established a band called "Squirrell" which was popular in the local community. Throughout his musical experience in Indonesia, Dewa Budjana has collaborated with many famous guitarists such as Tohpati, Ridho and Abdee Negara. His ability to combine jazz and rock has put him among the top Indonesian guitarists.
Early life
Budjana's passion and talent in music, especially guitar, has been very dominant since he was in an elementary school in Klungkung, Bali. Budjana’s first teacher was a construction worker who lived nearby. He stole money from his grandmother to buy his first guitarHe prioritised guitar in his life, and started to teach himself by playing rock songs. He became more passionate about music, and was reflected when Budjana moved to Surabaya, East Java, where he took a classical music course, performed with a band and participated in many of music performances. After graduation, he went to Jakarta to pursue a career as professional musician. While there, he came across Jack Lesmana, a jazz maestro and father of jazz musician Indra Lesmana, who taught Budjana the philosophy of jazz.
Music life
Early experience
In 1976, when he was thirteen, Budjana's name started to be seen in the music world in Surabaya. Later, in 1981, he bought a "real" electric guitar (an Aria Pro II) and started to play with many different people. Slowly, his musical style changed from pop rock to jazz, as he started to incorporate influences from John McLaughlin of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Yes, Gentle Giant, Kansas, Tangerine Dream, American Garage, Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny and Allan Holdsworth.
In 1980, Budjana started Squirrel, his first jazz band, with his schoolmates in Surabaya. Squirrel participated in a number of national music events, including Light Music Contest in 1984 at Teater Terbuka, TIM, Indonesia. Though many contestants participated, it was Budjana and his fellow bandmates who outperformed the competition and won. One year after that, Budjana decided to fly to Jakarta in order to expand his music career. This journey lead him to Jack Lesmana, an Indonesian jazz legend, who introduced him to other professional musicians.
Professional career
Although Jack provided Budjana with opportunities in his Indonesian music career, it was Indra who first asked him to became a session player. A few years later, Budjana joined the band Spirit, which included Baron, Gigi's former guitarist. With Budjana, Spirit released one self-titled album, before Budjana decided to leave the band and joined Java Jazz. He also sat in with many other bands — including the Jimmy Manopo Band, Erwin Gutawa, Elfa's Big Band and Twilite Orchestra — and participated in the North Sea Jazz Festival, a world jazz convention in Den Haag, the Netherlands.
His current band, Gigi, was formed in 1994 with Baron (guitar), Thomas (bass), Armand (vocal) and Ronald (drum). Since then, Gigi has released six albums. He has also released his own solo albums: Nusa Damai; Gitarku; Samsara; and Home, a tribute album to the December 2004 tsunami victims.
Since Dewa Budjana started his professional career as a musician, he has mainly used a Parker Fly Delux as his main guitar, occasionally using Klein and Gibson guitars SG series instead. Budjana also owns a double neck Klein guitar which was used on his latest album, Home, and pictured on the CD cover. For his rig, Dewa Budjana mainly uses Mesa Boogie rectifier and Carvin Legacy amplifier that are connected to the Line 6 Ax2 212.
Discography
* Gigi
o Angan (1994)
o Dunie (1995)
o 3/4 (1996)
o 2 x 2 (1997)
o Kilas Balik (1998)
o Baik (1999)
o The Greatest Hits Live (2000)
o Untuk Semua Umur (2001)
o The Best Of Gigi (2002)
o Salam Kedelapan (2003)
o OST. Brownies (2004)
o Raihlah Kemenangan (2004)
o Raihlah Kemenangan (repackage) (2005)
o Next Chapter (2006)
* Solo
o Nusa Damai (1997)
o Gitarku (2000)
o Samsara (2003)
o Home (2005)
(from Wikipedia)
Early life
Budjana's passion and talent in music, especially guitar, has been very dominant since he was in an elementary school in Klungkung, Bali. Budjana’s first teacher was a construction worker who lived nearby. He stole money from his grandmother to buy his first guitarHe prioritised guitar in his life, and started to teach himself by playing rock songs. He became more passionate about music, and was reflected when Budjana moved to Surabaya, East Java, where he took a classical music course, performed with a band and participated in many of music performances. After graduation, he went to Jakarta to pursue a career as professional musician. While there, he came across Jack Lesmana, a jazz maestro and father of jazz musician Indra Lesmana, who taught Budjana the philosophy of jazz.
Music life
Early experience
In 1976, when he was thirteen, Budjana's name started to be seen in the music world in Surabaya. Later, in 1981, he bought a "real" electric guitar (an Aria Pro II) and started to play with many different people. Slowly, his musical style changed from pop rock to jazz, as he started to incorporate influences from John McLaughlin of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Yes, Gentle Giant, Kansas, Tangerine Dream, American Garage, Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny and Allan Holdsworth.
In 1980, Budjana started Squirrel, his first jazz band, with his schoolmates in Surabaya. Squirrel participated in a number of national music events, including Light Music Contest in 1984 at Teater Terbuka, TIM, Indonesia. Though many contestants participated, it was Budjana and his fellow bandmates who outperformed the competition and won. One year after that, Budjana decided to fly to Jakarta in order to expand his music career. This journey lead him to Jack Lesmana, an Indonesian jazz legend, who introduced him to other professional musicians.
Professional career
Although Jack provided Budjana with opportunities in his Indonesian music career, it was Indra who first asked him to became a session player. A few years later, Budjana joined the band Spirit, which included Baron, Gigi's former guitarist. With Budjana, Spirit released one self-titled album, before Budjana decided to leave the band and joined Java Jazz. He also sat in with many other bands — including the Jimmy Manopo Band, Erwin Gutawa, Elfa's Big Band and Twilite Orchestra — and participated in the North Sea Jazz Festival, a world jazz convention in Den Haag, the Netherlands.
His current band, Gigi, was formed in 1994 with Baron (guitar), Thomas (bass), Armand (vocal) and Ronald (drum). Since then, Gigi has released six albums. He has also released his own solo albums: Nusa Damai; Gitarku; Samsara; and Home, a tribute album to the December 2004 tsunami victims.
Since Dewa Budjana started his professional career as a musician, he has mainly used a Parker Fly Delux as his main guitar, occasionally using Klein and Gibson guitars SG series instead. Budjana also owns a double neck Klein guitar which was used on his latest album, Home, and pictured on the CD cover. For his rig, Dewa Budjana mainly uses Mesa Boogie rectifier and Carvin Legacy amplifier that are connected to the Line 6 Ax2 212.
Discography
* Gigi
o Angan (1994)
o Dunie (1995)
o 3/4 (1996)
o 2 x 2 (1997)
o Kilas Balik (1998)
o Baik (1999)
o The Greatest Hits Live (2000)
o Untuk Semua Umur (2001)
o The Best Of Gigi (2002)
o Salam Kedelapan (2003)
o OST. Brownies (2004)
o Raihlah Kemenangan (2004)
o Raihlah Kemenangan (repackage) (2005)
o Next Chapter (2006)
* Solo
o Nusa Damai (1997)
o Gitarku (2000)
o Samsara (2003)
o Home (2005)
(from Wikipedia)
I Wayan Balawan
I Wayan Balawan or Balawan (born September 9, 1973 in Bali) is an Indonesian guitarist and songwriter. He is best-known as a Batuan Ethnic Fusion guitarist. Since he returned from Sydney, Balawan has developed the "8 fingers tapping" technique, also known as "Touching Tapping Style".
Personal life
Balawan listened to Balinese gamelan, a traditional music style from Bali, since birth. At the age of eight he taught himself to play guitar. He joined his first band when he was 14 years old. Although he grew up in a Balinese traditional culture, Balawan played more rock songs rather than gamelan. Some of his favorite bands were Scorpions, Deep Purple and The Beatles.
Eventually he became bored with rock music and decided to study jazz at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. During his studies towards a Diploma of Music, he was awarded a three-year scholarship. He studied in Sydney for about five years, during which time he also gained popularity for his exceptional talent of playing guitar and jazz music. After he obtained his Diploma of Music, he went back to Bali in 1997 and formed a band called Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which combined the traditional Balinese gamelan music with jazz/fusion style.
Career
His first professional band is Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which is still active. Besides being a band member, Balawan is also working on his solo career and has released three albums. His first solo album was "Balawan", which released in 1997 by the Acoustic Music Label, a German company. Later, he worked with an Indonesian company, and with his band, he released his first band album, "GloBALIsm", under Chico&Ira production in 1999. Recently Balawan launched his second solo album, "Magic Fingers", under the Sony-BMG Music Indonesia label. Magic Fingers really showcases Balawan's abilities in arranging and composing and his ability to blend modern music with traditional Balinese gamelan.
"It's always exciting to find new things in art and Batuan Ethnic Fusion is a perfect example of artist who explore into the great spectrum in art with passion, love, beauty and freedom..." - Indra Lesmana
As Balawan is considered as the only Indonesian guitarist who able to develop and use the "Touch Tapping" style, he often plays in Germany and Norway. In 2000, Balawan collaborated with many international guitarists at "East Meet West Gitarren Festival Edekoben Germany 2000 Tour". He also has had a tour in 20 cities in Germany in 2001. In the same year, Balawan played at "Hell Blues Festival" in Norway in September.
Technique
Balawan has developed and expanded a technique called "Fingering Tapping" style. The technique enables the guitarist to play two or even three different music progressions at the same time using the same instrument continuously. Another notable player of this technique is Stanley Jordan, an American jazz/fusion guitarist. Balawan developed the same progression with Stanley Jordan, that he is able to produce a piano, bass and guitar at the same time using just one instrument.
Usually Balawan uses all four fingers of his right hand to create the melody progressions and his left hand to create the bass and rhythmic sounds. Another unique thing is that there is no pattern or repetition whatsoever between the left and right hand. Thus Balawan has a very exceptional skill of playing guitar.
Equipment
Since Balawan needs to play rhythmic progression and melody at the same time, he uses a special guitar with two necks made by Julius Salaka, who also created a guitar model for another Indonesian guitarist, Dewa Budjana. Balawan's guitar has a double neck with six strings on the upper neck and seven strings on the lower one, which utilises MIDI pickups to translate the notes he plays into midi notes played via off-board synths and samplers..
Balawan uses Ibanez SA series and Laney amplifiers exclusively.
Balawan also plays drums, both to fill the tracks on his albums and to develop the "Touch Tapping" style.
Discography
* Balawan (1997)
* GloBALIsm (1999)
* Magic Fingers (2005)
(from Wikipedia)
Personal life
Balawan listened to Balinese gamelan, a traditional music style from Bali, since birth. At the age of eight he taught himself to play guitar. He joined his first band when he was 14 years old. Although he grew up in a Balinese traditional culture, Balawan played more rock songs rather than gamelan. Some of his favorite bands were Scorpions, Deep Purple and The Beatles.
Eventually he became bored with rock music and decided to study jazz at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. During his studies towards a Diploma of Music, he was awarded a three-year scholarship. He studied in Sydney for about five years, during which time he also gained popularity for his exceptional talent of playing guitar and jazz music. After he obtained his Diploma of Music, he went back to Bali in 1997 and formed a band called Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which combined the traditional Balinese gamelan music with jazz/fusion style.
Career
His first professional band is Batuan Ethnic Fusion, which is still active. Besides being a band member, Balawan is also working on his solo career and has released three albums. His first solo album was "Balawan", which released in 1997 by the Acoustic Music Label, a German company. Later, he worked with an Indonesian company, and with his band, he released his first band album, "GloBALIsm", under Chico&Ira production in 1999. Recently Balawan launched his second solo album, "Magic Fingers", under the Sony-BMG Music Indonesia label. Magic Fingers really showcases Balawan's abilities in arranging and composing and his ability to blend modern music with traditional Balinese gamelan.
"It's always exciting to find new things in art and Batuan Ethnic Fusion is a perfect example of artist who explore into the great spectrum in art with passion, love, beauty and freedom..." - Indra Lesmana
As Balawan is considered as the only Indonesian guitarist who able to develop and use the "Touch Tapping" style, he often plays in Germany and Norway. In 2000, Balawan collaborated with many international guitarists at "East Meet West Gitarren Festival Edekoben Germany 2000 Tour". He also has had a tour in 20 cities in Germany in 2001. In the same year, Balawan played at "Hell Blues Festival" in Norway in September.
Technique
Balawan has developed and expanded a technique called "Fingering Tapping" style. The technique enables the guitarist to play two or even three different music progressions at the same time using the same instrument continuously. Another notable player of this technique is Stanley Jordan, an American jazz/fusion guitarist. Balawan developed the same progression with Stanley Jordan, that he is able to produce a piano, bass and guitar at the same time using just one instrument.
Usually Balawan uses all four fingers of his right hand to create the melody progressions and his left hand to create the bass and rhythmic sounds. Another unique thing is that there is no pattern or repetition whatsoever between the left and right hand. Thus Balawan has a very exceptional skill of playing guitar.
Equipment
Since Balawan needs to play rhythmic progression and melody at the same time, he uses a special guitar with two necks made by Julius Salaka, who also created a guitar model for another Indonesian guitarist, Dewa Budjana. Balawan's guitar has a double neck with six strings on the upper neck and seven strings on the lower one, which utilises MIDI pickups to translate the notes he plays into midi notes played via off-board synths and samplers..
Balawan uses Ibanez SA series and Laney amplifiers exclusively.
Balawan also plays drums, both to fill the tracks on his albums and to develop the "Touch Tapping" style.
Discography
* Balawan (1997)
* GloBALIsm (1999)
* Magic Fingers (2005)
(from Wikipedia)
B. B. King
B. B. King (born Riley B. King, September 16, 1925) is an African American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter known for his expressive singing and inimitable guitar playing. One reviewer wrote, "King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." Critical acclaim and widespread popularity have cemented his reputation as possibly the most respected,successful, and most recognized bluesman, not just in the United States, but in the world. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him at #3 in "the 100 greatest guitarists of all time".
Career
B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in 1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B.B.". It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. Had to have one, short of stealing!", he said. In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which got a bad review in Billboard magazine and did not chart well.
"My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player."
King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard (or billions) Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. (By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and "juke joints" of the U.S. Southern States. King meanwhile toured the entire Chitlin Circuit and 1956 became a record-breaking 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label; Blues Boys Kingdom with its headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, amongst other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. The record company eventually failed, however, because King's schedule was unable to stretch far enough to include that of a businessman.
In the 1950s, B. B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, B. B. King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
King won a Grammy Award, for a tune called, "The Thrill Is Gone." His version became a hit on both Pop music and R&B charts, which was rare for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further rock visibility as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You Is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love."
B.B. was present before the boxing match at the world championship between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974. His band's performance there was released on a DVD.
1980 saw B.B. King in the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."
Although King began recording less beginning in the 1980s, he continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley. Among his jazz colleagues like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, King once said, "What they did, simply went over my horizon."
King owns several clubs in the U.S., including at Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, in New Orleans and Nashville, where he occasionally visits. In addition, he invested in merchandise including barbecue accessories and endorsed a line of his own custom guitar strings.
Since 2004, King began to cite age and health reasons for touring less frequently. In the summer of 2005 he undertook a "Final Farewell Tour" through Europe. But in 2006 he entered the United States and again in Europe.
Farewell tour
Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Sheffield's Hallam Arena. This was the first date of his UK and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by ex-shredder/rocker turned bluesman Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on 4 April with a final UK concert at Wembley Arena.
In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006 at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).
In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called Never Say Never Again."
In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King.in Indianola, Mississippi.
The museum opened on September 13, 2008.
In late October 2006, he recorded a live CD and DVD, B.B. KING LIVE, at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.
On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders, located in Antigua. Performing in Chicago Illinois, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" and "Rock Me Baby" with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and philosophized about his age and life. This never made it in its entirety to the subsequently released PBS broadcast or Crossroads II DVD.
2008 - Present
In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, and on August 1, 2008, he performed at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
King was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008. Additionally in June 2008, King played the final set of the Monterey, California Blues Festival following Taj Mahal. King rounded off the month when he was also, in June, 2008, inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.
In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.
On December 1, 2008 King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland.
On December 3, 2008 King, along with John Mayer, was the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan.
On December 30, 2008 King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show. His performance was in honor of Morgan Freeman.
(from Wikipedia)
Career
B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in 1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B.B.". It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. Had to have one, short of stealing!", he said. In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which got a bad review in Billboard magazine and did not chart well.
"My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player."
King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard (or billions) Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. (By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and "juke joints" of the U.S. Southern States. King meanwhile toured the entire Chitlin Circuit and 1956 became a record-breaking 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label; Blues Boys Kingdom with its headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, amongst other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. The record company eventually failed, however, because King's schedule was unable to stretch far enough to include that of a businessman.
In the 1950s, B. B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, B. B. King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
King won a Grammy Award, for a tune called, "The Thrill Is Gone." His version became a hit on both Pop music and R&B charts, which was rare for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further rock visibility as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You Is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love."
B.B. was present before the boxing match at the world championship between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1974. His band's performance there was released on a DVD.
1980 saw B.B. King in the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."
Although King began recording less beginning in the 1980s, he continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley. Among his jazz colleagues like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, King once said, "What they did, simply went over my horizon."
King owns several clubs in the U.S., including at Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, in New Orleans and Nashville, where he occasionally visits. In addition, he invested in merchandise including barbecue accessories and endorsed a line of his own custom guitar strings.
Since 2004, King began to cite age and health reasons for touring less frequently. In the summer of 2005 he undertook a "Final Farewell Tour" through Europe. But in 2006 he entered the United States and again in Europe.
Farewell tour
Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Sheffield's Hallam Arena. This was the first date of his UK and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by ex-shredder/rocker turned bluesman Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on 4 April with a final UK concert at Wembley Arena.
In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006 at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).
In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called Never Say Never Again."
In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King.in Indianola, Mississippi.
The museum opened on September 13, 2008.
In late October 2006, he recorded a live CD and DVD, B.B. KING LIVE, at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.
On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders, located in Antigua. Performing in Chicago Illinois, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" and "Rock Me Baby" with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and philosophized about his age and life. This never made it in its entirety to the subsequently released PBS broadcast or Crossroads II DVD.
2008 - Present
In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, and on August 1, 2008, he performed at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
King was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008. Additionally in June 2008, King played the final set of the Monterey, California Blues Festival following Taj Mahal. King rounded off the month when he was also, in June, 2008, inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.
In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.
On December 1, 2008 King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland.
On December 3, 2008 King, along with John Mayer, was the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan.
On December 30, 2008 King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show. His performance was in honor of Morgan Freeman.
(from Wikipedia)
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003 Hammett was ranked 11th in Rolling Stone's list - The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Biography
Early life (1962-1980)
Born on November 18, 1962 in San Francisco to a Filipina mother (Chefela) and an Irish Merchant Marine father. He grew up in El Sobrante, California and has a younger sister, Tawny. Kirk Hammett attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California.
As a child and teenager, Kirk Hammett showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of guitars, Rickenbacker basses and hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and UFO[citation needed]. One of his biggest musical influences was Jimi Hendrix[citation needed], and Hammett was quoted as saying he wanted to be Hendrix[citation needed]. Hammett has also been known to perform parts of Hendrix's songs during his guitar solos.
After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. He also took a job at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
Exodus (1980-1983)
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus' 1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.
Metallica (1983-Present)
Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983. This was prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani.
Hammett has written and contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the 1990s during the Load era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman", was written in a hotel room at 3:15 am, and became one of Metallica's most popular songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled "Black Album" and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica.
Hammett is also known for always having his picking hand taped up. During the course of a full tour, due to constantly palm muting and fast picking, the back of his hand takes sizable abuse.
Hammett's playing style is noted for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos. Hammett says "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal." Hammett's use of the wah-pedal hadn't been featured in recent Metallica solos, but has seen a resurgence in his solos on the newest album, Death Magnetic.
Hammett initially wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we left them out".
Personal life
Hammett has been married twice. His first marriage to ex-wife Rebecca lasted only 3 years, having ended in 1990, during the recording of the Black Album, which consumed the band members' lives for almost an entire year.
Hammett now resides in Hawaii with Lani, his second wife, whom he married in 1998. They have two sons, Angel Ray Keala Hammett (September 29, 2006) and Vincenzo Kainalu Hammett (June 28 2008).
Hammett's interests include surfing, cooking, horses, archaeology, cars, science fiction magazines and collecting horror film memorabilia.
Kirk also commented recently on the T3 gadget website in their audio interview that he was previously addicted to video games. Stating that the addiction resulted in the loss of eating, social interaction and guitar.
Other appearances
In 2005, Hammett played guitar on the Carlos Santana track "Trinity".
In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons ("The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"). He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan ("The Curse of Dethklok"), The Queen of Denmark ("Happy Dethday"), and a Finnish barkeep ("Dethtroll"). * He also appeared as a guest in an episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast titled "Jacksonville" alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for The Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs.
He also appeared on the "Kichigai" E.P. by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track.
He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour (K'naan album) album
He will also be one of the main characters in Guitar Hero: Metallica along with the rest of Metallica
Equipment
In January 2007, ESP Guitar Company announced the release of a 20th anniversary Limited KH-20 Guitar to celebrate 20 years of relationship with Kirk Hammett (based upon the KH-2 guitar with some modification). There will only be 41 guitars made and the price has been set at $9,999.
In September 2007, Randall Amplifiers announced a partnership with Hammett to design a line of signature amps, heads, combos and preamp modules.
In 2008 Jim Dunlop started working in partnership with Hammett to create a signature wah pedal. There is no release date or confirmation on this product as of yet.
In January 2009, ESP Guitar Company has announced the rare release of the famous "ouija" a limited basis for 2009 only
Guitars
* ESP M-II "Zorlac" - This was the starting line for the whole fk series. It features a vertical skull & crossbones as opposed to the horizontal ones featured on today's KH's, and an upside down Jackson Guitars style headstock which is what Hammett originally intended. However, Jackson Guitars was not thrilled about this, and threatened law suits if this model ever hit stores[citation needed]. So the headstock was changed to a typical ESP but flipped upside down.
* ESP KH-2 (Main touring guitar) - Hammett's signature model guitar is based upon the modifications he made to his M-II. (Nicknamed "Skully" because of the skull and crossbone inlays)
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Boris Karloff Mummy" I - Boris Karloff Mummy I graphic. Hammett owns the rights to the image on it and it will not be released by ESP.
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Ouija" - This guitar contains 2 spelling errors on it. It sports the words "WILLIAM FUED TALKING BAARD SET" but it in fact should say "WILLIAM FULD TALKING BOARD SET"
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Boris Karloff Mummy" II - Boris Karloff Mummy II graphic. Same as the Mummy I but with hieroglyph inlays.
* ESP ESP M-II "Skully" 7-String - Though it belongs to Hammett, James Hetfield mainly used it in the studio for St. Anger, as Hammett does not tour with it
* ESP KH-3 Eclipse - Pushead Spider graphic. It is taken from a classic Les Paul Jr. shape with a floyd rose vibrato and EMG pickups.
* ESP KH-4 M-II "Fuck You" - It's the same as a typical KH-2, but with a pearloid pickguard, dot inlays, a Roland midi unit (for roland vg8/vg88), and the words "FUCK YOU" written at the 12th fret.
* Gibson Les Paul 1968 Custom - Hammett also uses regular Les Pauls at some performances
* Jackson Randy Rhoads Model RR1T - Custom-Made specifically for Hammett. It is usually tuned one step down from standard tuning, and used for the song "Sad But True".
* Jackson Soloist Used for the song "The Thing That Should Not Be".
* Jackson Guitars Roswell Rhoads used for recording "Load".
* ESP KH-1 Flying V
* ESP KH-2 M-II - Skull & Crossbones II
* ESP M-II Red Frankenstein graphic
* ESP M-II Skull & Crossbones I
* ESP WaveCaster Blue - Wave Machine (Only 3 in existence.)
* Fender Stratocaster 1998 - American black and green Stratocaster
* Gibson Flying V 1974 - Used mainly for recording the first four albums. In 1989 he replaced the stock pickups with EMG 81s. Was the third guitar he ever owned.
Kirk Hammett's first guitar was a Montgomery Ward brand guitar, with a shoebox and small speaker for an amplifier.[21] Metallica's "St. Anger" DVD rehearsals features a new guitar which has "Invisible Kid" written on it, which he uses in the song "Invisible Kid".
On the 25th anniversary of Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Kirk Hammett appears on the cover of Feb. 2008's Guitar World sporting his new custom ESP. This model is the KH20, the 20th anniversary model from ESP.
In the video for "One", Kirk Hammett is seen using what is most likely an ESP Vintage Plus. It appears however to be modified; it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, which could have been Hammett's own work or a custom model.
Current tourning guitars for World Magnetic tour:
ESP KH-2 M-11 SKULLY
ESP KH-2 M-11 DRACULA(same specs as the kh-2 with dracula graphics)
ESP KH-2 M-11 CUSTOM(it has the same specs as a kh2 but a chrome pickguard
Natural Gibson Explorer(stock pickups and tuners)
Red ESP Flying V
White Ouija KH-2
Black Ouija KH-2
Amplifiers & Cabinets
* Randall RM100KH signature model (modified version of the MTS series RM100)
* Randall 4x12 RS412KHX
* Randall 4x12 RS412KH100
* Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Mark IV
* Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Quad Preamp
* Mesa/Boogie Simul-class 295
* Fender Twin
* Various models of Marshall and Diezel
Pickups, Effects and other Equipment
* EMG 81 and EMG 60 pickups
* Rack-mounted Dunlop Cry Baby(Wah) with expression pedals
* Ibanez Tube Screamer Modded by Keeley
* Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 control edition
* Lovetone Meatball pedal (used on I Disappear)
* Jim Dunlop Dunlop Jazz III Picks
* Ernie Ball Power Slinky (.11-.48) #2220 electric guitar strings
* Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom (.10-.52)
* Custom Levy's strap
* Radial Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal
* MXR EVH Flanger
* Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler
* Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler
* Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
* Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler
* Digitech WH1 Whammy Pedal ( this pedal is used in the solo for Devils Dance)
Discography
Exodus
* 1982 Demo
Metallica
* Kill 'Em All
* Ride the Lightning
* Master of Puppets
* ...And Justice for All
* Metallica (The Black Album)
* Load
* Garage, Inc.
* ReLoad
* St. Anger
* Death Magnetic
(from Wikipedia)
Biography
Early life (1962-1980)
Born on November 18, 1962 in San Francisco to a Filipina mother (Chefela) and an Irish Merchant Marine father. He grew up in El Sobrante, California and has a younger sister, Tawny. Kirk Hammett attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California.
As a child and teenager, Kirk Hammett showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of guitars, Rickenbacker basses and hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and UFO[citation needed]. One of his biggest musical influences was Jimi Hendrix[citation needed], and Hammett was quoted as saying he wanted to be Hendrix[citation needed]. Hammett has also been known to perform parts of Hendrix's songs during his guitar solos.
After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. He also took a job at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.
Exodus (1980-1983)
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1980, he formed the group Exodus with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist Gary Holt, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. He played on Exodus' 1982 Demo. Exodus was a crucial early player in the Bay Area thrash movement.
Metallica (1983-Present)
Hammett was invited to join Metallica following the dismissal of the band's original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine in 1983. This was prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. At the time Hammett was taking private guitar lessons from the now-famous Joe Satriani.
Hammett has written and contributed riffs for Metallica songs since the mid-1980s (particularly in the 1990s during the Load era). One of these riffs, used in "Enter Sandman", was written in a hotel room at 3:15 am, and became one of Metallica's most popular songs. It was the first track and first single on Metallica's self-titled "Black Album" and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica.
Hammett is also known for always having his picking hand taped up. During the course of a full tour, due to constantly palm muting and fast picking, the back of his hand takes sizable abuse.
Hammett's playing style is noted for his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal in his solos. Hammett says "The wah-wah is an extension of my personality." He also once said, "They'll have to cut off my leg if they want me to stop using the wah-wah pedal." Hammett's use of the wah-pedal hadn't been featured in recent Metallica solos, but has seen a resurgence in his solos on the newest album, Death Magnetic.
Hammett initially wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we left them out".
Personal life
Hammett has been married twice. His first marriage to ex-wife Rebecca lasted only 3 years, having ended in 1990, during the recording of the Black Album, which consumed the band members' lives for almost an entire year.
Hammett now resides in Hawaii with Lani, his second wife, whom he married in 1998. They have two sons, Angel Ray Keala Hammett (September 29, 2006) and Vincenzo Kainalu Hammett (June 28 2008).
Hammett's interests include surfing, cooking, horses, archaeology, cars, science fiction magazines and collecting horror film memorabilia.
Kirk also commented recently on the T3 gadget website in their audio interview that he was previously addicted to video games. Stating that the addiction resulted in the loss of eating, social interaction and guitar.
Other appearances
In 2005, Hammett played guitar on the Carlos Santana track "Trinity".
In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons ("The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"). He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan ("The Curse of Dethklok"), The Queen of Denmark ("Happy Dethday"), and a Finnish barkeep ("Dethtroll"). * He also appeared as a guest in an episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast titled "Jacksonville" alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for The Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs.
He also appeared on the "Kichigai" E.P. by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track.
He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour (K'naan album) album
He will also be one of the main characters in Guitar Hero: Metallica along with the rest of Metallica
Equipment
In January 2007, ESP Guitar Company announced the release of a 20th anniversary Limited KH-20 Guitar to celebrate 20 years of relationship with Kirk Hammett (based upon the KH-2 guitar with some modification). There will only be 41 guitars made and the price has been set at $9,999.
In September 2007, Randall Amplifiers announced a partnership with Hammett to design a line of signature amps, heads, combos and preamp modules.
In 2008 Jim Dunlop started working in partnership with Hammett to create a signature wah pedal. There is no release date or confirmation on this product as of yet.
In January 2009, ESP Guitar Company has announced the rare release of the famous "ouija" a limited basis for 2009 only
Guitars
* ESP M-II "Zorlac" - This was the starting line for the whole fk series. It features a vertical skull & crossbones as opposed to the horizontal ones featured on today's KH's, and an upside down Jackson Guitars style headstock which is what Hammett originally intended. However, Jackson Guitars was not thrilled about this, and threatened law suits if this model ever hit stores[citation needed]. So the headstock was changed to a typical ESP but flipped upside down.
* ESP KH-2 (Main touring guitar) - Hammett's signature model guitar is based upon the modifications he made to his M-II. (Nicknamed "Skully" because of the skull and crossbone inlays)
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Boris Karloff Mummy" I - Boris Karloff Mummy I graphic. Hammett owns the rights to the image on it and it will not be released by ESP.
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Ouija" - This guitar contains 2 spelling errors on it. It sports the words "WILLIAM FUED TALKING BAARD SET" but it in fact should say "WILLIAM FULD TALKING BOARD SET"
* ESP KH-2 M-II "Boris Karloff Mummy" II - Boris Karloff Mummy II graphic. Same as the Mummy I but with hieroglyph inlays.
* ESP ESP M-II "Skully" 7-String - Though it belongs to Hammett, James Hetfield mainly used it in the studio for St. Anger, as Hammett does not tour with it
* ESP KH-3 Eclipse - Pushead Spider graphic. It is taken from a classic Les Paul Jr. shape with a floyd rose vibrato and EMG pickups.
* ESP KH-4 M-II "Fuck You" - It's the same as a typical KH-2, but with a pearloid pickguard, dot inlays, a Roland midi unit (for roland vg8/vg88), and the words "FUCK YOU" written at the 12th fret.
* Gibson Les Paul 1968 Custom - Hammett also uses regular Les Pauls at some performances
* Jackson Randy Rhoads Model RR1T - Custom-Made specifically for Hammett. It is usually tuned one step down from standard tuning, and used for the song "Sad But True".
* Jackson Soloist Used for the song "The Thing That Should Not Be".
* Jackson Guitars Roswell Rhoads used for recording "Load".
* ESP KH-1 Flying V
* ESP KH-2 M-II - Skull & Crossbones II
* ESP M-II Red Frankenstein graphic
* ESP M-II Skull & Crossbones I
* ESP WaveCaster Blue - Wave Machine (Only 3 in existence.)
* Fender Stratocaster 1998 - American black and green Stratocaster
* Gibson Flying V 1974 - Used mainly for recording the first four albums. In 1989 he replaced the stock pickups with EMG 81s. Was the third guitar he ever owned.
Kirk Hammett's first guitar was a Montgomery Ward brand guitar, with a shoebox and small speaker for an amplifier.[21] Metallica's "St. Anger" DVD rehearsals features a new guitar which has "Invisible Kid" written on it, which he uses in the song "Invisible Kid".
On the 25th anniversary of Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Kirk Hammett appears on the cover of Feb. 2008's Guitar World sporting his new custom ESP. This model is the KH20, the 20th anniversary model from ESP.
In the video for "One", Kirk Hammett is seen using what is most likely an ESP Vintage Plus. It appears however to be modified; it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, which could have been Hammett's own work or a custom model.
Current tourning guitars for World Magnetic tour:
ESP KH-2 M-11 SKULLY
ESP KH-2 M-11 DRACULA(same specs as the kh-2 with dracula graphics)
ESP KH-2 M-11 CUSTOM(it has the same specs as a kh2 but a chrome pickguard
Natural Gibson Explorer(stock pickups and tuners)
Red ESP Flying V
White Ouija KH-2
Black Ouija KH-2
Amplifiers & Cabinets
* Randall RM100KH signature model (modified version of the MTS series RM100)
* Randall 4x12 RS412KHX
* Randall 4x12 RS412KH100
* Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Mark IV
* Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier
* Mesa/Boogie Quad Preamp
* Mesa/Boogie Simul-class 295
* Fender Twin
* Various models of Marshall and Diezel
Pickups, Effects and other Equipment
* EMG 81 and EMG 60 pickups
* Rack-mounted Dunlop Cry Baby(Wah) with expression pedals
* Ibanez Tube Screamer Modded by Keeley
* Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 control edition
* Lovetone Meatball pedal (used on I Disappear)
* Jim Dunlop Dunlop Jazz III Picks
* Ernie Ball Power Slinky (.11-.48) #2220 electric guitar strings
* Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom (.10-.52)
* Custom Levy's strap
* Radial Tonebone Hot British distortion pedal
* MXR EVH Flanger
* Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler
* Line 6 DM4 Distortion Modeler
* Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
* Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler
* Digitech WH1 Whammy Pedal ( this pedal is used in the solo for Devils Dance)
Discography
Exodus
* 1982 Demo
Metallica
* Kill 'Em All
* Ride the Lightning
* Master of Puppets
* ...And Justice for All
* Metallica (The Black Album)
* Load
* Garage, Inc.
* ReLoad
* St. Anger
* Death Magnetic
(from Wikipedia)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.
Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar feedback. Hendrix, along with bands such as Cream was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."
Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix' music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.
Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage "Blue plaque" was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.
Biography
Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, USA, while his father was stationed at an Army base in Oklahoma. He was named Johnny Allen Hendrix at birth by his mother, 17 year old Lucille Hendrix née Jeter. She had put him in the temporary care of friends in California (a holiday). On his release from the Army his father, James Allen "Al" Hendrix (1919–2002), took him, and changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix in memory of his deceased brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix. He was known as "Buster" to friends and family, from birth. Shortly after, Al reunited with Lucille. He found it hard to gain steady employment after the Second World War, and the family experienced financial hardship. Hendrix had two brothers, Leon and Joseph, and two sisters, Kathy and Pamela. Joseph was born with physical difficulties and at the age of three was given up to state care. His two sisters were both given up at a relatively early age, for care and later adoption, Kathy was born blind and Pamela had some lesser physical difficulties. Hendrix' parents divorced when he was nine years old, and his mother died in 1958. On occasion, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia because of the unstable household, and his brother Leon was put into temporary welfare care for a period. Hendrix grew up as a shy and sensitive boy, deeply affected by the conditions of poverty and neglect he experienced. In a relatively unusual experience for African Americans of his era, Hendrix' high school had a relatively equitable ethnic mix of African, European (including Jews), and Asian (Japanese, Filipino and Chinese) Americans. At age 15, around the time his mother died, he acquired his first acoustic guitar for $5 from an acquaintance of his father. This guitar replaced both the broomstick he had been strumming in imitation of older musicians and the one-stringed ukulele his father had found while cleaning out a garage, on which Hendrix reportedly managed to play several tunes. He learned by practicing almost constantly, watching others play, through tips from more experienced players, and by listening to records. In the summer of 1959, his father bought Hendrix a white Supro Ozark, his first electric guitar, but there was no available amplifier. That same year his only failing grade in school was an F in music class.[citation needed] According to fellow Seattle bandmates, he learned most of his acrobatic stage moves, a major part of the blues/R&B tradition, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, from a fellow young musician, Raleigh "Butch" Snipes. Snipes was a guitarist with local band (The Sharps), who performed Chuck Berry's trademark "duck walk". Hendrix played in a couple of local bands, occasionally playing outlying gigs in Washington State and at least once over the border in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Hendrix was particularly fond of Elvis Presley, whom he saw perform in Seattle, in 1957. Leon Hendrix claimed, in an early interview, that Little Richard appeared in his Central District neighborhood and shook hands with his brother, Jimi. This is unattested elsewhere and vehemently denied by his father. Hendrix' early exposure to Blues music came from listening to records by Muddy Waters and B.B. King his father owned. Another early impression came from the 1954 western Johnny Guitar, in which the hero carries no gun but instead wears a guitar slung behind his back.
His first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue. After too much wild playing and showing off, he was fired between sets. The first formal band he played in was The Velvetones who performed regularly at the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood House without pay. His flashy style and left-handed playing of a right-handed guitar already made him a standout. He later joined the Rocking Kings who played professionally at such venues as the Birdland. When his guitar was stolen (after he left it backstage overnight), Al bought him a white Silvertone Danelectro which he painted red and emblazoned with the words "Betty Jean" (Morgan), the name of his high school girlfriend.
Hendrix completed junior high at Washington Junior High School with little trouble but didn't graduate from Garfield High School, although he would later be awarded an honorary diploma, and in the 1990s, a bust of Hendrix was placed in the school library. After he became famous in the late 1960s, Hendrix told reporters that he had been expelled from Garfield by racist faculty for holding hands with a white girlfriend in study hall. However, Principal Frank Hanawalt says that it was simply due to poor grades and attendance problems.
(from Wikipedia)
Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar feedback. Hendrix, along with bands such as Cream was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."
Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix' music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.
Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage "Blue plaque" was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.
Biography
Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, USA, while his father was stationed at an Army base in Oklahoma. He was named Johnny Allen Hendrix at birth by his mother, 17 year old Lucille Hendrix née Jeter. She had put him in the temporary care of friends in California (a holiday). On his release from the Army his father, James Allen "Al" Hendrix (1919–2002), took him, and changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix in memory of his deceased brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix. He was known as "Buster" to friends and family, from birth. Shortly after, Al reunited with Lucille. He found it hard to gain steady employment after the Second World War, and the family experienced financial hardship. Hendrix had two brothers, Leon and Joseph, and two sisters, Kathy and Pamela. Joseph was born with physical difficulties and at the age of three was given up to state care. His two sisters were both given up at a relatively early age, for care and later adoption, Kathy was born blind and Pamela had some lesser physical difficulties. Hendrix' parents divorced when he was nine years old, and his mother died in 1958. On occasion, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia because of the unstable household, and his brother Leon was put into temporary welfare care for a period. Hendrix grew up as a shy and sensitive boy, deeply affected by the conditions of poverty and neglect he experienced. In a relatively unusual experience for African Americans of his era, Hendrix' high school had a relatively equitable ethnic mix of African, European (including Jews), and Asian (Japanese, Filipino and Chinese) Americans. At age 15, around the time his mother died, he acquired his first acoustic guitar for $5 from an acquaintance of his father. This guitar replaced both the broomstick he had been strumming in imitation of older musicians and the one-stringed ukulele his father had found while cleaning out a garage, on which Hendrix reportedly managed to play several tunes. He learned by practicing almost constantly, watching others play, through tips from more experienced players, and by listening to records. In the summer of 1959, his father bought Hendrix a white Supro Ozark, his first electric guitar, but there was no available amplifier. That same year his only failing grade in school was an F in music class.[citation needed] According to fellow Seattle bandmates, he learned most of his acrobatic stage moves, a major part of the blues/R&B tradition, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, from a fellow young musician, Raleigh "Butch" Snipes. Snipes was a guitarist with local band (The Sharps), who performed Chuck Berry's trademark "duck walk". Hendrix played in a couple of local bands, occasionally playing outlying gigs in Washington State and at least once over the border in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Hendrix was particularly fond of Elvis Presley, whom he saw perform in Seattle, in 1957. Leon Hendrix claimed, in an early interview, that Little Richard appeared in his Central District neighborhood and shook hands with his brother, Jimi. This is unattested elsewhere and vehemently denied by his father. Hendrix' early exposure to Blues music came from listening to records by Muddy Waters and B.B. King his father owned. Another early impression came from the 1954 western Johnny Guitar, in which the hero carries no gun but instead wears a guitar slung behind his back.
His first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue. After too much wild playing and showing off, he was fired between sets. The first formal band he played in was The Velvetones who performed regularly at the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood House without pay. His flashy style and left-handed playing of a right-handed guitar already made him a standout. He later joined the Rocking Kings who played professionally at such venues as the Birdland. When his guitar was stolen (after he left it backstage overnight), Al bought him a white Silvertone Danelectro which he painted red and emblazoned with the words "Betty Jean" (Morgan), the name of his high school girlfriend.
Hendrix completed junior high at Washington Junior High School with little trouble but didn't graduate from Garfield High School, although he would later be awarded an honorary diploma, and in the 1990s, a bust of Hendrix was placed in the school library. After he became famous in the late 1960s, Hendrix told reporters that he had been expelled from Garfield by racist faculty for holding hands with a white girlfriend in study hall. However, Principal Frank Hanawalt says that it was simply due to poor grades and attendance problems.
(from Wikipedia)
Funtwo
Lim Jeong-hyun, also known by the online alias funtwo, is a South Korean guitarist known for his cover of the song Canon Rock. The YouTube user with the alias "guitar90" is not Lim Jeong-hyun, but an unknown person who just happened to upload Lim's video. This has been cleared up in his latest interviews. Quoting from the video, the interview clarifies, "someone else called guitar90 who grabbed the video and put it on YouTube where it became a sensation". Now he has an account on youtube called funtwohimself.
Canon rock cover
He played and recorded his cover of Canon Rock during 2005. He uploaded his video onto the popular Korean music site called Mule.co.kr. It was then uploaded to YouTube by a viewer nicknamed "guitar90", under the title guitar. It was not long before the video gathered popularity and viewers speculated as to who was beneath the baseball cap.
His video is among the twentieth most viewed and fifth most "favorited" video in YouTube history with over 56 million views and counting.
Lim's cover of Canon Rock has been mentioned on CNN, 20/20, The New York Times, and National Public Radio, in addition to MBC news, CBC Radio, KBS news, and other Korean news stations.
Many viewers have speculated and thought the video as fake because the audio is not synchronized with the video. Lim later stated to The New York Times that this had to do with the fact that "he recorded the audio and video independently and then matched them inexactly." The performance itself was recorded in two parts, and edited together. An image of a traffic light was used to make the transition.
Other activities
In addition to playing the work of others, Lim has now started to arrange well-known music by himself. He composed a holiday card to his fans called "Carol Rock (funtwo Is Coming to Town)", a rock version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He also played Dream Theater's Overture 1928, and recently he posted a video of himself performing Antonio Vivaldi's Summer from the "Four Seasons," one of Vivaldi's most famous works.
Lim has expressed no wish to carry on playing as a professional guitarist. However his online fame has allowed him to play to live audiences three times— once for the Korean ambassador in Washington, DC, then again at the KORUS festival the same year. At the KORUS festival, Lim played improvised, altered versions of the Korean national anthem and the American national anthem. The third time he played was in 2008, the 22 November at the YouTube Live festival where he performed with Joe Satriani, he played first a mix of Canon Rock and Joe's Surfing With the Alien and then Canon Rock. In the same interview in which he stated his wish to carry on playing guitar simply as a hobby, he also rated his own playing a modest 50/60 out of 100.
The beginning of the music video for Weezer's song "Pork and Beans" is set in Lim's iconic room, with the various members playing their various instruments. The video as a whole contains references to numerous other internet phenomena.
Songs (as funtwo)
1. Canon Rock
2. Overture 1928
3. Summer
4. Carol (funtwo is coming to town)
5. Mission (Main Theme)
6. I'm Alright (Neil Zaza)
7. Triptych (Daita of Siam Shade)
8. Zenith (Daita)
9. Happy Birthday To You
10. Bumble
11. Mule Jam Project (Remix of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple)
(from Wikipedia)
Canon rock cover
He played and recorded his cover of Canon Rock during 2005. He uploaded his video onto the popular Korean music site called Mule.co.kr. It was then uploaded to YouTube by a viewer nicknamed "guitar90", under the title guitar. It was not long before the video gathered popularity and viewers speculated as to who was beneath the baseball cap.
His video is among the twentieth most viewed and fifth most "favorited" video in YouTube history with over 56 million views and counting.
Lim's cover of Canon Rock has been mentioned on CNN, 20/20, The New York Times, and National Public Radio, in addition to MBC news, CBC Radio, KBS news, and other Korean news stations.
Many viewers have speculated and thought the video as fake because the audio is not synchronized with the video. Lim later stated to The New York Times that this had to do with the fact that "he recorded the audio and video independently and then matched them inexactly." The performance itself was recorded in two parts, and edited together. An image of a traffic light was used to make the transition.
Other activities
In addition to playing the work of others, Lim has now started to arrange well-known music by himself. He composed a holiday card to his fans called "Carol Rock (funtwo Is Coming to Town)", a rock version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He also played Dream Theater's Overture 1928, and recently he posted a video of himself performing Antonio Vivaldi's Summer from the "Four Seasons," one of Vivaldi's most famous works.
Lim has expressed no wish to carry on playing as a professional guitarist. However his online fame has allowed him to play to live audiences three times— once for the Korean ambassador in Washington, DC, then again at the KORUS festival the same year. At the KORUS festival, Lim played improvised, altered versions of the Korean national anthem and the American national anthem. The third time he played was in 2008, the 22 November at the YouTube Live festival where he performed with Joe Satriani, he played first a mix of Canon Rock and Joe's Surfing With the Alien and then Canon Rock. In the same interview in which he stated his wish to carry on playing guitar simply as a hobby, he also rated his own playing a modest 50/60 out of 100.
The beginning of the music video for Weezer's song "Pork and Beans" is set in Lim's iconic room, with the various members playing their various instruments. The video as a whole contains references to numerous other internet phenomena.
Songs (as funtwo)
1. Canon Rock
2. Overture 1928
3. Summer
4. Carol (funtwo is coming to town)
5. Mission (Main Theme)
6. I'm Alright (Neil Zaza)
7. Triptych (Daita of Siam Shade)
8. Zenith (Daita)
9. Happy Birthday To You
10. Bumble
11. Mule Jam Project (Remix of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple)
(from Wikipedia)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Joe Satriani
Joseph "Satch" Satriani (born July 15, 1956 in Westbury, New York, United States) is an American multiple nominated Grammy Award multi-instrumentalist, best known as an instrumental rock guitarist. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, and some of his former students have achieved fame with their stellar guitar skills. Satriani has been a driving force behind other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the ever-changing touring trio, G3, as well as performing in temporary positions with other musicians.
In 1988, Satriani was recruited by the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger as lead guitarist for Jagger's second solo tour.Later, in 1994, Satriani was also the lead guitarist for Deep Purple. Satriani has also worked with a wide range of guitarists from many musical genres, including Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Larry LaLonde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, Patrick Rondat, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert and Robert Fripp through the annual G3 Jam Concerts.
He is heavily influenced by famous music icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Since 1988, Satriani has used his own signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Series, which is widely sold in stores. He also has a signature series amplifier, the Peavey JSX.
History
Satriani was inspired to play guitar at age 14 soon after learning of the death of Jimi Hendrix. He has been said to have heard the news during a football training session, where he confronted his coach and announced that he was quitting to become a guitarist.
In 1974, Satriani studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani's playing. Satriani also began teaching guitar, with his most notable student at the time being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai. While he was Vai's teacher, he was attending Five Towns College for studies in music.
In 1978 Satriani moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career, and Vai moved on to study at the Berklee School of Music, soon after graduating becoming a high profile guitarist first with Frank Zappa, and after, other famous bands.
Not long after Satriani arrived in California, he resumed teaching. His students included Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Marty Friedman of Megadeth, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt of Exodus, Phil Kettner of Lääz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, and Charlie Hunter.
When his friend and former student Steve Vai gained fame playing with David Lee Roth in 1986, Vai raved about Satriani in several interviews with guitar magazines. In 1987, Satriani's second album Surfing with the Alien produced popular radio hits and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. In 1988 Satriani helped produce the EP The Eyes of Horror for the death metal band Possessed.
In 1989, Satriani released the album Flying in a Blue Dream. The album sold well. "One Big Rush" was featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything. "The Forgotten Part II" was featured on a Labatt Blue commercial in Canada in 1993. "Big Bad Moon", one of Satriani's few songs to feature his vocals, was a minor hit in late 1989.
In 1992, Satriani released The Extremist, his most critically acclaimed and commercially successful album to date. Radio stations across the country were quick to pick up on "Summer Song", while "Cryin'", "Friends" and the title track were regional hits.
In late 1993, Satriani joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for departed guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. The concerts were such a success that Satriani was asked to join the band permanently but he declined, having just signed a multi-album solo deal with Sony, so Steve Morse took the guitarist slot in Deep Purple.
In 1996, he founded the G3, a concert tour intended to feature a power trio consisting of three instrumental rock guitarists. The original lineup featured Satriani, Vai, and Eric Johnson. The G3 (tour) has continued periodically since its inaugural version, where Satriani is the only permanent member, featuring differing second and third members. Other guitarists who have performed in such a G3 configuration include among others: Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp, Andy Timmons, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Adrian Legg and Paul Gilbert.
In 1998 Satriani recorded and released Crystal Planet, which went back to a sound more reminiscent of his late '80s work. Planet was followed up with Engines of Creation, one of his more experimental works featuring the 'Electronica' genre of music. During the subsequent tour, a pair of shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco were recorded in December 2000 and released as Live in San Francisco, a two-disc live album and DVD.
(from Wikipedia)
Steve Vai
Steven "Steve" Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, producer, and actor. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa's backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: "...artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments."
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands, one that took the name, "The Steve Vais". He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai followed those lessons by attending and graduating the Berklee College of Music, afterwards recording a promotional piece for them, speaking about auditioning for Frank Zappa, at age twenty.
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa's "The Black Page", an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai's guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe's Garage album and the Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa's album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa's band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his "little Italian virtuoso" and was listed in liner notes as performing "stunt guitar" or "impossible guitar parts". He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa's Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing music composed by Frank Zappa as a special guest on his son, Dweezil Zappa's 'Zappa Plays Zappa' tour, alongside old friends from his early years who he had performed with when Zappa was alive.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth's group to record the albums Eat 'Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai's visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon's Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then, in 1989, Vai joined Whitesnake, replacing Vivian Campbell. But, when Adrian Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue, Vai played all the guitar parts on the album. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Slash on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990, Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare.
The song "For the Love of God" was voted #29 in a readers' poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time in Guitar World Magazine.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions and "My Little Man" was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai's band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa's Universe.
In July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira's Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra.
In 2004, a number of his compositions and orchestral arrangements including some previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai's group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai's latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a "special guest" guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio, guitarist-singer Ray White and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour led by Frank's son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; Halo Theme, and a second song for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his most recent record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release is a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD followed the record but was not released until later that year. He guested on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song "Repentance". The appearance was vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai was only one of many musical guests recorded. The song features contributions from many artists, with the aim of apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Video games
Two different songs featuring Steve Vai's guitar playing in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Both Yankee Rose by David Lee Roth and God Blessed Video by Alcatrazz are featured on the game's soundtrack.
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox's Halo 2 (a game by Bungie Studios) Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In 2008, Steve Vai's For the Love of God was featured as a downloadable track for the game Guitar Hero 3.
Movies
Steve Vai's music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film's climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio's earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene's Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini's Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin' Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS' God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track "I'm the Hell Outta Here" can be heard during 1992's Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Playing style
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details.
Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music . He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument including legato, pinch harmonics and volume swells, and is noted for his whammy bar effects and sporadic outbursts on the instrument often contrasting sweep-picking or finger tapping with slower sections to his compositions. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date .
Vai's playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. He often uses exotic guitars; he plays both double and triple neck guitars, and is regarded as the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context.Along with Ibanez, he designed a signature 7-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: "The Mothership" and "The Harmony Hut") and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign's Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a "monkey grip") cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses an Ibanez Edge double-locking tremolo system (the current production JEMs have the newer Edge Pro), as well as an elaborate and extensive "Tree of Life" inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Lately Vai has also equipped some of his guitars with True Temperament fretboards in order for his chords to sound completely in tune.Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship only lasted two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an affordable amp that was unique, and equal in sound and versatility to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white "Evo", a JEM7V, and his "Flo", which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. "Flo" is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named "Mojo" in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You're Here. Vai's effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, Ibanez Jemini Twin Distortion Pedal, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90/Phase 100 on the Passion and Warfare album. His flight cases are labeled "Mr. Vai", or latterly, "Dr. Vai". He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, 'Favored Nations', 'Favored Nations Acoustic' and 'Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)'
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, Mattias IA Eklundh,Tak Matsumoto, Andy Timmons,Johnny Hiland,Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai is an avid beekeeper, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.
Band History - not including guest appearances
* Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
* Steve Vai (1982-1984)
* Alcatrazz (1985)
* David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
* Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
* Frank Zappa (1986)
* David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
* Whitesnake (1988-1990)
* Solo (1989-present)
* The Brian May Band (1992)
* Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
* Steve Vai - vocals, lead guitar
* Dave Weiner - rhythm guitar, electric sitar
* Ann Marie Calhoun - violin,keyboard
* Alex DePue - violin
* Bryan Beller - bass guitar
* Jeremy Colson - drums, percussion
Discography
Solo albums
* Flex-Able (1984)
* Passion and Warfare (1990) - Gold (USA)[11], #18 on the Billboard 200 on June 30, 1990
* Sex & Religion (1993)
* Alien Love Secrets (1995)
* Fire Garden (1996)
* Flex-Able Leftovers (1998)
* The Ultra Zone (1999)
* The 7th Song (2000)
* Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
* The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
* The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
* Live In London (2004)
* Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
* Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Guitar
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album RIAA
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat 'Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje Platinum
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper Platinum
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue 3x Platinum
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake's Greatest Hits Platinum
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin'
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O)
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen
2004 Motörhead
2004 Bob Carpenter
2004 Mike Keneally
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci
2006 The Devin Townsend Band
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only)
2007 Eros Ramazzotti
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2008 Guitar Hero III: Virtuoso Track Pack Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar's Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa's Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II - A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2004 Various The Sounds Of Nascar
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
2008 Various Zappa Plays Zappa
2008 Steve Vai Naked Tracks
Awards and Nominations
Grammy Winner
* 1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Sofa" from Zappa's Universe
* 2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions [Steve Vai Producer/Engineer]
* 2009 "Peaches En Regalia" – Zappa Plays Zappa
Grammy Nomination
* 1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
* 1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Tender Surrender" – from Alien Love Secrets
* 1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "For the Love of God" – from G3 Live in Concert
* 1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Windows to the Soul" – from The Ultra Zone
* 2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Whispering a Prayer" – from Alive in an Ultra World
* 2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Lotus Feet" — lost to Les Paul & Friends's "69 Freedom Special"
* 2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "The Attitude Song" — lost to Bruce Springsteen's "Once Upon a Time in the West"
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Award Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice - Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
1990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1990 Best Sex Object (No. 6)
1990 Best RAW Cover (No. 3)
Player
1995 Best Hard Rock Guitarist - 2nd Place
Making Music
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Guitarist
1990 Best Musician
Metal Hammer
1990 Best Guitarist (Reader's Poll)
California Music Awards
2001 Outstanding Guitarist (nominee)
(from Wikipedia)
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands, one that took the name, "The Steve Vais". He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai followed those lessons by attending and graduating the Berklee College of Music, afterwards recording a promotional piece for them, speaking about auditioning for Frank Zappa, at age twenty.
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa's "The Black Page", an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai's guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe's Garage album and the Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa's album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa's band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his "little Italian virtuoso" and was listed in liner notes as performing "stunt guitar" or "impossible guitar parts". He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa's Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing music composed by Frank Zappa as a special guest on his son, Dweezil Zappa's 'Zappa Plays Zappa' tour, alongside old friends from his early years who he had performed with when Zappa was alive.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth's group to record the albums Eat 'Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai's visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon's Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then, in 1989, Vai joined Whitesnake, replacing Vivian Campbell. But, when Adrian Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue, Vai played all the guitar parts on the album. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Slash on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990, Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare.
The song "For the Love of God" was voted #29 in a readers' poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time in Guitar World Magazine.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions and "My Little Man" was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai's band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa's Universe.
In July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira's Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra.
In 2004, a number of his compositions and orchestral arrangements including some previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai's group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai's latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a "special guest" guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio, guitarist-singer Ray White and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour led by Frank's son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; Halo Theme, and a second song for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his most recent record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release is a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD followed the record but was not released until later that year. He guested on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song "Repentance". The appearance was vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai was only one of many musical guests recorded. The song features contributions from many artists, with the aim of apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Video games
Two different songs featuring Steve Vai's guitar playing in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Both Yankee Rose by David Lee Roth and God Blessed Video by Alcatrazz are featured on the game's soundtrack.
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox's Halo 2 (a game by Bungie Studios) Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In 2008, Steve Vai's For the Love of God was featured as a downloadable track for the game Guitar Hero 3.
Movies
Steve Vai's music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film's climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio's earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene's Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini's Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin' Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS' God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track "I'm the Hell Outta Here" can be heard during 1992's Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Playing style
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details.
Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music . He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument including legato, pinch harmonics and volume swells, and is noted for his whammy bar effects and sporadic outbursts on the instrument often contrasting sweep-picking or finger tapping with slower sections to his compositions. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date .
Vai's playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. He often uses exotic guitars; he plays both double and triple neck guitars, and is regarded as the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context.Along with Ibanez, he designed a signature 7-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: "The Mothership" and "The Harmony Hut") and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign's Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a "monkey grip") cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses an Ibanez Edge double-locking tremolo system (the current production JEMs have the newer Edge Pro), as well as an elaborate and extensive "Tree of Life" inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Lately Vai has also equipped some of his guitars with True Temperament fretboards in order for his chords to sound completely in tune.Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship only lasted two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an affordable amp that was unique, and equal in sound and versatility to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white "Evo", a JEM7V, and his "Flo", which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. "Flo" is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named "Mojo" in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You're Here. Vai's effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, Ibanez Jemini Twin Distortion Pedal, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90/Phase 100 on the Passion and Warfare album. His flight cases are labeled "Mr. Vai", or latterly, "Dr. Vai". He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, 'Favored Nations', 'Favored Nations Acoustic' and 'Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)'
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, Mattias IA Eklundh,Tak Matsumoto, Andy Timmons,Johnny Hiland,Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai is an avid beekeeper, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.
Band History - not including guest appearances
* Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
* Steve Vai (1982-1984)
* Alcatrazz (1985)
* David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
* Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
* Frank Zappa (1986)
* David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
* Whitesnake (1988-1990)
* Solo (1989-present)
* The Brian May Band (1992)
* Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
* Steve Vai - vocals, lead guitar
* Dave Weiner - rhythm guitar, electric sitar
* Ann Marie Calhoun - violin,keyboard
* Alex DePue - violin
* Bryan Beller - bass guitar
* Jeremy Colson - drums, percussion
Discography
Solo albums
* Flex-Able (1984)
* Passion and Warfare (1990) - Gold (USA)[11], #18 on the Billboard 200 on June 30, 1990
* Sex & Religion (1993)
* Alien Love Secrets (1995)
* Fire Garden (1996)
* Flex-Able Leftovers (1998)
* The Ultra Zone (1999)
* The 7th Song (2000)
* Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
* The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
* The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
* Live In London (2004)
* Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
* Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Guitar
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album RIAA
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat 'Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje Platinum
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper Platinum
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue 3x Platinum
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake's Greatest Hits Platinum
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin'
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O)
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen
2004 Motörhead
2004 Bob Carpenter
2004 Mike Keneally
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci
2006 The Devin Townsend Band
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only)
2007 Eros Ramazzotti
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2008 Guitar Hero III: Virtuoso Track Pack Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar's Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa's Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II - A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2004 Various The Sounds Of Nascar
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
2008 Various Zappa Plays Zappa
2008 Steve Vai Naked Tracks
Awards and Nominations
Grammy Winner
* 1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Sofa" from Zappa's Universe
* 2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions [Steve Vai Producer/Engineer]
* 2009 "Peaches En Regalia" – Zappa Plays Zappa
Grammy Nomination
* 1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
* 1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Tender Surrender" – from Alien Love Secrets
* 1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "For the Love of God" – from G3 Live in Concert
* 1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Windows to the Soul" – from The Ultra Zone
* 2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Whispering a Prayer" – from Alive in an Ultra World
* 2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "Lotus Feet" — lost to Les Paul & Friends's "69 Freedom Special"
* 2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance "The Attitude Song" — lost to Bruce Springsteen's "Once Upon a Time in the West"
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Award Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice - Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
1990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1990 Best Sex Object (No. 6)
1990 Best RAW Cover (No. 3)
Player
1995 Best Hard Rock Guitarist - 2nd Place
Making Music
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Guitarist
1990 Best Musician
Metal Hammer
1990 Best Guitarist (Reader's Poll)
California Music Awards
2001 Outstanding Guitarist (nominee)
(from Wikipedia)
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