“He saved my bacon!”: How Steve Stevens saved an “inexperienced” Steve Vai from tonal humiliation
It goes without saying that Steve Vai knows his way around a guitar. Even when Frank Zappa took Vai on tour in 1980 at the tender age of 20, he deemed the budding axeman a total “genius”. But as he found when he joined David Lee Roth’s band a few years later in 1985, Vai realised his ability to craft a “big rock guitar tone” was lacking.
Nowadays, of course, Vai could probably tackle any guitar tone he needed to. But as he explains in the latest issue of Guitar World, he was “embarrassingly inexperienced” in this area when he joined Roth’s band.
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At the time, Roth had just severed ties with Van Halen. Keen to forge his own musical path, Roth was working on a bold, hard rock opus of a debut. To ensure 1986’s Eat ‘Em and Smile was a smash, perfecting the riffs was paramount – and Roth put full faith in 25-year-old Vai to fulfil his vision.
However, when Vai rocked up at New York’s Power Station studios, he realised just how unprepared he was. He’d brought along his Carvin X-100B… and it absolutely wasn’t going to cut it. “The Carvins weren’t cutting through for the more aggressive tracks,” he says.
While Vai was stressing over his weak tone, a guitar guardian angel would soon fly to his aid – or, rather, Steve Stevens. Billy Idol’s trusted guitarist was recording in the same studio, and was more than willing to help the young guitarist. “Luckily, Steve Stevens was recording across the hall,” Vai explains. “I mentioned my tone troubles, and he lent me one of his favourite Marshall heads and cabs. Boom! Instant magic! I ended up using his rig for most of the album.”
At the time, Stevens was working on two 1986 records, so its unclear whether his studio stint was for Idol’s Whiplash Smile or Ric Ocasek’s This Side of Paradise. Regardless, Vai was grateful for the assistance, both saving Roth’s debut and Vai’s reputation.
“He saved my bacon!” Vai laughs.
In other news, Steve Vai recently recounted his surreal encounter with Brian May as he celebrated his own custom Red Special guitar. “I played it like a baby giraffe on roller skates – but it was heaven,” he said.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
