Joe Satriani says he’s got nothing to do with “issues” in Van Halen camp: “I’m here to celebrate and respect Eddie’s legacy as best I can do”
Joe Satriani has made it clear that he’s here for the music and none of the drama as far as his recent involvement in the Van Halen-centric Best of All Worlds tour is concerned.
Speaking on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk podcast, the virtuoso explains that much like the fans, he is simply here to “celebrate and respect” Eddie Van Halen’s legacy. As for the rest? He has “nothing to do with it” – nor does he want to get involved.
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Asked if he’s made contact with Alex Van Halen or David Lee Roth since the tour began, Satriani says [via Ultimate Guitar]: “I haven’t spoken to Dave in quite a while… I’ve spoken to Alex a few times, but not recently; not since the tour really got up and running. We’ve just been sort of inundated with doing the shows, doing all the press that comes with it.”
“I don’t know. I mean, the bittersweet part of this whole thing was that I wasn’t ever in the band Van Halen,” the guitarist adds. Satch is the only member on the tour who isn’t a Van Halen alumni.
“I was never a part of the family. I was never friends with anyone other than Mike and Sam. And there’s some issues that they have, in that camp, and I’ve got nothing to do with it, and I really don’t want to get involved in it, whatever it might be,” he says.
“I’m here, just like the fans. I just want to celebrate this music. I want to do it right. I’m going to give it 100% every night I walk on stage, and all the rest of that stuff’s got nothing to do with me. I’m here to celebrate and respect Eddie’s legacy as best I can do.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Satriani shares how ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony – who’s also in the tour – has been incredibly helpful in helping him nail Eddie’s sound.
“Michael’s been really fantastic in being the sounding board when I have these questions. I hit him up all the time, like, ‘How did Eddie do this? How did he handle this part, that part?’ He’s got real anecdotal evidence, great stories about how every time Eddie would play a certain song, it would be kind of different. And you just have to follow him, because he was a fountain of creativity. He just kept changing, expanding on parts all the time.”
He continues: “When you hear all these stories, you realise how unique each iteration of Van Halen was, and it started with Eddie. So, yeah, I definitely hit Mike up a lot and he always has great advice.”
Meanwhile, the virtuoso has been candid about the challenges of stepping into Eddie’s shoes, though Hagar assures that Satch is most certainly “hitting all the right notes”.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
