By Jeb Wright
Transcribed by Eric Sandberg

Steve Vai may be the greatest electric guitarist on planet earth. There are four other guys who may not agree with that statement! The great news is they are all on tour together as part of this year’s GENERATION AXE! Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi join Mr. V on this amazing tour. 

The show is a non-stop guitar solo! Well, that’s not true, Yngwie breaks it up and sings a tune! The rest of the time, however, this is a guitar player’s wet dream. It never stops. And it goes on for hours. Zakk plays a four day version of ‘War Pigs’ and is often joined by Nuno and Steve.  Okay…maybe it is not a four day version but it pushes 15 minutes!

In the interview below CRR’s founder, Jeb Wright, caught up with the Wizard of the 6 Strings to discuss the show. We even make him say what he likes about each player! This is a fun interview that features one of the greatest musical minds of our time…and Steve too!

This is a fun interview that should make one want to go see the show! Keep up to date on the tour here https://www.facebook.com/generationaxetour/

Jeb Wright: You're about halfway through the Generation Axe tour (Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt & Tosin Abasi), you guys must really be in the groove by now.

Steve Vai: Oh yeah, we're smokin'. The tour is going by very quickly, we're past the halfway point.

Jeb: This tour is kind of like the G3 thing but you get more!

SV: I love doing the G3 tours, but this is a bit of a different format. With the G3 each artist has his own band, you break to set up and take off gear...you do that three times...and then there's the big jam at the end which is always really nice. I love that format but with Generation Axe I wanted to create something with a bit more integration.

Each guy does a set but, c'mon, there's five of us! So we share one backing band so it is all very seamless. The musicians are more integrated into the show - they come on and off the stage in various combinations - playing orchestrated and arranged parts - but we also get plenty of jamming in. It just comes off so beautifully.

We arranged and started playing an instrumental cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" about a week ago and, oh my God, it's so great! It's all played on guitar. All five of us each play a portion of Freddie's vocal lines. It exceeded our expectations.

Jeb: Generation Axe is a three to three and a half hour show every night. Who are the bass player and drummer? They're running a marathon.

SV: Well we've been trying to pull the show back to three hours! [Laughter] The backing band are dutiful souls. We've got JP Bouvet on drums. This kid is a phenomenon when it comes to endurance because not only do some of our shows go over four hours, his day starts with a sound check. In addition to that, JP is able to play a wide variety of styles. Tosin's music is extraordinarily complex. You've got to have a special kind of brain to be able to switch gears like that when playing with five very different guitarists. JP is that guy. He can also rock out when you need him too. It's very difficult to find people who can play in both worlds so to speak. JP is able to bridge that gap.

We have Pete Griffin on bass. I've known Pete from the Zappa Plays Zappa days. He's fantastic. Very solid, a well-rounded musician. On keyboards we have Nick Marinovich from Yngwie's band and he is a totally accomplished player.

Jeb: What's great about this tour is that all of you do your own thing but you've also all played in different hard rock bands, Extreme, Ozzy, Alacatrazz, everybody you've played with...you all know the difference between playing the rock guitar god and being a musician.

SV: We all come from a rich, colorful background but the gist of it is that, except for Tosin, who is the new guy, we've all been touring for decades. I'm coming up on forty years of touring. A tour like this is like a gift...it's a piece of cake for us. It's not just one person's tour, which comes with a lot of responsibility. You have to play the whole show and deal with the business. You're the guy.

This is very different...it's a band. This is the first time in high school that I've actually felt like I was part of a band. I mean I loved all my years with Frank, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake and, sure, that's like you're part of a band there, but this is different. There's no leader, so to speak, calling all the shots. Everybody comes together in a creative way to put together what we have.

Jeb: On a given night, how much are you guys watching each other perform? Are their spontaneous moments when you're watching the stage and suddenly you're jumping out there or is every move scripted?

SV: There are moments of complete chaos (laughter). In my case, I'll do three tracks and they're all improvised. Then Zakk does "War Pigs" for eighteen minutes. He powers it on. He's just out there revvin' it up. So there's a lot of freedom but when we come together and do something like "Hocus Pocus" and, now, "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Frankenstein" or "Burn," they're all organized, otherwise it's a mess.

Jeb: When I saw the show in Salina, Kansas, Zakk was out on stage doing the marathon "War Pigs" Nuno was out on the stage trading licks with Zakk and suddenly Steve Vai is out there. I was like "Holy crap!" This is the kind of thing we used to dream about happening at concerts in the ‘80s!

SV: It's fun because, like I said, these guys are very creative. Nuno is very creative and intuitive. He throws up some bold ideas sometimes. It's a very open kind of idea sharing situation. We support each other and we critique each other because we know, if one guy's set keeps getting better and better and better, it helps all of us. And with most of us having been on tour on our own for years and years, it's that time for us to experience something different.

Jeb: I guess at the start of your careers this type of situation might have been a bit too competitive. I'm sure there is some unspoken competitiveness going on but this is just more fun than anything else.

SV: Competition is a funny word. The only time you feel compelled to compete with someone is when you're lacking confidence in what you're doing (that is fucking profound!). It's not like sports where this guy lifted the heaviest weights or this guy scored the most touchdowns.

The audience is very diverse and sometimes they're very polarized - they like one artist more than the other and that's fine. We all know that. As far as competing, this format pushes you to compete with yourself.

 Everybody here is powerfully individualistic and confident in what they do. So when you see them performing at their peak, doing the extraordinary things they do, it inspires you to push yourself. I can watch any one of these guys and get inspired. to better myself. I get inspired in different ways by each of them and apply all of that to what I do. Now I'm not suddenly going to to start playing harmonic minor scales or Wylde's pentatonics, I do what I do. But I see their power and their skill and they're specific technique and that's really inspiring.

Jeb: I'll be a fan and ask the question: why don't you headline the show?

SV: We don't look at the show as a headline situation. When we started it I was going on last but I decided to change it because Yngwie's show is so intense I felt it helped the flow of the show for me to go on earlier because, by the time Yngwie's done, people are under a spell. Yngwie doesn't care though. He'd go on first if you asked him to. After he performs we all come back on stage. I've got the best spot of the night!

Jeb: And Yngwie plays with you on "Bohemian Rhapsody?"

SV: At first he was concerned that he wasn't going to be able to control himself, but when we started to rehearse it as a four piece he came right to me and said "This is amazing! I get it. I want in." I said "That's great because I have a part for you." We all worked very hard to make it come together. It's just brilliant.

Jeb: It's great for all the metal heads in the audience, on the nights you play "Burn," that they get to see Yngwie go up to the mic and sing.

SV: Yeah! He sings quite well. On the new record we have coming out he sings "Highway Star" and he's really quite good.

Jeb: I brought my son to the show because I wanted him to see all these great guitarists, but I have to confess, he was the one who knew all about Tosin Abasi, not me. He blows me away! That is not normal guitar playing.

SV: Not by any means. Tosin is one of these up and coming new-style guitar players. He's part of that underground heavy movement but with real musical sensibilities. I get links sent to me to videos of all these incredible players, and some of them are just mind-boggling with their technique, but virtually none of them are getting me to respond to their harmonic, melodic musical structures.

When I heard Tosin, not only does he have extraordinary guitar chops, his whole sense of harmony and rhythm is just different. When you listen it pulls you in. It's engaging. It's to my taste. Of course there are some newer guitar players out there that do have something going on harmonically and melodically, but I find it to be an element of musicianship that is sorely missing.

It's easy to practice a lot and get a lot of chops. Kids starting today, they see what's going on and say "OK, this is where I'm going to start." You can really develop chops but developing your inner ear and learning to create atmospheres that are rich and dense and unique is very rare.

Jeb: Time is marching on, we're all getting older and the world has changed. In some ways the electric guitar and this style of playing is not the flavor of the day. At this point in your career are you concerned about passing it on to the next generation to keep it alive or are you just out there sharing your gift? What's your mindset?

SV: I'm not concerned about anything. Trends will continue to come and go. If you start chasing trends you tend to cheat yourself out of your potential. As much as I would love to fit in and have my music on the radio, it's not my calling in this life. My calling is to do what I've been doing and I'm really happy and appreciative that I can do it.

When I get an idea it's not dependent on anything outside of me as far as trends or what is currently popular. I can just do it. And I'm fortunate that I've attracted a particular kind of audience that's loyal enough for me to make a living at it.

Jeb: That's really cool. Sometimes my friends I and I talk about how there aren't any guitarists coming out that are like you. I guess I should have known about Tosin.

SV: There are quite a few great players out there. And for guitar players who are interested in seeing the instrument evolve, there's Tosin and Guthrie Govan - they're doing some beautiful things. And then there are the shredders in the underground movement that are just, "whoa!"

So it's out there, it's not going to die. There is too much adventure in it. The guitar is way, way too cool an instrument to fade away. It will just morph. It may be featured more in popular music in some eras than others. I'm not worried at all.

Jeb: You mentioned that you guys critique each other as you develop the stage show. As the wise old sage of the guitar, I'm curious as to what kind of advice you might have given to someone like Tosin Abasi. What are your thoughts on him?

SV: Tosin is a breath of fresh air. He's multi-dimensional. He has the goods in many areas. That said, his music is an acquired taste, but it's a beautiful little treasure when you discover it. It resonates with you.

Jeb: How about Nuno? As highly regarded as he is within the guitar community, he's underrated as far as the rest of the world goes.

SV: I agree. He's underrated. His technique is bulletproof. His playing is like rapid machine gun fire but he does interesting things with it. The medley he does in his set is a wonderful representation of extraordinary guitar playing in a rock idiom. Bruno has so much more to him. He is so intuitive and creative and artistic. He's also a charismatic front man. He knows how to talk to the audience. He's funny, he's tough and he gets very passionate about anything you talk with him about. You could talk to him about a pack of bubblegum and by the end he'll have you buying the Sahara desert.

Jeb: My favorite part of his set was that acoustic piece he did.

SV: It's phenomenal.

Jeb: Now let's talk about the metal head on the tour, Zakk.

SV: Zakk is outstanding. His endurance is second to no-bod-y! He is as dedicated and focused on what he is doing as anybody out there. I love just watching him play because he goes into this trance. He just rips it up. And, every now and then, these things come out of him that are part of his passion for understanding certain obtuse musical theories.

He's just as awesome and outstanding as you can get and he's a funny guy, too. Living with him is like living in a funhouse. He's just intense, but he's also a lovely, lovely guy. You have to be able to translate what he says sometimes because it comes through this intensity of expression. Fortunately I've learned how to do that.

Jeb: You've learned how to speak Zakk!  Let's touch on the maestro, Yngwie. I'm sure you've known him a long time.

SV: I've known Yngwie for thirty years, we go way back. When Yngwie hit the scene we were all just stunned. He raised the bar for everybody. If you read about him in the press you get the impression he's a difficult guy but when you know him he's amazing. He's very smart, he's very professional and there are just certain demands that he has that are..."OK"...you've got to adhere to them and respect them.

He's really funny. When you're on tour with people there are no secrets, you get to know them intimately and we just really love each other. We love playing together. One of the highlights for me of any of my collaborative efforts is when we do "Black Star" together. Yngwie as a guitar player is unique. He's all alone with what he does. He makes no excuses, no compromises, he's incredibly confident.

Some people say he's doing the same thing he's always done but that doesn't matter. He owns it and it's a lovely thing to see because there's no one else out there that does what he does. It’s unique and so rare. Sometimes I'm watching him play from four inches away and I'm thinking "What the heck is he doing?!" [Laughter].

Jeb: We in the audience are thinking the same thing about you all the time. What do you have to say about this Steve Vai guy?

SV: Well it's hard to see yourself from other people's perspectives. I would say that one of my strengths is my quirkiness. I'm very musical but I'm quirky. I do weird little things on the guitar but I make every note count. I just can't help that. That's always been my focus, every note has my attention. I think I bring to the table just a different dimension of musicality and......you would probably be best served asking the other guys!

Jeb: I guess that was kind of unfair but you did nail some things that I've always felt about you. You are also unique. In fact, each one of the five guys on the Generation Axe tour are unique in their own right. One may be quirky, one balls to the wall...in Nuno's case, he's very technical but he has a great pop sensibility. Then, of course, there's Yngwie bringing the classical stuff. One of my favorite things about this Generation Axe tour is that you have five guys who mesh well together but also stand equally apart.

SV: And, most importantly for us, we're having a good time.

Jeb: One last thing: earlier you let something slip about a record. What have you guys got cooking?

SV: Last year on our Asian tour we recorded about seven shows. I've edited and mixed it, it's mastered and ready to go. We're just finalizing the deal and we hope it will come out some time in the first quarter of next year. It's a live record and it's got a taste of each facet of the Generation Axe show and I think guitar players are going to enjoy bathing in it because it's like controlled chaos.

I'm also recording all the shows on this tour and there is enough different material for a second live record so maybe that will come out in 2020. We enjoy doing it. It's something in our back pockets. We all have individual careers with bands and solo but it's just a chance to take a break for all that and have some yuks with friends.

Jeb: I can't imagine how many guitar strings all of you must go through during the tour.

SV: Enough to sink a battleship!

JEB: So what other plans do you have coming up?

SV: For me it's been an incredible year. I accomplished so much and done some cool things but, come January 1st, I'm going off the grid and I'm going to to hunker down in the studio for a while and try to produce the best guitar record I can muster. A lot of my records are very dense and compositional but I'm focusing on just doing the best I can on the guitar.

Jeb: What do you mean by that?

SV: The way you progress is you visualize yourself doing something different from what you've been doing. For the last year and a half I've been visualizing myself performing in a particular way that is more, evolved so to speak, than what I'm doing now. I can see it. I just can't do it yet. I can hear it and I can see it and I've been fine tuning it in my head and that's the first step toward making it happen.

When January comes I'll be attempting to bring that visualization through my fingers into the real world. That's very exciting to me. It's what gives me the momentum to move forward. I think that the people who follow what I do will get a kick out of it.

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