Joe Satriani making music and touring the world with his old friend and former student Steve Vai is one of the biggest feel-good stories in the history of electric guitar, and the pair have just debuted the video for their second single, I Wanna Play My Guitar.
Satriani’s son, ZZ Satriani, directs the video. Ibanez, as ever, provides the high-performance signature guitars. And the ‘Voice of Rock,’ Mr Glenn Hughes provides vocals.
The track will be manna from heaven for anyone who holds a ticket for the forthcoming tour of the recently inaugurated SatchVai band. And even the stars of the show themselves admit that this really is something of a dream come true.
“This song depicts all that Joe and I used to think about as teenagers,” says Vai. “All of the things we loved about pounding rock and roll and the glorious guitar. It is an absolute phenom for us to be able to present to you now our teenage aspirations in this song.”
We’ve had a taste of Messrs Satriani and Vai’s teenage nostalgia before. Their debut track, The Sea of Emotion, Pt 1, was inspired by the kind of hang-out spot that would be familiar to any kid growing up, listening to rock music in ‘70s USA. It is Dazed And Confused, the guitar remix.
This time around, the boys don’t get into their ‘70s clothes. I Wanna Play My Guitar is shot on location, an industrial setting, shot in close-ups, with kinetic cuts, probably on digital because it would be a fire hazard to have nitrate film stock near the heat from those tube amps and that dual-tapped solo [yes, they use polyester-based film stocks nowadays – ask ZZ, that’s his department].
“This is such a cool video of Steve, Glenn, me and the boys rockin’ a fun song, looking all chill and natural,” says Satriani, senior.
Like The Sea of Emotion, I Wanna Play My Guitar is a hard-rocker, and you can expect more where that came from. The principals involved with the SatchVai band have formidable rock bona fides.
There’s the redoubtable Kenny Aronoff on drums, a regular collaborator with Satriani. “No other drummer has the sound, feel, time, groove and swagger like Kenny,” said Satch. “He’s an exceptional human being too. He’s supernatural!” We have Marco Mendoza on bass guitar. And just in case they were running low on guitar talent onstage, Pete Thorn will be up there too.
I Wanna Play My Guitar nearly had Justin Hawkins from the Darkness on vocals. Satriani had invited Hawkins and Hughes to share the mic. Hawkins couldn’t make it.
If you are based in the UK and Europe and have some gaps in your calendar this summer, maybe you can make it along to one of their upcoming shows on their Surfing With The Hydra Tour 2025. It kicks off in York, England, on 13 June. See SatchVai Band for full dates and ticket details.
