Appears courtesy Composing Recording Mastering Audio & Video (CRMI)

CRMI> Hi Steve, congratulations on the new Album the "Ultra Zone." Can you tell what has been happening during the recording of the Album and tell some things about the recording and what happened over the last years?

SV: There was 3 years between my last CD and this one. In that period I did a world tour, A G3 tour, produced 2 Merry Xmas albums for Epic, completed a 10 CD box set, released Flexable Leftovers, Spent 4 glorious weeks with my father before he passed away, Recorded and completed The Ultra Zone. All these things have an effect on your perspective when you go to create.

CRMI> Besides the obvious guitar and singing, like on the last album, you are also very much responsible for many other aspects of the albums you do. Can you mention some of the other work you did for an album like the "Ultra Zone."

SV: Wrote the material, organized all aspects of the recording, hired the musicians, produced and engineered it, dealt with the credits and art work, did tons of press to let people know it's out there... I hope.

Sound and gear
CRMI> Over the last albums I have hear quite a few interesting guitar sound and effects. How do you develop most of these sound? Experimenting with pedals and FX. Are most of the sounds you use sound you stumble upon while playing with different equipment or do you have some kind of "sound picture" in mind when you start programming effects?

SV; Both. Some times you stumble onto things and sometimes they speak to you in your inner ear and you have to figure out how to make them real in the world.

CRMI> What kind of gear do you feel has been the most influential on the sound on "The Ultra Zone." Also do you feel that either the recording and editing or the (guitar)sound itself has the most influence on the end result?

SV; The most important sound is what's in your head because that has the end result in you tone. The gear that I can't do without these days is my Ibanez Gem that I call EVO, and the new amp I designed with Carvin called "The Legacy."

CRMI> Many people probably know the Steve Vai Ibanez guitar or the Bad Horsie Wah. Over the last year you have been involved in the development of the Steve Vai guitar amplifier from Carvin. What kind of aspects of an guitar amp are important to you and why?

...read on to find out...

Interview with Steve Vai continues at Composing Recording Mastering Audio & Video:
http://www.crmav.com/recording/interview/stevevai.html

Check out "Ultra Zone" at 30% off, plus hear sound bytes:
http://cdnow.com/from=sr-767167

And here's another Steve Vai interview, by Gitarre Spielen (GS):

GS What kind of music do you listen to?

SV I just bought four or five Danny Gatton CDs. Danny Gatton's a guitar player and he's just phenomenal. I listen to a lot of broadway and show music, theatrical stuff.

GS Whenever you're in New York, do you like to go to a lot of shows?

SV Yeah, I do. I don't really get much of a chance. I really enjoy the music of the theatre.

GS What do you think about today's popular music? Do you think most of it's pretty good? or do you think most of it lacks a lot of talent?

SV I think the same percentage is as good today as it was at any other time. It's just that the focus is different. I don't think people are cultivated into being musicians like they used to be. Pop radio is different than the kind of world that I really live in: the kind of world that I like to embrace. Although, there are occasions when I hear things on pop radio that I really like. I mean, a good song's a good song. It's just unfortunate that there aren't very many musicians out there anymore. I mean, as far as in the popular world. There's still an underground of great musicians and talented people who are doing very interesting, unique things with their instruments, stuff like that. It's just that you don't get to hear that on modern pop radio. You have to understand that radio stations are being bought up by conglomerates and they control the radio stations and they control what goes out in the market place. So, it's becoming this machine, even more so than it ever was.

GS So, you're pretty much split on those that like to do it, and those that just want to make a buck?

SV Well, most people want to be rich and famous. I think that's the bottom line.

Continues in full:
http://www.guitarplaying.com/gs-guitarists-i-sv-1.shtml

You'll find a whole heap more at Gitarre Spielen, too, check out these URLs:
http://www.guitarplaying.com/
http://www.guitarsrule.com/

Also... don't miss this jem of a site...

Jemsite.Com - The Ibanez Jem/Uv Site
Ibanez JEM and Universe Guitar Site as played by Steve Vai.
extracts:
"On display in each Ultra Zone show will be a one of a kind custom "Ultra Zone JEM" that resembles the cover guitar from the CD. Built in the Hoshino USA factory in Bensalem, PA by one of their top builders..."

"Way to Go Dave! There is a new fifth member added to Steve Vai's band for the upcoming 1999-2000 Ultra Zone World Tour! Twenty-three year old Dave Weiner (G.I.T. Alumni) will accompany Mike Keneally, Philip Bynoe and Mike Mangini in Steve's band. Dave is a longtime player, collector of Jem/UVs and frequenter of Jemsite. Also a personal friend... congrats Dave... see 'ya on tour!"

Get it all at http://www.jemsite.com/

You'll find some Vai and Satriani TAB here:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/5850/tab.html

And if you don't know Steve (!) read the bio:

Vai was a pupil of Joe Satriani as a teenager and studied at The Berklee School of Music before moving to Los Angeles at age 19. He was a huge fan of Frank Zappa's and joined Zappa's band after proving that he knew most of the repertoire and could transcribe orchestral pieces by ear. Zappa credited him on albums as the "stunt guitarist." He released the self-produced Flex-Able in 1984, combining his Zappa and Satriani influences, and went on to play with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake. Vai released his finest solo effort, the varied Passion and Warfare, in 1990. He then formed a backing group called VAI featuring vocalist Devin Townsend for Sex & Religion before recording the solo Alien Love Secrets; Fire Garden followed in 1996, with Flexable Leftovers appearing two years later and Ultra Zone coming to light in 1999. Vai is considered to be one of rock's top instrumentalists

Check http://www.allmusic.com/ for all your band & artist bio's... and a whole lot more!

And finally... the ubiquitous "dot com" site:
http://www.vai.com

Steve shares these words of wisdom with us:
"I believe it's a law of nature that every person is different, with a unique capacity for self-expression. As a result, we all have the ability to be unique in the way we express ourselves musically. A lot of people don't believe this, and find themselves copying others and sounding like someone else. They end up frustrated with themselves because they feel they can't "slack up" with the competition. But how can you compete with individuality? The only one you're competing with is yourself. When you can identify with your individuality and accept and respect it, peace of mind comes in. The first falsehood to shoot down is the fear or belief that you lack uniqueness." - SV

This extract came from Steves lessons in his "Little Black Dots" series:
http://www.vai.com/LittleBlackDots/mls.html