“I can’t do this. This is too hard”: Why Joe Satriani backed out of a planned Van Halen tribute with David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen before later joining Sammy Hagar’s Best Of All Worlds tour
Joe Satriani backed out of a Van Halen tribute with David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen, the rock icon tells Guitarist.
Of course, Satriani is currently still on tour with his Chickenfoot bandmate and erstwhile Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar on his Best of All Worlds tour, alongside Michael Anthony – who was also in Van Halen – and Jason Bonham, but it could have been so different for the guitarist.
READ MORE: “He’s doing Eddie right”: Sammy Hagar praises Joe Satriani playing Van Halen songs on the Best Of All Worlds tour
“The vibe on tour has been great,” Satriani says. “It’s a party, but everyone expects everybody to play their best each night. There’s this beautiful anticipation before every show to celebrate the legacy. And the fans’ reaction has been heartwarming.”
With Satriani, in sorts, taking the Eddie Van Halen role on the tour, he says that the fan reaction is of utmost importance. “I’m just speaking for myself,” he explains, “But I feel it. I’m not the guy who says, ‘I’m the only [one] that can do it.’ None of that bullshit. I want to do it right. I spent all this money on gear and want to make it a great night to celebrate these songs. And I think everybody gets it.”
He continues, “I’m throwing in all the stuff I normally would. But I’ve added some things I never really did because I thought, ‘Well, that’s Eddie. I’m not gonna copy that.’ It doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’ve made it work. Though I’m not copying the parts; that’s not me, I’m not in a tribute band.”
When Satriani was first approached by Alex and Roth to work on a Van Halen tribute project with them, he said yes, before calling Alex back three weeks later, saying, “No way. I can’t do this. This is too hard.’
Satriani continues, “But he convinced me that I could do it, and then another couple of weeks later, it was the same kind of thing. I thought, ‘Man, some of these songs are… they’re just not me.’ Eddie played in a completely different way. Where he put his timing… it’s so different from what I cultivated in my playing for decades. So that was the hardest part; I was just always pushing like Eddie did, and I was always trying to find the deepest pocket.”
Instead, he views Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, paying tribute to his father as the closure the fans needed, rather than him being part of things himself.
So, why did Satriani agree to take part in Hagar’s project? “Because it was a friend calling about a retrospective of his whole career,” he explains. “It did happen to involve anywhere from 15 to 20 Van Halen songs – and they were different from the songs that Dave and Alex wanted to do. Dave was not going to do any Van Hagar stuff, anything from after he left the band.
“When Sammy joined, Eddie went through a real shift. He became far more progressive, a different world for me to jump into. But I also reminded myself, ‘That’s not the show. This is not a Van Halen tribute. This is a tribute to Sammy’s legacy that happens to include this huge chunk of music by Van Halen.”
Last month, Satriani said that he had nothing to do with any “issues” between the former Van Halen members, explaining, “I’m here to celebrate and respect Eddie’s legacy as best I can do.”
Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour is ongoing, and you can find tickets on his website.
The post “I can’t do this. This is too hard”: Why Joe Satriani backed out of a planned Van Halen tribute with David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen before later joining Sammy Hagar’s Best Of All Worlds tour appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
