Steve Via To Release New Tracks
It’s not uncommon for a musician to record more work than they release. In Vai’s case, the guitarist has a digital ocean of snippets in various degrees of completion. Some are leftovers from assorted sessions, projects that were never completed, soundcheck jams, or songs that were specific to a particular venture. “There are enough lonely, unreleased notes in my world to fill an infinity shelf,” says Vai.
I am personally looking forward to hearing some of these new tracks. Vai has always been one of my favorite guitar players and I am sure these new tunes will be great!
In between composing new scores for his upcoming performance with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Vai has transformed these snippets into full, lush songs and these rarities are being released as a series of single digital downloads called VaiTunes. What really cool about this is that each release comes with a PDF booklet containing detailed notes about the creation of the song, the story behind the recording, and gear involved. The latest release from the series, “The Moon and I” evolved from a soundcheck jam in Athens, Greece in the spring of 2000. This should a great help to understand what Steve is doing to get the guitar tones and effects in these tunes!
The PDF liner notes allow the listener to follow Vai as he birthed the chord changes in Greece and subsequently watered and fertilized the song ten years later half way around the world in his Encino studio. Equally fascinating is the story of the guitar used to finish “The Moon and I.” Under unique circumstances, Vai recently purchased an original Desert Yellow Ibanez JEM 777DY guitar, a guitar he designed in 1987, from a local pawnshop and named the guitar “Moon.”
Vai plans to offer one track every month or so, each one representing a unique moment in his personal musical history. The releases can be purchased via iTunes and other digital music providers worldwide through www.vai.com/vaitunes.
