MusicRadar

Joe Satriani on stage at the Metropolis Theatre in Montreal, Canada, 12 December 2010.

"Not being nominated, it's a travesty!" says Joe Satriani. No, it's not the lack of Grammy love that is ruffling the guitar legend's feathers. Rather, he's still smarting over the the fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has ignored his dramatic, five-second-long portrayal of Joe Satriani in the film Moneyball. The picture that was nominated in six categories including Best Picture and Best Actor (for Brad Pitt), but as for Satch...nothing.

"I'm going to have to look into this," Satriani chuckles, making it quite clear that his indignation is mock serious. "No Oscar nod, no Golden Globe nod… I just broke into Hollywood and already I've been blackballed." He thinks for a second, then brightens, "Hey! Maybe I have a chance at winning a Rotten Tomato award or something. OK...there's still hope!"

Yes, there is, and for fans seeking more than five seconds' worth of Joe Satriani, that hope is made into reality on 1 March when the concert film Satchurated unspools in the US in both 3D and 2D formats. Shot on 12 December 2010 at the Metropolis Theatre in Montreal, Canada by award-winning filmmakers Pierre and Francois Lamoureux, Satchurated is a riveting document of Satch's Wormhole Tour which supported his solo album Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards.

"I'm stunned at how the whole thing turned out," says Satriani. "A lot of the time, you do films and videos and they meet your expectations. This one blew everything I was thinking right out the window."

MusicRadar sat down with Joe Satriani recently to talk about Satchurated. In addition, we discussed his March G3 tour with Steve Vai and Steve Lukather, along with his 2012 plans for Chickenfoot.

You've seen yourself on film and video before, but what's it like to see yourself in 3D?

"Bizarre, surreal – all things wrapped up into one. I don't like looking at myself period, and 3D really brought it home. Still, I have to say, 3D is better than 2D. This particular version of 3D is very life-like. It's not gimmicky in that it looks like 2D until somebody leans nto the camera and then it's 3D. The technology here is a real leap forward. It makes it look like you're truly there, right on stage with all of us. And together with the 7.1 sound, it's very compelling.

"The night we filmed the show was pretty emotional for me. It was a year to the day that my mother had passed away, and I realized that I was still dealing with a lot of issues in my head. I remember thinking to myself before the show, All right, you've still got to put out, but how are you going to do this?

"When I look at the film, I see a wounded, vulnerable Joe trying to do his best. Other people don't see that. People have told me that it's a very strong, intense and definitive performance, one that the fans will really love."

Even though you might have been trying to put your mother's death out of your mind, do you think you might have used it to fuel your playing?

"That's interesting… Honestly, I felt that I was not in control. I walked off stage thinking, What was that? What did I just do? [laughs] I was kind of shaking my head. It was [keyboardist] Mike Keneally who said to me right afterwards, 'You may not have accomplished what you set out to, but what you did accomplish is special.'

"At the time he told me that, I wasn't ready to understand it, but when I saw the film, I finally got what he meant. Something else happened on that stage; I was somewhere else. So the film is me being…somewhere else. [laughs] That's the best way I can describe it."

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