MusicRadar

The Two Faces Of Steve. At the Ibanez booth, Vai proudly shows off his newest Euphoria signature model acoustic-electric. © Joe Bosso

NAMM 2011: Steve Vai walks into a makeshift conference room at the Ibanez NAMM Show booth, spots a bowl of candy on the table and says what you would expect any big-time rock star to say: "I want a Tootsie Roll!"

It's been a busy morning for Vai. After unveiling the latest edition of his gorgeous signature acoustic-electric, the Ibanez Steve Vai Euphoria model, he spent over 90 minutes signing autographs for a ridiculously long line of fans who stretched around the company's showroom real estate and snaked down and around various aisles. Guitars, CDs, posters, T-shirts, you name it, Steve signed it. And in just a little while, he's due at the Carvin booth to repeat the process. If Carpal Tunnel Syndrome isn't already a problem, it very well could be by the time Vai leaves the Anaheim Convention Center at day's end.

Even so, the guitarist was gracious enough to spend a half hour with MusicRadar during a break in the action. As Vai unwrapped that lusted-after Tootsie Roll and satisfied his sugar craving, we decided to spring a toughie on him:

First things first, and actually, this might be the most important question of all, Steve: Why'd you lose the goatee?

[laughs] "Start with the hard-hitting ones. [laughs] I love it! Well, you know, I rarely experiment with facial hair, but I wanted to try it. I enjoyed the goatee. But I went to see my mom, and she wouldn't let up on me about it. She didn't like it at all. Plus, my wife wasn't too crazy about it, either. She said kissing me with the goatee was like kissing a Brillo pad. Besides, I thought I was starting to look like Steve Vai's evil twin or something. So, off it went."

"Steve Vai's evil twin" - I like that. OK, let's get into some music here. Recently, you finished performing your first symphony during a Steve Vai Festival in Holland. How was the symphony experience for you? Also, what's it like to have your very own festival?

[laughs] "You know, I've been very fortunate, and I'm especially fortunate to have had a supporter in Holland who's been in radio during my entire career. As a result, I'm very popular there. The Dutch are very artistic, honest and practical people - very open-minded in so many areas.

"As for the symphony… I've written a lot of pieces that could be considered 'symphonic,' but I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the word 'symphony' - at least when it's applied to me. [He gestures dramatically] 'He wrote a symphony!' I don't know… It's too conventional sounding to me. But I do enjoy composing, so when this opportunity came up and was presented to me to create a symphony…it was challenging. The whole thing was a big risk. I worked for many months just composing the music. It was a glorious project."

Was the orchestra cool with the idea of working with a rock artist?

"Yes, they were. The orchestra and the conductor were great to work with. It was obvious to them that I knew what I was doing, and I knew the music - I knew every note, in fact. So a respect was built very quickly. Plus, it wasn't like what you get a lot of times when orchestra players support a rock band; this was totally different. Instead of it being rock music with an orchestra backing, the music was all integrated, a real fusion. I'm very glad I did it."

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