Joe Satriani

Early life

Satriani was born in Westbury, New York, the descendant of Italian immigrants. His paternal grandparents were from Piacenza and Bobbio, while his maternal grandparents were from Bari. He was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix. He has been said to have heard the news during football practice, where he then announced to his coach that he was quitting to become a guitarist. In 1974, Satriani studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani's playing. Satriani began teaching guitar, with his most notable student at the time being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai (both also went to the same high school). While he was teaching Vai, he was attending Five Towns College for studies in music.

In 1978, Satriani moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career. Soon after arriving in California, he resumed teaching. His students included Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus and Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus), Phil Kettner of Lȧȧz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, Charlie Hunter, David Turin and Eric Kauschen.

Music career

Satriani started playing in a San Francisco-based band called the Squares, where he continued to network and make musical connections (Squares sound man John Cuniberti co-produced his second album). He was invited to join the Greg Kihn Band, who were on the downside of their career, but whose generosity helped Satriani pay off the overwhelming credit card debt from recording his first album Not of This Earth.

In 1987, Satriani's second album Surfing with the Alien produced radio hits and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. The track "Crushing Day" was featured on the soundtrack of a low-budget film titled It Takes Two. Surfing with the Alien is his most acclaimed work, according to aggregator Acclaimed Music. In 1988 Satriani helped produce the EP The Eyes of Horror for the death metal band Possessed. That same year he also released an EP titled Dreaming #11, which featured the song "The Crush of Love". In 1989, Satriani released the album Flying in a Blue Dream. It was said to be inspired by the death of his father, who died in 1989 during the recording of the album. "One Big Rush" featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything.... "The Forgotten Part II" was featured on a Labatt Blue commercial in Canada in 1993. "Can't Slow Down" featured in a car-chase sequence in the Don Johnson starring show Nash Bridges. "The Bells of Lal (Part One)" was featured for an eerie scene in the 1996 Billy Bob Thornton movie Sling Blade, while Carl is sharpening a lawnmower blade to kill the menacing Doyle Hargraves played by Dwight Yoakam.

Joe Satriani also sang backing vocals on the self-titled Crowded House album. Satriani was a friend of Mitchell Froom.

In 1992, Satriani released The Extremist, his most commercially successful album to date. Radio stations across the country picked up "Summer Song," which got a major boost when Sony used it in a major commercial campaign for their Discman portable CD players. "Cryin'," "Friends," and the title track were regional hits on radio. In late 1993, Satriani joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for departed guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. The concerts were a success, and Satriani was asked to join the band permanently but he declined, having just signed a multi-album solo deal with Sony, and Steve Morse took the guitarist slot in Deep Purple.

In 1996, Satriani founded the G3, a concert tour intended to feature a trio of guitarists. The original lineup featured Satriani, Vai and Eric Johnson. The G3 tour has continued periodically since its inaugural version, with Satriani the only permanent member. Other guitarists who have performed in G3 include among others: Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp, Andy Timmons, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Adrian Legg, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse and Steve Lukather. In 1998 Satriani recorded and released Crystal Planet. Crystal Planet was followed up with Engines of Creation, one of his more experimental works featuring the electronica genre. A pair of shows at the Fillmore West in San Francisco were recorded in December 2000 and released as Live in San Francisco, a two-disc live album and DVD.

2000–present

Satriani regularly recorded and released evolving music, including Strange Beautiful Music in 2002 and Is There Love in Space? in 2004. In May 2005, Satriani toured India for the first time, playing concerts in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. In 2006, Satriani recorded and released Super Colossal and Satriani Live!, another two-disc live album and DVD recorded May 3, 2006 at the Grove in Anaheim, CA. In 2006, Satriani signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. Satriani has personally delivered instruments to children in the program through a charity raffle for the organization and, like Steve Vai, sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.

On August 7, 2007 Epic/Legacy Recordings re-released Surfing with the Alien to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release. This was a two-disc set that includes a remastered album and a DVD of a never-before-seen live show filmed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1988. Satriani's next album Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock, was released on April 1, 2008. Satriani released a live DVD recording of a concert in Paris titled Live in Paris: I Just Wanna Rock and a companion 2-CD set on February 2, 2010. In March 2010 Satriani participated with other guitarists in the Experience Hendrix Tribute Tour, performing music written and inspired by Jimi Hendrix.

On December 4, 2008 Satriani filed a copyright infringement suit against Coldplay in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Satriani's suit claims that the Coldplay song "Viva la Vida" includes "substantial original portions" of the Satriani song "If I Could Fly" from his 2004 album, Is There Love in Space?. The Coldplay song in question received two Grammy Awards for "Song of the Year." Coldplay denied the allegation. An unspecified settlement was reached between the parties.

In 2009, he played two characters in season 3 of Adult Swim's Metalocalypse.

In May 2010, Satriani announced he was about to enter the studio to record a solo album, and dates were released for an autumn tour. He also said that demos had been recorded for a second Chickenfoot album. Satriani released his 13th studio album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, on October 5, 2010.

Satriani released the DVD/Blu-ray of his 3D concert film Satchurated: Live in Montreal on April 24, 2012 after its limited showing in theaters. The film was shot in December 2010 in Montreal and was directed by award-winning filmmakers François and Pierre Lamoureux. Satchurated is the first Blu-ray concert film available in 3D with Dolby TrueHD 7.1.

On May 7, 2013 Satriani released his fourteenth studio album, titled Unstoppable Momentum. A career retrospective box set titled Joe Satriani: The Complete Studio Recordings, which contains remastered editions of every studio album from Not of This Earth to Unstoppable Momentum, was released on April 22, 2014. A book titled Strange Beautiful Music: A Memoir was also released to coincide with the release of the box set.

In August 2014, Satriani participated in the G4 Experience—a week-long guitar camp—with fellow guitarists Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, and keyboardist Mike Keneally.

February 2015 saw the first dates announced for the upcoming Shockwave World Tour, in support of Satriani's fifteenth studio album, slated for release in July. Shockwave Supernova was released on July 24, 2015. The album was conceived after Satriani found himself playing guitar with his teeth a lot during the Unstoppable Momentum tour, and had a daydream about an alter-ego, "Shockwave Supernova", making him do it.

On September 16, 2017 Satriani teased his upcoming sixteenth studio album, What Happens Next, through social media. Full details were revealed on the 18th - it's slated for release on January 12, 2018. He collaborated with Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

Chickenfoot

On May 29, 2008, it was revealed that Satriani was involved in a new hard rock band called Chickenfoot with former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The band features Hagar on vocals, Satriani on guitar, Anthony on bass and Smith on drums. Their eponymous debut album was released on June 5, 2009. The first single and video released was the track "Oh Yeah," which was played on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 5, 2009. Satriani received a co-writing credit on all the songs on the band's debut album. Broken Records magazine asked Satriani about his new band, and he enthusiastically mentioned that "it was great fun" and it gives him a "kick in the music bone" to play with such great talent. He said it felt natural to step back and play more rhythm than solo guitar. Chickenfoot's second album, Chickenfoot III, was released on September 27, 2011. Its first single was the track 'Bigfoot'. In its first week of release, it charted #9.

Other work

Satriani is credited on many other albums, including guitar duties on shock rocker Alice Cooper's 1991 album Hey Stoopid, Spinal Tap's 1992 album Break Like the Wind, Blue Öyster Cult's 1988 album Imaginos, band members Stu Hamm and Gregg Bissonette's solo albums. He was credited with singing background vocals on the 1986 debut album by Crowded House. In 2003, he played lead guitar on The Yardbirds's release Birdland. In 2006, he made appearances on tracks for Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's solo CD/DVD dual disc Gillan's Inn.

On Dream Theater's 2007 album Systematic Chaos, Satriani contributed spoken lyrics to the song "Repentance." Satriani contributed a guitar solo to Jordan Rudess' 2004 solo release Rhythm of Time. He composed much of the soundtrack for the racing video game NASCAR 06: Total Team Control while "Crowd Chant" was featured in NHL 2K10 and Madden NFL 11. He has starred in feature films, including 2006 Christopher Guest film For Your Consideration as the guitarist in the band that played for the late-night show. He appeared as himself in the film Moneyball, playing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The American Dad episode "Why Can't We Be Friends" featured the song "Always with Me, Always with You". The song was also sampled in the Nicki Minaj single "Right Thru Me".

Satriani joined Chickenfoot in voicing themselves in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "I am a Pod".

Style and influence

Satriani is considered a highly technical guitarist, and has been referred to as a top guitar virtuoso. Satriani has mastered many performance techniques on electric guitar, including legato, two-handed tapping and arpeggio tapping, volume swells, harmonics and extreme whammy bar effects. During fast passages, Satriani favors a legato technique (achieved primarily through hammer-ons and pull-offs) that yields smooth and flowing runs. He is also adept at other speed-related techniques such as rapid alternate picking and sweep picking. Satriani was influenced by blues-rock guitar icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Brian May, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Beck, as well as jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.

Equipment

Satriani has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series guitars, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Satriani. The Ibanez JS1 (the original JS model) was based on, and replaced, the Ibanez 540 Radius model that Satriani first endorsed. Many of his guitars are made by Ibanez, including the JS1000, and JS1200. These guitars typically feature the DiMarzio PAF Pro (which he used up until 1993 in both the neck and bridge positions), the DiMarzio Fred (which he used in the bridge position from 1993 to 2005), and the Mo' Joe and the Paf Joe (which he uses in the bridge and neck positions, respectively, from 2005 to present day).

The JS line of guitars is his signature line with the JS1000, JS1200, JS2400, JSBDG, and JS20th using Ibanez's original Edge double locking tremolo bridge. The JS100 and JS120s both use Ibanez's Edge 3 tremolo bridge. The JS1600 is a fixed bridge guitar with no tremolo system. The guitar he was most associated with during the 90s was a chrome-finished guitar nicknamed "Chrome Boy". This instrument can be seen on the Live in San Francisco DVD. However, the guitar used for most of the concert was in fact a lookalike nicknamed "Pearly," which featured Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups.

Satriani uses a number of other JS models such as the JS double neck model, JS700 (primary axe on the self-titled CD and seen on the 1995 tour "Joe Satriani," which features a fixed bridge, P-90 pickups, and a matching mahogany body and neck), JS6/JS6000 (natural body), JS1 (the original JS model), JS2000 (fixed bridge model), a variety of JS100s, JS1000s and JS1200s with custom paint work, and a large amount of prototype JSs. All double locking bridges have been the original Edge tremolo, not the newer models, which point to a more custom guitar than the "off the shelf" models. Satriani played a red 7-string JS model, seen in the "G3 Live in Tokyo" DVD from 2005. He also has a prototype 24-fret version of the JS—now called the JS-2400—which he has used with Chickenfoot. As of late he has used other prototypes featuring a Sustainer or a JS model with three single coil-sized humbucker pickups.

Satriani's guitars are usually equipped with his signature DiMarzio humbucker pickups, Mo' Joe and PAF Joe, and his 24-fret JS model features a signature single-coil sized humbucker called the Satch Track in the neck position. Some of his guitars are still equipped with the pickup models he favored in the past, the DiMarzio FRED and PAF Pro pickups. Satriani has used a wide variety of guitar amps, using Marshall for his main amplifier (notably the limited edition blue coloured 6100 LM model) up until 2001, and his Peavey signature series amps, the Peavey JSX, up until his time with Chickenfoot.

The JSX began life as a prototype Peavey XXX and developed into the Joe Satriani signature Peavey model. However he still used distortion pedals with the clean channel rather than the built-in overdrive channels. Satriani has used other amplifiers over the years in the studio, such as the Peavey 5150 (used to record the song 'Crystal Planet'), Cornford, and the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (used to record the song 'Flying in a Blue Dream'), amongst others. He has recently switched to the Marshall JVM series, having used a modified JVM 410H in his Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards tour in 2010 and with Chickenfoot in 2010 and 2011.

These modified JVM Marshall amps were prototypes for a signature amp that Marshall scheduled for release in 2011. They replaced the reverb with noise gates that eliminate lag when switching channels. The clean channel was replaced by the clean channel of a 6100 LM model, which Satriani likes as an option to use distortion pedals with. The orange od channel and the modern red overdrive channel have been better matched with each other as Satriani claims to prefer the organic overdrive of the JVM over pedals. The red overdrive channel was modified for a beefy rock rather than a nu metal sound. The effect loop has been simplified to be serial only.

Satriani has used many amps in the studio when recording, including the Peavey Classic. He used Marshall heads and cabinets, including live, prior to his Peavey endorsement. Recently Satriani used the JSX head through a Palmer Speaker Simulator. He has released a Class-A 5-watt tube amp called the "Mini Colossal". In 2009, Satriani split from Peavey, and returned to using Marshall amps. Live, he has been using a Marshall JVM410JS since 2009.

His effects pedals include the Vox wah, Dunlop Cry Baby wah, RMC Wizard Wah, DigiTech Whammy, BK Butler Tube Driver, BOSS DS-1, BOSS CH-1, BOSS CE-2, BOSS DD-2 and a standard BOSS DD-3 (used together to emulate reverb effects), BOSS BF-3, BOSS OC-2, Barber Burn Drive Unit, Fulltone Deja Vibe, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, and Electro-Harmonix POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator), the latter being featured prominently on the title cut to his 2006 Super Colossal. He collaborated with Vox on a range of signature effects stompboxes. These include the "Satchurator" and "Ice 9" distortions, the "Time Machine" delay, and the "Big Bad Wah."

His 2000 guitar rig has been documented in detail.

Recurring themes

Satriani's work frequently makes references to various science fiction stories and ideas. "Surfing with the Alien," "Back to Shalla-Bal," and "The Power Cosmic 2000" refer to the comic book character Silver Surfer, while "Ice 9" refers to the secret government ice weapon in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. "Borg Sex" is a reference to Star Trek, which features a homogeneous cybernetic race known as the Borg. His albums and songs often have other-worldly titles, such as Not of this Earth, Crystal Planet, Is There Love in Space?, and Engines of Creation.

On the album Super Colossal, the song titled "Crowd Chant" was originally called "Party on the Enterprise". It would have featured sampled sounds from the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. But as Satriani explained in a podcast, legal issues regarding the samples could not be resolved, and he was unable to get permission to use them. He then removed the sounds from the song and called it "Crowd Chant". Its ending theme was inspired by composer Gabriel Fauré's "Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50". The song is used as goal celebration music for a number of National Hockey League and Major League Soccer teams including the Minnesota Wild (NHL), New York Islanders (NHL), and New England Revolution (MLS). The song is also used in the 2K Sports hockey video game NHL 2k10.

"Redshift Riders," another song on the Super Colossal album is, "...based on the idea that in the future, when people can travel throughout space, they will theoretically take advantage of the cosmological redshift effect so they can be swung around large planetary objects and get across [the] universe a lot faster than normal," Satriani said in a podcast about the song. On the album Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock the song "I Just Wanna Rock" is about a giant robot on the run who happens to stumble upon a rock concert.

Nominations

Satriani has the fourth most Grammy Award nominations (15, after Brian McKnight, Snoop Dogg and Morten Lindberg) of any artist without winning. See further artists.

Discography