In the spring of 1978, I watched a talent show at my high school in Carle Place, a tiny town in central Long Island, N.Y. One contestant was an 18-year-old guitar phenom and protégé of our community’s revered guitar guru, Joe Satriani.
The long-haired prodigy played an explosive version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” a la Jimi Hendrix, and after a no-brainer decision by the judges, the host handed Steve Vai his prize.
Fast forward nearly 50 years. Satriani, the teacher, and Vai, the disciple, are two of the most accomplished and influential guitarists to ever pick up a six-string. The two Carle Place kids are larger-than-life musicians, and their technical virtuosity and wondrous melodicism are the benchmarks for guitarists around the world.
Now, the lifelong friends with illustrious solo careers have united for a collaborative tour and album as the SATCHVAI Band, which performs at Leader Bank Pavilion Wednesday. Even though they have toured together in different iterations of the long-running G-3 tour of guitarists, featuring Vai, Satriani, and a rotation of guitar giants, including Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, and John Petrucci, among others, this is their first union as bandmates and co-songwriters.
“The opportunity to do this hasn’t come until right now,” said Satriani in a joint Zoom interview with Vai. “We are both driven to make our own mark in the music world, so that kept us busy, and we took on some of the strangest gigs that came our way that kept us apart from each other.”
“It started with ZZ [Satriani’s son], who approached us about reuniting the original G3, which snowballed into a tour and then a film, and then Steve and I were like, ‘let’s just keep going,’” he added. “One thing led to another, and here we are.”
With the SATCHVAI Band, the two guitarists are finding the sweet spot between their unique artistic visions. Satriani is the mercurial melodicist who has been a trailblazer for rock guitar instrumentalists over the course of his eclectic career, which has yielded 18 solo albums, 15 Grammy nominations, and diversions into side projects, including the “Best of All Worlds” tour with Sammy Hagar.
Vai is rock ‘n’ roll’s mad scientist, bending the boundaries of guitar music with wildly experimental stylings and ornate compositions that have pushed him into the classical field. His theatrical performances have reinvigorated rock shows, especially when he pulls out his triple-neck Ibanez Hydra guitar.
Both musicians feel that bridging the gap between their styles has been effortless.
“It was very organic because Joe and I are, to a degree, carved out of a similar ilk,” said Vai. “We grew up listening to relatively similar music, both loving the guitar, and Joe had all the secrets.”
“Joe’s music is very powerful and straight and simpler in a sense, and I have a tendency to gravitate to high-information music — overproducing, so to speak — but we live in the same neighborhood when it comes to our technique, kind of melodies we like to play, and the energy we like to emit on the instrument," he continued. “So this is a beautiful magnetization of sorts.”
Satriani said what has helped them coalesce, especially onstage, is their shared history and similar training. The pair does “quite a bit of improvising,” he explained, “and it’s all based on us listening to each other microsecond by microsecond.”
“I think back to our time in high school. We were both taught by Bill Wescott, our music teacher, and Bill taught us ear training, and that is the language I think we use today to communicate with each other,” Satriani added. “It’s so important to know instantly what someone else is playing, and have it be so familiar, like someone speaking to you in your native language.”
The SATCHVAI Band has already released three songs: “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1,” “I Wanna Play My Guitar,” and “Dancing,” all from their upcoming album.
Even though aspiring guitarists see the duo as wizards of ahhs because of their dazzling technique, the guitarists insist that the soul of their music is found in the songwriting, and said the album will continue to showcase this.
“The song is the only thing that really matters,” Satriani said. “Whatever technical thing you come up with, especially today, it will get learned, copied, and enhanced within 24 hours.”
The future of the SATCHVAI Band beyond this tour and album is undetermined because of their other commitments — Vai will resume his stint in BEAT, the King Crimson reimagining with Tony Levin and Adrian Belew — but the pair said they are open to making more music together.
With or without the band, the two musicians will always be connected — by friendship, and maybe even the magic mojo in small-town water.
“When you are 12 years old and have this person in your life, it doesn’t go away,” Vai said. “I would go to lessons each week seeking Joe’s approval because I knew if I received it, I was heading in the right direction. You don’t kick that.”
“Throughout my entire career, Joe has been on my mind. It’s an unconscious level of excellence that I put myself on based on my mentor. If I’m 87 years old, sitting on a bed with a guitar, in the back of my mind, it’s going to say, ‘Would Joe approve of this?’ It’s impossible to separate, I guess.”
THE SATCHVAI BAND
With Animals As Leaders. At Leader Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston, Wednesday, May 20, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $35 and up. leaderbankpavilion.com