No Ordinary Joe

Seventeen albums, 15 Grammy nominations. Deep Purple guitarist and Mick Jagger’s axeman of choice. Solo star and supergroup member. Is there anything Joe Satriani can’t do?

It seems not.
And not a whiff of superstar ego either. When Hot Press catches up with ‘Satch’ in advance of his Dublin visit, he is polite and humble.
The last year has been quite a rollercoaster for Joe, who had to deal with the sudden loss of his mother and the success of supergroup Chickenfoot.
His latest confection, Black Holes And Wormhole Lizards, crosses a panoply of genres, styles and moods, echoing the highs and lows of recent times.
“When I’m making a record I can’t escape what is going on in my life,” he concedes, “I think my guard was completely down and I gravitated towards more emotive performances.”
Never one to rest on his laurels, Joe is already focused on his next project.
“We just did two Chickenfoot shows over the weekend, he says. “I sent everybody about 10 demos to listen to and work on. By the time I get finished with my second US tour it will be late January and Chickenfoot is going to get together in the studio and record the second album.”
And how does hitting the stage with RHCP’s Chad Smith and Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony compare to a solo concert?
“The Chickenfoot shows are quite crazy,” he laughs. “They are like a wild party. You have to really buckle your seatbelt when you get ready to do a Chickenfoot concert!”
“We have to stretch all the songs out because we only have this one album,” he continues. “I play a lot of rhythm guitar but it is expansive rhythm guitar, covering a lot of ground and riffing in between. It is a very extroverted style of classic rock.”
“My own show technically covers the last 60 years of guitar playing,” Joe notes. “It’s much more intense. We have about 180 songs to pull from in the catalogue so it’s a very different thing.
The studio experience with Chickenfoot is also very different to Satch’s own approach to recording.
“It is very uncontrolled,” he admits. “There’s no sequencing or click tracks, it’s really a raw, vintage way of recording. We just talk about it, everyone plays like crazy and we see if we like it.”
As well as his own prolific output Joe has guested on albums by a dizzying array of artists over the years including Alice Cooper, Crowded House, The Yardbirds and, most impressively, Spinal Tap.
“I played on the Break Like The Wind record,” he laughs. “I actually know the guys quite well. I gave them some guitars years ago and, in return, they surprised me with a Spinal Tap audioharp which I thought was very cool. I think I have used it on an album or two! I got very close to Christopher Guest and he invited me to appear in the For Your Consideration which was a lot of fun.”
Joe will be reappearing on a silver screen near you on the forthcoming Bennett Miller drama Moneyball.
“I wound up in that film because they needed to reenact the opening day of the 2002 season of the Oakland Raiders, as when I was the guest musician that played the national anthem,” he says. “I really enjoyed hanging out on the movie set. Brad Pitt and the rest of the cast were really hard workers.”
Another performer who is no slouch according to Joe is Mick Jagger, who Joe joined on two of his solo tours.
“Mick is such a great guy, really fun, a real entertainer,” enthuses Joe. “He’s also a really great guitarist and musician. He’s one of those performers that gives 100% of every moment of every show. He was a very generous guy off stage, good to hang out with, no power trips either.”
Joe is similarly complimentary about Deep Purple who he joined for two tours after the sudden departure of Richie Blackmore in the early ‘90s.
“That was very nerveracking because I was a big fan of Richie and I knew that the hardcore Deep Purple fans were going to have a difficult time looking at me instead of him,” says Joe.
“To add to that I only had a week to prepare,” he adds. “Richie is quite a unique player and it was actually really hard work to get the sound right.”
“The band were amazing though. They’re a great bunch of musicians and fun guys to hang around with, that made me stick around for the second tour. I felt more comfortable then as I had more time to rehearse the whole project.”
In addition to touring and playing, Joe also has his own Ibanez JS Series guitars, a signature Peavey Amplifier the JSX and has just added to his range of signature Vox pedals.
“It’s called the Ice 9 Overdrive pedal,” he states. “I’m really happy that we now have the line at four pedals. I’m busy working on the fifth!
Alongside his numerous achievements as a performer Joe gave guitar lessons in the early days of his career and boasts Metallica’s Kirk Hammett amongst his former pupils.
“We did a show together last year in Portugal,” says Joe. “We live in the same town so we run into each other all the time.”
And what does Satch make of his former student technical abilities?
“He’s doing just fine!” (Laughs)

Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards is out now. Joe Satriani plays Vicar St. on October 16.