Satriani commands his own territory

By: ALAN SCULLEY - For the North County Times | Wednesday, December 22, 2004 10:40 AM PST ∞

As one of rock's premier guitarists, Joe Satriani has played alongside some of his most illustrious peers in the business.

Before debuting as an artist in his own right, Satriani served as a guitar teacher for such now-famous players as Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Larry LaLonde of Primus.

More recently, Satriani has assembled several editions of the G3 tour, each of which has found him performing with two other stellar guitarists. The players on those tours have included such guitar luminaries as Vai, Robert Fripp (of King Crimson), Eric Johnson and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Especially in the G3 environment, one might suspect that each guitarist might find himself being influenced by some of the stylistic trademarks of his fellow players.

Instead, Satriani said the tours have taught him just how distinctly individual each guitarist is.

"I think it's not a matter of picking up what someone else does, but there's a definite influence that we have on each other that I think pushes us further into our own direction, let's put it that way. And it's because we get inspired," Satriani said in a recent interview.

"One thing you learn is that you can't really ---- people really can't sound like each other," he said. "You realize how unique and personal guitar playing really is, because very often during soundchecks we'll say, 'Hey, let me try your guitar. Let me try your amp.' And you'd think it would instantly make you sound like the other guy, but in fact, your sound kind of follows you wherever you go. Whatever you play into, it has no effect really. It's really in your fingers and in your heart. That's what determines your sound."

Individuality is something that has defined all of Satriani's solo CDs.

His chosen niche ---- instrumental hard rock music ---- certainly isn't uncharted territory. But Satriani stands out because where many guitar instrumentalists showcase their flashy playing, Satriani has consistently emphasized well-crafted songs with strong melodies over virtuostic guitar playing.

Satriani, a native of Long Island who lives in San Francisco, began exploring the world of instrumental guitar music in the mid-1980s. He self-released a five-song self-titled EP in 1984 and then used his credit card to finance the recording of his full-length debut, "Not of This Earth," which was picked up for release by Relativity Records in 1986.

Those albums immediately opened the eyes of guitar enthusiasts, and his reputation only grew with the follow-up albums "Surfing With the Alien" (a million-selling hit), "Flaying in a Blue Dream," "The Extremist," "Time Machine" and a 1995 self-titled release.

But by the time of his 1997 CD, "Crystal Planet," Satriani said he had begun to feel he had exhausted the possibilities of instrumental rock played in the traditional guitar/bass/drums format. On that album, he began experimenting with building electronic elements into his music.

On his next CD, "Engines of Creation," Satriani dove fully into the electronic realm, mixing electric guitar with electronica, techno, trip-hop and other computer generated styles.

But on tour to support that CD, Satriani experienced a rebirth in his love for the organic guitar/bass/drums sound.

"The tour that followed the release of 'Engines of Creation' was a defining tour for me because we had this techno/trance record that after rehearsing for awhile, I realized we were going to have to turn these songs into something else in order for them to fly in front of an audience," Satriani said. "So I took the material from 'Engines' and we kind of turned them into rock songs," he explained. "They really worked very well. Then we made the 'Live In San Francisco' DVD at the end of that whole year of touring. That experience just left a really positive mark on my playing, and I realized that wow, I almost felt like I was starting over again. It just sort of took that left turn into the electronica to come back again, for me to see all this other stuff that I wanted to do."

Satriani's next release, 2002's "Strange Beautiful Music," represented a full-on return to his familiar guitar/bass/drums sound, and his new CD, "Is There Love in Space?" (which includes two tunes on which the guitarist sings vocals to go with nine instrumental tracks) suggests that Satriani remains highly inspired by his signature sound.

The CD boasts the virtues that will be familiar to most any longtime Satriani fan. Concisely structured songs like the "Up In Flames" "Hands in the Air" and "The Souls of Distortion" are built around potent stick-in-your-brain guitar hooks and are so entertaining that one barely notices there are no vocals in the songs. More restrained tunes like the smooth-flowing title song and the poppy "If I Could Fly" verge on elegance with their sleek, finely honed guitar lines.

Even with the many familiar elements on "Is There Love in Space?" Satriani sees important contrasts between the new CD and his previous efforts.

"I was able to focus pretty early on a particular direction," he said. "I was looking at a leaner rock sound that had a bit of an electric blues influence floating around, not a traditional blues, but more of an early '70s rock kind of blues influence."

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