Celebrating nearly five decades of musical friendship, JOE SATRIANI and STEVE VAI have collaborated on music for the first time!  Releasing tomorrow, Friday, March 29, “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1” showcases the unmatched synergy between these two legendary guitarists as they seamlessly trade solo sections throughout the nearly six-minute opus! Teaming up with Satch and Vai on the track are Eric Caudieux on keyboards, who also served as co-producer the song, with the rhythmic backbone provided by Matt Chamberlain on drums and Matt Bissonette on bass. A music video, directed by Z.Z. Satriani, takes this concept one step further with a whimsical look imagining what the beginning of that friendship might have looked and sounded like way back in the 70’s.

Of the inspiration behind the new song, Satriani commented, “When Steve and I decided the time had finally come for us to collaborate on an album I immediately thought of our humble beginnings, where we came from, and our teenage rock ’n’ roll hopes and dreams. To anybody else it may look like just a field, part of the sprawling Carle Place Public School complex, but for some of us, back in the early ’70’s, when the sun went down and the moon came up, it became "The Sea of Emotion”.
 
We would hang out there late at night and share our deepest thoughts with each other. For me and my closest friends, it was a magical place, this field right outside the back of the Rushmore gym. The memories we shared at that location so long ago became the inspiration for a musical journey in three parts. Each part of the song has little reminders of what we were so into musically back then, including a chord sequence that Steve and I would sometimes jam over during guitar lessons.

Vai echoes the sentiment about their hometown, “This song, and its additional 2 parts, are inspired by a giant field outside the High School of the town Joe and I grew up in. As young teenagers, we would sit overlooking this magnificent field and wax on generously for hours about the meaning of life and many other deep, rich discussions, so we deemed this field, “The Sea of Emotion”. 50 years later, it has been memorialized in melody and groove.
 
Connecting with Joe on this track, and the other music we are working on, is perhaps the most rewarding musical collaboration I’ve ever engaged in. Although we’ve toured and recorded jams together through the decades, for this music we are intimately bringing together our melodic impulses and playing techniques and creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts.”
 
Fans will be able to experience this new music live when “The Satch-Vai Tour” launches on March 22 in Orlando, FL. The tour will continue on, hitting Atlanta, Boston, New York, DC, Detroit, Minneapolis and more before winding up in Santa Rosa, CA on May 12 with 38 shows in total. This tour also marks the first time that the long-time friends have joined together as a duo-bill.

Satch and Vai’s musical careers have been intertwined since their very early days. Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher during their teenage years on Long Island, New York. Their connection has continued to evolve over the years, even sharing record labels, starting at Relativity Records in the late 80’s, to both calling Sony/Epic Records home for a significant portion of the 90’s. Together, they have also frequently teamed up with a third guitarist on multiple occasions throughout the span of 29 years, participating in the semi-annual G3 Tours, both in the U.S. and abroad.

The Satch-Vai Tour itinerary

March 29          North Charleston, SC     North Charleston Performing Arts Center
March 30          Durham, NC                   Durham Performing Arts Center
April 2              Charlotte, NC                  Belk Theater
April 3              Richmond, VA                 Dominion Energy Center
April 5              Boston, MA                     Orpheum Theatre Boston
April 6              New York, NY                 Beacon Theatre
April 7              Waterbury, CT                Waterbury Palace Theater
April 8              Red Bank, NJ                 Count Basie Center for the Arts
April 10             Collingswood, NJ          Scottish Rite Auditorium
April 11             Washington, DC             Warner Theatre DC
April 13             Northfield, OH               MGM Northfield Park
April 14             Rochester, NY               Kodak Center Theater
April 16             Detroit, MI                     Fisher Theatre
April 18             Chicago, IL                    Chicago Theatre
April 19             Cincinnati, OH              Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center
April 20             Fort Wayne, IN             Embassy Theatre
April 21             Indianapolis, IN             Murat Theatre
April 23             Milwaukee, WI              Riverside Theater
April 24             Minneapolis, MN           State Theatre
April 25             Des Moines, IA              Des Moines Civic Center
April 26             Springfield, MO             Gillioz Theatre
April 28             La Vista, NE                  The Astro
April 29             Salina, KS                     The Stiefel Theatre
April 30            St. Louis, MO                 The Factory
May 1               Kansas City, MO            Uptown Theater
May 3               Austin, TX                      ACL Live at The Moody Theater
May 4               Dallas, TX                      Music Hall at Fair Park
May 5               Houston, TX                  713 Music Hall
May 7               Denver, CO                   Paramount Theatre (SOLD OUT)
May 8               Salt Lake City, UT          Delta Hall at Eccles Theater
May 10             Valley Center, CA          Harrah’s Resort Southern California – The Events Center
May 11             Wheatland, CA               Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 12             Santa Rosa, CA             Luther Burbank Center for the Arts