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Inching up on number one
Another prolific musician professes his love for Deep Purple, and this time it’s Steve Vai. In his interview to My Planet Rocks he said:
Well, when I was a kid, I was a huge Deep Purple fan. I was so bummed when Ritchie Blackmore left the band, when those guys left and they weren’t in the band anymore. And they got this new guy, this new bass player (Glenn Hughes, who replaced Roger Glover), and singer – David Coverdale, and I just thought, ‘You don’t like him immediately,’ because he’s not your hero. But then I bought that record (1973’s ‘Burn’), and my God, I was stunned. He was such a great singer. He was inching up on number one. When I saw, I think it was the Us Festival, where David was really singing, I just became a fan, and was a fan of the Coverdale Deep Purple for all those records.
And then, I went into other things, but when the Whitesnake record came out in the ’80s, the Whitesnake record that had all that great, incredible music, and his voice – that’s a dedication to that seed of rock and roll that he expresses. It was so refreshing, and plus, these pipes, you know? I really enjoyed that record, and when the call came in to join the band, I just thought, ‘How could this be?’ I went from one crazy, incredible frontman David Lee Roth to another. I just knew that was an amazing opportunity, to sing with someone that I considered one of the greatest rock singers. Just the quality and the power in the voice.
Here is the interview. Purple bits start at around 13 minute mark.
Thanks to Raised On Radio for liberating the interview and to Ultimate Guitar for the transcription.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Steve Vai is an amazing person and musician. On the Re-Machined tribute to Machine Head, he plays Highway Star Jon’s intro from Made In Japan-original 2LP album. Amazing. That was really a tribute that came from the soul of a true fan.
May 11th, 2022 at 15:11I saw Vai with Whitesnake – he didn’t really fit, but he was amazing to watch and hear. It was totally effortless, perhaps too effortless. Without really trying or wanting, he upstaged everyone else in the band.
Vai is a true gentleman, I have never ever heard him say a bad thing about his time with Zappa, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake or Devin Townsend. Or those bands/musicians about him.
May 11th, 2022 at 18:14steve is looking hotter😍in his middle aged years
May 12th, 2022 at 14:18@3: True, generally there’s less attractive men on these pages than sax solos on Deep Purple songs. A deplorable situation, really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_dsQbL_l8
May 13th, 2022 at 06:32@ 2: I started paying attention to Steve when he joined Whitensake. Initially, I didn’t like his playing on Slip of the Tongue. His Passion and Warfare CD changed my opinion immediately. I saw Vai in concert a year a two before the pandemic when he was promoting the anniversary of Passion and Warfare. He played the entire record, great guitarist and he had a really good rapport with the audience.
May 13th, 2022 at 15:03@Eitablepanties Don’t gross me out! Just kidding. 😉
May 14th, 2022 at 00:34I believe the concert Steve is referring to in regards to David Coverdale is the California Jam.
Which as in 1974. I saw Steve when he was in G3 in 2003 with Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen and I have to admit he impressed me the most.
May 18th, 2022 at 00:09Slip of the Tongue was a doomed concept. Having Steve Vai play Adrian Vandenberg’s compositions written to sound like they were John Sykes songs. It was all several generations removed from the source and the result had none of the balls and gusto 1987 undeniably had. No wonder it flopped. It’s a lifeless, contrived record.
I’m no great fan of “I’m the center of the universe”-Johnny Boy, but he was gifted and Rock’n’Roll, you gotta hand that to him.
May 20th, 2022 at 17:16