Joe Satriani Biography
|
|
 Joseph Satriani, 15 July 1956, Westbury, New York, USA. Satriani, who grew up in Long Island, is a skilled guitarist responsible for teaching the instrument to, among others, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Steve Vai. After travelling abroad extensively in his youth he returned to the USA to form the Squares. This project folded in 1984 through an abject lack of commercial recognition, giving Satriani the opportunity to concentrate on his experimental guitar playing. The outcome of this was the release of an EP, Joe Satriani. Following a spell with the Greg Kihn band, appearing on Love And Rock And Roll, Satriani released Not Of This Earth (1986), an album that was less polished than its successor, Surfing With The Alien. Despite offering no vocal accompaniment, this set was a major seller and brought mainstream respect to an artist often felt to be too clinical or technical for such reward. In 1988 he was joined more permanently by Stuart Hamm (bass) and Jonathan Mover (drums), also working for a spell on Mick Jagger’s late 80s tour.
Never afraid to push his considerable musical skills to the limit, Satriani has played the banjo and harmonica on his albums, as well as successfully attempting vocals on 1989’s Flying In A Blue Dream. In 1993, Satriani released Time Machine, a double CD that contained a mixture of new and previously unreleased tracks dating back to 1984, and also live material from his 1993 Extremist world tour. The guitarist then replaced Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple as a short-term replacement in 1993, while a further venture in 1996 saw him co-found the guitar supergroup G3 with Vai and Eric Johnson. G3 proved a great success, with Satriani and Vai keeping the project rolling into the new millennium with a number of guest guitarists. He continued to record solo albums during this period as part of a multi-album contract with Sony, notably delving into electronica on the 2000 release Engines Of Creation.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
|
Joseph Satriani, 15 July 1956, Westbury, New York, USA. Satriani, who grew up in Long Island, is a skilled guitarist responsible for teaching the instrument to, among others, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Steve Vai. After travelling abroad extensively in his youth he returned to the USA to form the Squares. This project folded in 1984 through an abject lack of commercial recognition, giving Satriani the opportunity to concentrate on his experimental guitar playing. The outcome of this was the release of an EP, Joe Satriani. Following a spell with the Greg Kihn band, appearing on Love And Rock And Roll, Satriani released Not Of This Earth (1986), an album that was less polished than its successor, Surfing With The Alien. Despite offering no vocal accompaniment, this set was a major seller and brought mainstream respect to an artist often felt to be too clinical or technical for such reward. In 1988 he was joined more permanently by Stuart Hamm (bass) and Jonathan Mover (drums), also working for a spell on Mick Jagger’s late 80s tour.