Reverse order: Satriani
Joe Satriani believes artists are forced into making music in reverse – and he’d rather do things the other way round.
Instead of recording material as soon as it’s been written, he’d rather allow it time to mature on the road. And he says that applies to his best-known piece of work, recorded in 1986.
Satriani tells the Daily Gazette: “When I hit the stage playing Satch Boogie [from his Surfing With The Alien album] I’m still working on it and finding new ways to make it better.
“You write a song and you may wind up recording it in about a week, and putting it on an album. Your audience feels that’s the definitive version – but really it’s your first attempt at coming to grips with what you’ve written.
“I think a better process would be to write a song then go on tour for 15 years to figure out exactly what you’ve written. But such is the world, we do things backwards like that.”
Satriani, a member of supergroup Chickenfoot alongside Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith, is currently touring the US in support of his latest album Unstoppable Momentum. He’s planning to publish an autobiography and release a career-retrospective box set next year.