Zappa’s Universe - Part II

G W Did you go out to LA and audition?
Steve Vai The signals I was getting were a little weird, so I just decided to move to California, anyway, in 1979. He said to me, "Don't come only because I'm here," but there was nothing for me at home on Long Island.
I moved to Hollywood, right down the street from his house up on Laurel Canyon, and I was transcribing like a madman.
G W Did Frank ever "formally" ask you to play with him?
Steve Vai No, but with Frank, if you were around, you'd just start recording with him. He'd say, "Here's a guitar—can you do this?" Rarely would he call me and ask me to come up and record; if I was on the phone with him, he'd say, "Come on up," and the next thing you know, you're up at the house listening to stuff, and then he'd get into recording.
By the way, when I first moved out there, the auditioning was a continual thing: I played him some things over the phone, like the musical interlude in "Wild Love," from Sheik Yerbouti. Then he asked me to learn one of his guitar solos note-for-note, so I could double it on a recording.
G W "Theme from the Third Movement of Sinister Footwear" was the first thing you ever recorded with Frank. That's an incredibly difficult piece.
Steve Vai Yeah. I did it on an acoustic guitar—he gave me this Ovation...
G W Were you thinking, "This is impossible," or were you thinking, "Well, this is my task, so I'm juts going to do it"?
Steve Vai How could you not do it, if you worked really hard on it? You've got to understand—I didn't do anything all day except work on music. I'd wake up in the morning and go right to the desk and transcribe and play all day long.
G W It's amazing that, even though you were in awe of Frank, you said, "Okay, got it!" when faced with this incredibly difficult task.
Mike Keneally You've got to realize that the survival instinct overtakes the awe and the fear. There's nothing worse than having Frank ask you to do something and then to not be able to do it.
Steve Vai I thought that that's what he expected from his musicians, and that's all there was to it. I remember going in to play "Sinister Footwear," and when he plugged me in and hit "record", I absolutely nailed it. And he was laughing! I thought, oh my god—was it that bad? Am I gonna get kicked out of here now? And as he's shaking his head and laughing, he picks up the phone and says, "Hey, Gail, come down here—you've got to hear this."
G W But on "Sinister Footwear" you hear an electric guitar, not an acoustic, doubling Frank's part; there are little tremolo arm things in there that distinguish your part from Frank's.
Steve Vai What happened was, I doubled the acoustic part with an electric, so the part was tripled, and then I think he took the acoustic out when he mixed it. The reason for the tremolo arm stuff is exactly for the reason you said: he thought it sounded too similar, like it wazs just some kind of an effect. His exact words were, 'Use this guitar, and use the whammy bar here and here so that people will know that it's two different instruments." It's an example of Frank's infinite wisdom, once again.
Mike Keneally It took me at least five listens to that album before I realized that there was another guitar playing that part, and then I thought, no way!
Steve Vai I finally became a band member in 1980, when he was putting together a group for an American tour. Frank had given me a tape of stuff to learn, and, at the rehearsal hall, of course he only played stuff that wasn't on the tape. He put me through hell. People in the room were looking around, saying, "What is he doing to this guy?" He was making everyone laugh at my expense, but that was just part of his thing.
He was really grilling me: he picked up his guitar and played something and asked me to mimic it at a specific tempo. Then he asked me to play it in 7/8, which I did. Then he said, "Now play it in 7/8, reggae style", and I did it. And he said, "Now add this," and I looked at him and said, "I can't—that's impossible." Because it was! And he said, "Well, I hear Linda Ronstadt is looking for a guitar player!" [laughs]
Mike Keneally You were just a prop for Frank's stand-up comedy act!
Steve Vai Yeah! But it was just part of the test. After the rehearsal, I went up to Frank and said, "I'm sorry, but thanks for having me down, and if you ever need me for anything, give me a ring." And he looked at me and said, "You're in the band!" That was the first time I gave him a big hug.
Mike Keneally My situation, in contranst, was a total whirlwind. Within one week of speaking to him for the first time, I was in the band. I had no opportunity to get to know him over time. If I had been abused like that at my audition, I would have disintegrated!
G W Before you auditioned, had you learned many of Frank's songs?
Mike Keneally By that point, I'd been a huge fan for 16 years, had all of the records, and I'd learned a lot of songs just for fun, primarily on keyboards. A turning point for me was Zappa's Halloween 1981 concert, which was simulcast live on MTV and on the radio, and I heard it on the radio. I'd seen Steve play with Frank in 1980, but the material at that show was more vocal-oriented; there were not a lot of pyrotechnics sfrom Steve. But the second song of this radio show was "Montana," and when they got to the "I'm plucking the old dental floss" section, Steve was super-high in the mix, playing this incredibly complex melody. That melody was not written to be played on the guitar. It was like being exploded into a new dimension—I heard that and realized for the first time that it was possible to play that kind of stuff on a guitar.
Steve Vai Hey, I never knew that!
Mike Keneally Steve, you totally set me off on a downward spiral of massive proportions! [laughs] From that point on, I learned "Montana" and "Sinister Footwear" and started to have fun learning to play this stuff on guitar, even though keyboard was still my main instrument.
G W Around the time of "The Black Page," the preveailing awareness was that a bold challenge had been launched by some guy named Steve Vai, who could not only play "The Black Page" but had also written a book of densely complicated Zappa transcriptions.
Mike Keneally For me, iot was more of an inspiration than a challenge, because I never ran in guitar-playing circles. The guitar was just a hobby for me, and the competitive part of it was not an issue. The affect that it had on me was to set me off on this program of job preparation, without realizing that that's what I was doing.
G W How did you get the chance to audition?
Mike Keneally It was in late '87, and I felt I had no choice but to attempt to get into his band. It had been three years since Frank's 1984 tour, which he swore would be his last ever. I later found out that he had made this declaration several times before.
I had called Frank's hotline, 818-PUMPKIN, and the message said, "For those of you that have heard the rumors, hey are true: Frank is in rehearsal with a new band." I offered my services as a keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist. What I subsequently found out was that Tommy Me keyboard player, had dropped out of the tour, and that Ray White, the guitarist/vocalist, had also left. In the blink of an eye, Frank was in need of a keybardist and a guitarist/vocalist. And that was the day that I called!
I didn't really expect anything to come of itds, but Frank called me back two days later. I had said in my phone message that I was familiar with all of the material. Frank said, "I understand that you know all of my songs," and I said, "Well, I'm familiar with all of them, but I know I could get working renditions up for at least all of the rock material." He said, "Do you have any idea how many songs that is?" and I said, "Yeah—I have every album." He then told me to get my ass up to his house and prove it. He told me to learn "What's New in Baltimore" [Meets the Mothers of Prevention (Rykodisc, 1985)] and "Sinister Footwear II" [Them or Us (Rykodisc, 1984)] for an audition that evening.
Steve Vai [hysterical laughter]
Mike Keneally "What's New in Baltimore" wazs particularly tough because it's a very complex piece that requieres really dexterous picking and a very even attack. Steve, wasn't that originally supposed to be a supportive part under the melody to "Moggio" [Man From Utopia (Rykodisc, 1983)]
Steve Vai "What's New in Baltimore" was a song that was put together over a period of about eight months. I was at Frank's house one day, and he played these chord changes and said, "Learn this and remember it." He forgot about it, and a few months later I said, "Remember this riff?" and he said, "Oh yeah, add this to it and memorize it."
A few more months went by, and I took it upon myself to make a chart of these parts. It was called "The Mystery Studio Song" at that point, and Frank asked me to bring it down to rehearsal. I brought it in and showed it to Arthur [Barrow, Frank's bassist], and then Frank came in to hear it. He said, "Make me another chart, but leave a blank staff on top for a melody," after which he wrote the melody that became "Moggio."
Mike Keneally The rumor mill is a funny thing, because, as a result of what you just described, there was a story floating around that Steve actually wrote those songs, and Frank had paid him to be silent about it.
Steve Vai What? Can you imagine that? There is nothing more wrong! Frank had shown me all of the elements, and I really liked it. So all I did was put the pieces together in a manuscript, and brought it in to show the band.
Mike Keneally That's just an indication of how a fact can turn on its head and then spiral out of control. There was another rumor that I showed up to audition and played all of Frank's songs backwards for him.
G W I've heard about guitar players coming down and doing impersonations of Frank for him, which basically just pissed him off.
Mike Keneally Well, it is hard to resist the temptation to play like Frank when you do get a chance to solo over his rhythm section. That's a sound you've become accustomed to hearing over those grooves. When Frank chose many of his guitarists, like Adrian Belew, Warren Cucurullo, Steve, myself, he grabbed them right at the very beginning of their development, and there was so much to learn. I'm sure every one of us feels like, god, if I could only turn back time and get to play with him again, with what I know now...
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