Transcript of the Ticketmaster Online chat with Steve Vai and Steve Lukather on
December 16th, 1998.

Ticketmaster says "Hey all of you chatters out there - Welcome to the Ticketmaster Online Chat Series show. It's Wednesday, December 16 and you are chatting live at Real Hollywood. My name is David Shoulberg and I'll be your moderator for the evening. Tonight we're privileged to have legendary guitarist, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather who appears on Vai's second volume of "Merry Axemas" as our chat guests!

Ticketmaster says "Steve Vai is back with the second volume of his "Merry Axemas" series on Epic Records. The Vai-produced Merry Axemas, Volume 2" features Vai and Lukather (of Toto fame) along with many of the world's finest guitarists from the worlds of hard rock, pop, and jazz/fusion, putting a bold new stamp on beloved holiday carols. Each musician featured on the album was given free reign to select their favorite Christmas classic and recreate their own unique rendition for this holiday masterpiece. All right chatters, let's get to it!! It's chat time!!! Without wasting anymore time, please welcome Steve Vai and Steve Lukather!!"

Ticketmaster says "Hello! Say Hi Steve Vai!"

Vai says "Hello everyone.

Vai says "I'm calling from Hollywood. I'm in the Hollywood Hills."

Vai says "Actually we both did. It was great."

Ticketmaster says "Steve Vai, I think I heard you were at the Wiltern recently?"

Vai says "Joe does that whenever he gets to town where he knows there's a guitarist. I've gone up quite often with him. This year SL came up. It was really nice."

Sid asks "Tell us about what inspired Merry Axemas?"

Vai says "I always liked Christmas music. We just pulled out tons of these Christmas CD's and listened to them. I thought how nice it would be to have guitars playing Christmas music. There's a lot of great melodies written around Christmas songs. I went to Epic Records and they were receptive to the idea."

Ticketmaster says "And it's a good excuse to get together!"

Vai says "It's phenomenal guitar players playing Christmas melodies on greatest musical instrument in world."

Sid asks "What are some of your fav tracks off the album?"

Vai says "To be perfectly honest, SL is my favorite track. (SL: He's just saying that because I'm on phone). No why do you think I put it first on CD. Everybody's personality came through like Ted Nugent. You could really hear Ted Nugent. "

Ticketmaster says "How far back do you guys go?"

Vai says "I used to see Steve play at the Baked Potato. Back when I was giving guitar lessons for $10 an hour."

Ticketmaster says "Is this album the first you've done together?"

Vai says "You don't know this but one time you were out of town. This was years ago back in '83 or '84, and I got called into session to take your place. I totally blew it. I was awful. It was a Pepsi Cola commercial. "

EroticNightmares asks "Hey Vai, do you have plans to play in Brazil again next year? How about G3?"

Vai says " Oh yeah. We started going there about 4 or 5 years ago. It turned out really great. I've been there twice actually. I've had a lot of success there."

Ticketmaster says "The audiences there are into the shows?"

Vai says " They were fabulous. We played all over South America. We played Brazil and Buenos Aires. We're going to go to like Columbia but political climate wasn't that healthy."

Ticketmaster says "How about plans for another G3?"

Vai says " G3 is the kind of thing where whoever's available that fits the bill will be going out. We had a wonderful tour. We're actually talking about going to Japan with G3. Especially in Italy. The people are beautiful."

Ticketmaster says "Steve V, do you have a box set coming out soon?"

Vai says " I completed a box set--it's got 10 CD's in it. I went into negotiations with a company to release it, the negotiations dragged on and on and I missed release date. We decided to release it next Sept. It's quite an ambitious project."

Ticketmaster says "What are those 10 CDs?"

Vai says "The first two are compilation of music I've written for film. I was in heavy metal rock band called Alcatraz. We made a record on Capital that really didn't get much press. I get a lot of mail from people who are interested in that. That will be in there. I've got a piano reduction compilation of 12 of my pieces. I've got 3 called Vai archive 1, 2, 3. Some really good stuff on that. Some bonus tracks that were released in Japan. There's a CD called Hot Chungs which is bonus CD within box. That's just like a lot of weird and source music. That's for the hard core fan."

Ticketmaster says "Sounds like a dream set for fans!!"

Vai says " I think the fans will get a big kick out of it. It's just a documenting that I've always wanted to do."

Ticketmaster says "Could you put out another 10 CD set after this one if you wanted to?"

EroticNightmares asks "Vai, you used to use a JEM 7 strings guitar, but you haven't been using it lately...do you intend to use it again?"

Vai says " Yeah if I went into my vault and starting pulling stuff. Oh yeah. I use it occasionally in studio. When you go on tour you have to bring two spares. I've got to bring like 5 guitars. If I bring a seven string then I've got to bring 2 or 3 seven strings. I've stopped using it on tour just out of logistics."

Ticketmaster says "How many guitars do you normally tour with?"

Vai says " I'm really drawn to playing it again."

Ticketmaster says "How about your personal collection?"

Vai says " I give a lot of guitars away. I have about 20 or 30."

Vai says "The first thing I do when I get a new guitar is put a scratch on it. Do it with my cars too. I only owned one Les Paul. It feels really odd to me. I could never collect guitars."

EroticNightmares asks "Steves, when did you guys exactly decide that you want to be a guitar player? I decided when I first heard For The Love Of God :)"

Vai says " For me I didn't really remember making a conscious decision. I had heard Jimmy Page play Heartbreaker. Once I heard Led Zeppelin I said this is it. I'm going to just do this. I'm going to try.

Ticketmaster says "Who are some new players that you think are talented?"

Ticketmaster says "SV, anyone you're following coming up?"

Vai says " I don't know of anybody really that's doing anything interesting on guitar that's sort of in the underground. I don't really keep my ear so close to the grindstone either. It seems like there's a resurgence of sorts in guitar. There are a lot of good players but when you talk about doing unique, I don't see it. (SL: It really hasn't happened in a while. The guitar is sort of like--I think you and Joe scared the **** out of everybody.")

Ticketmaster says "I think it's hard to top any of that!"

Vai says "SL; Everybody said well **** that's impossible. So I'm responsible for Nirvana? SL I'm holding you personally responsible. It would be nice to see somebody take the instrument..."

guest1936 asks "If you could revive any guitarist from the dead to play on Merry Axemas 3, who would it be?"

Vai says "SL: Well naturally Jimi Hendrix. I've tried to get some of his music from his estate and they won't do it."

Ticketmaster says "Have any of those been released?"

Vai says "SV; When I was a kid I bought a picture disk of Jimi playing Little Drummer Boy. I know that's out there. It was really cool. It was way over the top. I'd love to really hear Joe Pass. We though in future for Merry Axemas we might do genre specific. Sort of like a new agey one or grunged out one."

EroticNightmares asks "For The Love Of God is the best song I've ever heard...what inspired you to do it?"

Vai says "Every now and then I guess if you're fortunate enough, you come across inspirational moments and your heart just pours out into notes. You're not thinking of anything or what's happening in trends. It's just pure music. It's a very fine and profound moment when a person creates a piece of music. We all get it in one way or other in one field or another. I remember when that song came out of me. I didn't want it to stop."

Ticketmaster says "SL, what are some of your purest moments that capture your essence?"

Vai says " I love what you did on the Tubes record.

Ticketmaster says "Do you listen to your own music?"

Vai says I don't go for that ****.

Ticketmaster says "Have you done chats before?"

Vai says "Yeah but not together."

Sid asks "What are some of your influences?"

Vai says " Probably same as everybody else, my parents. Musically I'd have to say one of the first records I got was Sly and the Family Stone. I just absorbed it. I just really loved it. And then there was Westside Story. I couldn't believe when I heard it. It is unbelievable. It changed my life. When I got older, I got into rock side, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Deep Purple. Music school I got into progressive music and jazz. And then Zappa. Even today I'll get very inspired by a band that comes along."

DiEtoLivE asks "When are you coming to England Steve???"

Vai says "Well not soon enough. I'm a little disappointed because I just released a reissued record of mine called Flexible Leftover. It was just released recently and I understand that the English affiliates are not releasing it for some reason. I hope to do extensive European tour next fall."

Ticketmaster says "Do you find that labels just hold you up from releasing the amount of material you want to get out to your fans?"

Vai says " You got to be careful. You can flood market with your stuff and true hardcore fans will get it. In this day and age you got to be careful how you release stuff. There will come a time when I don't care and I'll release tons of music. The 10 CD set is not like a major release. It's just something I've got to get out there. Why should Prince care if he releases 5 albums a year. I don't think he's looking for a hit record. I'm a big fan of his."

Ticketmaster says "What do you think of Prince as a guitar player?"

Vai says "I was given a bootleg of jamming at Paisley Park and there was song Tender Surrender--I turned it on and he was jamming to one of my songs. I was stunned into silence. he was playing great on it.

Sid asks "Are you a fan of Robert Fripp?"

Vai says " I was a fan of Robert Fripp's when I was younger. I loved King Crimson stuff. He came out and played with us on G3. The man is unique. He's a music lover and an artist. He uses the air as his canvas and frequencies like tapestries falling all over place. If you ever see his show with us, he would just sit there for about 2 hours and create mind blowing colors of sound from guitar. I was impressed. He's got healthy attitude on musician's place in financial structure of music too.

Ticketmaster says "What's your take on the whole artist vs label debate now? Especially because of the internet influence?"

Vai says "A lot of times musician's have big creative brain muscles but don't have sense to watch their asses. That's just wrong.

Ticketmaster says "What's the most important piece of advice you'd have to offer someone new to the industry?"

Vai says " Keep your publishing. Wear a condom and use sunscreen."

Ticketmaster says "That about covers it!"

guest1936 asks "was there anyone you really wanted to appear that couldn't or wouldn't do it?"

Vai says "I wanted to get those Hendrix tracks. I was hoping for Eric Clapton and Jimmy Paige and Jimmy responded. He wanted to do both records but just couldn't . There's other players but there's always a future. It's really a wonderful record. It's great alternative to other types of Christmas music. You've got Mannheim and classic Sinatra's and Streisand's and they're beautiful. These records are actually different and they're completely accessible and they're wonderful listening experiences. These pieces are being played so beautifully on the instrument. I feel privileged to be part of the whole thing."

Ticketmaster says "It's more compelling that you're shopping background X-mass music!"

Vai says " It could be if you've got ear to hear it that way. Some people just don't like the guitar but not many. If you do, the hell with you!

Fire Garden asks "Tell us about the participation in the Race with the Devil track!"

Vai says "I was a big fan of Al (?). I used to go gaga listening to him. I saw him with Return to Forever in Long Island and it was stunning. All sent me tapes and I did my best and it turned out pretty neat."

Ticketmaster says "When you aren't working, do you go see a lot of live music?"

Vai says "I rarely go out but to support people I know need it. It means a lot in a lot of different levels. If someone like myself shows up for a concert of unknown band. It was a great show too! When you get there, you go I can't believe it. I almost didn't go to see this."

tambutoo asks "For Steve Lukather : Do you still use the 'sex box' ?"

Vai says "I used to have boxes labeled Meat 1 and Meat 2."

guest1959 asks "Steve are you touring anytime soon? I'd love to see you in Pittsburgh again!!"

Vai says " I probably am going to tour as soon as my new records comes out, Where the Wild Things Are. That's probably coming out in May. I'm looking forward to Pittsburgh and Philly too.

Ticketmaster says "We are out of time!!"

Vai says "Thank you very much."