What a time to be alive in the world of instrumental guitar icons – Steve Vai has a new album with a crazy new Ibanez guitar on it and now Satch is back. And he's bringing a new song and album news with him.
The song is Sahara, and the album to follow is the intriguingly-titled The Elephants Of Mars (Satch's backpack below is also intriguing us – what's in there?). The album will be released via earMusic worldwide on 8 April; his first worldwide deal with the label.
Like many musicians in the pandemic, Satch and his band recorded his 129th studio album remotely, with the guitar giant pushing himself to create a “new standard” for instrumental guitar albums to be measured against. “I want to show people that an instrumental guitar album can contain far more creative and entertaining elements than I think people are using right now.”
It's good to hear Satch's ambitions are still burning. “We did everything," he says. "We tried the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”
The Elephants Of Mars tracklisting:
1. Sahara
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
2. The Elephants of Mars
3. Faceless
4. Blue Foot Groovy
5. Tension and Release
6. Sailing the Seas of Ganymede
7. Doors of Perception
8. E 104th St NYC
9. Pumpin’
10. Dance of the Spores
11. Night Scene
12. Through a Mother’s Day Darkly
13. 22 Memory Lane
14. Desolation
"All the platinum albums have got these things that don't belong there" – Joe Satriani talks transcending the shred label
“It didn’t even represent what we were doing. Even the guitar solo has no business being in that song”: Gwen Stefani on the No Doubt song that “changed everything” after it became their biggest hit
"There was water dripping onto the gear and we got interrupted by a cave diver": How Mandy, Indiana recorded their debut album in caves, crypts and shopping malls
Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
“It didn’t even represent what we were doing. Even the guitar solo has no business being in that song”: Gwen Stefani on the No Doubt song that “changed everything” after it became their biggest hit
"There was water dripping onto the gear and we got interrupted by a cave diver": How Mandy, Indiana recorded their debut album in caves, crypts and shopping malls