NEW HAVEN — Over the course of two conversations almost a year apart, guitarist, composer, producer, and three-time Grammy winner Steve Vai revealed himself to be as much a musician as magician, conjuring mind-bending creations not only from the wood, strings, and magnetic pickups of the guitars he plays, but also from a newly unveiled, one-of-a-kind instrument creation dubbed “The Hydra.”

But more on that later.

After not one, but two potentially career-ending injuries requiring separate surgeries, Vai is on the road and bringing a showcase of classics and brand new material to Connecticut fans as he — after frustrating injury-related postponements — finally hits the stage of New Haven’s College Street Music Hall on November 1.

“The wing is starting to flap again,” Vai jokingly testified regarding his previously distressed shoulder, arm, and hand during the second of two exclusive phone calls to The Newtown Bee in mid-September.

In over 40 years in the industry, Vai has sold over 15 million records and recorded with music legends like Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, and many others. He has also toured extensively and recorded live projects with G3 (collaborating with different touring lineups including Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Steve Lukather) and Generation Axe, a supergroup Vai formed with Zakk Wylde, Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi.

Vai is also the author of Vaideology: Basic Music Theory for Guitar Players, his inaugural music theory book designed to help both beginners and veteran guitar players.

He is supported on the current tour by his long-tenured ensemble members Dave Weiner on guitar and keyboards, Philip Bynoe on bass, and Jeremy Colson on drums.

After hitting the big 62 this summer, Vai explained that he has willingly modified both his practice and warm-up regiments, as well as how he presents his talent on stage to accommodate his recovery and sustain his ability to continue performing at his peak. And he is fired up about it, despite a grueling 50-plus date schedule stretching over just a couple of months that might very well challenge players who are decidedly younger.

“I didn’t realize it until I got back onstage, but my conventional way of moving wasn’t going to work,” Vai said. “You have to do your best to make lemonade out of lemons, right? But I’m still feeling it out. I have to face the fact that some of these modifications come with age.

“It’s just like with athletes who are incorporating a change in positions, except you’re making a musical statement,” he continued. “But a vast majority of what you’re doing, and what you have to overcome, is in your mind and your imagination. And while some techniques have to change, I’m still left with an incredibly large palette to make melodies. I’m not finding any limitations.”

Loving The New Tracks

Vai and his legion of fans are all enjoying the raft of new material the artist is showcasing each night from his new release, Inviolate.

“Oh yeah, I really love playing ‘Little Pretty’ from Inviolate. Also ‘Zeus In Chains,’ ‘Avalancha,’ and ‘Candlepower,’” he shared. “You know, John, it’s really nice when you’re out on the road promoting a new record and you’ve got fresh new material to play. I like playing the older stuff, but there’s a sparkle when you’re doing something new, and those songs just light me up. They’re so well suited for playing live and my ability to play them. Really magical.”

Before his first pre-tour chat with The Bee, while nursing his first post-surgical recovery, Vai presented a never-before-seen performance video on his Ibanez Onyx Black PIA guitar of a new composition titled “Knappsack.” The clip capturing him playing with one hand while recuperating from shoulder and hand surgery can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

A true artist, Vai chooses musical collaborators much like he does the guitar, amp, effects, and settings, spending hours, days, and even weeks perfecting to achieve the sound and style the song demands.

“The song kind of tells you what kind of musician is required,” he said. “For the most part, if I’m recording with other musicians I start with my band, otherwise — like with keyboards — unless I really need a virtuoso performance, I try to do it all myself. On this record, with the pandemic in full swing, I ended up doing something very different — sending tracks to various musicians and getting back what they contributed without being there.

“So if you ask the right people, they do the right things and they blow you away. Like with ‘Candlepower.’ I first laid it down with just a drum loop, but then I wanted a drummer to bring it to life, and the answer kept coming: Terry Bozzio. And I loved what he did, the same as the two tracks with Vinny Colaiuta,” Vai said. “I wasn’t there to tell him what to do, but I got the best of Vinny — just fantastic.

“The same thing happened when I reached out to Henrik Linder,” he continued. “I’d been following him for some time and he’s just freakazoid, you know? So brilliant, but I needed the right song for him. So I sent him ‘Apollo In Color,’ and I thought Henrik would be fantastic, and boy, he certainly was.”

Wielding ‘The Hydra’

Inviolate doesn’t just feature new songs and musical collaborations. It also introduces a brand new instrument called “The Hydra,” which was invented and built by Vai in partnership with the Ibanez guitar company.

Just to get a little guitar tech nerdy for a moment, The Hydra is a many faceted creature with two headstocks, three necks that host 7- and 12-string guitars; a 4-string ¾-scale length bass; 13 sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo, MIDI and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges, and phase splitters.

And Vai can be heard, and seen onstage, wielding it while performing the opening track on the new album, Teeth of the Hydra.

“Perhaps five years ago I had the idea to create a wild guitar based on a steampunk type motif, with three necks and harp strings,” Vai recants in the album’s liner notes. “The amazing designers at Hoshino [Ibanez] went to work and after perhaps 2-3 years, and a prototype to boot, The Hydra was born.”

While putting out what may be some of Vai’s best work ever on the current tour, Vai also left some time to work on completing a project he has literally been working on since grade school, when he first fell in love with symphonic music and began studying arranging and composing with a local teacher.

That passion, and various creative periods during the past 40-plus years, have yielded Vai’s recorded orchestra music that he composed and plays on.

“In May [2021] I was in Holland for three weeks recording with the Metropol Orchestra and last month I was in Finland recording with the 90-piece Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra,” he said. “That project will eventually come out, but it will be very different than what most people expect from me.”

In closing, Vai said he can’t wait to see all his Connecticut and regional fans on November 1 at College Street Music Hall.

“The pacing of the show is engaging, and most people who know what I do know what to expect,” Vai said. “But this time it just feels different — it feels deeper. I think as you get older and you stick to what’s interesting, you have a tendency to evolve. So I’m definitely on that path of evolution, and it’s a great time to go to a rock concert!”

Snap up the last remaining tickets to see Steve Vai in New Haven by visiting collegestreetmusichall.com; and access a couple of videos including Vai debuting “The Hydra,” at newtownbee.com.

Editor John Voket can be reached at john@thebee.com.

Check out Steve Vai unveiling and performing on 'The Hydra' for the first time at the Magnolia Theatre in El Cajon, Caif. on September 28.

Steve Vai recorded this official video of his song 'Little Pretty' from his latest project 'Inviolate'.