Legendary guitarist STEVE VAI is featured in a new interview with Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited. An excerpt is available below:

Jeb: I have been listening to the new album and I am very impressed. This is the second in what will be a trilogy.

Steve: "When I started Real Illusions, which was my last studio record, I wanted to do a concept record, but I didn’t want to do it in the conventional way. I wondered what I could do in order to make it different. I wanted it to span a long period of time, as it is probably going to be one of my life’s greatest works. I wanted to break it up into little pieces and put it out, not in a linear way.

If you listen to Real Illusions, then you will just hear a studio album, as you will not be able to put all of the pieces together. If you read the liner notes, then you can start to put little pieces together. The idea is the same with The Story of Light. It is like Real Illusions, as it is a studio album. That said, the songs are all based on characters in the story, but they are not in the right order. The third part of the trilogy, which I will do sometime in the future, will be similar. What I would, then, like to do is to take all of the three records and put them out in a box set. I could do some new stuff to glue them all together. I would take the songs and put them in the correct order, so it would flow like a story. You would be able to actually follow the story."

Jeb: As you do this, there will be a lot of guys, mainly guitar players, who are going to hate that these albums have lyrics in a lot of the songs. How do you put up with that part of your fan base that has no interest in hearing you, or anyone else, sing? They just want you to shut up and play your guitar.

Steve: "When you’re an artist, you can’t start trying to please everybody because if you do try to do that then you’re going to warp your own potential. What I’ve discovered is that if you go after the thing that is most exciting to you and gives you the most juice…we all have unlimited potential in the creative things that we want to do. What you just described would be a stupid reason for me to abandon my own potential. I learned that over time. I have been haunted by the press, as I may be the most criticized guitarist of all time.

When you put your musical creation out for people to criticize, and someone doesn’t like it, then the musician feels that the person just does not like that particular song, or album, they don’t like me. I have had to learn that is not the case. There are people that do not like Elton John, or the Beatles. What are you going to do? I am fortunate because when I get an idea to do something that is very compelling then it dwarfs my insecurities. On the new album, I do 'John The Revelator' and it is just totally unexpected."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Vai released his new album, The Story Of Light, on August 14th via Favored Nations Entertainment. A full stream of the album is currently available at this location.

The Story Of Light tracklisting:

'The Story Of Light'

'Velorum'

'John The Revelator'

'Book Of The Seven Seals'

'Creamsicle Sunset'

'Gravity Storm'

'Mullach At Si'

'The Moon And I'

'Weeping China Doll'

'Racing The World'

'No More Amsterdam'

'Sunshine Electric Raindrops'