World renowned guitarist, Joe Satriani and UN Musical Director Robin DiMaggio, have teamed up to compose and produce a new song entitled, “Music Without Words” to be unveiled at the June 30th Annual Presidential General Assembly of the UN 69th Session Gala in New York City. The Assembly and Gala feature world dignitaries as well as the Heads of States from nations across the globe. Accompanying the song will be a video, compiled by the UN, featuring footage of people the world over.

The song was co-written by the two exclusively for this event and produced by DiMaggio as the UN Musical Director. On his collaboration with Satriani, DiMaggio stated, “Working with Joe has brought a new meaning to music, this masterpiece was a collaboration of elegance and prestige. This unforgettable melody is for all the human beings in sync with enlightenment and peace.”

A meeting between these two iconic musicians first took place when Robin, as musical director for the Arsenio Hall Show, asked Satriani to sit in with his band last fall. A friendship sparked between the two and discussions of collaborating for the UN, began. Fast forward to June 30th when the piece will debut at the UN Assembly. "Robin came to me with a beautiful challenge,” Satriani says, “to create a melody that would touch the hearts of six billion people, a call to humanity, a message of love. He sent me an awesome groove to get the ball rolling, I sent him back a melody, and we kept the collaboration going until we were both blown away. I’m thrilled with the final mix and can’t wait for people to hear it.”

The song also features vocals from Ms Monet, a Grammy-award winning vocalist, songwriter and performer who has sung with everyone from Boz Scaggs to Faith Hill, Toto and Queen Latifah. It was DiMaggio’s decision, to blend the beauty of Ms Monet’s vocals with Satriani's guitar to create such an incredibly moving piece.

Satriani has announced plans to release his 15th solo studio album, Shockwave Supernova, on Friday, July 24th, making him one of the first to utilize the new “Friday, Global Release Day” for music. The album will be released on CD, download and 2 LP vinyl.

It would be easy to call Shockwave Supernova a “masterpiece” or “the last word on guitar” from the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer. Satch, however, sees it much more personally. He has consistently advanced the artistry of the instrument; an effort he dedicated himself to on September 18th, 1970, the day his idol Jimi Hendrix died.  

Recorded late last year at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley, California, Satriani assembled the dynamic trio of world-class musicians who had recently been part of his global tour; renowned keyboardist and guitarist Mike Keneally, a veteran of several Satch outings and recordings; along with drumming whiz Marco Minnemann and bass extraordinaire Bryan Beller.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life,” says Satriani.

The album also sees Satriani once again joining forces co-producer and engineer John Cuniberti. Satch and Cuniberti share production on Shockwave Supernova, as they have on numerous albums - their shared history dates back to the guitar star’s 1986 debut album, Not Of This Earth and its follow-up, the platinum-selling, critically acclaimed, Surfing With The Alien.  

Minnemann and Beller handle the bulk of Shockwave Supernova’s rhythmic duties, with the exception of four cuts - the driving “Keep On Movin’”, full of wondrous Satch guitar wizardry and Keneally’s playful piano, “In My Pocket”, a deliciously greasy, souped-up take on Swing, along with “Crazy Joey” (a deliriously effervescent romp) and “Scarborough Stomp” (a relentless upbeat rocker) - find Satriani joined by another powerhouse rhythm section: the esteemed drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (whose work includes the likes of Frank Zappa, Sting, Paul Simon, among others) and Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney (whose resume includes Alanis Morrisette, Celine Dion and Rob Zombie, to name a few).

Recently, during the final performance of his two-year Unstoppable Momentum tour, Satriani had an epiphany; he found himself, “playing the guitar with my teeth an awful lot. I thought, ‘Why are you doing this?’ It’s as if something else, or somebody else, was driving me to do it.” Satriani seized upon this moment of self-realization as the springboard and creative center for his alter ego “Shockwave Supernova”, the outlandish and extroverted ‘performance side’ of the normally shy and reserved guitar virtuoso. With this new persona as partner, Satriani launched his wildly ambitious 15th solo album, Shockwave Supernova.

In a creative and engaging alternative venture, Satriani, a lifelong science fiction fan, has reached out to the future, through the medium of animation. Finally recognizing the on-stage symmetry with his alter ego allowed Satriani to also take a risk on this particular style of storytelling. He says, “Guitarist Ned Evett and I have created an animated series called Crystal Planet. The actual Crystal Planet is our very own Earth, set billions of years in the future. The hero of the show uses music generated by a unique electric guitar to travel through time while the show’s characters struggle to preserve the future and past of humankind.”  

More information on Crystal Planet and how and where fans will view the series will be coming shortly.

Fans are now able to pre-order the new album with an exclusive signed poster only at satriani.com. Joe will be selecting art for the poster from fan submitted art – check Joe’s FB page for more details.

Tracklisting:

“Shockwave Supernova”
“Lost In A Memory”
“Crazy Joey”
“In My Pocket”
“On Peregrine Wings”
“Cataclysmic”
“San Francisco Blue”
“Keep On Movin’”
“All Of My Life”
“A Phase I’m Going Through”
“Scarborough Stomp”
“Butterfly And Zebra”
“If There Is No Heaven”
“Stars Race Across The Sky”
“Goodbye Supernova”

Satriani recently announced The Shockwave UK Tour, which will take in nine dates from November 1st. The tour promotes Joe’s upcoming new studio album , and will also be the first time since he last toured the UK with his Unstoppable Momentum album in 2013. Joe’s touring band will include Bryan Beller (bass), Mike Keneally (keyboards, guitars) and Marco Minnemann (drums).

Tour dates:

November

1 - Manchester, England - O2 Apollo
2 - Birmingham, England - Symphony Hall
3 - Glasgow, Scotland - Royal Concert Hall
4 - Sheffield, England - City Hall
5 - Cardiff, Wales - St. David’s Hall
7 - Southend, England - Cliffs Pavilion
8 - Bristol, England - Colston Hall
9 - Portsmouth, England - Guildhall
10 - London, England - Eventim Apollo

(Photo - Stephen Fourie)