Virtuoso guitarist and visionary composer Steve Vai will release Modern Primitive on July 7th through Favored Nations Entertainment, the indie label he founded in 1999. Originally included as a companion disk to Vai’s 25th anniversary release of his seminal Passion and Warfare CD, Modern Primitive will be released by itself as the seventh installment of the Steve Vai Secret Jewel Box, an ambitious 10 CD box set that was originally released in December 2001. This stand-alone release of Modern Primitive will be a limited edition album and has been modified specifically for Vai’s Secret Jewel Box, making this an instant collector’s item for Vai fans around the globe. 

Modern Primitive is comprised of material that was written and partially recorded with Vai’s band, The Classified, back in the early '80s. The Classified consisted of Tommy Mars on Keyboards, Chris Frazier on drums, Stu Hamm on bass and Sue Mathis on vocals and keyboards that he formed after his first solo record Flex-Able (1983) and prior to the writing and recording of the music on Vai’s renowned, Passion and Warfare (1990). Vai completed the recording in 2016, 30 years after its inception. The album represents that missing link that exposes the colossal growth period between Flex-Able and Passion and Warfare.

“The music on Modern Primitive was written and recorded with virtually no expectations for its future,” Vai said. “As a result, there was an opening up to a powerful and personal creativity that allowed me to find the most stimulation music I could conjure. So far it’s my favorite album that I ever made.”

Modern Primitive tracklisting:

“Bop!”
“Dark Matter”
“Mighty Messengers”
“The Lost Chord”
“Upanishads”
“Fast Note People”
“And We Are One”
“Never Forever”
“Lights Are On”
“No Pockets”
“Pink and Blows Over: Part 1”
“Pink and Blows Over: Part 2 (Mars Attack)”
“Pink and Blows Over: Part 3 (Jazzbo Paddle-foot)”