Mike Bax at Canada's Lithium Magazine caught up with guitar legend Steve Vai to discuss the Generation Axe tour, which also features Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Mike: Can you tell me how long you have known Zakk, Yngwie, Nuno and Tosin?

Steve: "Tosin I’ve known for a while now. He’s part of that new movement – a sub-culture of guitar players that are doing remarkable things on the instrument. So his band, Animals as Leaders, hit the scene about four years ago and that’s when he first came on my radar and we became friends. We live near each other and we started to run into each other. He’s a wonderful guy.

Nuno, I’ve known professionally since way back, back when Extreme was starting to break. I’ve followed his career because he’s a tremendous guitar player. We never really spent time together but would always be professionally courteous. But now we’ve grown so close through this Generation Axe thing.

And Zakk – well, how do you not know Zakk? (laughs) If you’re a guitar player and spend time in this business, you are going to see Zakk. All the way back to when he first joined Ozzy’s band he was just such an interesting colour, you know? Just a very open and easy going guy. He never had a bad word to say about anybody. Whenever I would meet him it was always great. There’s always this professional courtesy that is there even if you meet somebody that you don’t necessarily know personally but they are in the business? But Zakk just makes himself totally accessible to connecting. We’ve always been friends. But now, when you get together with guys like this and you live with each other, there’s no secrets at sea. So you can bond.

Yngwie – we go back, geez, 35 years? Something like that. He was in that band Alcatrazz and when he left I wound up joining and replacing him. So we were always running into each other and we actually became friends. We’ve been supporting each other through the years, and then I toured with him on the G3 tour. And it was fantastic. Then when this came along, I reached out to him and he was really very interested. So we have all known each other, some more personally than others but now it’s a team."

Go to this location for the complete interview. 

The term “supergroup” gets thrown around on a regular basis these days, however, a new tour featuring some of the greatest guitarists of all time is about to truly give the term a whole new meaning. Introducing: Generation Axe, featuring Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi.

Beginning on April 5th in Seattle, Generation Axe - A Night Of Guitars hit the road for 26 performances in North America.

"The Generation Axe show is a unique performance of five fiercely talented guitar players coming together to create a 6-string extravaganza that is sure to amaze and delight,” commented Steve Vai.

The Generation Axe fan experience will go way beyond simply gathering five guitar greats on one stage to jam. Each tour stop will include a variety of collaborations by the five players, including everyone performing together as one cohesive band with a rhythm section including Pete Griffin (Dweezil Zappa, Stanley Clarke, Edgar Winter) on bass and Nick Marinovich (Yngwie Malmsteen) on keys. Vai, Wylde, Malmsteen, Bettencourt and Abasi will perform songs from their various catalogs and join forces on some well-known songs (as well as probably a few unexpected, unearthed gems).

Making this rare tour experience even more special, Generation Axe VIP packages will be offered, giving fans access to these guitars masters and exclusive one-of-a-kind memorabilia. A front row package (including a meet & greet), a meet & greet package, and a VIP tour package will be available. For more information, visit generationaxe.com.

Tour dates:

April
10 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay
11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
13 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
15 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
16 - Salina, KS - The Stiefel Theatre
17 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory
18 - Houston, TX - Revention Music Center
20 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre
21 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
23 - Wilmington, NC - Cape Fear Community College
24 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
25 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre
26 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
27 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
29 - Chicago, IL - Copernicus Center

May
1 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Theatre
2 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
4 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall
5 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
6 - Westbury, NY - Theatre at Westbury
7 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
8 - Providence, RI - Providence Performing Arts Center