Guitar legend Steve Vai is featured in an extensive two-part interview with Backstage Secrets. He discussed his gear, upcoming projects, songwriting, and answers fan questions. An excerpt is available below.

Q: What profession do you think you would be in if not music?

Vai: "I don’t know… I’ve never thought of anything else. I’ve never been attracted enough to anything else. I like teaching though. When I was young I thought I would be a high school music teacher and I was very happy about that, because my high school music teacher was powerful and changed my life. I also like architecture, the idea of designing spaces and building them. But nothing compares to playing the guitar!"

Q: Do you ever forget your songs when playing live? If so, how do you solve that? Can you easily pick up where you left off or do you have a brain fart?

Vai: "Oooh yes. I’ve had some serious trainwrecks where I’m looking going 'What the heck is going on here? What am I playing?!' It’s kind of rare, but it does happen where I just completely space out. Sometimes I space out and I don’t even realise it and the band is just looking at me. After the show they’ll be like 'Hey Steve you know you left out the first verse' or something. But it’s rare that I can’t get back on track. The only time it’s a real challenge is if I break a string or something."

Click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2 of the interview.

Starmus Festival IV: Life And The Universe ran from June 18th – 23rd in Trondheim, Norway. Steve Vai was invited to head up the music component and appeared with his band and special guests Nuno Bettencourt, Grace Potter and Devin Townsend.. Fan-filmed of Vai and his guests performing the Extreme classic "Get The Funk Out" is available below.