Legendary guitarist JOE SATRIANI is featured in a new interview with Metal Express Radio. An excerpt is available below:

MER: It`s been three years since your last album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards. How have the intervening years influenced your writing?

Joe: "There`s been so much activity with my own band as well as with CHICKENFOOT that I’ve been influenced by. I even played with Sammy Hagar doing his Ronnie Montrose tribute. I also did three separate G3 tours in South America, Australia, and Europe. It was an extremely fun, artistically rewarding time and it ended with me back home for two months, which is when I sat down to write a new record. It`s been a very exciting time for me since my last album."

MER: How do you tend to construct your songs? AC/DC or STATUS QUO build things up from a simple riff, but your music is very complex. What tends to be the starting point for you when you write?

Joe: "Every song seems to have an unusual creation story of its own. Some of them start with just a melody and I can be stuck with that for months. The song 'Three Sheets To The Wind' had a very strong melody, but I had no intention of adding horns and honky tonk piano until the very end. That went through a very interesting arrangement process over the course of a few weeks. Other pieces were written and recorded on the spot like 'I`ll Put A Stone On Your Cairn'. That was recorded very quickly in a matter of minutes and finished. So what is on the album was what I recorded the very first time."

MER: Although your music is complex, the technical side never gets in the way of strong melodies. Where many guitar-based albums can get lost in technical wizardry, you don`t. Is the melody the most important aspect of the music to you?

Joe: "You`re correct there. I`m not one of those guys that is impressed with complex arrangements. I see a lot of musicians spinning their wheels trying to fill up the pages with as many ink dots as possible. It`s the easiest thing to do writing complex stuff then hiring in some guys to play it, but I get no kicks out of that, there`s no excitement or artistic satisfaction. To me I want to hear the simplest thing that`s the most devastating. That`s what I aspire to. I like to hide the technique and fool the listener into thinking that it was easy to play."

Go to this location for the complete interview

Joe Satriani has been an unstoppable force on the music scene for over 27 years. Now, the guitar great announces his full US tour and first ever cross-Canada tour, supporting his latest album Unstoppable Momentum. The tour is set to launch on August 29th in San Diego, CA before crisscrossing its way across the US, in addition to a trans-Canadian tour where Satriani will be hitting many Canadian cities for the very first time.

The North American tour will end with a show on October 26th in Oakland, CA. Joining Satriani on the road are veteran band mate Mike Keneally (FRANK ZAPPA, STEVE VAI) on keyboards, along with an entirely new rhythm-section, featuring bassist Bryan Beller (DETHKLOK, DWEEZIL ZAPPA) and drummer Marco Minnemann (ADRIAN BELEW, STEVE WILSON).

Satriani is celebrating Unstoppable Momentum, his 14th studio album, which was released on May 7th. The album debuted at # 42 giving Satriani his highest chart position in over 20 years. The World Tour launched on May 18th in Istanbul, Turkey and continues on through July 13th in Krasnodar, Russia.

For two decades, Satriani has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star G3 guitar extravaganza. His studio and live recordings have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date and of his many solo albums, two have gone platinum and four others went gold, with 15 Grammy nominations between them. His side project, CHICKENFOOT, featuring former VAN HALEN front man Sammy Hagar, former bassist Michael Anthony, and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS’ drummer Chad Smith saw their debut album certified gold and their second studio album debuted at #9.

Tour dates:

August

29 - Balboa Theatre - San Diego, CA *
30 - Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort - Las Vegas, NV *
31 - Orpheum Theatre - Los Angeles, CA *

September

1 - Talking Stick Resort Ballroom - Scottsdale, AZ *
2 - Kiva Auditorium - Albuquerque, NM *
4 - Historic Paramount Theatre - Denver, CO *
5 - Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center - Midland, TX *
6 - Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie - Grand Prairie, TX *
7 - House of Blues - Houston, TX *
8 - Austin City Limits - Moody Theatre - Austin, TX *
10 - House of Blues - New Orleans, LA *
11 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL *
12 - Parker Playhouse - Ft. Lauderdale, FL *
13 - Hard Rock Live - Orlando, FL *
14 - Saenger Theatre - Pensacola, FL *
15 - Symphony Hall - Atlanta, GA *
17 - War Memorial Auditorium - Nashville, TN *
18 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL *
19 - Lakewood Civic Auditorium - Lakewood, OH *
20 - Taft Theatre - Cincinnati, OH *
21 - Wings Stadium - Kalamazoo, MI *
22 - Macomb Music Theatre - Mt. Clemens, MI
24 - Carolina Theatre - Durham, NC *
25 - Warner Theatre - Washington, DC *
26 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY *
27 - Orpheum Theatre - Boston, MA*
28 - Tower Theatre - Upper Darby, PA *
29 - Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead - Munhall, PA *

October

1 - Center for the Arts - Buffalo, NY *
2 - Palace Theatre - Albany, NY *
3 - State Theatre - Portland, ME *
4 - Casino New Brunswick - New Brunswick, NB
5 - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium - Halifax, NS
7 - Le Capitole De Quebec - Quebec City, QC
8 - National Arts Centre Southam Hall - Ottawa, ON
9 - St. Denis Theatre - Montreal, QC
10 - Centre in the Square - Kitchener, ON
11 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON
14 - Burton Cummings Theatre - Winnipeg, MB
15 - TCU Place - Saskatoon, SK
16 - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium - Edmonton, AB
17 - Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium - Calgary, AB
19 - Vogue Theatre - Vancouver, BC
21 - The Fox Theater - Spokane, WA
22 - Paramount Theatre - Seattle, WA
23 - Historic Elsinore Theatre - Salem, OR
25 - Vina Robles Amphitheatre - Paso Robles, CA
26 - Fox Theater - Oakland, CA

* - with STEVE MORSE BAND as support

Go to Satriani.com for individual markets on-sale and ticket information.