During a recent appearance on Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen, to promote his new album The Elephants Of Mars, released April 8th, guitarist Joe Satriani, was asked about Jason Newsted's recent comments to The Palm Beach Post, revealing that the former Metallica bassist came within an inch of joining Van Halen six months ago. And that Alex Van Halen had already tapped Joe Satriani to replace Eddie Van Halen for a possible Van Halen tour.  

Satriani stated: "I've been talking with Alex (Van Halen) and Dave (Lee Roth) for about a year about doing something — a tour, something like that — that was gonna be a true tribute to (late Van Halen guitarist) Eddie (Van Halen) and the Van Halen legacy."

Speaking with VW Music, Satriani discussed the proposed tribute. Following is an excerpt from the conversation.

Satriani: "Yeah, it’s terrifying. I mean, I literally heard myself saying, 'Yes,' and then the other part of my brain said, 'Did you just say yes? Are you nuts?' I think I remember telling them that any sane guitar player would just turn around and start running away as fast as possible because you can’t measure up to Eddie. It’s like one of those jobs where you just try because you know it’s important to you, and a labor of love, but still, people are always going say, 'It doesn’t sound like Eddie,' no matter what you do. I took on the challenge that way, and I did say, 'Okay, I’ll agree to keep talking about this to see what happens.' But I’m not in the family, and I’ve never worked with Dave before. I’m just a guy that they called, and started the ball rolling.

I will say this in regards to Eddie: I think that the other biggest thing that people sometimes miss when they bring up Eddie Van Halen is that his writing was really the biggest expression of his talent. When you start to learn the songs, you start to see the genius of the compositions and the arrangements. Of course, there’s the solo or the intro that blows your mind, but it wouldn’t be there unless he had written the song. Whether it’s 'Hot For Teacher', 'Jump', or something, it’s the actual song that then forced him to whip out some crazy solo. The average person is gonna love those songs, whether it was Dave or Sammy singing. It’s all in the writing, you know? That’s what makes it so much fun and attractive. I guess that’s what attracted me to the gig, just the thought that I could go from playing 'Atomic Punk', to 'Unchained' in one show. It’s just so much fun. The songs are just fun to play."

Read the complete interview here.

(Photo - Eduardo Peña Dolhun)