Guitar legend Steve Vai has checked in with the following message:

"Thirty-five years ago today (March 14th, 1986), Crossroads was released and Jack Butler came to life! Special shout out to Arlen Roth, Ralph Macchio, Ry Cooder and Walter Hill for making this such a great experience for that 23 year old Steve Vai. His 60 year old self is grateful."

Crossroads is a 1986 American coming-of-age musical drama film inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson. Starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, the film was written by John Fusco and directed by Walter Hill. It features an original score featuring Ry Cooder and guitar, and Vai on the soundtrack's guitar as well as performing in the movie as metal-blues guitar master Jack Butler, who sold his soul for musical ability. 

Vai has released Alien Guitar Secrets, Episode #9. He discusses his recent surgeries, recuperation, and share tips on protecting ones’ hands, insights on avoiding injury, thoughts surrounding the importance of posture, and listening to one’s body. He also presents a never-before-seen performance video of the new composition “Knappsack” on his Ibanez Onyx Black PIA guitar.

Stream/download "Knappsack" here, and watch the videos below:

Vai has announced the plan to launch a Patreon page on April 1, which will live here, alongside access via Vai.com. Fans can expect at the very least an exclusive one-hour question & answer session and more for a $5.00 monthly commitment. Plans on the first event on Patreon will be forthcoming in the coming weeks.

Alongside the monthly Q&A, the plan is to periodically provide access to exclusive listening parties of any new releases, guitar technique tips and inspirational quotes. Alien Guitar Secrets and Under it All streams, guest interviews, updates on new news and various other surprise and delights will be shared with the community via Patreon. Recently Vai had undergone both shoulder (cuff) and trigger finger surgery for his left thumb. In this upcoming episode, he shares a broad spectrum of insights which all support on-going health and being conscientious of physicality as a musician. As he shares, “Medicare with Steve Vai.”

The series “Alien Guitar Secrets Live” focuses on the guitar, music, his career and the business aiming to offer insights that enlighten perspectives for their own worlds. He breaks down various songs from his catalog to show techniques, and discusses anything from writing, recording, publishing, promoting, and touring. The second, “Under It All: Hard Questions” enables Vai to engage in more esoteric life principles and topics where no question is off limits. Many of his filmed interviews include his perspective on deeper subjects, and comment boards frequently allude to a broad interest in further exploration of his personal thoughts. Whether sharing detail on his observations surrounding life, the creative process, spirituality or the human condition, UIA will delve into opinion that’s led by the free form forum.

Last year, he offered, “For the past three to five years I have been bouncing around in my mind the idea of launching these two webinars, but was waiting for an organic opportunity, and it seems the world lockdown situation was the right time. I had no idea of knowing how these would be received, but the moment I went live, within minutes there were thousands and thousands of people logged in and the comments were tremendously encouraging. It was quite the shocker to get this kind of response, and quite humbling at the same time. My goal in these webinars is not to talk about myself so much, but to answer people’s questions that I may be able to assist with an answer based on my own experience.”

As Steve Vai looks toward the next move in his broadening on-line presence, the guitarist, composer and producer states, “The pandemic changed much of the way many of us conduct our business, especially musicians. Although live performances have been down, there have been many other ways in which communicating with the fans has exploded. With this in mind I’m excited to give more attention to online formats such as Patreon where I can communicate with those interested and offer unique items and experiences that keep us connected.”