In the video below, FaceCulture asks Steve Vai about the creative process behind his new album, Inviolate.

Steve Vai and Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group have released his new studio album titled Inviolate. The LP will follow on March 18.

The album’s mesmeric opener, “Teeth Of The Hydra,” is a sinuous, Latin-fusion-tinged composition that Vai wrote and recorded with a one-of-a-kind custom guitar he coined the Hydra. Built in conjunction with the designers at Hoshino and based on a “steampunk motif” idea of Vai’s, the Hydra is a beast of an instrument - a one-bodied, two-headstock-ed, three-neck-ed creature that encompasses, among other things: 7 and 12-string guitars; a 4-string ¾ scale length bass; 13 sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo, MIDI and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters; and much, much more. Director Garson Yu and his team at yU+co were brought on to capture a deep look in to this magnificent creation which can be screened below:

Vai shares, “It's an incredibly-built machine. I told the guys at Hoshino, ‘Anything that you think is conventional, don't do that.’ This was an opportunity to exercise brutal creativity. And they went beyond.” As did Vai in his performance. Throughout the track he employs the Hydra’s full range of tone and timbres to craft a guitar part that sounds, in its expansiveness and expressiveness, positively alive. “The interesting thing about the song and the guitar is that it all came at the same time,” Vai says. “It was one of those ‘inviolate’ inspirations – boom! I knew that I needed to create something with the Hydra that sounded like a real piece of music. It couldn’t be just a novelty. Because if you knew what my hands were doing, and how I'm using my left hand to create phrasings that work when I can't pick a note because my right hand is off somewhere else…my god. But the finished piece had to stand on its own. It couldn't sound like I was just trying to juggle stuff.”

Watch a visualizer for "Teeth Of The Hydra" below:

Vai’s newest and 13th solo album, Inviolate, is a nine-song opus that pushes the boundaries of instrumental guitar music. The body of work presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps invigorating music in years. “It’s very ‘Vai,’ whatever that means,” he says, and then laughs. “Someone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But it’s just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they're long and there's a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people.”

In essence, it all comes down to finding your own voice, and then having the courage and conviction to follow your musical and creative instincts wherever they may take you – something Vai has never been shy about in his playing. “One of the great things about the guitar is you don't need to be a virtuoso to express your creative vision,” he says. “I mean, Bob Dylan plays the guitar perfectly well for his expression. So does John McLaughlin. You just need to decide how much technique you want or need to get there. For myself, I came out of the chute wanting and needing it all. When it comes to my music, I don’t feel like I have to prove anything or conform to anything. I just love to think up creative ideas, and then use whatever skill I have to manifest them.”

“An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure,” Vai explains. “It appears almost in its completeness, and there’s a recognition of it as being right for you – perfectly right for you. There’s no excuses in it. There's no fantasy in it. There's just a recognition of ‘yes.’ And then you capture that in a way that’s authentic to your unique creativity. Hopefully, that’s what I’ve done with this record.”

Inviolate can be ordered in various formats, here.

Tracklisting:

"Teeth Of The Hydra"
"Zeus In Chains"
"Little Pretty"
"Candle Power"
"Apollo In Color"
"Avalancha"
"Greenish Blues"
"Knappsack"
"Sandman Cloud Mist"

“Zeus In Chains” visualizer:

"Little Pretty" video:

"Candle Power":

"Knappsack"

Tour dates:

September
28 - El Cajon, CA - The Magnolia
30 - Riverside, CA - Fox Performing Arts Center

October
1 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
2 - Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theatre
4 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Rockwell at The Complex
5 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
7 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre
8 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
9 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theatre
11 - Austin, TX - Paramount Theatre
12 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues
14 - Birmingham, AL - Lyric Theatre
15 - Macon, GA - Hargray Capitol Theatre
16 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
18 - Clearwater, FL - Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
19 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Parker
20 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
21 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL - Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
22 - Charleston, SC - Charleston Music Hall
23 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte
25 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
26 - Harrisburg, PA - TBD
27 - Port Chester, NY - The Capitol Theatre
28 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
29 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
30 - Huntington, NY - The Paramount

November
1 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall
2 - Providence, RI - The Strand
3 - Boston, MA - The Wilbur
4 - Rochester, NY - Kodak Center
5 - Albany, NY - The Egg
7 - Greensburg, PA - Palace Theatre
8 - Warren, OH - Packard Music Hall
10 - Detroit, MI - Masonic Cathedral Theatre
11 - Morgantown, WV - Metropolitan Theatre
12 - Nashville, TN - CMA Theatre
13 - Louisville, KY - Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
14 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
16 - Chicago, IL - Copernicus Center
18 - St. Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theater
19 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre
20 - Kansas City, MO - The Uptown Theater
21 - Sioux Falls, SD - The District
22 - Des Moines, IA - Hoyt Sherman Place
23 - Fargo, ND - Fargo Theatre
25 - Bozeman, MT - The ELM
26 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma
27 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
28 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
30 - Turlock, CA - Turlock Community Theatre

December
2 - Napa, CA - Uptown Theatre Napa
3 - Los Angeles, CA - Theatre at Ace Hotel

(Photo - Larry DiMarzio)