Joe Satriani will release a new studio album, Shockwave Supernova, July 24.
Below, you can preview a track off the new album, "On Peregrine Wings."
While recording the album late last year at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley, California, Satriani assembled a trio of world-class musicians—keyboardist and guitarist Mike Keneally, drummer Marco Minnemann and bassist Bryan Beller.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life,” Satriani says.
The album sees Satriani once again joining forces with co-producer and engineer John Cuniberti. Satch and Cuniberti share production on Shockwave Supernova, as they have on numerous albums, including 1986's Not of This Earth and its legendary followup, Surfing with the Alien.
Recently, during the final performance of his two-year Unstoppable Momentum tour, Satriani had an epiphany; he found himself “playing the guitar with my teeth an awful lot. I thought, ‘Why are you doing this?’ It’s as if something else, or somebody else, was driving me to do it.” Satriani seized upon this moment of self-realization as the springboard for his alter ego, “Shockwave Supernova,” the outlandish and extroverted "performance side" of the normally shy and reserved guitarist.
Finally recognizing the on-stage symmetry with his alter ego allowed Satriani to also take a risk on this particular style of storytelling.
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As a result, “guitarist Ned Evett and I have created an animated series called Crystal Planet," Satriani says. "The Crystal Planet is our very own Earth, set billions of years in the future. The hero of the show uses music generated by a unique electric guitar to travel through time while the show’s characters struggle to preserve the future and past of humankind.”
More information on Crystal Planet will be available soon.
In the meantime, fans are able to pre-order the album with an exclusive signed poster at satriani.com. Satriani will be selecting art for the poster from fan-submitted art; check his Facebook page for details. The album is available for pre-order on Amazon and iTunes and also will be available as 2LP 120 gram vinyl.
Satriani and Steve Vai will perform at a third benefit concert in support of music industry veteran and their good friend, Cliff Cultreri. “A Benefit for Cliff III” is set for 8 p.m. June 12 at Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. It will feature performances by Satriani, Vai and Animals As Leaders.
Satriani and Vai, along with other artists, have donated various items to be auctioned at the event. Among these items are autographed guitars and a chance to join Satriani’s “G4 Camp,” which takes place June 28 to July 2 in Cambria, California.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
