Cory Wong is surely the most prolific guitarist on the planet at this point in time. The funky man with the helicopter right hand is now gearing up to release his eighth(!) album of 2020, The Striped Album, and this time he’s brought along some very special guests… including one of the electric guitar’s all-time greats.
Massive is the first single to be released from the forthcoming effort, and features the formidable talents of Joe Satriani, who demonstrates his sharp blues phrasing with a wealth of high-gain wah leads, delivered over Wong’s uber-tight minor-key vamps.
“Joe’s one of the nicest and greatest guitar players I've ever worked with,” Wong says. “I had been working on putting together material for my upcoming album and had a song that was perfect for him.
“Joe and I have never met in person. As a matter of fact, we met over Zoom towards the beginning of the lockdown. We stayed in touch and he sent me what has become the most exciting remote tracks anyone has sent over.
“I loaded his guitar tracks into my Pro Tools session and just started cracking up. He went SO HARD. I told him the sort of thing I was looking for, and a temp track of me playing some lead guitar lines to outline the melody for him. He came back with the most aggressive and heavy guitar that I've ever had on an album.
“It's the exact Joe Satriani people think of, and oddly enough, the track ended up being a Cory Wong song that people could expect, but with the heaviest of twists. I had been sitting on this song idea for a couple of years, but couldn't quite solve the puzzle. As I immediately found out, Joe Satriani was the missing puzzle piece.”
The rest of the album features a plethora of guests including neo-soul prodigy Tom Misch, as well as Kimbra, Phoebe Katis, Hornheads, David T. Walker and Mr. Talkbox.
The Striped Album is set for release on October 23 – head over to Cory Wong’s official site for more info.
