A couple of months ago, electric guitar wizard Steve Vai released his highly anticipated new album, Inviolate.
Given that it was Vai's first studio album in six years, there was a great deal of excitement for Inviolate from the wait alone. That anticipation, however, also came from the album's cover, which featured Vai holding an absolutely wild custom triple-neck Ibanez Hydra guitar.
Vai used the three-neck beast for the equally wild Inviolate epic, Teeth of the Hydra, so we've heard the guitar in action. Today though, Vai released a music video for the song, which features – what else – the virtuoso wrestling with his awe-inspiring creation.
You can check out the appropriately epic video above.
(Image credit: Future / Leland Hayward)
“The idea for this guitar and track came to me roughly seven years ago," Vai said in a press release. "I envisioned composing and performing a piece of music on a multi-neck instrument where all of the sound emanated from that one creation with the exception of some keyboards and drums.
"I sent my ideas to Ibanez, and their builders delivered this astonishing wooden creature. I was stunned. It was awesome. When I first laid eyes on it, I named it the Hydra, and instantly knew the name of the song would be Teeth of the Hydra."
“When I finally sat with the Hydra and started to contemplate writing this piece and how I was to navigate the instrument in a seamless way, for a moment it seemed impossible," he added. "I just started slowly, and it all began to unfold very naturally. Things that can seem impossible don’t seem so impossible once you just start doing them."
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To get a guided tour of Vai's other favorite axes – including the '77 Stratocaster that still gives him "the most juice" when he sees it – step this way.
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
