In a recent interview with VintageRock Pod, Steve Vai opened up about his decision to join Whitesnake after parting ways with David Lee Roth for his solo work ‘Passion and Warfare.’ During the chat, the guitarist said he wanted to focus on the album when he left Roth after the 1988 Skyscraper Tour. Then, he explained what pushed him into joining another band by saying:
“I couldn’t understand how I was gonna go out and tour it because it was one record. It was a very dense record. Very complex in a sense. I was always more comfortable with having a frontman and just being the guitar player. I didn’t know how I’d be able to negotiate standing in front of a stage, playing instrumental guitar music.”
His words went on as follows:
“And the Whitesnake gig was on the radar right at the exact same time. So, I thought, ‘Well, it would make much more sense to tour with Whitesnake and make a record with them for the momentum of that other side of my career.’ Lucky for me, I really like the music of Whitesnake.”
The guitarist recalled his views on Whitesnake’s music and shows by adding:
“Back then, their Whitesnake album that sold 25 million copies came out, and it was a great record, and I just love great singers. [David] Coverdale was a monster. I mean, come on! I watched that guy get on stage every night and deliver like a boss. So, I thought, ‘Yeah, man! I want in,’ and it was great.”
Mentioning his first work with the band, he also said:
“When I got into the band, all the music was written and recorded for the ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ record. I just had to put the guitars on it. There was another really great group of guys. If anybody was difficult, it was me. I was a bit of a prima donna. I came from Dave Roth. With Dave Roth, you learn certain things.”
After the album’s release, Vai toured the world with Whitesnake to promote it, but he didn’t stay with the band for long and left in 1990 to follow his other career plans. In 2022, he talked about Whitesnake and David Lee Roth’s effect on him during an interview with Rock Bottom and explained:
“I got to tour, played arenas, and sold millions of records with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. And it definitely affected my playing. Because you go through something like that, and you’re playing a lot of Edward Van Halen parts, all of these things. When I look at my playing now, I couldn’t say, ‘Oh, I got that one when I was on the Roth tour.’ It all goes into the same pool.”
You can watch Steve Vai’s recent interview in the video below.
