Steve Vai sat down for a conversation for Eddie Trunk Podcast and admitted that he regrets turning down Robert Plant’s collaboration offer.
The 1980s were particularly fertile for guitar virtuosos as guitar-driven music was dominant in rock and metal scenes. Steve Vai was also a part of this scene since he rose to prominence in the early 1980s as one of these virtuosi. Vai has been present in the music scene for nearly 50 years, and the guitarist is still actively continuing his career. Most recently, in the first month of this year, he dropped his album ‘Inviolate.’
Although he has often appeared as a solo performer, he has also collaborated with many different bands, especially in the early stages of his career. His musical journey, which he started with Frank Zappa, continued with his transition to Alcatrazz. He later worked with David Lee Roth and made a name for himself on a global scale with Whitesnake. He has also recorded with some bands such as Motörhead and Alice Cooper.
Even though Steve Vai has occasionally engaged in collaborations, there have also been offers he’s had to turn down. Recently, Eddie Trunk asked Vai if there were any projects he had rejected but later regretted doing so. The guitarist noted that names such as Mick Jagger, Yoko, and Robert Palmer had brought him offers, but the one he regretted turning down was Robert Plant. The musician also shared that he would like to get a chance to work with Plant.
Steve Vai’s response to whether there was a collaboration he regretted turning down:
“Yeah, there is. Not that I should have done it to abandon what I was doing. Because I was… If I didn’t take certain gigs, it was because I was tied up. But things had come down through the office, you know, Mick Jagger, John Lennon’s wife, Yoko, that was one that came. Robert Palmer. There was a lot. Robert Plant was the one that came to me in the office. But it was way after the fact, and that was one that, to this day, I would love to do something with him.”
Robert Plant is still active in the music scene. Although he could not continue in Led Zeppelin after the death of his bandmate and friend Bonham, he did not want to leave the stage and has pursued a solo career since then. He most recently released the album ‘Raise the Roof’ in 2021 and is now on tour with various stops in Northern Europe. As both names are still active in the rock scene, it is exciting to even consider the possibility of their collaboration.
