When Joe Satriani—in addition to announcing his 16th solo album—What Happens Next—announced a G3 Tour[1] featuring John Petrucci and Phil Collen, many (including...
When Joe Satriani—in addition to announcing his 16th solo album—What Happens Next—announced a G3 Tour[1] featuring John Petrucci and Phil Collen, many (including many a Guitar World reader) scratched their heads at the choice of Collen, best known as the six-string ace for Def Leppard. Satriani recently—when speaking to Eddie Trunk[2]—defended his choice of Collen, calling him a "total virtuoso."
"It's an interesting little thing about musicianship," Satriani said. "There are players that are known for being crazy and outstanding, but maybe you wouldn't want them in a band like AC/DC, or something like that, where you depend on certain rock attitude and performance."
Discussing how dynamics change when a star guitarist is part of a larger ensemble, he added that (referring to his time as the guitarist for Sammy Hagar-fronted Chickenfoot) "You can't go too crazy because you are part of a support team."
Focusing the discussion on Collen, Satriani said "I can tell by my ear that the guy [Collen] is a total virtuoso, but he's holding back because he's in a different kind of band. But when we got on stage during rehearsal at the G4 Experience, I was pleasantly surprised. But in a way I wasn't too surprised because I always knew that behind Def Leppard stuff was a lot more."
"And there it was. He could just go crazy and shred," he said. "We were up there, me, Tommy Emmanuel, and Phil, just making stuff up in front of an audience[3]. And Phil's got that ability to go right to the edge and jump off."
"But he's also got that special something. Maybe it's years, decades, of being in a super stadium playing rock band. He knows how to keep it together