Alex Van Halen Drops Replacement Guitarist Bombshell

0
72763

Joe Satriani recently stated that he might be assigned to reproduce Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts for being in the all-star Van Halen tribute project with Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth. Michael Anthony has appeared to reveal the new Van Halen 2022 lineup.

The 65-year-old guitarist addressed the rumor a month after former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed to The Palm Beach Post that he was approached by the Van Halen drummer about six months ago about playing bass for the project.

Joe Satriani addresses the rumors

Satriani is currently promoting his newly released solo album “The Elephants Of Mars.” In a new interview with Andrew Daly of VW Music, he was asked about Newsted’s comments. He revealed that they were true and revealed that he “was contacted by Alex Van Halen and Dave.”

He added that they had conversations “little less than a year ago about putting together a full tour to celebrate Eddie and the Van Halen legacy.” Satriani said that “it’s terrifying.” He further went on to state: “I think I remember telling them that any sane guitar player would just turn around and start running away as fast as possible because you can’t measure up to Eddie.”

Satriani added: “It’s like one of those jobs where you just try because you know it’s important to you, and a labor of love, but still, people are always going say, ‘It doesn’t sound like Eddie,’ no matter what you do. I took on the challenge that way, and I did say, ‘Okay, I’ll agree to keep talking about this to see what happens.’ But I’m not in the family, and I’ve never worked with Dave before. I’m just a guy that they called and started the ball rolling.”

When he was asked about how he might approach playing Eddie Van Halen’s parts, Joe said the following: “I will say this in regards to Eddie. I think that the other biggest thing that people sometimes miss when they bring up Eddie Van Halen is that his writing was really the biggest expression of his talent. When you start to learn the songs, you start to see the genius of the compositions and the arrangements.”

“Of course, there’s the solo or the intro that blows your mind, but it wouldn’t be there unless he had written the song. Whether it’s ‘Hot For Teacher’, ‘Jump’ or something, it’s the actual song that then forced him to whip out some crazy solo,” said Satriani.