Bands

Steve Vai (2016) – PAW 25th Ann. Tour

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Bass: Philip Bynoe
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Drums: Jeremy Colson

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (2012) -The Story Of Light Tour

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Bass: Philip Bynoe
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Drums: Jeremy Colson
Vocals, Keys and Harp:Deborah Henson-Conant

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (2007) — Sound Theories Tour

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Bass: Bryan Beller
Violin, Vocals and Keys: Ann Marie Calhoun
Violin, Vocals and Keys: Alex DePue
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Drums: Jeremy Colson

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (2003 – 2004) – The Breed

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Bass, Vocals: Billy Sheehan
Guitar, Vocals and Keys: Tony MacAlpine
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Drums: Jeremy Colson

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (2001 – 2002) – The Breed

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Bass, Vocals: Billy Sheehan
Guitar, Vocals and Keys: Mike Keneally, then Tony MacAlpine
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Drums: Virgil Donati

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (2000)

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Guitar, Vocals and Keys: Mike Keneally
Guitar: Dave Weiner
Bass, Vocals: Philip Bynoe
Drums: Mike Mangini
Keyboards (South American Tour): Eric Goldberg
Drums (South American Tour): Chris Frazier

 

 

 

 

Steve Vai (1996-99)

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Steve Vai
Guitar, Vocals and Keys: Mike Keneally
Bass, Vocals: Philip Bynoe
Drums: Mike Mangini

It seems like any hassle I ever had in any band because of egos or whatever, just melted away when the Good Lord blessed me with this musical ensemble.

 

 

 

Steve Vai (1995)

Members:

Guitar: Steve Vai
Bass: first Tony Pimental, then Scott Thunes
Keys: Will Riley
Drums: Chris Frazier

This band toured Russia twice, South America and the US (opening for Bon Jovi).

 

 

 

VAI (1992-1994) “Sex & Religion” Album:

Vocals: Devin Townsend
Guitar: Steve Vai
Bass: TM Stevens
Drums: Terry Bozzio

“Sex & Religion” Tour:

Vocals: Devin Townsend
Guitar: Steve Vai
Bass: Scott Thunes
Keys: Will Riley
Drums: Abe Laboriel Jr., then Toss Panos

It wasn’t what it was.

 

 

 

Whitesnake (1990)

Members:

David Coverdale: Vocals
Steve Vai: Guitar
Adrian Vandenberg: Guitar
Rudy Sarzo: Bass
Tommy Aldridge: Drums

It was what it was.

 

 

 

David Lee Roth (1985-1989)

Members:

David Lee Roth: vocals
Steve Vai: guitars
Gregg Bissonette: drums
Billy Sheehan: bass (1985-1988)
Matt Bissonette: bass (1988-1989)

With this band I was literally famous overnight. I loved the guys in this band and I cherish the memories of those notorious tours. I still feel “Eat ‘Em & Smile” is one of the great rock records of the decade.

 

 

 

Alcatrazz (1985)

Members:

Vocals: Graham Bonnet
Guitar: Steve Vai
Bass: Gary Shea
Keys: Jimmy Waldo
Drums: Jan Uvina

I joined this band after they fired Yngwie Malmsteen. I’ll never forget the 1st gig. I had 1 day to learn their entire show. They had 3 shows that they had to do, the first one was in Riverside California and nobody in the audience knew that Yngwie wasn’t in the band anymore, and most of the people in the audience came to see Yngwie. I remember approaching the stage and hearing the entire audience chanting his name. You should have seen their faces when they saw me. I have a tape of the audience reaction, it’s hilarious. I liked the guys in this band, real gentlemen. We made a great record, “Disturbing The Peace”.

 

 

 

777 (1984)

Members:

Guitar: Steve Vai
Bass: Stu Hamm
Drums: Chris Frazier

This was a great jamming band. The power trio from Venus. This band is the core rhythm section that made up most of “Passion And Warfare”. I have quite a few songs already tracked with this band just waiting for the light of day. Hey, that would be a good name for that record… “The Light of Day”.

 

 

 

The Classified (1984)

Members:

Guitar, vocals: Steve Vai
Bass, vocals: Stu Hamm
Keyboards, vocals: Tommy Mars
Keys and vox: Sue Mathis
Drums: Mike Barsimanto, then
Drums: Chris Frazier

This was my first band in California. I had recorded “Flex-Able” and wanted to start performing. It was a great band that did some funny music. It cost me every cent I had and I had to disband it. No music was ever released but many tapes of different gigs are floating around.

 

 

 

The Out Band

Members:

Steve Vai: guitar
Stu Hamm: bass
Guy Mann Dude: drums
Doug Cameron: violin

This band was actually only together for a few rehearsals and one show. I’m not sure if there is a tape out there of this one.

 

 

 



Frank Zappa (1980-1982) 1980

Members:

Frank Zappa: guitar, vocals
Tommy Mars: keys, vocals
Ike Willis: guitar, vocals
Ray White: guitar, vocals
Bob Harris: keys, vocals
Dave Logeman: drums (Feb-Aug)
Vinnie Colaiuta: drums (Aug-Dec)
Steve Vai: guitar, vocals
Arthur Barrow: bass

1981 Members:

Frank Zappa: guitar, vocals
Tommy Mars: keys, vocals
Ray White: guitar, vocals
Bobby Martin: keys, vocals
Chad Wackerman: drums
Steve Vai: guitar, vocals
Scott Thunes: bass

1982 Member:

Frank Zappa: guitar, vocals
Tommy Mars: keys, vocal
Ray White: guitar, vocals
Bobby Martin: keys, vocals
Chad Wackerman: drums
Steve Vai: guitar, vocals
Scott Thunes: bass

This was my first professional situation. Volumes could be written but here we will have to settle for a puddle.

See Discography for releases.

 

 

 

Morning Thunder (1979)

Members:

Steve Vai: guitar
Dave Rosenthal: keyboards and guitar
Eddie Rogers: drums
Randy Coven: bass

This was the second band I put together at Berklee College of Music. More crazy music and long rehearsal hours. These were great people and we loved playing together. It was everything to us.

There’s nothing like living in an environment where you do music all day and night. It was intensely creative and stimulating. We had a great time and played some interesting gigs.

There are some existing tapes of this band floating about. (If you have any, please e-mail us via the contact page.

 

 

 

Axis (1978-1979)

Members:

Steve Vai: guitar
Dave Rosenthal: keyboards and guitar
Eddie Rodgers: drums
Stu Hamm: bass

This was the first band I put together at Berklee College of Music. We had great times. We would get up really early and wait on line for rehearsal rooms and rehearse our wierd music all night. It was in this band that I wrote much music that was later recorded for “Flex-Able”, etc. There are some existing tapes of this band floating about. (If you have any such recordings, please contact us via the Contact Page.

 

Bold As Love (1977)

Members:

Steve Vai: guitar
Jimmy Thomas: bass
Billy Sullivan: drums

This was a Jimi Hendrix cover band. There are no known recordings.

 

 

 



Rayge

Members:

Barry Calavagna: vocals
Steve Vai: guitar
Rob Nese: bass
Jackie Leason/Dave Giacone: drums

This band was the best. Well maybe not musically, but as far as being cool and having fun and going through life experiences, this was the one. I had more good times with this band than any other.

Remember that band that was playing at my school before I even started to play the guitar, well this is them and the spot opened up for a player.

I finally got the opportunity to write some of my own songs but other than that we played Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, you name it. We played parties, gyms, stinky bars. We got in fights, arrested, car wrecks, laid, all those great adolescent things.

Finally I was in a band with guys that felt like friends. Although we were tough greasers, wore leather, had earrings and tattoos, these guys were really good people. It was my family. At that time my best friend was Joe Despagni and we were inseparable. To this day I look back at that band and smile.

There are many recordings of this band but none that were commercially released. I have quite a few of the bootlegs.

 

 

 



Circus

Members:

Craig Kolkabeck: vocals
Doug Martinez: drums
John Sergio: bass
Billy ?: guitar
Steve Vai: guitar

Just like the greasers had their music, their clothes and their bands, so did the hipsters. Circus was a very good band that played the right notes. One of my best friends when I was growing up was John Sergio. He is responsible for opening up my musical listening horizons. Before him I was strictly a Led Zeppelin guy. He introduced me to such bands as Queen, Jethro Tull, Yes, ELP, and a bunch of great progressive bands.

His band was Circus and they were very good, they played music from bands like, Queen, Nectar, Tull, etc.

This was the band I was in when I made my first live appearance. It was at the Carle Place High School. I was hooked, life was good.

I remember the other guitar player saying that if I was in the band he was going to quit. He just stopped showing up at rehearsals, I never did understand why. I was getting pretty good but still felt inferior. It was their band so I felt bad that the other guitar player left, but it gave me more room to do SOLOS! But then the drummer said the same thing, either Vai goes or I go. Well, in essence it was his band and we were rehearsing in his basement so I knew I was out of the picture. John Sergio stuck it out with me and we tried various other players to start a band with but to no avail. Moving on now…

There are several recordings of this band but I am not in possession of them.

 

 

 

The Ohio Express (1971-1972)
(Not the famous one)Members:

Frank Stroshol: guitar, vocals
Steve Vai: keyboards and later guitar, vocals
Mike Herlihy: drums, vocals
Phil ?: bass

It was 1972 and I was 12 years old. This was a formed band when I joined and they could actually play together. We would rehearse in Frank Stroshol’s basement, and a lot of really funny things happened in that basement when we invited girls over and turned the lights out.

We were real misfits compared to the rest of the kids but we had the band and that was very important to us. We could sit and play “Jumping Jack Flash” all day.

Frank had the coolest guitar with all these buttons and pickups. We thought the more the better.

One day there was this band playing at our school. The guys in the band were a year or so older than us but ultra cool. They were the greasers and considered the top of the food chain, they even smoked pot. When I saw them playing in our school, I thought nothing was as cool as they were and to be walking down the same hallway as them was a rare privilege! (God, what a geek I was).

One time they were playing in the music room and my whole grade was watching. They took a break and I went up to one of their guitars that was standing on a stand. I had never played a guitar, just looking at it made me nervous. It was such a sultry and sexy instrument. It was hip and cool and too good for me. This gives you an idea of my lack of confidence at that age, I really had a low self esteem and was embarrassed to be seen even next to the guitar because it was so cool. I’m trying to relay what it felt like from an insecure 12 year old’s point of view. I was afraid of the guitar in a weird way.

Anyway, I seemed to go into a trance as I moved towards the guitar on the stand. I was just praying nobody would see me. Finally I was brought back to reality by the voice of one of the snotty school kids, said in a mean sarcastic voice, “Hey Vai, what are you doing near that guitar, what do you think, you could be in this group or something?”

Everyone started to laugh and I just about threw up from embarrassment. Can you imagine?

Anyway, the next day I was at another friend’s house, Richard Jankowski, and he had a cheap guitar on the wall of his bedroom. It was very cool, red with a whole lot of buttons. He said he would sell it to me for $5. I don’t know how I got the money but I did. I didn’t dare tell anybody that I was going to play the guitar.

Frank Stroshol and I decided to take guitar lessons from this wild guy in town named Joe Satriani. He could really play, I mean really play, but that’s another story. I dutifully attended lessons and absorbed them. They were my whole life but I still would not dare tell anybody for the fear they would laugh or ridicule me.

Back to the band. I started to play a little guitar in the band and after a while we were not allowed to rehearse in Frank’s basement anymore so that was the end of Ohio Express. We never really did a gig.

One day I was setting up my guitar at school. I can’t quite remember the event, but I kneeled down facing the amp, hiding my face and fingers, and started to play hoping no body would hear me. After about 20 minutes, I turned around and there was about 50 kids standing there with their mouths wide open. I apologized and turned the amp off.

There are no existing tapes of The Ohio Express that I know of. By the way… we weren’t anywhere near Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Chocolate (1967)

Members:

Steve Vai: bongos, record player, and vocals
Lillian Vai: guitar and vocals
Whoever: anything that could be hit

This was a great band. I must have been 10 or 11 years old. We would sit around and play to records. This band has the first song I ever wrote. It’s called, aptly, “Hot Chocolate” and I wrote it with my sister Lill.

I remember a conversation at a rehearsal. I said… “OK Lill, you go tonight and practice the guitar and I’ll write 20 songs for us to play tomorrow”. Ah yes, a leader from the beginning.