Steve Vai spoke to Vintage Rock Pod about working with Devin Townsend. A short clip was recently shared on the podcast’s YouTube channel where Vai revealed his thoughts Although the rocker thinks Townsend was great to work with in the studio, there is one thing he regrets. He revealed:
“He was also incredibly talented in his own right, and that was kind of squelched in my band because I just needed him as a singer. So I never really didn’t know how brilliant he was as a creator, a musical creator, because I didn’t allow it, basically, a little bit here and there. But I had my vision, and I knew what I wanted to do.”
Vai then recalled the first time he realized Townsend’s potential:
“We collaborated on some things, but it wasn’t until later, when Devin started making his solo music, that I’m like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that was there,’ because he is, in my book, a bona fide genius. He is as brilliant as they come at the thing that he does. I think that is experience in my band was, to a degree, helpful for him and watching his own career and his own navigation at the studio because he does all that too. He is incredibly prolific.”
Given the fact that Townsend was only a teenager when he started working with the guitarist, his guitar skills weren’t the thing he was known for back then. So it’s expected to see Vai surprised to hear his solo music for the first time.
Townsend, too, talked about his times with the guitarist and revealed that Vai’s guitar playing made him realize that he didn’t want to shred, but he wanted to be a rhythm guitarist.
Below, you can watch the short clip from the interview.
