Satchvai announce debut album “The Sea Of Emotion”

After more than five decades of friendship, musical exchanges and separate careers that have helped redefine the potential of the electric guitar, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have finally recorded an album together. “The Sea of Emotion”, Satchvai’s first studio album, will be released on 6 November 2026 via earMUSIC. The announcement coincides with the release of “Mayhem”, the album’s electrifying new single, available from today:

The story begins in 1973, when 13-year-old Steve Vai started taking guitar lessons from his 17-year-old teacher, Joe Satriani, on Long Island. Neither of them could have imagined where that shared passion for the guitar would take them. More than 50 years later, having established themselves as solo artists and shared the stage all over the world thanks to the legendary G3 tours, they have brought their musical careers together on a single album.

Steve Vai comments:
“We’ve been planning this since 1973, only we’ve been doing it unconsciously.”

The album took shape following a G3 reunion tour, during a few breaks from their individual commitments. It all began after they recorded a single track and Vai subsequently received two further tracks composed by Satriani. Vai realised immediately that the time had come.

The process was anything but predictable. Although the two musicians share a deep musical history, similar influences and a lifetime’s worth of guitar expertise, they discovered they composed in very different ways. That contrast became one of the album’s defining features, with exchanges of ideas leading the songs to take unexpected turns.

Satriani’s comment:
“The biggest surprise was discovering that we compose in completely different ways, and that’s precisely what made the project so enjoyable and interesting.”

The album brings together two musicians who have spent decades developing their own unmistakable styles, whilst allowing each the freedom to push the other towards new horizons. Producer and keyboardist Eric Caudieux helped to keep the process as authentic as possible, whilst a formidable group of long-standing collaborators provided the rhythm section, including drummers Gregg Bissonette, Jeremy Colson, Kenny Aronoff, Matt Chamberlain and Mike Mangini, and bassists Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe, Matt Bissonette, Marco Mendoza and Henrik Linder.

On “The Sea of Emotion,” SatchVai move from the raw rock ’n’ roll of “Mayhem” and “Bronco Freight Train” to the darker, more cinematic “Old Sins Have Long Shadows”, the wild swing of “Zoot Suit Riot” and the stadium anthem “I Wanna Play My Guitar”, featuring legendary singer Glenn Hughes.

At the heart of the album is the three-part suite ‘The Sea of Emotion’, which takes the listener back to the school grounds in Carle Place where the two teenage musicians once spent their time dreaming of music. “The Sea of Emotion, Part 3” even begins with a vintage reel-to-reel tape recording from one of Vai’s early lessons with Satriani – a glimpse of two young guitarists still searching for their own voice.

Joe Satriani comments:
“This really shows just how far we’ve come. We’re these two kids who haven’t found their own sound yet, but we’ve got enthusiasm. We’re chasing something and we’re determined.”

For Vai, the album ultimately represents something more personal than simply a collaboration between two famous guitarists.
“That’s the moment when I really think: ‘Wow, we’ve actually done it.’ It’s a beautiful collaboration between me and my friend. That’s why we made the album.”

Pre-save/pre-order here

Tracklist:

1. Mayhem
2. Bronco Freight Train
3. Dancing
4. The Feeling I Know
5. Zoot Suit Riot
6. Old Sins Have Long Shadows
7. I Wanna Play My Guitar
8. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 1
9. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 2
10. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 3 / Reflections On A Year And A Half