How do you guys feel you have changed your individual styles to fit each other and to fit this band? Have you noticed a change in your playing with this band?

It’s really about ‘what kind of magic can I bring in?’ For example, I’m looking to write and then we are all looking to conrtibute to the song to make it special, from my perspective like a Chuck Berry part or a Keith Richards part. It’s like I’m unfolding a bit and putting more into my guitar playing than I had before.

I’d like to tell me what it’s like as bassist. I mean Mike has played alongside two of the world’s greatest guitarists, so what’s is it about Mike that works for great guitar players?

Well, he’s fuckin’ great is really it. I have great private stories and some from the studio but it’s really like jumping on the biggest wave and there he is… It’s like when we’re recording we all do our own thing but when we listen to the results we go wow, listen to that! He’s the fastest learner, and he can play with anybody - jazz players, anybody - he learns that shit so fast it’s incredible. I’ve also noticed there’s more elasticity on parts, more so than on Van Halen records.

What’s it like to play with Chad?

I like him because we can talk about adding and changing things. He’s a funk drummer but he’s also a closet rocker, and he plays harder than any drummer I know. But it’s not only hard because he has a finesse.

Sammy, I want to ask you about writing…

I’ve been writing lyrics for every band I’ve ever been in - I’m always the lyricist. I called Joe the other night to talk about the night I took the family out and I saw these weird characters which got me writing five new songs. I’m not educated, I don’t have a degree in literature or poetry or any kind of that stuff - I write lyrics about real life experiences. And if I lock myself in a room somewhere I would dry up. I need to go out, get into fist fights and stuff, whatever it takes… And this album is one hour of life experiences. I will never burn out because life experiences will always happen. I’ll give you an example. A lot of my young daughter’s friend are being brought up by single moms, so I wrote a song about that.

Let’s talk about some of the other songs on the album. Joe, What are you doing in the beginning of ‘Avenida Revolucion’ guitar-wise?

It’s just a little trick with the guitar pick. That was one of the earlier songs and that came from a demo I recorded when I was writing a whole bunch of different songs and thinking which one is Sam going to like and which one is Mike and Chad going to like. I wanted something to sound like going into the fire, like flames…

Lyrically, this is one of the weightier songs. Do you sometimes feel hampered by your image? People think that you’re a good-time guy…

I choose to write about what I want to and I always the the freedom in a band to do that because nobody wanted to write lyrics. So I’m ‘ok, I’m goin’ to write the lyrics and I’m goin’ to sing ‘em than I will write what I want to write about… When I heard that music I swear I see people running through ditches and like crawling across barbed wire fences. It was so visual. That Avenue Revolucion is amazing. When you drive down it for miles all you see are crosses and flowers, paintings and stuff for people that have tried to cross that street and died. When I heard that music immediately I saw that street…

Joe, the song ‘Sexy Little Thing’ - Michael and Sammy have been in bands that have played songs of a very sexual nature, but your image is a little bit more squeeky clean…

Now you’re learning about the real Joe Satriani!

I wrote that song and showed it to Sam - it was just a title for Sam to write lyrics for. I knew what the song was about but didn’t have a clue how to make a song out of that title. I thought I could visualise a bunch of guys in the background saying ‘oh, you sexy baby’ or something like that…

Instrumentally, I think Joe thinks in words when he plays guitar solos - he’s singing or talking…

The song called ‘Turning Left’, that’s a pretty naughty riff! Did you have a collection of them that you didn’t use on previous Satriani albums?

No. The only song I had that was ‘Learning To Fall’ but it was called something else. I’d written that for Sammy for the band Planet Us. So I played it for Sam and even showed him lyrics.

I struggled harder with that song than any song on the album. I loved the msuic but I couldn’t find a melody, I couldn’t find a lyric and I must have written five different ‘Mr & Mrs Sunshines’ and then I wanted to call it ‘Hello’… It was one of the first things Joe and I did together and I didn’t finish that until almost the end. In the end I said fuck it I’m going to sing it like a soul singer. Joe’s original song was way too wimpy for this band…