Steve Vai and Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group release VAI / GASH digitally and on CD today. The vinyl album will follow on February 24. He shares, “Vai / Gash was written and recorded in somewhat of a stream of consciousness in 1991 within perhaps a 2-week period as an answer to my desire to have a particular kind of music to listen to when I was riding my Harley Davison Motorcycle with my friends. One of those friends was John ‘Gash’ Sombrotto, who is the powerful singer on this record. It’s reminiscent of a certain type of rock music I enjoyed as a teenager in the 1970’s. These recordings sat on the shelf for over 30 years and are being released now in 2023.” The three songs presented in to the release are “She Saved My Life Tonight” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PY28ih-Sbg), “In The Wind,” (https://youtu.be/AkbnEj2yDw0) and “Busted” (https://youtu.be/O2U5pSbFSIg).
John “Gash” Sombrotto was born in Queens, New York and as a youth was an avid motorcycle enthusiast. In 1977 at the age of 21, he endured a serious accident that caused his body to catch fire while plunging 30 feet onto a barbed wire fence. Vai wrote in the liner notes, “The doctors told his family that he had third degree burns over 60% of his body, and that if he even survived, there was a strong possibility that he would lose his right arm and left leg. While in the Burn Unit, he endured excruciating pain, especially when given the intense daily cycle of hot baths for his burns. He soldiered on, and after a month he was finally discharged from the hospital. Luckily, no limbs were amputated. He was, however, left with a partial left ear and layers of skin grafts over his neck, arms, legs, and entire chest. The stories he told about his recovery and the excruciating pain involved were crushingly gut wrenching. But he survived, and eventually thrived again. He made his way out to Los Angeles in 1982 and got right back up on his motorcycle.”
Vai met John through a mutual friend, Mark Cimino. They bonded over biker culture, and he choose the name “Gash” as a nickname. Vai wrote, “…I’ve observed many people interacting with him on our numerous motorcycle road trips and other adventures. At first sight, many people could be taken by his bald head, scarred neck and burnt-off ear. Looking as he did and riding a Harley it was easy to assume he was perhaps a tough, menacing biker with a nefarious attitude, but after engaging with him for even a minute, his charm and magnetic charisma had them laughing in their shoes and completely enjoying his uplifting presence. He endeared people with his wit, warmth, and sparkle. John hit it off instantly with the most unlikely of people of every age, color, size, political or sexual persuasions. He was non superficial and never judged people. This allowed his engaging personality and intoxicating charm to draw you in. Under all those scars was a bold and fearlessly warm heart that can be seen in his disarming and big soft blue eyes.”
He continues, “…something in me wanted to get him in the studio and see how he would belt over these biker type songs I had demoed, but nothing could have prepared me for the voice that came out of his mouth. I had to think, off course he sounds like that because that’s him, confident, authentic, fearless but with a lighthearted intention. This was the voice I wanted to hear wailing over these slamming rock tracks. I was stunned. Around that timeframe I was also starting to launch work on ‘Sex and Religion’ and was hoping to eventually record more than the 8 songs I had laid down with John for an alternative project, but that was proven impossible. On September 7th, 1998, two days after my father had passed away, the phone rang, and it was John’s beloved girlfriend Nancy. Her voice was quaking, and I somehow knew what she was going to tell me. ‘John was in a bike accident and was killed’.”
After three decades, Steve Vai has finally shared this master with The World. In his opinion, “He would have absolutely been the greatest rock lead singer you would ever want to know. All the elements were in place, but he was gone. Disheartened, I put the entire project on the shelf, and would listen to it at least once a year for the past 30 years, especially around the anniversary of his passing. Then recently something compelled me to want to put it out now. I wish you would have had a chance to get to know John. I believe you would have loved him just as we all did. For now, he is ‘In the Wind’.”
Steve Vai will resume the Inviolate World Tour in Europe this March. On the 24th, he’ll commence the tour in Lisbon, Portugal and wrap that run on May 7 in Helsinki, Finland. The complete itinerary is:
24 March Lisbon, Portugal CCB
26 March Porto, Portugal Casa da Musica
27 March Malaga, Spain Teatro Cervantes
29 March Huelva, Spain Gran Teatro de Huelva
31 March Madrid, Spain La Riviera
01 April Bilbao, Spain Santana 27 – Sala Gold
02 April Barcelona, Spain Sala Parallel 62
04 April Vigo, Spain Auditorio Mar de Vigo
05 April Gijón, Spain Audiotorio de La Universidad Laboral
07 April Milan, Italy Teatro Dal Verme
08 April Jesolo (Venezia), Italy PalaInvent
11 April Munich, Germany Technikum
12 April Budapest, Hungary Akvarium Klub
13 April Zagreb, Croatia Culture Factory
14 April Bratislava, Slovakia Refinery Gallery
18 April Ankara, Turkey Congresium Ankara
19 April Istanbul, Turkey VW Arena
21 April Thessaloniki, Greece Principal Club
22 April Athens, Greece Fuzz Live Music Club
24 April Bucharest, Romania Sala Mare (The Great Hall)
25 April Sofia, Bulgaria NDK Hall 3
26 April Skopje, N. Macedonia SRC Kale
27 April Belgrade, Serbia MTS dvorana
28 April Brno, Czech Republic Semilasso
29 April Prague, Czech Republic Lucerna Music Bar
01 May Wroclaw, Poland Majowka Festival – Hala Stulecia
02 May Krakow, Poland ICE
03 May Lublin, Poland CSK
05 May Riga, Latvia Palladium
06 May Tallinn, Estonia Noblessner Foundry
07 May Helsinki, Finland House of Culture
Future touring plans will be announced in the coming weeks as the Inviolate World Tour will visit most continents across The World.
Rock Nightmare 