Eddie Van Halen's Reason Never Appears With G3

Eddie Van Halen (@Instagram @kramer_guitar)

JAKARTA - The G3 music project initiated by Joe Satriani has been running for almost 30 years. Many guitar heroes' are involved, ranging from Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Andy Tujuk, Steve Morse, Brian May, and many more.

However, there is one big name that Satriani has tried to join, namely Eddie Van Halen but it never materialized until the guitarist died on October 6, 2020.

"I called Eddie's number, his office, or whatever, almost all the time," said Joe Satriani explaining his attempt to invite Eddie, in a recent interview on the UCR Podcast.

Satriani admitted that he did not know Eddie closely, making it difficult for him to act casually.

"I don't want to bother, I don't know him. So, I can't just call his house or stop by, because I don't live in the same city," said the 68-year-old guitarist.

"But I'm trying various ways - you know, I'm trying everything to say, 'We'll take care of everything.' That's what we did, my management and I, we took care of all the technical things to hold this show. We made it as easy as possible for artists to come," he continued.

Satriani said his team even always offered a band for Eddie, so he could play whenever he wanted.

"This is basically a performance structure, and I really never get a response. So I think, maybe after six or seven attempts to perform in the G3, I just think, 'Wow, cool.' Because not everyone is comfortable standing next to two other guitar players every night. They might do it occasionally at special shows, charity shows, or something big, but once you join the G3, it's a responsibility to come every night and play, "he said.

Furthermore, Satriani tried to describe his estimate why there was no response when he tried to invite Eddie Van Halen.

Eddie is not well known for not working outside the same group as him, and Satriani believes that that might be the reason why the guitar legend never responded to the offer.

"A particular band provides enough for their guitar players to do whatever they want," he said. "The Edge, he can do whatever he wants in U2, and so can Van Halen. He doesn't need a G3, because he has all the music he wants to play or the band doesn't allow him. I always realized that it wasn't suitable for everyone."