Legendary guitarist Steve Vai pays tribute to a fallen friend with his latest album "Vai/Gash"

Summary: We had the chance to talk to guitar legend Steve Vai about his latest album. "Vai/Gash" and the story behind it is better told by the man himself:  “This record 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 with my friends.  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.  Here’s the story…Around 1990, I was overcome with a desire to rip out what I thought would be a straight-ahead type of rock record that contained the kind of music I wish I had to listen to when I was that teenager ensconced in the biker culture.  And then I met Johnny “Gash” Sombrotto.” John 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 chose the name “Gash” as a nickname." 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, of course he sounds like that because that’s him, confident, authentic, fearless but with a light-hearted intention.  This was the voice I wanted to hear wailing over these slamming rock tracks.  I was stunned.  Around that time frame 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’.”