Why Joe Satriani Backed Out of Van Halen 'Kitchen Sink' Tour

Joe Satriani revealed he was persuaded several times to sign up for Van Halen’s proposed “kitchen sink” tour but backed out every time.

He said that taking part in Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds road trip was a completely different prospect from the idea suggested by Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth, soon after Eddie Van Halen died in 2020.

Those plans fizzled out – while Hagar, Satriani and Michael Anthony have been on the road this year delivering their nod to the late guitarist and his band’s work.

In a new interview with Guitar.com, Satriani said he initially accepted the offer that came from Alex Van Halen and Roth. But three weeks later, he called and told them, “No way. I can’t do this. This is too hard.”

He explained that “[Alex] convinced me that I could do it, and then another couple of weeks later, it was the same kind of thing – I thought, ‘Man, some of these songs are … they’re just not me.’ Eddie played in a completely different way … it’s so different from what I cultivated in my playing for decades. So that was the hardest part.”

Asked why he felt able to join Hagar’s tour, Satriani said, “Because it was a friend calling about a retrospective of his whole career. It did happen to involve anywhere from 15 to 20 Van Halen songs – and they were different from the songs that Dave and Alex wanted to do. Dave was not going to do any Van Hagar stuff, anything from after he left the band.”

How Eddie Van Halen’s Playing Changed in the Van Hagar Era

The guitarist argued that Van Halen had changed his approach when Hagar arrived. “Eddie went through a real shift. He became far more progressive – a different world for me to jump into.

“But I also reminded myself, ‘That’s not the show. This is not a Van Halen tribute. This is a tribute to Sammy’s legacy that happens to include this huge chunk of music by Van Halen.’ ... I want to do it right. I spent all this money on gear and want to make it a great night to celebrate these songs. And I think everybody gets it.

“I’m throwing in all the stuff I normally would. But I’ve added some things I never really did because I thought, ‘Well, that’s Eddie. I’m not gonna copy that.’ It doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’ve made it work. Though I’m not copying the parts; that’s not me – I’m not in a tribute band.”