Soon after Def Leppard’s Phil Collen was invited to join the annual G4 Experience, led by guitar great Joe Satriani, he was moved to write an instrumental in homage to the guitar master.
“I was honored when Joe invited me to join the G4 experience and I decided to write and record an instrumental track called Yo 2 Joe as a tribute to him. I was further honored when he played on the track with me because he is such an amazing artist. I wanted the track to reflect the vibe of his influential Surfing with the Alien album. Thirty years later, he continues to wow generations of guitar players and music fans alike.“
The track will be released as a single on July 21st and will be given free to those attending the camp. Pre-orders for the song begin today at iTunes.
Also joining Satriani and Collen at this year’s G4 Experience: Surfing with the Alien 30th Anniversary are Warren DeMartini [Ratt], and Paul Gilbert. The event takes place on July 24-28 at Asilomar Center in Carmel, CA.
For its fourth installment, the G4 Experience enjoys a game-changing and historic first. The camp will celebrate the writing, recording, and performance of Satriani’s seminal Grammy Award-nominated, platinum-selling 1987 epic, Surfing with the Alien—one of the most successful instrumental guitar albums ever made. Recognizing the record’s 30th anniversary, campers will enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pull back the curtain on the album with the visionaries behind the music.
Satriani will be joined by his original live band during the record’s tour cycle, Stu Hamm and Jonathan Mover, return for the first time since 1995 for the evening’s performances.
For more information on G4, visit g4experience.com.
One Response
Maybe I’m wrong, but I never thought of Phil Collen as a “guitar god”. I think it’s because Def Leppard never featured great lead guitar in their songs. For them, it seems it’s more important that the song has a more pop melody, than a blistering lead guitar riff. Based upon listening to this track, it’s obvious the guy has some chops! I still don’t know whether he should try to go toe to toe with Joe Satriani or Paul Gilbert, but he can definitely play!