In a new interview with Cassius Morris, Steve Vai paid tribute to legendary English guitarist John Sykes (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitensnake, Blue Murder, Sykes), whom is believed to have passed away, last week at the age of 65.
Vai, who had a brief tenure in Whitesnake more than three and a half decades ago, having played on the band’s 1989 album Slip Of The Tongue, said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net): “Well, [John] was such a phenomenal rock guitar player. When that Whitesnake [self-titled] record came out [in 1987], we were all just stunned. He really captured that audio real estate with a guitar tone and a playing style that created like a fever. And he really has a stamp in his musical DNA and he delivered so much. He was really a great player and a great guitar orchestrator.”
He continued, “I didn’t know him very well. Our kids went to school together. He lived right down the street, and our kids went to the same school, and his son would come over a lot, but actually we have never really hooked up; we were always on tour or something.
“He kept his illness very quiet, so I know I didn’t know about it, and I don’t know anybody that I know that knew him that knew about it,” Vai added. “Everything in this world is coming and going and coming and going, and if it doesn’t go, that only means you went before it. But he really delivered. He came and he lifted the whole scene. He really did.”
Referencing Slip Of The Tongue and how it compared to its predecessor, Whitesnake‘s 1987 eight-times-platinum eponymous album, Vai said, “In the ’80s, when that Whitesnake [self-titled] record came out [that John played on], it was a phenom. I mentioned that I wasn’t gonna try to sound like him. A better way of putting it is I can’t. I sound like me, which is very obvious when you compare the two Whitesnake records.”
In a 2020 article with Guitar World, Vai also spoke about Sykes, stating,””Sykes didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist, but his thumbprint is an indelible part of the Whitesnake record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all Sykes…
…You cheat yourself when you try to do that and play like someone else. And the audience is a lot smarter than you think; they’re very intuitive and perceptive and if you try to pull anything over on them — like biting someone else’s thing — you’ll get beat up for it.”