Erykah Badu

Steve Vai chats metal and mayhem with Nicko McBrain at “Metal Sticks” studio

Synced across low-end rumble and the razor's edge of double bass drums, Steve Vai walks through the studio doors of “Metal Sticks” with Nicko McBrain, IRON MAIDEN’s long-time percussive architect, and Modern Drummer CEO David Frangioni. Vai dissects his magnetic pull toward the growl and drama of heavy metal’s sonics.

He touches on how the genre’s raw energy, visceral tension, and rhythmic aggression captivated his musical instincts early on, shaping the angular intensity that permeates his guitar work.

Steve Vai polishes guitars like holy relics in two-part Harmony Hut confession

Interpolating digital confessions with analog devotion, Steve Vai welcomes SceneFour into his secluded lair—aptly dubbed the "Harmony Hut." In a tightly-framed two-part webisode, the first installment settles on an array of Vai’s prized instruments, curated with the kind of obsessive elegance that borders on the religious.

This Los Angeles-based collaboration grants a rare moment of voyeurism into the workshop where the sonic tinkerer indulges his creative compulsions, far from the glare of stage lights.