Uploaded August 2013 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Discover ALL of The Fiddler's music HERE: the-fiddler-llc.com
Shop for physical CDs, delivered to your front door, by visiting our official shop at spontaneousrecords.com SUPPORT: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr... Fiddler's AMAZON PAGE: amazon.com/shop/alexdepueofficial
Keep dreamin' the impossible dream, Mark O'Connor! Thanx! You're welcome!
What is the most memorable experience you have gained working with Steve Vai?
"Patience. Patience with myself as a musician. Rehearsing with Vai is very demanding and on a very personal level as a musician. You get to test your own boundaries and/or "limitations" with a musician of Steve's caliber. Yet, he is always such a patient teacher/coach. Our rehearsals for the European leg of the tour were longer than the actual tour! We banged out the show ten hours (minimum) per day, six days per week for a full month before we called that show "ready" and the rewards for that kind of hard work and effort continue to pay off... not so much in the form of monetary success... but more so in exactly how much I can expect out of myself musically with regard to all of my musical endeavors. Rehearsing and touring with Steve Vai is not unlike a musical boot camp! Steve is an absolute delight to work with and my favorite story to tell (besides the actual story of the audition) is... after say... the second day of rehearsal... the band was hot, sweaty and tired from learning the Grammy-nominated tune, Now We Run... ten hours straight of intricate rhythms and technically demanding musical lines. I'm on my way out the door to go back to the hotel in LA when Steve stops me and hands me "tomorrow's material" which was (not kidding) about an inch and a half thick of manuscript. He looks me in the eyeball with the same expression on his face you can see (and I remember well at age 14) from the 1986 movie, "Crossroads" in which he played the co-starring role of Jack Butler... and says, "So you'll have this under your fingers by tomorrow morning, right?". hahahaha. How can you deny that face. My reply was, "Of course, Sir." and then I spent the entire night practicing and got up at 5:00 AM the next morning to continue practicing before yet another ten-hour day of slamming out the new material with the band."
Where The Wild Things Are was a hugely successful DVD and captures outstanding performances from the band. Were there any challenges you came across on that tour?
"In Europe, the electric outlets are quite different. That sucked! I should take a moment to mention my colleague, Ann Marie Calhoun, who is a very gifted violinist. She was an absolute delight to work with as well and we enjoyed many "sectionals" (this was our little inside joke because the word itself sounds only a bit suggestive!) where just she and I would leave the rest of the band, the rhythm section, if you will... and practice our violin parts in a different room. She is a nice person in its truest form. Ann Marie Calhoun was able to put up with me... and that says a LOT already! But, even more... she also demonstrated the kind of patience with her own self as a musician which is rare to find. Dedicated to excellence, she really stepped up her game to achieve the end result we can all enjoy today on the DVD, "Steve Vai Live! in Minneapolis: Where the Wild Things Are". " - Alex DePue
#violinist
#SteveVai
#ModernPaganini
#alex depue from the steve vai stage
#alex depue steve vai
steve vai orchestra american performer ibanez jem los angeles bluray mark wood amp the-fiddler-llc.com
spontaneousrecords.com
Discover ALL of The Fiddler's music HERE: the-fiddler-llc.com
Shop for physical CDs, delivered to your front door, by visiting our official shop at spontaneousrecords.com SUPPORT: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr... Fiddler's AMAZON PAGE: amazon.com/shop/alexdepueofficial
Keep dreamin' the impossible dream, Mark O'Connor! Thanx! You're welcome!
What is the most memorable experience you have gained working with Steve Vai?
"Patience. Patience with myself as a musician. Rehearsing with Vai is very demanding and on a very personal level as a musician. You get to test your own boundaries and/or "limitations" with a musician of Steve's caliber. Yet, he is always such a patient teacher/coach. Our rehearsals for the European leg of the tour were longer than the actual tour! We banged out the show ten hours (minimum) per day, six days per week for a full month before we called that show "ready" and the rewards for that kind of hard work and effort continue to pay off... not so much in the form of monetary success... but more so in exactly how much I can expect out of myself musically with regard to all of my musical endeavors. Rehearsing and touring with Steve Vai is not unlike a musical boot camp! Steve is an absolute delight to work with and my favorite story to tell (besides the actual story of the audition) is... after say... the second day of rehearsal... the band was hot, sweaty and tired from learning the Grammy-nominated tune, Now We Run... ten hours straight of intricate rhythms and technically demanding musical lines. I'm on my way out the door to go back to the hotel in LA when Steve stops me and hands me "tomorrow's material" which was (not kidding) about an inch and a half thick of manuscript. He looks me in the eyeball with the same expression on his face you can see (and I remember well at age 14) from the 1986 movie, "Crossroads" in which he played the co-starring role of Jack Butler... and says, "So you'll have this under your fingers by tomorrow morning, right?". hahahaha. How can you deny that face. My reply was, "Of course, Sir." and then I spent the entire night practicing and got up at 5:00 AM the next morning to continue practicing before yet another ten-hour day of slamming out the new material with the band."
Where The Wild Things Are was a hugely successful DVD and captures outstanding performances from the band. Were there any challenges you came across on that tour?
"In Europe, the electric outlets are quite different. That sucked! I should take a moment to mention my colleague, Ann Marie Calhoun, who is a very gifted violinist. She was an absolute delight to work with as well and we enjoyed many "sectionals" (this was our little inside joke because the word itself sounds only a bit suggestive!) where just she and I would leave the rest of the band, the rhythm section, if you will... and practice our violin parts in a different room. She is a nice person in its truest form. Ann Marie Calhoun was able to put up with me... and that says a LOT already! But, even more... she also demonstrated the kind of patience with her own self as a musician which is rare to find. Dedicated to excellence, she really stepped up her game to achieve the end result we can all enjoy today on the DVD, "Steve Vai Live! in Minneapolis: Where the Wild Things Are". " - Alex DePue
#violinist
#SteveVai
#ModernPaganini
#alex depue from the steve vai stage
#alex depue steve vai
steve vai orchestra american performer ibanez jem los angeles bluray mark wood amp the-fiddler-llc.com
spontaneousrecords.com
