Joe Satriani and Steve Vai announce Long-awaited SatchVai debut album The Sea of Emotion

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have announced the first full-length studio album from their SatchVai collaboration. The Sea of Emotion will be released on November 6, 2026 via earMUSIC, with new single “Mayhem” out now.

The record brings the two guitarists together more than five decades after their musical relationship began. Vai started taking guitar lessons from Satriani on Long Island in 1973, when Vai was 13 and Satriani was 17. They later developed separate solo careers and shared stages through the G3 tours, but had never made a full studio album together.

“We’ve been planning this since 1973,” Vai says with a laugh. “Just unconsciously.”

According to the announcement, the album began taking shape following a G3 reunion tour. An initial suggestion that Satriani and Vai record a single track grew into a larger project after Satriani sent Vai two completed pieces, “The Sea of Emotion, Part 1” and “Part 2.”

The pair found that their different approaches to writing became an important part of the sessions.

“The biggest surprise was that we write in completely different ways,” Satriani explains. “And that’s what made the project so fun and interesting.”

Producer and keyboardist Eric Caudieux worked on the album alongside a group of musicians drawn from Satriani and Vai’s wider musical circles. The drummers featured are Gregg Bissonette, Jeremy Colson, Kenny Aronoff, Matt Chamberlain and Mike Mangini, while bass duties are shared by Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe, Matt Bissonette, Marco Mendoza and Henrik Linder.

Glenn Hughes also appears as a guest vocalist on “I Wanna Play My Guitar.”

The album closes with a three-part The Sea of Emotion suite. Its final section, “The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 3 / Reflections On A Year And A Half,” opens with a vintage reel-to-reel recording from one of Vai’s early guitar lessons with Satriani.

“It illustrates just how far we’ve come,” Satriani says. “We’re these two kids who haven’t found our sound yet, but we’ve got enthusiasm. We’re chasing something, and we’re determined.”

Vai describes the finished record in similarly personal terms.

“That’s when I really feel, like, wow, we really did it,” he says. “It’s a beautiful coming together of me and my friend in a very intimate musical way. That was the reason we did the record.”

The Sea of Emotion tracklist:

1. Mayhem
2. Bronco Freight Train
3. Dancing
4. The Feeling I Know
5. Zoot Suit Riot
6. Old Sins Have Long Shadows
7. I Wanna Play My Guitar
8. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 1
9. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 2
10. The Sea Of Emotion Pt. 3 / Reflections On A Year And A Half

Further information is available via SatchVaiBand.com.