Steve Vai has broken his silence on the new injury that forced him to postpone his 2022 tour until the fall.
After giving precious few details in a statement earlier this month regarding the postponement, Vai elaborated in a new conversation with Eddie Trunk.
He began by referencing a previous shoulder surgery he underwent in 2020 — the one that led to his stunning one-handed guitar composition "Knappsack."
"The surgery healed quick and I was able to record the [Inviolate] record," Vai told Trunk, referring to his brand new album.
He prefaced that the injury that forced him to postpone the tour is "really stupid."
"I have a pizza oven, and I was putting a pizza in the oven and the dough sticks on a little plate, and I had to jerk it really hard to pull it and I tore another [shoulder tendon]," he said. "...I wish I had a better story."
Initially, Vai hoped he could play through the injury, but his doctor advised him that it would just get worse the longer he went without addressing it. To make matters more complicated, Vai is planning to do some 250 shows worldwide over the next year-and-a-half.
The 'Inviolate 2022' tour is now scheduled to being in late-September. Vai says the delay will give him time to fully heal and complete his rehab so he and his band can "kick some butt" when it's finally time.
After his first shoulder surgery, Vai explained that the damage to his tendon was probably the result of years of practicing the guitar while hunched over in a chair. Vai also needed surgery on his left thumb two years ago after giving himself a "trigger finger" while meditating on a chord that forced his hand into an awkward position.