One of rock's most important guitarists, Steve Vai, has considered taking out insurance for his hands, an essential instrument in the musician's work, who recently suffered an injury and postponed a tour while trying to make a pizza at home.
“There was a time when I considered getting insurance for my hands. And there was Lloyd's of London, but [the plans] were exorbitantly expensive. It would be like… Back then, if I had taken it out about 30 years ago… It was over a million dollars a year. And I didn't need that,” he said in an interview on The Mitch Lafon Jeremy White Show , as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar .
In the conversation, the musician took the opportunity to explain in more detail how the accident that caused the postponement of the tour promoting the album Inviolate , released on January 28, happened. "Let me explain this because you know how the press is," he said.
Vai faced problems with torn tendons and ligaments in his right shoulder, undergoing reconstructive surgery in 2020. “It took years to get better. And during lockdown, I got it fixed. And it was great. It healed me and then I made the album Inviolate ,” he detailed. “But it healed in two, three weeks after the surgery. I could play guitar, but it takes a year to really recover. Six months later, I think I'm doing really well and I forget that I need to be careful.”
In this careless moment, Steve Vai was putting a pizza in his home oven with a large peel, but the dough was sticky and stuck. When the guitarist tried to pull it off forcefully, he tore a tendon again and received medical advice not to return to the stage until he was fully recovered.
Playing certain specific guitars, like the Hydra, also made the situation worse. “So, yeah, [my situation] was aggravated by the pizza incident,” he continued. “And the pizza was awful, really bad. It wasn’t tasty.”
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