Steve Vai in Madrid. Photo: Sami Auvinen.
Life can take many turns and sometimes social conditioning influences more than it seems. If a while ago we knew the surprising work of the founder of a legendary band the NWOBHMno less shocking is the case of a guy who went from working as a lawyer in Washington DC to playing guitar in the group Steve Vai. Quite a carambola that explained in this way: “I was following the safe choice that society dictated to me”.
Many guitarists tend to turn to other jobs until their skills allow them to make a living at it, but there are those who take rather the opposite path. It is the case of Dante Frisiellowho first met his six-string predecessor in the band Vai, Dave Weinerand then ended up replacing him.
In an interview for G66, Frisiello He recounted how he arrived at the virtuoso combo: “I studied law and practiced law for three years in Washington DC. But during that time I realized that I was not dedicating my life to what I was passionate about. I was following the safe choice that society, my teachers and everyone around me dictated. Before I was a lawyer. He was good at school. But I quickly realized in law school that it wasn’t for me, man. And so, this fiery explosion happened. I basically said, “Okay, law is going to be my side business. “I’m going to continue doing it until he can dedicate myself to music.””.
Frisiello He found the opportunity he was looking for in a Philadelphia jam club run by Dave Weiner: “It’s funny how the universe works. When you start to commit, things just appear. And what showed up for me was Dave Weiner, Steve’s long-time rhythm guitarist who lives in Philadelphia. And he posted on Facebook: “Hey, I’m starting a jam club.” And I thought, “I have to go there, because I don’t know any professional musicians.” I committed to it. Now that was my goal”.
During the following months, the young lawyer would rent a car to travel to Philadelphia with the sole purpose of jamming in a music store and thus meeting people in the guitar world: “It was kind of a lifesaver for me at the time, because I didn’t know anyone who played at that level and I had no idea what I had to do to get it. So I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Weiner to learn. And then, you know, opportunities started to arise”.
One such occasion came when Weiner He asked the young guitarist to be his technician. That forced him to leave his job as a lawyer and return to live with his parents, but in the end the decision turned out to be the right one: “He asked me to be his technician for local concerts. We did local concerts together. And then he asked me to be a technician on a Steve Vai tour, I was like, “Holy shit! What I do?”. But I didn’t really have to think about it much. I quit my job, moved to my parents’ house in Florida, and went on tour.”.
The balance of that experience was more than positive: “I did 90 shows in 2021. And then Dave left the band and recommended me to Steve. Throughout those shows on the first tour when I was a technician I was doing sound checks and stuff. I ended up joining the band in March of last year and I’ve been playing with Steve ever since.”.
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