“Steve Vai is always evolving… he continues to achieve what others thought impossible, and he finds new things to try every day”: How Philip Bynoe keeps up with the world-leading virtuoso

It can’t be easy holding down the low end alongside Steve Vai, an iconic virtuoso possessing incomprehensible skill. And yet, from 1996 through 2000 and since 2012, Philip Bynoe has done just that.

The road is one thing, but Bynoe – who scored the Vai gig via his friendship with former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini – has also appeared on four of Vai’s studio offerings, along with several live albums.

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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.