“Allan recorded a bunch of takes. He apologized, saying they all sucked… Of course, every note he played was miraculous”: Grammy-nominated virtuoso Alex Masi on why he turned down Stevie Ray Vaughan, his Allan Holdsworth collab and time with Shawn L

Alex Masi has lived several musical lives – but for the uninitiated, his finest hour in rock came in 1989, when his album Attack of the Neon Shark netted him a Grammy nomination.

He’d picked up the guitar in his native Venice, Italy, and later became involved in the UK’s New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene. Next he was a Strat-slinging hotshot on LA’s Sunset Strip. Then it all changed again.

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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.