Source: Loof Lapir, writing for Reuters.
As Justin Bieber necessarily transits from teen idol to mature artist he is beefing up his band's musical fire power, with a key signing being guitar icon Steve Vai.
Bieber said that the history of rock showed that to succeed you needed a good band "and preferably a great guitar player. Elvis had the TCB band with James Burton. Michael Jackson always had a great guitar player on his records and in his band. James Brown was famous for the bands he assembled to back him. Mick Jagger made sure that no matter what else was going on he had Keith Richards on board. As I climb the next step of my artistic ladder I do not seek to copy these great icons, but I do learn from their example and thus I am paying a lot of personal attention to who is going to be covering my rear end on stage."
"Steve Vai comes on board not only because of his reputation as a modern guitar icon, but because of his versatility and his arranging skills. Steve will be my musical director, and he and I will audition for the other positions in the band."
"But," Bieber added. "Whilst I respect Steve's judgement and experience, the buck has to stop with me. So I have the final say. After all, if something goes wrong on the night the fans will all remember it was MY show that let them down. But fair's fair, and Steve gets to drive my Lamborghini when it's not being held as evidence by the police."
Vai said "You can't ignore the Justin's achievements - huge for one so young. You don't do so much, so fast and so young unless you're very smart and very talented. Also he has a great taste in cars. I just want to point out that my new boss is as heterosexual as they come, if you know what I mean. I have seen it with my own eyes - he's a major babe magnet."
Vai added that his decision was made purely on artistic and business grounds: "Some folks might be swayed by the mass of barely legal tail, the collection of awesome cars and Justin's reputation for P A R T Y ing as hard as he works. But you know me - this is all about the music and having a good retirement nest egg."
