Former Zappa guitarists Mike Keneally and Steve Vai join forces on new song Celery

Former Frank Zappa alumni Mike Keneally and Steve Vai have joined forces on Celery, the brand new single from Keneally, and you can watch the new video below.

Celery is taken from Keneally's upcoming solo album The Thing That Knowledge Can’t Eat which will be released on February 24. As well as Vai, the new album features guest appearances from Big Big Train drummer Nick D'Virgilio and Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick.

“This is my first new solo album in seven years - the last one was Scambot 2 in 2016, so this one has really been a long time coming," says Keneally. "About half of the material on the new album was in the works prior to the pandemic, but the other half was created at home in lockdown in 2020 and 2021, and all the finishing touches were placed on the songs during 2022, so it's been in the works for a while.

"I've never done so much work on an album on my own, so the learning curve was steep, but I did have help from friends all along the way, including farming out tracks to drummers who were also locked down at home. I wrote all the songs, and the lyrics of the later songs definitely reflect the strange times during which the album was finalised. A lot of my past albums have been lengthy, extended works, but this one is a tight 42 minutes, nine songs - I think it goes down pretty smooth but it travels to a lot of different places along the way."

Keneally, who featured in Zappa's final touring band in 1988 is also a member of The Zappa Band, with other ex-Zappa musicians, the only official Zappa Trust-sanctioned band playing the music of Frank Zappa live. He is also part of the star-studded prog covers outfit ProgJect.

Pre-order The Thing That Knowledge Can’t Eat.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.