Chickenfoot, the new band made up of rock royalty Joe Satriani, Chad Smith, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar, have spent the summer (and now the fall) firing up crowds here and in Europe (we went to an early club show at L.A.'s Roxy—wow!) following the release of their debut album. These guys really know about keeping busy, but recently Satriani and Smith were kind enough to take a minute to talk a little 'Foot with us:
At this point, what fulfills you the most, musically?
Joe: I look forward to things that come with challenge and inspiration. It might be tonight’s concert; it might be next year’s record; it might be a future collaboration. It’s an ever-changing process that I keep chasing.
What's it like being in Chickenfoot?
Chad: We have a blast. Everyone’s pretty cool, and with history comes experience and maturity, I hope. We get along really well. And because it’s new and exciting, we’re still in the “honeymoon” phase [laughs]. Musically, we hit it off right away.
Outside of Chickenfoot, who's inspired you lately?
Joe: I’ve had a lot of recent inspirations, new and old. Years ago, when I was a young struggling musician, it was hard enough coming up with the funds to buy albums of artists you wanted to learn about, but sometimes they were hard to find as well. Finding music was location specific, and now it’s all in the same place, so to speak. I can jump on Kings of Leon and get into it right away; I can get into Béla Fleck jamming with African musicians; I can get that Stooges compilation I was looking for; I can go back and complete my digital version of an old Jimmy Reed record. I’m listening to things that are sitting in my car or on my iPod, so it’s a mixture of new and old. I wouldn’t know how to even explain to myself why I get into certain records. It’s a mixture of The Black Keys and The Mahavishnu Orchestra [laughs].
When you guys get together do you ever talk about covering any songs from your respective catalogs, or is that off limits?
Joe: Early on we realized the most difficult task at hand, and for any new band, is to get a potential audience to recognize who you are, your music, and what it is you’re trying to say. We wanted to deliver the best show possible, so we considered what the best thing we could do for the health of the show was. I think it was quite obvious to all of us that it wasn’t going to help people understand what this new band was all about if we played our older material. It wasn’t about forming a celebrity cover band—there are a lot of those around. We wanted people to focus on our material, because we spent a lot of time writing completely original music. We became different players for the Chickenfoot album, because we wanted to grow into this new space that we created. If we played “Give it Away,” “I Can’t Drive 55,” “Panama,” and “Surfing With the Alien” it would just confuse the issue, not only for the audience, but for us as well.
Chad: I know some people would like to hear Sammy-era Van Halen, but that’s not what we’re about. Maybe down the road, we might do something, but for now we want to establish what Chickenfoot is.
Any other songs you’d consider covering?
Chad: Well, Chickenfoot kind of began that way. I’d go down to Sam’s place and we’d jam on James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Sly & The Family Stone, The Doors, The Beatles, and even the Chili Peppers—we played everything. But to me it’s more musically rewarding to play Chickenfoot’s songs. For the encore at our shows, though, we normally perform a couple of covers, like “Highway Star” by Deep Purple and “Bad Motor Scooter” by Sam—which is the first song he ever wrote, so that has sort of a sentimental value to it. We’ve also done “Dear Mr. Fantasy” [Traffic], “Rockin’ in the Free World” [Neil Young], and “My Generation” [The Who].
What’s next?
Joe: Chickenfoot’s finishing up touring and filming, so hopefully we’ll have some live concert footage out next year and will continue to write. We have a nice, long break, which I can’t wait for, because I’ve done two tours and two records at the same time over the past two years. It’s been constant work. Sam’s got his charitable cafés to open up—and he’s also an international man of mystery, so you’d have to ask him what he’ll do next. I know Mike will be enjoying life, as he does so well.
Chad: I’ll be returning to the Chili Peppers for a while, but I want to do more with Chickenfoot, and I think everyone else does, too. It’s really fun, and why not?
Joe: We’ll go off in our different directions, but we’ve already started to write new material for a second record. MP3s will be flying back and forth via e-mail as we continue to work. So the next time we’re lucky enough to get back together again we’ll have a lot of material.
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