Chickenfoot Radio Interview: Excerpts

Joe: Mike is F-ing Great

Following are some hastily transcribed excerpts of MusicRadar.com’s four-part radio interview with Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Chickenfoot. These are what I consider the most interesting parts – and they are interesting – but if you’re an out-and-out fan, you’ll want to give all four segments a thorough listen.

Regardless of whether you dig the two tunes the band has released, one thing that’s crystal-clear from this interview, and every interview the band has done, is that they’re having a great time playing music with each other. To me, that’s great for two reasons: 1) It’s a freakin’ relief to see guys their age not in some band-related controversy; 2) That kind of chemistry means the live show should be killer. But since the CD isn’t due out until June, guess we’ll be waiting at least until then to test that theory.

Last but not least, it sure was nice to hear people – including Joe – praising Mike for a change. As we all know by now, Mike is a monster player and singer, and is a hell of nice guy.

Here are the transcribed segments, which may have small errors but nothing significant.
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Interviewer to Sammy and Mike: Similar or different to VH?

Sammy: It feels like it did in the beginning…it’s exciting…everyone is bringing something to the table to make it better than what you thought [it would be].

Interviewer asks Joe whether he had to adapt his style to accommodate a band situation with a singer.

Joe: It wasn’t so much adapting but how much do you bring in. I was so excited because every time we got together it was magic. So I’d go home and think, Man, I want to write all this stuff – I wonder if they’ll like it. So I wrote three times more material [than needed]. Sexy Little Thing is the kind of thing I could never really do as an instrumental artist, but I’m playing that way at home, just dying to have a band that would jump all over it and make it a million times better than I ever could do on my own. So it’s like I’m feeling myself unfold a bit and put more into my guitar playing than I have before.

Interviewer asks about Mike: What is it about him as a bass player that works with great guitar players?

Joe: Well, he’s f***ing great. There you go…that’s about it. [When Joe was working on parts in the studio, he’d say] push up Mike’s fade – I want to hear exactly what he’s doing there. And you go, wow, listen to that, look at what he’s doing there, and you get to play off of that. It’s like [being a surfer and] jumping on the biggest wave….

Sammy: The reason Mike didn’t get much [credit] is because he played with Eddie Van Halen for so long. Even Jack Bruce didn’t get much compared to Eric…. Mike is the fastest learner, and guys like Eddie and Joe who can play these tricky things, these crazy lines…Mike learns them like ‘that.’ Show them to him once, it’s done. The fastest-learning sucker on the planet, this guy right here.

Interviewer asks about Sammy writing lyrics.

Sammy: I’ve been writing lyrics in every band I’ve ever been in. I write lyrics about real-world experiences. If you lock me in a room somewhere, I will dry up. [Sammy says experiencing the world keeps him able to write music, and that the music Joe brought in immediately inspired him visually.]

Interviewer asks the guys to run down some of the tunes on the album.

> Avenida Revolucion [or Avenida Revolution] – Seems to be a strange noise that kicks off the track. Joe: “It’s a trick — just a little trick with a guitar pick, in the beginning.”

> Sexy Little Thing – Sammy: “This one is a song where Joe had a title in his head, and the title totally made sense to me when I heard the music. I think Joe thinks in words [as an instrumentalist].”

> My Kinda Girl – Sounds like this could be the single. Sammy: “I’m driving in my convertible thinking, Wait until the world hears this sh*t in the summer.” He adds that it’s just he and Mike singing the chorus, which apparently sounds huge. Joe: “When I wrote it, I thought maybe it was too heavy metal. But what they did to it gave me a whole different thing…it took on this other thing musically. The song sort of blossomed with everyone playing on it.”

> Get it Up – Sam: “It’s not my favorite lyric on the record, but [likes the vibe].

> Learning to Fall – Joe: “It was actually written for [Sammy] for the band Planet Us [with Neal Schon on guitar] when he called me 5 years ago.  Sam and Neal Schon dropped by the studio with a case of tequila, Neal is a powerhouse, great writer, amazing player. I was thinking, What one thing haven’t I seen Sam doing. For some reason I thought, I wonder if he’s ever walked out with an acoustic guitar and sang something to one person. So I wrote this song…I think it was called Open Your Heart to Love. [Revived for Chickenfoot], the song had all this promise, but I knew I didn’t want this to be a power ballad…. Then I overwhelmed these guys with all the possibilities.” Sammy: “That’s true. There was a Pink Floyd version, an early Peter Gabriel version, a Nickel Creek kind of version and then there was a Journey/Styx/REO Speedwagon kind of version. Then we kind of settled on, Let’s do an R&B Otis Redding kind of version…. In the end we just kind of went back to how the song really felt right.”

Here’s the full track list:

01. Avenida Revolution
02. Soap on a Rope
03. Sexy Little Thing
04. Oh Yeah
05. Runnin’ Out
06. Get It Up
07. Down the Drain
08. My Kinda Girl
09. Learning to Fall
10. Turnin’ Left
11. Future in the Past

Interviewer asks a question about guys their age starting a new band.

Sammy: If not for this band, I think I’d be slowing way down…. I have nothing to prove, I’m not looking for fame or fortune anymore. It’s not my motivation. But all of a sudden I want all that again in this band. I want all that feeling of being in a great band and being on top of the world. And I think we can do it.

Mike: We’re doing this for the love of doing it, for the love of friends playing [music].

One other notable item: Joe said that the riffs he brought to the band were not leftovers he had lying around. All brand new stuff, with the exception of the Planet Us tune, which sounds like it was morphed significantly anyway.

Category: Chickenfoot, Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar