New Chickenfoot ‘Tune’

Plus Sammy skull-cracks just about everybody (Dave, Eddie, Slash, Ronnie Montrose, Gary Cherone) – nicely!

You may recall that Chickenfoot was the stand-in name, and now looks like the official name, of the Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) super group.

They said an album and tour were coming in ’09 – in fact they are supposed to be cutting songs right around now – and it looks like they’re gradually making good on that claim, in the public eye.

The latest is a Chickenfoot website, sort of. It’s really just a placeholder homepage, but has some (a little audio). Click here to hear it.

Several on-line sources pointed out recent comments by Mike (“We’re getting close to mixing this thing”) and Sammy: “We got in the studio and recorded eight demos in two days. The chemistry is everything in a band. The band changes one guy, sometimes the whole damn thing changes — look what happened when I joined Van Halen. But with this band, the chemistry is awesome. It’s the best chemistry I’ve ever experienced, better than the Montrose chemistry, better than the Van Halen chemistry.”

Yeah! Can’t wait to hear it.

In other Sammy news is a long two-part interview (part 1 and part 2) with Imhotep, which looks like it’s some kind of non-U.S. on-line magazine. Anyhow, in it, Sammy manages to talk sh*t about just about everyone in the Van Halen camp, but in his nice way – seriously! Below are a few highlights of the interview.

Do you understand Dave’s decision to not attend the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony because Velvet Revolver was playing instead of Van Halen?

“I don’t think that was it. I know the guys in that band. Dave was calling them up every day driving them crazy to get them to let him sing with them. That’s why it got all screwed up, because Dave wanted to do it his way. And they were only allowed to do 2 songs, and he was trying to do 2 songs with them and not me. Dave was playing his bullshit Dave-games and he fucked it all up! And cause they told him “No, Sammy’s gonna’ sing a song and you’re gonna’ sing a song with Velvet Revolver’ and Dave said fuck you, then I am not coming.”

On the Sammy/Dave co-tour:
“I know this sounds crazy, you gauge the bands that you have as an opening act, if they sell a huge amount of t-shirts the people usually like them. He didn’t sell any t-shirts. He is still trying to sell his t-shirts for 5 dollars a piece, on tour they are 40. He was so embarrassed that he would sell 100 shirts and I would sell 7,000, and it was completely obvious that the fans were walking way going: Man, what the fuck was that? You can make people cheer anyway you want but will they come back and see you? Dave tried to get back on tour and it was a disaster because he ruined everything.”

How do you feel about Velvet Revolvers tribute to Van Halen at Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?

“I don’t think it was very good and I really like those guys. It was unfair to take a young band like that, that had only been together for one album and try and make them try to be Van Halen. I think it was a little bit of a mistake but it wasn’t their fault cause they are great and I like those guys a lot, they are really good friends. Slash is a great guitar player when he is playing his stuff. But for Slash to try and play Eddie’s stuff was wrong. They should have had Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, or somebody like that to play the part. They should have had a legend induct and put together a great bunch of players who are more adapted to Van Halen to do the tribute.”

On the VH reunion tour with Sammy (2004, I think):
“Everyone said Eddie was all buffed, he looked good, but he wasn’t fucking buffed. He was skin and bones, he had some muscle tone but everyone has muscle tone. The guy had no teeth, he never ate, and he was falling down, hurting himself. Some nights he played so bad that I was embarrassed. He had moments of brilliance, don’t get me wrong. I played with Eddie for 11 years before that, I probably heard him make 5 mistakes in 11 years, he played perfect every night and this was not even close to that. On that tour, he couldn’t play a single note right. I want the world to know why I am not interested in doing that again. If he gets sober and he straightens out and if his mind isn’t deteriorated and he can play great again and be the great Eddie Van Halen that I know and love, I would be glad to go out and sing in his band again. I would be honored to.”

On Montrose’s short run:
“Ronnie wasn’t a songwriter because he wasn’t a singer; he was just a guitar player. So, he would get really frustrated about it because I was getting a lot of attention. Ted Templeman wanted my songs for the new album. But then Ronnie would say: “no no no were not using any of Sammy’s songs on this record”. And I thought, fucking why not? We were out on tour, working our asses off and not making money. We were pretty poor and having a hard time. And they put us out on tour for a year and a half. All of a sudden we come home to do a record and I had written songs on the road and Ronnie didn’t want to hear them. His jealousy caused the band to break up. I mean Ted loved the songs but wanted Ronnie’s opinion. And you all know what Ronnie’s stance was on that issue. I didn’t understand what it was but looking back now; Ronnie’s ego wouldn’t let him play second fiddle in “his” band. He never said anything; he didn’t put me in line. He just rejected me and then kicked me out. I was pushing but to no avail. Ronnie just didn’t want me to get famous. It was really a shame.”

But Sammy did add:
“Without Ronnie Montrose I would have been nothing. He taught me how to be what I am today. Without that lesson I might not have been who I am now.”

On the VH3/Cherone album:
“There was a lot of music on there that we were working on and then Gary Cherone came in and wrote new lyrics and sang it, and it was horrible. Gary Cherone is a great singer and he’s a great guy but that record was horrible. It ruined his career. He became the guy that ruined Van Halen. This isn’t true because Eddie Van Halen ruined Van Halen. I don’t care what anyone says – I’m not dogging Eddie. I’m saying he’s the guy responsible, he’s the guy that fired me, he’s the guy that got Gary Cherone at that horrible time, he’s the guy that continues to fuck the band up. He’s the guy that can’t work with Dave; he’s the guy who can’t work with me. He’s the guy that won’t go into the studio and make a record. He says that he’s in the studio everyday. My answer to that is, if you’re in a studio everyday, then where’s the fucking record? I’m not trying to condemn him; I’m not trying to ruin him.”

Category: Chickenfoot, Edward Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Ronnie Montrose, Slash