NEWS: What I think of the Gibson Sammy Hagar Red Rocker Les Paul

Last week Gibson announced a Sammy Hagar signature Les Paul. The bloggerverse seemed to pretty much universally say ‘Why Sammy? Isn’t he a Yamaha guy? Didn’t I see him with an Ernie Ball Music Man? What about all those Deans he played? And he was all over Kramers during the Van Halen ‘Live Without A Net’ era… oh and waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute, didn’t he play Hamer for a while too?’

All valid points. It’s certainly true that Sammy has never been overly associated with Gibson in the past (although I remember seeing Chickenfoot live shots and thinking “Huh. So after years of using Gibson-like designs, Sammy’s finally rockin’ an actual Gibson”). But I think giving Sammy a signature Les Paul is a great idea. Consider my extremely well-thought out argument:

The man wrote mother&#%ing I Can’t Drive 55.

I rest my case.

“But Peter,” you say. “Sammy also wrote One Way To Rock, and that’s obviously a mistruth, if he has figured out a way to rock on a Yamaha, an Ernie Ball Music Man, a Dean, a Kramer, a Hamer and a Gibson. T’would seem he’s found at least six ways to rock.” To you I would say … um… Oh god, look behind you, it’s a giant spider!

*scampers for the exit*

From Gibson.com:

Sammy Hagar Red Rocker Les Paul

Through a career that spans stints with Ronnie Montrose, Van Halen, and his own prominent solo work, Sammy Hagar has been the force behind a total of 60 million record sales and countless righteous riffs, and when the Red Rocker rocks, he chooses to rock Gibson. Now, in celebration of Hagar’s mammoth new band Chickenfoot, and its self-titled debut album, Gibson USA introduces the Sammy Hagar Red Rocker Les Paul, a guitar with legendary appointments and a hot new look designed by the artist himself, all primed to stoke a new era in rock. A super-group comprised of Joe Satriani on lead guitar, Michael Anthony of Van Halen on bass, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums, and Hagar on guitar and vocals, Red Rocker is taking the rock world by storm, and the Sammy Hagar Red Rocker Les Paul is the perfect centerpiece for the conquest.

Pickups and Electronics

The Sammy Hagar Red Rocker Les Paul carries a pair of pickups selected by Sammy himself to suit his tonal requirements, both with a coverless black-and-cream “zebra coil” look that adds an extra dash of style to this model.

A BurstBucker 3 in the bridge position yields extra sizzle and midrange oomph for solos and crunchy power-chord rhythm work, while a ’57 Classic in the neck provides a rich, throaty voice for singing blues leads and mellow clean playing. These pickups are routed through Gibson’s traditional control layout of a three-way Switchcraft toggle-style selector and an independent Volume and Tone potentiometer for each unit.

FEATURE: Guitarists who are better than you think they are

You know what it’s like as a guitarist. You find your favourite players or styles, you put the blinders up, and before you know it you’re swearing to some guy down the pub that you have no idea who Goo Goo Dolls are, even though you know damn well who they are and have maybe sung along to them on the radio once or twice, but you’re a hardcore guitar guy and you don’t dare admit something like that in a crowded room. Someone might be listening, and you have a reputation to uphold, dammit.

Look, it happens to us all. But there comes a time – usually when I’m in the car by myself – where I’ll hear some guitar playing and think ‘Hot damn… they’re actually pretty good…’ So here’s a little list of guitar players who are better than you probably think they are. Starting with…

John Mayer

This might be an odd choice, because among some corners of the guitar community you’ll find people who are well aware of Mayer’s fretboard skills. But others have no idea. If you want to see just how good John Mayer is, check out the amazing Jeff Beck-like solo in ‘Heartbreak Warfare,’ the opening track from his new CD ‘Battle Studies.’ The vocal-like phrasing, the killer tone, the dead-on sense of timing – these are traits you just don’t find every day in the guitar playing a pop artist. But dig a little deeper – say, into his ‘Try!’ album with the John Mayer Trio, and you’ll hear a dude whose blues education went far deeper than Stevie Ray Vaughan’s greatest hits and Eric Clapton’s ‘From The Cradle.’ He can shred too – just check out his solo on Fallout Boy’s cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It.’



Sammy Hagar

We all know the Red Rocker as the dude who can’t drive 55, the guy who doesn’t know why this can’t be love, the dude who can’t tell when it’s love, the dude who’s there when love walks in, and the dude who doesn’t want you to tell him what love can do. But when he’s not crooning about love or rocking out as the vocalist in Chickenfoot, Sammy is one heck of a guitarist. He tempers Led Zeppelin-style blues rock with just enough technical flair to kick his playing up a notch above every other Zep-influenced soloist and riffmeister, and when he really wants to Sammy can slay. Check out Van Halen’s ‘Live Without A Net’ DVD/video to see Sammy going toe to toe and lick for lick against Eddie Van Halen in a killer guitar duel during ‘One Way To Rock,’ or his perfectly constructed solo during the solo track ‘High Hopes’ on his ‘Unboxed’ greatest hits CD. Sure Eddie eventually kicks his ass (and he hits one hell of a clanger right before the harmony bit) but he puts up a valiant fight and is worthy of a hero’s death as Eddie hammers him into the ground with a flurry of classic Van Halenisms.



David Bowie

David Bowie’s been known to strum a guitar from time to time – his late 60s 12-string acoustic work was quite adequate for his material at the time, for instance. But Bowie came into his own as a guitarist when he retired the Spiders From Mars, effectively giving the sack to the legendary Mick Ronson on lead guitar. What was Bowie to do? Play the axe himself of course. So that iconic riff to ‘Rebel Rebel’ and the greaser rock of ‘Diamond Dogs’ emanate from the fingers of Bowie himself. Much later, during the tour to back up his ‘Heathen’ and ‘Reality’ releases, Bowie’s fuzzy rhythm playing – on a few identical Supro solidbodies – was the perfect foil for Gerry Leonard’s ambient soundscapes and the 70s heroics of Earl Slick. Cool. The video here is Be My Wife and to be honest I'm not 100% sure if he plays it on the album, but his 'finger synching' in the video appears dead-on and he has that cool side-to-side classical-style vibrato, so obviously the dude can wail.



Keith Scott (Bryan Adams)

Hey, don’t tell anyone I said this, alright? I have a stack of Strapping Young Lad, Kreator, Sepultura and Morbid Angel CDs right here on my desk to prove I’m still totally metal, but… man, the dude in Bryan Adams’ band can play. Just listen to his solo in ‘Anything I Do (I Do It For You)’ for proof. It’s ok, sit through Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves to hear it over the end credits while pretending you're trying to figure out who the Key Grip was if you can’t bring yourself to sit and listen to the track by itself and risk being caught. But you’ll hear some great delicate phrasing, perfectly understated whammy bar manipulation and killer note choices. Now, embedding of this video is disabled so instead I give you this:



Frank Zappa

Again, as with John Mayer there are people who well and truly know how good Frank Zappa was as a guitarist, but there are others who just think he’s that dude with the moustache who wrote songs about getting chicks off, yellow snow and valley girls. But if you need proof of exactly how incredible Zappa was, just listen to Steve Vai – some of his more out-there work sounds like a more polite Zappa, and of course Vai was Zappa’s stunt guitarist in the early 80s. If you’re in the ‘I didn’t realise Zappa was a serious musician’ camp, check out Frank’s stunning solo on ‘Inca Roads’ (where he performs two-handed tapping years before Van Halen), or his perfectly conceived and executed but totally improvised clean-toned solo in ‘Any Kind Of Pain’ – a solo so perfect it’s amazing that it wasn’t painstakingly mapped out note-for-note beforehand. This video is the actual performance used on the 'Broadway the Hard Way' album, although a little bit was edited out for the album.



Do you have any favourite players who you feel are underrated? Comment below!

INTERVIEW: Joe Satriani

You have to have been living in some kind of coop to not have heard about Chickenfoot, the new supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Mike Anthony and Chad Smith. Far from just being a mixture of Van Halen, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and a certain surfing alien guitarist, Chickenfoot rocks with a distinctive band sound. You get the feeling the 'foot is in it for the long run,

I Heart Guitar: Hi Joe! Peter from I Heart Guitar here. This is the third time I’ve interviewed you and also, you replied to me on Twitter a couple of weeks ago.

Joe Satriani: (Laughs) Oh fantastic. It’s funny how I’ve taken to doing Twitter while I’m sitting here in my studio practicing, just a crazy thing to do while I’m taking 60 seconds off.

I Heart Guitar: Same, if I’m typing up an article I’m sometimes like, ‘Eh, I just need to blab about stuff for a few seconds.’

Satriani: It’s a strange modern neurosis, isn’t it? Twitter is made for people like us who need to somehow get things out. It’s funny, before these interviews started I posted a picture that I got from these guys at Vox – someone’s girlfriend had given her boyfriend a birthday cake in the shape of a giant Satchurator pedal. It was the funniest picture.

I Heart Guitar: I saw that! So, first question: The album debuted at number 4, how cool is that!

Satriani: Yeah, I swear, I was thinking we were going to be 100-something. So when someone said “You know, I think we might be in the top 20” I was like, “Yeah, right.” Then, “No it’s going to be in the top 10.” Then as it came closer and closer I started getting emails from Gary Arnold at Best Buy saying “You’d better be ready, this is coming out at number 4.” Dave Matthews, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas. Classic rock up against those guys, it’s a great moment for rock.

I Heart Guitar: So you just wrapped up a mini tour?

Satriani: We did this little club tour. We called it a Road Test tour and we played in places that held 400 people, little sweat boxes, and it was so much fun, to take a real rock band like this with a brand new record that no-one had heard and just try to make them hear it and understand it. There’s nothing like feedback from a few hundred people who can scratch your nose during the show if they want (laughs). I mean, you really do have to do your work, but the feedback you get is great, and the fans who came to see us can take pride in being part of the experience that told us how to do it. I’m glad we did it and we’ll take that experience to Europe for this festival tour that’s starting later this week.

I Heart Guitar: Did you learn anything new about the songs after playing them on the tour?

Satriani: What you learn about is which part should stay the same and which parts are flexible. And you learn that with every album. I’ve learned that every time I’ve taken an instrumental record on the road. For instance, you learn that Flying In A Blue Dream has got to be handled very carefully but Ice 9 can be played a million different ways and it still works. You just never really know until you try. It was good for us to get this happening because let me tell you something: between February 2008 when we first played together and then a year later, we had still only spent 43 days making a record and about a week more playing together. We had never played all the songs top to bottom, let alone do a show. So we really were a band that against all odds recorded an album, and then all of a sudden we had to get experience like a normal band would. We condensed it into that little two-week club tour.

I Heart Guitar: And I hear you guys might possibly be coming down here to Australia sooner or later?

Satriani: You know I have made it my personal quest to convince the guys in the band that Chickenfoot needs to tour the world twice before it thinks about taking a break or going in to record another album. I’m the kind of guy who’s toured almost everywhere and I keep telling them, “We’ve gotta go to Australia, we’ve gotta go to New Zealand. I want to take you guys to India and the Pacific Rim. And we might as well do South Africa while we’re at it, let alone South America, North America and Europe.” Sammy doesn’t have a whole bunch of experience touring outside of America. He started out that way in Montrose but Van Halen wasn’t really that adventurous when it came to international touring. I think Chad is the only other one with a lot of international experience because the Chilli Peppers are a worldwide phenomenon.

I Heart Guitar: How do you approach guitar for Chickenfoot compared to your own songs?

Satriani: The biggest difference is that in a band like this with the kind of music we’re writing, I knew from the start that the rhythm guitar, the guitar that plays the riff, the intro guitar, the guitar that really plays with the rhythm section, has got to be the heart and soul of the band. It really does. It’s not about the soloist. To me that’s more like an 80s kind of a thing, where the guitarist is always on a self-promotion trip. And that was cool back then. Eddie Van Halen was the star of that: he had the true chops to pull that off. But I didn’t want to just revisit that era. Having lived through it myself I’m not interested in that. So I looked further back, and Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, they created these amazing records with their amazing rhythm guitar parts that really embodied the soul of the music. Then when the solo part came they would freak out and go crazy, but then they’d get back to what you really wanted which was the band rocking riffs. I made it my personal quest to make sure that happened. I wasn’t thinking Chickenfoot was a vehicle for Joe Satriani to fuse his solo stuff with a singer. I wanted it to be something totally Chickenfoot, something totally original with the band. I think everybody felt the same way in their own right. They weren’t out to try to reproduce what they were famous for. They wanted to use the band as impetus to do something new that they hadn’t done before.

I Heart Guitar: One thing I think is really cool about the band is hearing Mike Anthony right up there in the mix, and it’s so great to hear those backing vocals again too. Listening to Chickenfoot reminds me of how absolutely important he was to Van Halen.

Satriani: Yeah I know, he’s the sound, really, the sound of that band. That vocal blend is amazing. His playing, I remember every time we’d finish doing a song I’d say “How come I never heard that on a Van Halen song?” Musically I can see it because Eddie was a more adventurous player and maybe they thought the bass should be simpler so Eddie could be crazier, but the way we structure our stuff, no-one ever said a word to Mike. We just figured he’d play whatever he wants because everything he plays, we love it. It’s great. And then of course, having Andy Johns engineering for us was great because he loves Mike’s playing. He loves to hear that bass sounding big and fat. I think it’s so important.

I Heart Guitar: Well the Van Halen album Andy produced (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, 1991) was the only one where you could really hear Mike. So why did you choose Andy this time?

Satriani: It was one of these things where we had this weird schedule where every two months we’d get together for two days and try to learn as many new songs as I had written, and we knew that at some point we were going to want to be in the studio for a month and really finish the record. I was thinking we needed a producer who was a big tall guy with a loud voice who could really take control of this. I thought Andy would be the perfect guy for the things we just talked about with Mike. I thought he was the only guy who could capture Chad, because Chad’s drumming is so intense. When you’re in a room with him it sounds nothing like the Chilli Peppers. It sounds like the craziest, biggest rock drummer you’ve ever heard. So I thought I need a big guy who knows how to record other big guys to capture this. Now, I’d made a record with Andy before (The Extremist, 1992) and I’d made a record with his brother (Glyn Johns), and he’d made a Van Halen record before – although Sammy had fired him at one point! But when I brought his name up everyone was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” I guess everyone was feeling the same way. Andy came in and he really did bring a lot of wonderful sounds and a lot of great arrangement ideas. He really knew how to capture us when we were good, and he refused to record us if he thought we were sucking (laughs), which was great. When everybody left and it was just Andy and myself in the studio we had a great time doing the overdubs because we felt the same way: that this was a record that, if you needed a banjo, then you would play it. If you needed eight harmonicas, you would play it. If you needed a piano, an organ and twelve electric 12-strings, you just did it. So that’s what we did. We spent about three or four weeks just going crazy every day trying anything to make the songs that much better. He has great experience at that. He really knows how to pick the right instruments for the right job.

He’s got this funny thing where you’ll be trying to do a part and he’s looking at ya, giving you attitude, like, “No, that sucks, don’t play that. Do something else.” Then you play something and he’ll just get so excited, and he’ll say “You know what? That’s it. I’m leaving. You can stay here and waste your time but I’m leaving.” And he’ll just go. And you go “Wow, he’s the weirdest guy ever,” you know? But two days later you listen back and you go, “Oh he was right! Everything else after that did suck. That was the take!” It was good to have him around.

I Heart Guitar: So I wouldn’t be much of a guitar geek if I didn’t ask you what stuff you used on the album.

Satriani: Oh yes, a long list of crazy things. There are songs like Oh Yeah, Soap On A Rope and Get It Up, which basically was my live rig recorded at Sam’s studio. We really thought we were doing demos but they were so charismatic that we used them as our main recording. So that would be the Ibanez JS1000, the Vox pedals and the Peavey JSX. Probably just one head and cabinet, and it was probably just mic’d with whatever was there at Sam’s studio. Then there were songs that were done at the Skywalker studios where we had some other vintage 4X12 cabinets, and we had this Peavey 50 watt prototype that we were working on. The channel switching didn’t work and the effects loop wasn’t wired up – it was really an ugly-looking thing, but it did do this one thing great, which was it had this clean-yet-distorted, right on the edge sound that was just perfect for what we were doing.

I Heart Guitar: Is this the JSX 50 that was announced at Winter NAMM?

Satriani: Yeah but I don’t know when it’s going to come out. We’re still working on it. We’re still trying to make it as good as we can. Then there were some other things thrown in there, like I have two 59 Fender Twin amps that are just great relics. When we need a little slide wah-wah part we plug into that. The harmonicas all went into my Peavey Mini Colossal amp, a great amp for harmonica. When we needed a little extra fairy dust I played a 1966 Fender electric 12-string and a not-so-old Rickenbacker 12-string. Sometimes we’d put them into a Vox AC30. I’ve got a vintage one from 1964. Sometimes we’d just record them direct and sometimes we’d do a blend. I had some other vintage guitars like a 69 Fender Strat, a 55 Gibson Les Paul, a 59 Gibson ES-335 and a 58 Fender Telecaster, and we would sprinkle them in among the songs to, what would you call it… I guess you’re widening the frequency range. There’s a song on the record called My Kind Of Girl, and the main guitar is a JS1000 from 1990. It’s got a snake pattern on it, drop D tuning into the 50 watt Peavey prototype. Then its brother guitar on the other side, on the right channel, is a 58 Esquire into the same amp with the treble attenuated quite a bit because that’s a really bright guitar. The two of them together was great. The Esquire really supported keeping the JS1000 as the main guitar. Then for the solo we used the prototype Ibanez JS24, which is a 24-fret model I’ve got coming out, which has a very thick, heavy sound. As soon as that solo comes on it’s like, “Whoa.” It has its own identity. I still like doing that, and Andy’s a big fan of that, of trying to balance the stereo field with different things. So sometimes we’d do it with guitars, sometimes I’d play piano, or organ, or Wurlitzer electric piano, and double my guitar part with a piano part. There are songs where, I kid you not, there’s three synths, an organ, a piano, six 12-strings and an acoustic, all on one side. You can barely hear them but they’re there, kinda gurgling about.

I Heart Guitar: What more can you tell us about the JS24?

Satriani: It’s a really cool thing. I’ve always liked the idea of having those frets up there but I never wanted to move the humbucking pickup. That’s always been the problem because the humbucking neck pickup really only works where Gibson stuck it on the Les Paul. To me, that’s the spot, and once you start moving it back towards the bridge it starts to become horrible-sounding. Other guitars that have had the 24 frets and they move that pickup, it’s like, you may as well get rid of it, you know? So I was determined to solve this. And what saved us was the DiMarzio Pro Track. Ibanez got this thing right up against the last fret. It’s amazing how they were able to do it. It’s got a little bit more generous cutaway to the body so you can get up there and play up there. We’re still experimenting with the bridge pickup. I’m thinking it might be a Norton, one of the pickups I designed along with the FRED and the Mo’Jo with DiMarzio. Steve Blucher at DiMarzio is a wizard, so when I say I designed the pickups, that’s a euphemism for me requesting something (laughs). I say “Steve, can you just give me something that goes, like, ‘KKRRR-RURRRR’?” and he goes “Okay. Gimmie a couple of days.”

I Heart Guitar: I interviewed him a little while ago and he was really entertaining.

Satriani: Oh he’s amazing. He’s a very knowledgeable yet incredibly funny person. He makes just the greatest pickups ever. He and Larry are just really fantastic people. So anyway, we were just talking about that today in fact, myself and Steve, about trying to just go that extra one last .1%, because we’re so close to having the guitar all finished out. We’ve already picked out the colour of this and the colour of that and all this sort of stuff. But I’m excited about it. It’s really nice. That neck pickup really is like, wow, it really just sounds like the biggest Strat you ever played.

Chickenfoot's debut self-titled album is out now.

CHICKENFOOT tour dates:

Jun. 20 - Austria Nova Rock Festival
Jun. 23 - Cork, Ireland: Live At The Marquee
Jun. 25 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire
Jun. 26 - Holland: Heerhugowaard
Jun. 28 - Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting Festival
Jun. 29 - Paris: Olympia
Jul. 01 - Madrid (venue to be confirmed)
Jul. 03 - Pistoia, Italy: Blues Festival
Jul. 04 - Montreux, Switzerland: Stravinski Hall
Jul. 05 - Udine, Italy: Lignano Sbbiadoro
Jul. 07 - Hamburg: Grosse Freiheit
Jul. 08 - Copenhagen: Vega
Jul. 10 - Kilafors, Sweden: Rockweekend Festival
Jul. 12 - Weert, Holland: Bospop Festival

NEWS: Preview the Chickenfoot CD

Woke up this morning to see on Blabbermouth that you can now preview (or is that pre-hear?) every track from the Chickenfoot CD at the website of Swiss multimedia site CeDe. Awesome! Haven’t had a chance to check the link out myself yet – no time to sit at the computer when there’s jogging to be done, and my office computer is speakerless, dagnabbit – but I can’t wait to check these tracks out tonight. Thanks to Chris for pointing out that you can only hear 30 seconds of each song, by the way.

So What do you think of the previews?

Chickenfoot - Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Mike Anthony and Chad Smith, release their self-titled debut album on June 9. CLICK HERE to preorder the import version of the album from Amazon.com for $24.49.

NEWS: Chickenfoot vinyl-only bonus track

Man, every guitar site on the internet is quickly becoming a Chickenfoot PR machine! These guys are releasing new tracks and new news pretty much every day now. The latest is that the vinyl edition of their self-titled album will include an exclusive bonus track called ‘Bitten By The Wolf.’ Without hearing the lyrics it’s hard to say if the song is a reference to Wolfgang Van Halen, hehe.

Here’s the link to preorder the CD and vinyl editions at Best Buy.

CLICK HERE to see Ibanez JS (Joe Satriani) guitars on eBay.

NEWS: Chickenfoot tour dates

North American "ROAD TEST" Dates

Playing a series of intimate venues, this initial tour is set to launch on May 14th and runs until May 29th. Keep an eye on the site in the next day for a special video from the guys announcing these shows!

May 14 El Corazon - Seattle, WA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am
May 15 Commodore Ballroom -Vancouver, BC, CA - Onsale 4/17, presale 4/16 10:00am
May 17 The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am
May 19 The Roxy Theatre - West Hollywood, CA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am
May 22 Park West - Chicago, IL - Onsale 4/17, presale 4/16 10:00am
May 24 The Mod Club Theatre - Toronto, ON, CA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am
May 26 Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge, MA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am
May 28 The Fillmore NY @ Irving Plaza - New York, NY - Onsale 4/17, presale 4/16 10:00am
May 29 TLA - Philadelphia, PA - Onsale 4/18, presale 4/17 10:00am

Europe Summer 2009 Dates

Sat Jun 20 AUSTRIA Nova Rock Festival
Tue Jun 23 CORK, IRELAND: Live at the Marquee (solo show)
Thu Jun 25 LONDON Shepherd's Bush Empire (solo show)
Fri Jun 26 HOLLAND: Heerhugowaard (solo show)
Sun Jun 28 BELGIUM Graspop Metal Meeting Festival w/ Marylyn Manson, Nightwish, Disturbed, Chickenfoot
Mon Jun 29 PARIS: Olympia (solo show)
Wed Jul 1 Madrid (venue tbc)
Fri Jul 3 PISTOIA, ITALY: Blues Festival (line-up TBA)
Sat Jul 4 MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND: Stravinski Hall Featuring Steely Dan, Dave Matthews, Chickenfoot
Sun Jul 5 UDINE, ITALY: Lignano Sbbiadoro
Tue Jul 7 HAMBURG: Docks (solo show)
Wed Jul 8 COPENHAGEN: Vega (solo show)
Fri Jul 10 KILAFORS, SWEDEN: Rockweekend Festival
Sun Jul 12 WEERT, HOLLAND: Bospop Festival Featuring Bryan Adams and Chickenfoot

NEWS: More Chickenfoot music!

I know there's been a lot of hype about Chickenfoot, but man, I'm diggin' this stuff. It may not be the greatest album of all time (I believe that title goes to Mike Keneally's Sluggo!) but as a slice of groovy rock it's got a lot going for it. Check out the song 'Oh Yeah' here, along with the previously released 'Down The Drain' and 'Soap On A Rope.'

The self-titled CD will be made available by earMUSIC in Germany on Friday, June 5 and in the U.K. on Monday. June 8. The album will be released by Best Buy in the U.S. on Sunday, June 7.

Chickenfoot track listing:

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

NEWS: Full Chickenfoot album details

Here's the press release for the Chickenfoot album. Excited? I am!

CHICKENFOOT, the new rock supergroup comprised of drummer Chad Smith (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS), bassist Michael Anthony (ex-VAN HALEN), guitarist Joe Satriani and vocalist Sammy Hagar (ex-VAN HALEN), has announced the global release of its self-titled debut album. The CD will be made available by earMUSIC in Germany on Friday, June 5 and in the U.K. on Monday. June 8. The album will be released by Best Buy in the U.S. on Sunday, June 7.
"Chickenfoot" will be packaged in heat-sensitive artwork, which means when you put your hand on the CD inlay, photos of the band members will be revealed behind the CHICKENFOOT band logo.

"Chickenfoot" track listing:

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

Hagar wasn't looking to form a new group in his post-VAN HALEN career. "I really wasn't looking to have a real band, but when I got involved with these guys, only a fool would say, 'No, I'm not going to do this.' The minute we started jamming it was obvious, like, 'This is something that needs to be heard.'"

A great band is nothing without a great rhythm section, and CHICKENFOOT has one of the best in the two-man team of bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Chad Smith.

As a founding member (and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer) of VAN HALEN, Anthony laid the bedrock for which guitar genius Eddie Van Halen could fly. More than that, he provided a signature style of background vocal that became an intrinsic part of that band. "A total fluke," the good-natured bassist humbly asserts. "I was just doing what came naturally."

Hagar sees Anthony's abilities differently. "Michael keeps the band going," he says. "Listen, he's never going to get the kind of credit he deserves — he played next to Eddie Van Halen. Hell, Jack Bruce didn't get much credit compared to Eric Clapton — that's just the nature of things. Mikey held down the fort, and he still does."

Aiding Anthony in holding down the fort is Chad Smith, drummer for the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, who have, since Smith joined the group in the late Eighties, gone from cult faves to a worldwide force. Heretofore thought of as a "funk/alternative" drummer, Smith gets to rock hard with CHICKENFOOT, and the percussion explosion he creates might come as a surprise to those who only know of his work from tracks like "Under The Bridge".

"The guy's from Detroit, for God's sake!" says Hagar. "He can play the hell out of funk, but he's a rocker. He plays hard, man. You could put one mic in a room with Chad, and you can hear all the parts of his kit — he's hard, but he's balanced. The band wouldn't exist without his groove."

The members of CHICKENFOOT admit that the band came together almost by accident, a result of jams held at Hagar's club, Cabo Wabo Cantina, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

"We were just having fun," recalls Michael Anthony. "After Sammy and I left VAN HALEN, we'd get together with musicians, and certain people seemed to really gel. Chad came down and we got on well with him. Gradually, we started talking about doing something more serious, but we needed a guitarist. Somebody smokin' — somebody who could take us to the Promised Land."

Enter Satch, who hooked up with Hagar, Anthony and Smith and felt "an immediate connection unlike anything I'd ever experienced before." To Satriani, who had almost abandoned his lifelong dream of being a part of a "big-time rock band," here was his chance, and here were his bandmates. "After just a few songs, it became stunningly obvious that we shared an overall musical agenda," he says. "The only question was could we make a great album?"

The band answered that question last fall when they hunkered down with the illustrious producer Andy Johns at George Lucas' Skywalker Studios and knocked out a batch of songs that sets a new standard for rock music in the new millennium.

From the thunderous, ominous opening strains of "Avenida Revolution" (detailing the bloody drug wars in Tijuana, in which Hagar makes his feelings come through his skin) to the album closer, the shimmering rock ballad "Future's in the Past", "Chickenfoot" is a firebomb of a record, the likes of which we haven't heard in ages.

The band kicks and snorts their way through a passel of take-no-prisoners rockers like "Soap on a Rope", "Sexy Little Thing", "Oh Yeah" and "My Kind of Girl".

"These are the kinds of songs I could never do on my own," says Satriani. "I needed a band like this to make those songs come alive."

The band explores mature themes on songs such as "Runnin' Out", about a world stretched to the breaking point to "Learning to Fall", perhaps the most poignant love song Hagar has ever written lyrics for. As both a vocalist and songwriter, Hagar's intensity and forcefulness are on vivid display on "Chickenfoot".

"I write what comes to mind," the singer says. "I'm not bound by anything subject-wise. I'm inspired by the music. When I heard the music Joe was going for, it made me reach, it made me stretch. I think it made me sing in a way that I normally wouldn't have done. We seem to have that kind of effect on each other."

Satriani agrees. "People have this idea of what this band is about, or what Sammy Hagar is about as a lyricist and a vocalist," he says. "The thing is that we manage to get each guy to up his game in a non-confrontational way. When I play with CHICKENFOOT, I find myself wanting to give them more all the time. I don't hold anything back. I think the rest of the guys feel the same way."

That Satriani unleashes sheets of shred magna is, of course, a given, but what's interesting is, as individualistic and recognizable as his talents are — and this is true of all the players — they transform in a strange and beautiful way on "Chickenfoot".

Likewise, Anthony and Smith, channel past heroes. For Anthony it's ELECTRIC FLAG bassist Harvey Brooks. For Smith it's ZEPPELIN's John Bonham. Together, they perform something of an astonishing balancing act, dispending performances that meet at the intersection of Heavy and Nimble. This is what a rhythm section does, drives the band in forceful, creative ways. Listen to CHICKENFOOT and you'll hear what a true rhythm section sounds like.

"Chickenfoot", which is already being hailed as the most intense rock 'n' roll album since LED ZEPPELIN's classic efforts, coincides with a European tour that will consist of outdoor festivals, including Montreaux, Switzerland, and Bospop, Holland, plus various intimate indoor rock shows, including the London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on June 25.

Tickets for the London 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire concert go on sale at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 27. This will be CHICKENFOOT's only UK date on the European tour.

CHICKENFOOT tour dates:

Jun. 20 - Austria Nova Rock Festival
Jun. 23 - Cork, Ireland: Live At The Marquee
Jun. 25 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire
Jun. 26 - Holland: Heerhugowaard
Jun. 28 - Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting Festival
Jun. 29 - Paris: Olympia
Jul. 01 - Madrid (venue to be confirmed)
Jul. 03 - Pistoia, Italy: Blues Festival
Jul. 04 - Montreux, Switzerland: Stravinski Hall
Jul. 05 - Udine, Italy: Lignano Sbbiadoro
Jul. 07 - Hamburg: Grosse Freiheit
Jul. 08 - Copenhagen: Vega
Jul. 10 - Kilafors, Sweden: Rockweekend Festival
Jul. 12 - Weert, Holland: Bospop Festival

NEWS: 2 full Chickenfoot songs!

Quick! www.myspace.com/thechickenfoot!!! Two full Chickenfoot songs! Rockin'! Loud! Funky! Satchy! Chunky! Rocksome! Go! Listen! Come back here and tell me what ya think!

Personally I like it. Kinda reminds me of some of Sammy's rockier solo stuff, but with Satch wailin' away and some cool solid Mike Anthony bass playing. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album.

According to Blabbermouth, CHICKENFOOT, the "supergroup" featuring members of the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and VAN HALEN, played a private concert on March 18, 2009 in Southern California for employees of Best Buy. 

CHICKENFOOT will release its self-titled debut disc this spring. The first single from the CD will either be "Oh, Yeah!" or "Bitten By The Wolf". The band will also hit the road in May in support of the album, hitting clubs in the U.S. first, heading to Europe during the summer, then coming back for a larger North American run in the fall.

The group plans to perform songs from each of its members' careers in addition to tracks from the CHICKENFOOT album, so fans will get to hear songs from VAN HALEN, the CHILI PEPPERS, Satriani, and Hagar's solo catalog.

CHICKENFOOT will appear on the cover of the June issue of Guitar World, due out on April 7.

NEWS: Chickenfoot play first live show

Whoa, photos are starting to appear on Twitter following the live debut of Chickenfoot, the supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Mike Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Chad Smith. I’m sure more info will come to hand, and I’ll try to stay on top of it, but from THIS PHOTO it appears that Sammy Hagar occasionally plays guitar in the band too: note his amps either side of the drum kit.

Follow I Heart Guitar on Twitter by clicking here.

NEWS: More Chickenfoot info

I was just over at the Van Halen News Desk looking for news and I stumbled upon some cool information about Chickenfoot, the new supergroup featuring Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith. Parts of the story are below and you can read the full article HERE but here are some highlights:

* The name Chickenfoot appears to have well and truly stuck.

* The album will be released in the second quarter of the year.

* The band will tour.

* There will be a Guitar World feature on the band soon.

The band completed their first photo shoot a week ago. The photographer, Ross Halfin, wrote in his Feb. 10th journal:

“Got up at 5am and flew up to San Francisco. I’m doing a shoot with Chickenfoot, the new group with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith, and Michael Anthony. It was so early after driving out to Mill Valley, an hour north, it was still only 10am - sunny and freezing. The band arrived eventually with Sammy last at 2pm and he only lives up the street. Shoot quite a lot with solos, group stuff, ads, you name it.

Heard three tracks which were quite rocking, including “Avenida Revolution”. It was nice seeing Sammy. I first shot him thirty years ago in the same area. Sammy has a Ferarri that is the fastest model made for the road. He took me for a terrifying drive at two hundred miles an hour around the local streets. Sammy can drive - I felt like I was on a mini scalectrix track in a remake of Death Race 2000. I do not like fast cars…

Finished up shooting Sam and his new toy. In his warehouse were several of them - a car pervert’s delight. Said goodbye to Sammy and flew back to Los Angeles early evening.”

Photo: Ross Halfin

NEWS: First Chickenfoot music!

QUICK! Head over to this site right now (okay, finish reading this story first, then head over) to hear the first music from Chickenfoot, the supergroup featuring Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Chad Smith and Mike Anthony. 

The music sounds quite live: Satch on the left, Mike on the right, sorta like the David Lee Roth era of Van Halen, now that I come to think of it. 

Oh and by the way, it appears they've decided to stick with the name Chickenfoot. Sammy mentioned in an interview recently that Chickenfoot was supposed to be a temporary name, but so many people knew about it that they may as well stick with it.

NEWS: Chickenfoot album update

In a posting on his blog, former Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony says work is progressing nicely on the album by Chickenfoot, the new band featuring Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Here's Mike's post:

Whew, is it Holiday season again already?? I hope all of you had a great year, and are ready to finish it off in grand style!! First, I want to wish everyone out there "Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year"!! Party hard , but party safe. Second, I want to update you on the status of "Chickenfoot". Chad and I just got back this week from recording in the San Francisco area, and I am pleased to say that the basic tracks are finished and smokin'!! Right now Joe is sprinkling some guitar magic on everything, and next week Sam will be doing vocals. Then I'll be back up there to slather some backround vocals on everything. I can't wait for all of you to check it out!! Look out 2009!!!!! Take care, and I'll see ya soon....Michael

I can't freaking wait for this album. It's about time Sammy allied himself with another monster guitarist, and it's also about time Satch got together with a vocalist - I remember a Guitar World interview in 1992 where Satch said that he'd love to put together a band project if the right singer came along (that's right, I've mentally filed every quote from every guitar magazine I've read since 1991 - what can I say, there was nothing better to do in my home town!).

REVIEW: Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion

My first ever Van Halen album was For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (I think I bought it on cassette with my birthday money when I turned 13) and I thought Sammy Hagar was the coolest dude alive – well, after Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, anyway.

My opinion of Sammy was elevated further by a kickass rendition of the song ‘High Hopes’ on the Late Show with David Letterman in about 2004, where Sammy chugged out a chunky riff and let fly on a blazing guitar solo on an Ernie Ball/Music Man Edward Van Halen signature guitar.

Sammy’s new album, ‘Cosmic Universal Fashion,’ is unique in his discography because it wasn’t written and recorded from start to end as an album: instead it comprises a bunch of disparate tracks written and recorded in a variety of different settings over a number of years for various projects. Yet there’s a unity to the tracks which helps them sit together in the same collection even though the moods vary wildly.

‘Cosmic Universal Fashion’ is not immune from moments of guitar brilliance. In fact the CD opens with a wild, high-speed guitar lick, and with axemen including Journey’s Neal Schon, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, and the Wabos’ Vic Johnson, there’s no shortage of guitar fire on this one. Tracks two and three, in particular will be especially appealing to guitar geeks like me. These two songs, “Psycho Vertigo” and “Peephole,” are the only recordings of Sammy’s short-lived supergroup, Planet Us, which included Schon, Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony and drummer Deen Castronovo (Joe Satriani was later added to the line-up, but aside from a Rockline performance nothing was ever recorded with him). These songs are dark, powerful, moody and atmospheric, and are not a million miles removed from Sammy and Mike’s work on Van Halen’s ‘Balance’ album.

The album’s first single and title track is a collaboration with a young Iraqi musician, Steven Lost, and the song’s theme and music video (see below) both echo Van Halen’s 1991 single, ‘Right Now,’ while updating the theme to the present day. The music couldn’t be any more different than the Van Halen track though, with heavy, semi-industrial drums, creppy synths and huge guitar chords.

‘Loud’ is a straightforward, top-down, foot-to-the-floor rocker with funny lyrics and a guitar solo straight out of big 70s rock, and ‘When The Sun Don’t Shine’ has country elements and a sunny, summer feel which remind me of Sammy’s ‘Livin’ It Up’ album. ‘24365’ has a tight funk-metal guitar riff which reminds me of Extreme in their ‘III Sides To Every Story’ era, and ‘I’m On A Roll’ could fit quite neatly if added between ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Why Can’t This Be Love?’ on Van Halen’s ‘5150’ album.

There are a few misfires on the CD – Sammy’s cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)’ might be a fun track in a live setting, but it doesn’t really work here and Sammy seems to strain a little bit with the vocals. And ‘Switch On The Light’ has some cool grooves, some tasty Billy Gibbons guitar and a bold, progressive chorus, but it kinda loses its way a bit. But for the most part, there’s a good balance of ‘Party Sammy’ and ‘Serious Sammy’ here, and the opportunity to hear the two Planet Us songs is a very welcome surprise which, combined with the strength of ‘Loud,’ ‘24365’ and ‘I’m On A Roll,’ makes the album well worth checking out.

Roadrunner/Loud & Proud

CLICK HERE to buy Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion from Amazon.com

NEWS: Michael Anthony on Van Halen, Chickenfoot

Check out this cool audio interview at Music Radar with bass player Michael Anthony about Van Halen and Chickenfoot his new band with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith. Normally kinda reserved in interviews, Mike's not shy about his opinions on this one.

The interview is conducted by former Guitar World editor Joe Bosso, one of my little journalistic heroes. 

Here's the intro from Music Radar. CLICK HERE to download the interview.

Michael Anthony opens up about Van Halen, Chickenfoot

"I'm the ultimate rock 'n' roll sideman," says former Van Halen bassist and current Chickenfoot member Michael Anthony.

"But that doesn't mean a 'sideman' isn't vital," he stresses. "I'm the kind of guy who has your back. When you want to go off and solo for ten minutes, I keep that groove going. It's an important job."

Since he first came to the public's attention in 1978 on Van Halen's revolutionary debut album, Michael Anthony has done his job better than anyone. Throughout the '70s, '80s and into the '90s, he helped lay the foundation for the Van Halen sound, providing massive yet nimble bass parts over which Eddie Van Halen could fly. "Incredible times," Anthony remembers. "Despite all the bullshit that went down in that band, I'm proud of the music we made, and always will be."

Changing lead singers - David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and, for a minute or two, Gary Cherone - made the Van Halen experience "something of a mind game from time to time," says Anthony. "As soon as we had a strong identity, we had to change." And Eddie Van Halen's substance abuse problems didn't help matters. "I don't want to talk smack on anyone," says Anthony, "but there were times that were, uh, difficult."

After a bittersweet 'Van Hagar' reunion in 2004, Anthony assumed the band was finished for good. So he was more than a little surprised when Van Halen announced they were hitting the road early last year with original lead singer David Lee Roth - and Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass.

"It was a blow," says Anthony. "I would have loved to have been a part of it. But at my age, you learn to roll with the punches. And you find that better things lay ahead."

Such as Chickenfoot, the supergroup he's formed with fellow Van Halen survivor Hagar, guitarist Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. (If you don't know about this band yet, check out Related Links and catch up.)

"Chickenfoot is phenomenal," the bassist enthuses. "I can't believe the music we're making. And wait till you hear the blazing lead guitar Joe Satriani is playing. The guy's a monster."

In the podcast, Anthony talks candidly about his Van Halen years, times both good and crushingly bad. "A lot of these things I've never said before," he reveals. "I'm kind of a 'let it go' kind of guy." Plus, he raves about his new band, who aim to have an album out next spring. "We're gonna rock people's worlds," he says. "Just when everybody says nobody makes music like this anymore, here we come."

Photo © Todd Martyn-Jones

NEWS: New releases - 17/11/2008

Another quiet week for new releases, but not as quiet as last week when I couldn't find a single new release worth writing about. As always, click on the title to buy the album.

Nickelback - Dark Horse Roadrunner
The new Nickelback album is produced by Robert 'Mutt' Lange, mastermind of Def Leppard's massive 80s 'Hysteria' sound, so expect lots of big vocals, sturdy beats and poppy choruses. The production on the first single, “Gotta Be Somebody,” reminds me of something by Pink. I’m just sayin’.


Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion Roadrunner/Loud N’Proud
Sammy’s latest album includes two tracks by his short-lived supergroup, Planet Us, featuring Neal Schon, Michael Anthony and Deen Castronovo. Lots of dark grooves at the front end of the album, and more of the Party Sammy in the second half. A very solid album.


Belle And Sebastian - The BBC Sessions Matador
Fifteen tracks recorded between 1996 and 2001 by this gorgeously retro-minded group from the UK. The regular CD includes an additional four unreleased songs from their classic early Jeepster period. The limited, deluxe double CD contains an entire live show broadcast on BBC Evening Session in mid-2001 with another four never before heard songs. The first person to refer to them as ‘twee pop’ gets a punch in the throat.

NEWS: More new Sammy Hagar stuff

I just got an advance copy of Sammy Hagar's new album, 'Cosmic Universal Fashion,' and I'm cranking it up right now (the title track kicks much ass).

The album, released November 18 in the US and November 22 in Australia on Roadrunner/Loud & Proud, features Sammy's parner in ex-Van Halenism, bass player Michael Anthony, as well as Billy Duffy from the Cult, Matt Sorum from Guns N' Roses, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Neal Schon from Journey.

I'll have a review online by the end of the week, but in the meantime here's the track 'Loud' for your listening pleasure, and that huge Sammy scream at the end of the quiet section that follows the tasty classic rock wah solo.

NEWS: Sammy Hagar's new video

Sammy Hagar has just released the video for 'Cosmic Universal Fashion,' the title track off his forthcoming alblum (released November 18). The album features Sammy's parner in ex-Van Halenism, bass player Michael Anthony, as well as Billy Duffy from the Cult, Matt Sorum from Guns N' Roses, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Neal Schon from Journey.

'Cosmic Universal Fashion, was written in an online collaboration between Hagar and a young Iraqi band in Baghdad, and the music video is a sequel to Van Halen's 'Right Now.' video. The album also includes a cover of the Beastie Boys’ '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).' If anyone has a right to cover that song, it's a dude who started his own tequila company, hehe.

I'll have a review of the album soon. In the meantime, here's the video.



CLICK HERE to buy Sammy Hagar - Cosmic Universal Fashion

INTERVIEW: Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani is heading out on tour in the US and Canada to support his latest CD, Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock, a psychedelic mish-mash of funky grooves, wild improvisations, punchy riffs and exotic melodies. I caught up with Satch to chat about the new album, his latest distortion box, and his new band with some familiar faces…

Peter: Did you have an overall goal for this album?

Joe Satriani: I had a couple that were sort of streaming along each other. I wanted it to be a pretty eclectic mix of music. I wanted some tight arrangements. I wanted some songs to be really open so I could put a lot of improvisation in, and I wanted to try to some serious music and then some music that was very light-hearted, you know? And it’s always a risk when you try to entertain a theme that has many themes – it’s not just a singular theme. But it was something I wanted to do after previewing about 40 of my compositions. I started to edit it down to about 16. I really started to feel like I didn’t want to let go of some of the improv songs, so I kept ‘Andalusia’ and ‘Asik Vaysel,’ and I wanted to keep the ballads, but I also wanted them to coexist with the songs like ‘Diddle Y A Doo Dat’ and ‘I Just Wanna Rock’ - songs that were very lighthearted. I brought the idea to (producer) John Cuniberti that we would keep the instrumentation spare and we would keep things sounding very heavy and organic, so as you play the record louder it would get better sounding, not worse sounding. That has a lot to do with dynamics and how you record, and eventually how you master, so it’s something you have to make a decision on very early on. Some of the drums were recorded with just three microphones, and the drumkit was a very old, 30-year-old kit. We kept things very simple, so we could build along that theory that we’d have a warm-sounding record.

Peter: I noticed that in a lot of spaces there’s not much reverb, which encourages you to crank it up because the reverb on the recording isn’t clashing with the reverb of the room at higher volumes.

Satriani: Yeah. It’s a very interesting concept. Every age, every generation maybe has two or three movements in its recording era. There seems to be more as time goes on and life is accelerated: media has so many more contexts now that you’re kinda spoiled for choice in how you’re going to present your record. Is it supposed to sound good on a laptop, in a car, in an elevator, on television, on multimedia speakers, in a home theatre system, surround sound, stereo, or mono? And you can’t, y’know? You really can’t make it sound good on every single one of those. At some point the stereo falls apart or the 5.1 falls apart. At some point the compressed pop mix doesn’t work, and other times it’s great. Sometimes the audiophile, very dynamic recording sounds great, and other times it doesn’t work. So modern artists kinda navigate through that little minefield of ‘Boy what am I doing?” Some artists can create several different mixes for different media, but generally you can’t these days, and no-one knows what people are going to listen to five years from now, so we’re not really sure what to do about it. But the whole thing about mastering and mixing a record with only 3-to-2dB dynamic range is driving people crazy. The average person can’t turn that up, you can only listen to it quietly because it sounds loud when it’s quiet. But we took our concept all the way to mastering, in a sense. We wanted at least double what people are doing, as far as dynamic range, so that they can turn it up.

I noticed there’s a lot of space in the sound even if there are quite a few overdubs, like in Professor Satchafunkilus. I heard several guitar tracks going on at once there, yet you can hear them all clearly.

Satriani: Yeah, about 12 guitars but I don’t think there’s reverb or delay on anything except just one little introduction of one guitar in the second chorus or something. That was really a lot of fun to do that because, man, in the studio, up loud, that was such a wonderful thing to listen to.

Peter: ‘Revelation’ sounds really touching – the phrasing in the guitar is very vocal, then these big, elegant harmonies come in. What were you hoping to get across with that one?

Satriani: It was a very unusual way of writing a song. I started with the chorus, which has an odd meter. It’s a very long measure of 14/4, but it doesn’t sound that way to the listener, because of the way it’s broken up. I was moved to write it in response to thinking about my friend Steve Morse and the weekend that I learned his father had passed away. I was at a NAMM show and we were supposed to get together, then I heard from (Dregs/former Satriani bass player) Dave LaRue that his father passed away and he had to fly back home. When I got home I was still thinking about it, and I wrote this passage that was very Steve Morse inspired, musically, and I was thinking about feeling sorry for his family and what they’re going through, and I knew because I lost my father many years ago. Then as I started working on the song I realized I was actually thinking a lot more about myself: learning of the event of his father’s passing reminded me of some feelings I still had about the nature of the way my father had passed away, and the title reflects that the writing process was the revelation. I was revealing to myself that I still had these feelings I was still working out. So that made me think “This is a real song, I need to write a verse that expresses these things I’m feeling.” I wound up recording the very first performance of that melody in my home studio, and we never did anything to it, we just worked around it.

Peter: One thing I’ve always appreciated about your music over the years, reading interviews, and conducting them myself these days, is finding out just what’s behind the songs, and finding out there’s so much more behind it, and I think that’s why you’ve endured for so long: because there is more to your music than ‘here’s the guitar.’

Satriani: I’m glad you say that because I spend 99% of my time composing, and that’s what it’s all about. I’m composing and editing and making sure that I’m telling a story, an important story, a strong story. Even if it’s just a ridiculous, humourous fantasy, I want to tell it the right way.

Peter: One song I really enjoyed was ‘Come On Baby.’ It reminded me a lot of your self-titled album, that kind of open, almost dry guitar sound. Are we hearing single coils on that song?

Satriani: It’s funny you should ask that because I’ve done a lot of interviews and no-one really asked me about that particular technical aspect, but I was just using my usual JS1000 with the coil split feature, just lifting up the tone control. You can hear me shifting pickups during the solo. I swear, you can even hear the switch as I go between, not only the single coil, but I’ve also got the high pass filter engaged by lifting up the volume control. So I’m playing with starving the amplifier, which is set up to give me a ‘classic rock’ level of gain, but I’m starving it of information. I’m using the single coil, which lowers the output and gives it a less midrangy sound, and by using the high pass filter in there I’m stealing more low end from it, so the amp isn’t really breaking up that much and I get a smoother tone. And that’s all I was using. It’s funny, I did the first clean guitar in the left channel, one pass, then on the second pass I did the right channel, then I went back on the left and put the gains up a little more, then I did guitar number 4, then I did a guitar for the middle, and I didn’t really change much, I was just playing around with the volume control and the high pass filter.

Peter: It’s such a lost art, I think people get so bogged down with all these effects and things, that you forget you have these controls on your guitar which do these amazing things.

Satriani: Yeah. I was playing through a prototype amp which an older style, with 6V6 tubes in it, so it’s a vintage style smaller head. Those things are basically Class A designs, and they really react to what’s coming to the input. In other words, what you’re sending into that input jack, which means, as you said, playing with the volume control really changes the nature of the amp, and you can get hundreds of tones just by playing with the volume control.

Peter: Was there anything unusual gear-wise you used on the album?

Satriani: One of the themes was to use less equipment, so I used one white Ibanez JS1000, a red JS1200, and I think one of the chrome prototypes, the last chrome series of prototypes. So those were the only electric guitars I used at all on the record, which is unusual, usually I use 15 or 20. I used one bass, a ’71 Fender P Bass. I used my old Martin acoustic, a 1948 000-21 that I’ve used a lot, and I used an acoustic guitar built by Bruce Sexaur. He built this out of the Brazillian Pernambuco wood. They call that the ‘music tree.’ It’s primarily used to make violin bows, and he was able to get a large amount of it through a trade with someone who purchased a large amount of wood when it was legal to do so. I tried this guitar at a shop one day and I couldn’t believe how unusual it sounded, so I used it on the melody in ‘Andalusia.’
I used just a regular Korg piano for the piano parts I used at home. We used a lot of speaker simulators: the Palmer and an old Marshall SE 100 and an SPL Transducer, which basically replaces your speaker bottom: you go from your speaker jack of your amp into one of these things, then right into Pro Tools or whatever you want to go into. About 85% of the guitars were done at home, so that was my system. In the studio we had the Peavey JSX bottoms and some old vintage bottoms I’ve had for a couple of decades, and we would sometimes go back to going direct, or we would use some combination of the cabinets with mics and stuff like that.

Peter: What can you tell me about your Vox Satchurator distortion pedal?

Satriani: We started a little over a year ago, trying to finally get a pedal for me that I could really be comfortable with and say ‘this is my signature sound.’ There were a lot of pedals I used to like but they use chips that are no longer RHOS compliant: they’ve got lead in them and other nasty things – they don’t make them any more and if they did, they couldn’t sell them. The guitar player is at the mercy of larger industries that make millions of chips for communication satellites and stuff, and it trickles down to the mad scientists that make pedals for us, but when the technology moves on we’re screwed, we’ve gotta look for some other pedal. I wanted to take some of those old distortion boxed I used to use. I used to use a very old set of Boss DS-1s, and they never, for me, went to 10, and it was always annoying, and they were always scooped out, and it took so much in the studio to get them to sound good. It was very diffucult, and we barely used them in the studio, just once in a while. And live it was a bit of a struggle, because I never felt 100% comfortable. So we went in and said ‘if we had all these pedals that are out there, and we had our choice of components, what would we do?’ So we figured, we’ve got to have a pedal that can not only go to 12, let’s say, but it also sounds great at 4 or 6. So that means one thing electronically. Then when you’re on 12, we want it to be able to go to 24. So we added a switch that says ‘More’ on it. And that’s what it does: It doesn’t increase the volume, it just increases the saturation of the distortion. Everything in it had to be completely reliable, but also I wanted the sustain to be increased, but not the aggressiveness of it, and that took a very, very long time, because it’s a combination of diodes, op amps and transistors and the way they’re wired together, and myself, Mike Bradley, the head of the team in New York, Masahiro Lee in Tokyo, and Steve Grimrod in London, we met several times at my house, and we’d be in my basement playing for 12 hours a day. All four of us guitar players, we all play different, and we’d just keep playing, agreeing, arguing. We’d scratch our heads and the soldering gun would come out and new components would get put in, and we just kept working on it. We didn’t rush it. The prototypes wound up on the end of my last tour. They wound up being used on the album in many different situations.

Peter: What can you tell me about this band, Chickenfoot, with Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony?

Satriani: We’re trading songs and working on ideas, and we hope something really cool will come out of it.
Peter: Do you think it will tour?

Satriani: The whole idea is to create a record we really love and that we can go out and tour behind it. That’s our dream.

Peter: You’re playing a new replica of your ‘Black Dog’ guitar from the ‘Flying In A Blue Dream’ back cover.

Satriani: Yeah! I’ve been playing the one and only one that I’ve seen on this tour. They meticulously copied my very first prototype. They hired an artist to copy how it looked before it was stolen, and everything got rubbed off and it’s a joy to look at because it reminds me of good times.




Click the image below to buy the Vox Satchurator from Music123

Tour dates:
October
03 Fri: Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, AB CA
04 Sat: Edmonton Event Center, EdMonton, AB CA
06 Mon: Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB CA
07 Tue: State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN US
08 Wed: Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL US
09 Thu: Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI US
10 Fri: House of Blues, Cleveland, OH US
11 Sat: Palace Theatre, Greensburg (Pittsburgh), PA US
12 Sun: Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY US
13 Mon: Daddy's, Boston, MA US (THIS IS A SPECIAL IN-STORE EVENT WITH VOX. Joe will be signing Satchurator pedals and giving away prizes and swag!)
14 Tue: Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA US
15 Wed: Centre in the Square, Kitchener, ON CA
16 Thu: Massey Hall, Toronto, ON CA
17 Fri: Metropolis, Montreal, QC CA
18 Sat: United Palace, New York, NY US
19 Sun: Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA US
21 Tue: Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ US
22 Wed: Ram's Head Live, Baltimore, MD US
23 Thu: Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. US
24 Fri: The National, Richmond, VA US
25 Sat: The Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC US
26 Sun: Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA US
28 Tue: Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, FL US
29 Wed: Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL US
30 Thu: Fillmore Miami Beach Jackie Gleason Theatre, Miami Beach, FL US
31 Fri: House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, FL US

November
01 Sat: Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts West Palm, FL US
03 Mon: House Of Blues, New Orleans, LA US
04 Tue: House of Blues, Houston, TX US
05 Wed: Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX US
06 Thu: House of Blues, Dallas, TX US
07 Fri: Plaza Theatre, El Paso, TX US
08 Sat: Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM US
09 Sun: Dodge Theatre , Phoenix, AZ US
10 Mon: House Of Blues, Las Vegas, NV US
11 Tue: Guitar Trader, San Diego, CA US (THIS IS A SPECIAL IN-STORE EVENT WITH VOX. Joe will be signing Satchurator pedals and giving away prizes and swag!)
12 Wed: House of Blues, San Diego, CA US
13 Thu: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA US
14 Fri: Silver Legacy Casino, Reno, NV US
15 Sat: Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA US