What happens when a couple former members of Van Halen, a Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer and a guitar virtuoso who’s performed with rock’s biggest names get together for a jam session at the Palms in Las Vegas?
Some might call it musical magic, but guitarist Joe Satriani and his three bandmates call it Chickenfoot.
“When we played, it was just crazy and explosive, yet it was very tight,” Satriani said earlier this week of his spontaneous performance with lead singer Sammy Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Chad Smith back in February 2008, hatching a brand new band that may very well epitomize the classic rock sound.
Satriani said that “chemistry” kept all four musicians coming back for more, leading to demo sessions, a self-titled debut album released last month and now a tour, with the North American stretch kicking off in Halifax this Sunday.
“Everybody was listening to the other three going ‘this is unique, this is different, this is not a supergroup — it’s a new group,’” he told Metro Halifax during a telephone interview.
A “supergroup” is something dreamed up by a record label hoping to build a band that “will be larger than the sum of their parts,” Satriani said, explaining Chickenfoot is different because “it was purely the music” that brought the talented musicians together.
“This was a band that was playing in a Mexican bar,” he said.
“The only reason why we kept going was because we liked it.”
Satriani said the band hopes to recreate that first jam session on Citadel Hill this weekend, adding he’s never been to Halifax so he and his bandmates may be spotted “walking around like tourists.”
