There has been some buzz about the all star band named “ChickenFoot” The members are:
Joe Satriani – guitar
Chad Smith – Drums (He was in RHCP)
Michael Anthony – Bass (He was in Van Halen)
Sammy Hagar – Vocal

Before I start in on the sound of their sample tracks I really need to get something off my chest. There seems to be a LOT of borrowing going on lately. The borrowing of ideas and quirky gimmicks. Being one of the few odd ball guitarists who sound like a nintendo or “insert non guitar type sound here”, I happen to be a little more sensitive to the little rip offs here and there.

Firstly the band name “ChickenFoot” this sounds to me like a combination of BumbleFoot (Ron Thal, awesome musician I was gonna share a show with in NY until he got all busy being in GnR), and The whole Buckethead chicken thing. Secondly, on their latest video clip they have an atonal guitar lick sounding alot like me and my good pals in chaos, Buckethead, Bumblefoot, Mattias, and Vibetronic. The next thing I notice is the whole Joe talking through a puppet thing, That’s another direct rip off of the Buckethead gimmick. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice Joe Satriani’s last album that was all based around some “ROBOT” playing guitar. Wtf?

So the whole thing is like this…Group of big name musicians who have been slowly fading out. Joe sees some of these bands with guitar solos and decent players and thinks.. why am I not on the radio? What singer has put up with an egotistical guitarist and would be a shoe in? DLR is looking ragged, I will grab Sammy Hagar. Sammy brings in Michael Anthony and who knows how Chad Smith got involved.

Between all of this and Chris Cornel (once of Soundgarden) going RnB, I am starting to feel the weight that pop music has had on musicians. We now see how a gimmick is more important than a good song, an annoying hook is all the rage. Autotuners are being abused like mad, and the same drum sample/loop is being used on as many as 4 top radio hit songs that are playing at the same time. Joe was upset about coldplay, claiming they stole his music, I have been studying music theory and writing music for a long enough time to know that within the 12 notes and very few progressions of westernized music, there are going to be similarities in songs. I get the feeling Joe starting thinking, “Man, if I only stayed with the Squares back in the day I could have been on mainstream radio more.” Or thinking, ” I am going to put together a band that can sell some records and tour to a real audience instead of small groups of guitar nerds night after night.”

I could be way off on this, but the motivation feels a little like ego to me. Which is fine. Hell, if a major label band called me up asking to play a while, I would think about it too. Let me say that I am a very big fan of Joe. I once studied his music day in and out and it made me a better musician. I think the underlying feeling I have is that musicians need to come home. Stop attempting to be “the star” of pop radio. Be yourself and just make the music that comes to you in your good moments.

Now, money is money and I do get the idea of selling records. But when the musicians I really felt good about because of their uniqueness go and attempt to be so “new”. It sort of makes me feel like they are no longer as amazing as I once felt. That’s just me and my honest thoughts on all of this.

Now for the music itself. I gave a listen to their stuff a few weeks ago and liked the open feel they have. The space in the music is quite nice. The guitar tone is low output pickup zz top-ish rock. The songs however, lack solid catchyness. Its like a garage rock band with great feel playing songs maybe 12 drunk guys in a slow moving country setting might be into because its “rock”. They need to really concentrate on a decent melody or hook. The rhythm is there, the hooks are absent and the attempt at it feels a little contrived.

Here is their formula:
Rock intro showing the groove and that its rock
Verse showing that they can be like zz top and that Sammy Hagar can still sing
Chorus – lets write a simple hook type chorus everyone can sing with us like “lets get drunk…beer in my trunk..got some time so..lets get drunk”. We will pick a catch phrase for the chorus and keep saying it over a not so interesting progression.
so on and so on..

I am impressed by Sammy’s vocal.
I guessed that Joe would STFU on guitar like a good boy for the rhythm. (Joe is one of the best rhythm guitarists ever BTW), and he did.

All in all, I think it could be a fun project to check out because of the interesting combination of musicians in the band. Before listening to it and hearing about it a while ago I thought it would be a funk sort of setting with rhythm based songs.. it is..but I forgot that Sammy had some soul in him.

Check them out and let me know how you feel about the band etc.