Chickenfoot Are Having The Time Of Their Life

The members of the super group Chickenfoot truly found each other. Drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and former Van Halen members bass player Michael Anthony and singer Sammy Hagar were jamming together on a regular basis a few years ago. One thing lead to another and to record their first album they also got one of the best guitar players in the world to join, Joe Satriani. According to themselves, it's really a band the guys want to have fun with. This was already clear on the first record, but especially at the live shows. And now there's even a follow up named III as a joke.

Chickenfoot - III (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)
And this time they had a lot of fun again, so much is clear. Like their début it turned into a typical classic rock album, which is not a surprise considering the musical background of the musicians. This doesn't result in memorable songs, in fact all rock clichés are used. But they are convincing and played with lots of enthusiasm. Once again it's refreshing to hear Satriani play normal rock riffs, without the endless fiddling. Which can be nice once and a while for the ones who are into that, but his playing is much more balanced this way. Now and then he's allowed to go wild, and he's doing that in a great way, like in the first single 'Big Foot'.

Of course the songs are full of Hagar's cries like "yeah!" and "ohw!". The song 'Up Next' is even overloaded with them. This is a bit too much sometimes and can turn into a nuisance. But 'Dubai Blues', a great rocker that is right on the spot, compensates completely for it. Everything is kept together skilfully by Smith and Anthony. There's also an attempt to dig deeper: in 'Something Going Wrong' about the environment, and in 'Three And A Half Letters' about an Iraq veteran looking for a job. It feels a bit awkward, because the lyrics are too simple for that. The band probably didn't want to make it too difficult and heavy.

Don't expect any new findings from Chickenfoot's second coming. These are a band and album that have fun written all over it. Straightforward rock songs, played by great musicians. And that can be damn fine now and then.

This review has been published on ROAR E-Zine in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'III' on Spotify.

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Now That's What I Call A Chicken!

Chickenfoot in De Waerdse Tempel Heerhugowaard, 26 June 2009 (Ronald says 4 out of 5)

Before their record was even out I decided it was probably worthwhile checking out the new band Chickenfoot. I didn't find their album disappointing at all so I was looking forward to this gig a lot. You don't get to see musicians like Joe Satriani, Chad Smith, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony all on the same stage every day!


So we went out of the big city and headed north to the Waerdse Tempel in Heerhugowaard (what the f**k!?). After we waited in the car for the pouring rain to stop, waited in line to get in, waited in line to buy coins and waited in line to get our first beer it didn't take long for the support act "Real Men Don't Dance" to warm us up. Although the three guys try their best it's the tropical temperature in the concert hall that warms up the most. Time for them to make way for the real stuff!

Right from the start it's clear the guys from Chickenfoot are here to have fun. The band's sign is present on every instrument that all look brand new. Time to put some marks on it! They start out by playing the first three songs of the album and that means full force from the start. It looks like they're definitely enjoying themselves. Constantly looking for eye-contact with the other band members, big smiles and small encounters with fans in the crowd. Joe Satriani is playing his riffs very convincing (what would you expect) and Chad Smith is beating the crap out of his shiny new set (according to Sammy Hagar he literally beat it to pieces the other night). Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are singing together and being best friends. Especially Chad Smith and Joe Satriani are challenging each other and get out the best this way. The guys are joking a lot among each other and Chad is making funny faces and throwing drum sticks in the crowd. Some people must have caught more sticks than I have in my sticks bag! After around five or six songs I'm actually getting the feeling the whole thing may even get a bit too cheesy.

But then they knock out some more killer riffs and power grooves to make me feel all well again. Some songs sound as if they're jamming and Hagar explains one of the songs (I think it was "Turnin' Left") originally was a 45 minute jam. The better songs of the album like "Soap on a Rope" and "Sexy Little Thing" (as I wrote in my album review) also stick out live. They're just songs with more balls. At times I hear Aerosmith and there are there are even some moments that remind me of Led Zeppelin. Hagar mentioned at the start that they would play songs from their record the first half of the show. After a short break they return and they start playing the first ever song he wrote when he was playing with Montrose. Their last song is Deep Purple's "Highway Star" to end the show in style.

This leaves me happy since I just have seen a solid rock show with great musicians having lots of fun. So what if it's all a bit old and cheesy. So what if it's a bit too much 80s and nothing world shocking. It was fun and it felt good!
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This Foot Is Made For Rocking

Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot (Ronald Says 3 out of 5)
When I heard about Chickenfoot I was pretty excited. The members of this supergroup sure promised a lot. The funky Red Hot Chili Peppers rock drummer Chad Smith and guitar hero Joe Satriani joined forces with Van Halen veterans singer Sammy Hagar and bass player Michael Anthony.

Jamming together without Satriani they decided to start playing gigs. However Hagar didn't like the combination of singing and playing the guitar at the same time so they needed a decent guitar player for their album. So why not get one of the legends?

Of course with these guys you expect a lot of fireworks but unfortunately this only happens on some rare moments. So is it dissappointing? Not really since it's a decent rock album. Songs like "Soap on a Rope", "Sexy Little Thing" and "Turnin' Left" are pretty good rock songs. Solid grooves and Satriani brings out some great riffs. Other songs definitely are less and remind me of Bryan Adams like soft rock ("My Kinda Girl") or Scorpions 80s rock (cheesy ballad "Learning To Fall").

Of course I wasn't expecting brilliant and poetic lyrics but some are really just too easy. As always Hagar is very generous in shouting "Yeahs" in every song but in "Get it Up" this really gets too much. However when I listen to it I can picture these guys having lots of fun playing these songs (yes, even Satriani). But no one really expected the masterpiece of the decade. Chad Smith shows where he's coming from and lays out some solid rock grooves with Michael Anthony while Satriani works his magic and shows he's perfectly capable of playing in a 'normal' rock band without the need to go freaky all the time.

So if you're into some good old 80s style rocking this album will do it for you. And there's nothing wrong with that. I wonder how this will all sound live and will find out tomorrow night so expect that live review in a few days. Did you listen to this album? Let me know what you think of it and leave a comment.
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Chickenfoot going on tour

I heard a couple of songs this week from the super band Chickenfoot. It sounds like good old rock 'n roll. Never heard of em? You probably heard of one of the band members: Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joe Satriani (Guitar hero), Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony (both Van Halen).

Their album is expected to be released somewhere between April and June. And this week they anounced they will also be touring Europe this summer. At that time it didn't mention anything about coming over to the Netherlands but today I found out they will be playing over here in June: 26th of June at the Waerdse Tempel in Heerhugowaard and also on the festival Bosbop. Check out the complete schedule over here. Never been to that venue Waerdse Tempel but it may be worth the ride to check these guys out. Tickets will start selling tomorrow at 45 euros. That may be a bit steep but it may be worth it to see this guys rock the house!
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