Chickenfoot: Sammy Hagar and Joe Satriani Form Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Supergroup

There have been rumors circulating that Sammy Hagar, renowned solo artist and ex-lead singer of Van Halen, and Joe Satriani, guitar virtuoso extraordinaire who taught Steve Vai a few licks and considered by many to be the greatest guitarist alive, have formed a supergroup and are intent on cutting an album. Those reports have recently been confirmed by Hagar and Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer, Chad Smith, who is also in the supergroup. To round out the rhythm section, Michael Anthony, former bassist for Van Halen, will contribute. Working band name: Chickenfoot.

Smith said he became involved in the project by proximity -- he lives near Sammy Hagar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He told The Pulse of Radio, "If you're in Cabo, of course you know Sammy 'cause he's, you know, he rules the joint. And he's a really nice man, he's a great guy actually. Somehow he's taken a liking to me, and we played in Vegas, and we played some cover songs -- we're a good cover band now. He got pretty excited about it and it actually sounded really good. Him and Joe got together up at his place and they wrote like five things together, and we'll see."

Hagar has also confirmed the rumors: "We've written eight, nine songs...When people hear the music, it's LED ZEPPELIN. It's as good as that. I know that's a mighty bold statement...We could rival ZEP."

Sammy Hagar has been recording music since he was a teen, fronting for the the band, Montrose, until he embarked on a successful solo career that eventually led him to the front man position for Van Halen, who needed a replacement for the departed David Lee Roth. Multi-platinum albums and many awards later, Hagar was solo again as a result of feuding with guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He has released a couple of modest-selling albums with his bar band, the Wabos, in recent years and did a reunion tour with Van Halen (prior to the current reunion tour with David Lee Roth, of couse). And Chickenfoot isn't Hagar's first supergroup (Van Halen notwithstanding). He formed Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve (HSAS) with Neil Schon (Journey, Santana), Kenny Aaronson (Hall and Oates, Derringer), and Michael Shrieve (Santana). Hagar also toured with supergroup Planet Us, which consisted of himself as vocalist, Neil Schon and, later, Joe Satriani (recruited when Slash of Guns 'n Roses turned them down), on guitars, Michael Anthony on bass, and Deen Castronovo (Journey) on drums.

Sammy is currently doing several tour dates with country superstar Kenny Chesney as part of the Poets and Pirates Tour.

Chad Smith has been working with ex-Deep Purple singer/bassist Glenn Hughes.

Satriani has been on tour most recently in Europe with Paul Gilbert (tours where Satriani teams up with two other guitar virtuosos, such as Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen; G3 2007 included Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) and John Petrucci (Dream Theatre)).

Michael Anthony was replaced as Van Halen's bassist by Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolgang. He currently tours with Sammy's band, the Wabos.

The band is set to go into the studio to record their album this summer.

As for that terrible band name? No one seems to know as yet. The band has made no comments in this regard. However, there are some possibilities. Chickenfoot is an extension of the Firefox computer browser. It is also a dominoes game. And, obviously, it is a chicken's foot. An actual chicken's foot is often used as part of voodoo and pagan rituals. Are any of these the answer? Who knows? Perhaps we'll find out as the project progresses.

But if they are going to be heir to Led Zeppelin, they should really consider a better name, don't you think?

Sources:

"Van Halen + Red Hot Chili Peppers = Chickenfoot," Blabbermouth.net

"Planet Us," wikipedia.com

"Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve," wikipedia.com

RedRocker.com

"Joe Satriani," Noblepr.co.uk