Wednesday, Sep. 16 2009 @ 11:45AM
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| LeAnn Mueller |
Joe Satriani is a hero to
Guitar Player subscribers and a bit of an enigma to everyone else. His name is synonymous with a distinctive style of guitar playing - highly advanced fretboard wizardry, often referred to as "shredding," that draws equally from rock, metal, classical and jazz.
Recently, however, Satriani has been grinding his axe in the considerably grungier Chickenfoot. What began as a no doubt tequila-fueled lark in Cabo San Lucas between Van Halen pariahs Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony and their bud, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, is turning out to be perhaps 2009's unlikeliest hard-rock success story - Chickenfoot's self-titled album, released in June, toes a tenacious line between serious chops and serious fun.
Rocks Off spoke with Satriani from his San Francisco home last week, as "The Professor" prepared to leave on the final leg of Chickenfoot's inaugural U.S. tour, which hits Verizon Wireless Theater Wednesday night.
Rocks Off: Was Chickenfoot a spur of the moment sort of thing, or was there a lot of planning that went into it?
Joe Satriani: Sam, Mike and Chad had been jamming down in Cabo San Lucas for about six months, so I came into it late. [In 2007] Sammy gave me a call inviting me down to Las Vegas for like a little celebrity jam for his encore at the Palms Theater. So I went down there just to sort of party, and the jam was so good we decided, "Let's be a band." But I was unaware they were plotting before then, which was great, because I guess everyone was getting ready to put a lot of time and effort into it.
Unfortunately, I was just getting ready to master and release my record [2008's
Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock] and had 11 months of touring to do, so that started our journey where we would get together for two days and wouldn't see each other for two months. That would repeat itself three or four times until we got to the end of the year, when we finally spent December finishing the record at Skywalker Studios.