…and Three Van Halen Connections

Montrose, the 1973 self-titled debut album by the band of the same name, is one of those tone-pillar albums – “a pillar of tone that holds up the house of rock” (or pick a different metaphor). It likewise stands on its own as a monument of great tunes and great tone.
I [...]

Vai and Sammy
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if not, happy holidays. Hope yours is fun, relaxing and you get at least one new piece of gear. (If anyone out there is reading this while on military duty, you have my sincere thanks. Keep your head down.)

The following is from an entry on Brian May’s blog, edited for brevity:
“For those who like to ROCK – in a classic grassroots, frig-off, out-and-out real way – this is the new album you have to get.
“Chickenfoot are a new California ’super group’ of wondrous musicians having a ball together and playing REAL rock music.
“Just [...]

Apparently you can only buy the Chickenfoot CD at Best Buy, which is distributing the disc, because I must have tried everywhere else on Friday and Saturday (didn’t pass any Best Buys). Luckily amazon.com was offering the whole disc for a $3.99 download. Sold! – and incidentally, this is the first time I bought an [...]

Update: A walk-through of Joe Satriani’s pedalboard here

What would you do if you were just diagnosed with borderline walking peneumonia, hadn’t been getting enough sleep, lived a good hour outside of swine-flu New York City – and a buddy got tickets to see Chickenfoot at the Fillmore in NYC?
You would freakin’ go! So I did, [...]

Joe: Mike is F-ing Great

Following are some hastily transcribed excerpts of MusicRadar.com’s four-part radio interview with Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Chickenfoot. These are what I consider the most interesting parts – and they are interesting – but if you’re an out-and-out fan, you’ll want to give all four segments a thorough [...]

Here they are: Soap on a Rope, and Down the Drain. I like ‘em. Like that I can hear all the instruments. Live, I’m betting it’s even better. Enjoy.
Via the player at www.chickenfoot.us
Via Chickenfoot’s MySpace page

If anyone still hasn’t heard of this band, Chickenfoot basically is the second incarnation of Van Halen with Joe Satriani instead of Edward Van Halen and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer) instead of Alex – which makes Chickenfoot’s new CD one of the most anticipated new discs ever.
The members of this band automatically [...]

If you missed the issue of Guitar player with Slash on the cover, you missed an interview with Joe Satriani about his new CD — which I will get into later. It’s a decent interview, but the one thing that jumped out at me in screamin’ freakin’ neon is that Satch is jamming with Sammy [...]