Chickenfoot III
earMUSIC
Release date: October 24, 2011 UK
November 1, 2011 U.S.
Supergroups are always a precious thing. Usually the ego-meter is higher than the number of tracks recorded, but lower than the probability that it will crash and burn. Having two ex-members of Van Halen in Chickenfoot always sounded like someone was waving a blowtorch at a short fuse. The explosion would surely follow.
And yet here we are, two years after Chickenfoot’s self-titled debut album for album number two. According to guitarist Joe Satriani in his interview with Geeks of Doom, singer Sammy Hagar named the band’s second album III because drummer Chad Smith and bassist Michael Anthony wanted to call it IV. Well I’m glad that’s cleared that up then.
Joe Satriani has earned huge success as one of the finest guitarists of his generation. He has recorded 13 solo albums (including the hugely popular and cosmically amazing Surfing With The Alien) and appeared on countless others by various different artists.
In 2008, Satriani teamed up with ex-Montrose and Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and a Chickenfoot was hatched. His wealth of experience and talent prevented them from being just another “˜supergroup’ and helped them become a hard-rockin’ hard rock party band.
Their self-titled debut album was a huge success as were the live performances captured on the DVD Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On LIVE. These legends of the genre return with their second album, the confusingly named Chickenfoot III on September 27th. Early reviews suggest it’s better than the first.
Rocker Sammy Hagar made an appearance last night on the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote this new autobiography Red.
Hagar hasn’t been on mainstream radar since his days as Van Halen’s frontman, but thanks to a little story he wrote in Red about an alien encounter he had decades ago, the musician has blipped back onto screens across the nation.
During Hagar’s interview with host Jimmy Kimmel, the segment cut away to Hagar doing a reenactment of his alien encounter, complete with voiceover narration from the passage of the book.
Sammy Hagar was once the frontman of one of the biggest and greatest bands in history, the mighty Van Halen. But while Hagar sang about standing on “Top Of The World,” as he surely was at times, making millions of dollars, living a life of luxury with fast cars and plenty of women, the musician didn’t always have it easy. Matter of fact, Hagar spent years learning that money, fame, and hit records couldn’t solve every problem, like his wife’s mental state or his bandmate’s addictions and jealousies.
In his autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, we learn that Hagar began life modestly in Fontana, CA. The youngest of four children, he was raised in a low-income household with an alcoholic father who abused his mother. He later went on have his own family with little means of supporting them, but Hagar makes it clear that he was always a hard worker. It always seemed that the entertainer got his big break in music when he was asked by the Van Halen brothers, guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex, to replace their departing singer David Lee Roth just as the band had come off a winning strike with their best-selling album up until that time, 1984. But while Van Halen was one of the biggest rock bands at the time, thanks to hits like “Jump” and “Panana,” Hagar was already a successful solo artist who had actually made enough money and did enough tours on his own to retire from music altogether. And retire to a life of solitude with his wife and kids was his plan until Eddie Van Halen persuaded him to join the band, and while Hagar was reluctant to accept, his chemistry musically with Van Halen proved too strong a force to deny — the singer/guitarist was ready for the “Best Of Both Worlds.”
Rock legend Sammy Hagar just released his autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, and trust me, it’s seriously uncensored.
Hagar is best known for his role as frontman of Van Halen (replacing David Lee Roth in the mid-1980s) and as you can imagine, he’s got some great stories to tell.
Check out the video here below of Hagar talking a bit about his new book, along with his co-author Joel Selvin.
You may have seen the buzz on Hagar’s comments to MTV about being abducted by aliens. I have to say, that’s brilliant marketing right there, because all of a sudden the name “Sammy Hagar” is all over the net. Personally, I’d rather read about his musical endeavors and what it was like to be part of one of the biggest bands in the world.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
