It was a crossroads everyone involved knew was likely to happen, sooner or later; given the reaction to last year’s debut, this feels more sooner than later.
Chickenfoot are gearing up to hit the studio to begin work on a follow-up record, but only 3 of the 4 guys are initially available: drummer Chad Smith is returning to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are also hooking up, to work on their first new album in four years.
"Once they start recording, Chad's never going to be able to get a break," Sammy Hagar told Billboard.com. "If he does, he'll get a couple weeks here, a couple days there, which is not really enough to devote to Chickenfoot. And when they're done with (the album), they're gonna go on the road for a year and a half. So we either have to get a new drummer or wait for Chad...which is unfair to Chickenfoot. It's too good a band."
Hagar says Chickenfoot are already four songs and “seven pieces of new music” into the next album. "We probably have a record ready to go," Hagar reports. "It's just waiting for when we can all get together to do it.”
Things get more complicated on the Chickenfoot scheduling front, when Joe Satriani releases his new record, “Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards,” on October 5, followed by a three-plus month world tour.
Hagar says the band are taking the scheduling issues in stride. "We care, but at the same time, (Chickenfoot) is not mandatory," Sammy explains. "It's not like we feel like, 'Hey, this is our only chance in life.' Everyone's already been there, done that. Chickenfoot is not our bread and butter, and I think that's really important."
The four guys in Chickenfoot are hooking up, for sure, for shows on September 10 in Indio, California, and Sept. 11 in Stateline, Nevada – following which, Hagar says, things are "kind of up in the air."
In a separate interview with The Pulse Of Radio, Hagar said “we really don't know what to do right now, but I think we're gonna probably play with a few different guys and see what happens."
Sexy Little Thing - Chickenfoot (Bonus Track Version Chickenfoot – Sexy Little Thing (2009)
