Strange Beautiful Music

by Joe Satriani

  It was important to have the time we gave ourselves during tracking because you're looking for unusual performances. You might do seven to ten takes each time and in between each performance, the band’s members are all talking to one another. Someone might say, "Would you mind if I went from the organ to the piano?" Or, "I want to change my entire drum kit." Fraser was also there to guide us along and tell us how the music was popping out in the control room. Because we were all in the studio together, we could change direction on a dime if that’s what felt good. Then we had the luxury of sitting back and listening to all of our performances to see which ones were really making the song most exciting.

  "God Is Crying" was originally supposed to be on Professor Satchafunkilus, but there was a day in the studio when I asked everybody in the band, "What two songs would you like to stop working on?" I was totally shocked when they voted it off, but it turned out to be the right call. When I brought it back, this band was much more excited about playing it, and they brought a whole new feeling to it. Mike Fraser was encouraging us to jam right up until we counted the song off, and we eventually used one of those jams for the intro. I think it was Mike’s design all along to trick us into basically creating a new part for the song!

  Mike Fraser: With Joe and the band, as we tracked these songs, everybody played off each other a little more, which was the intent all along. So there were times when, for instance, we decided that instead of doing a part of Joe’s as an overdub, we said, "Well, he’s such a great player, let’s just do it live and see what we can grab." Recording Joe’s solos was quite an easy process because he’s so good at coming up with great melodies. With singers, you have to make sure the lyrics are right, and he’s singing in tune and all that, but with Joe, it goes pretty easy. Sometimes you give your opinion on what direction that one run was leading, but Joe always comes in with everything sort of preplanned in his mind, and he knows what he wants and what’s going to work. Sometimes he just needs somebody to bounce ideas off of. When you listen to Black Swans, the tracks are all different, which is amazing because how many instrumental songs can you keep doing and they're still all different and interesting? It’s a process I find quite fascinating because he’s got such a great grasp on his musicality and on what notes are gonna make that song flow. I'm always baffled every time I watch him play. He makes it look so easy.

  This time I told Mike Fraser that I wanted to reach people more deeply with my guitar playing. I said, "If you're watching me do a solo over and over again, the one that I want you to keep is the one where you feel I'm really reaching people."

  While recording "The Golden Room," a song about protecting yourself from negative spirits, I wanted it to be as improvisational as possible while working around a basic structure and melody. A prime example of this approach at work is the keyboard introduction, just something Mike Keneally had played at the end of one take. Fraser loved it so much he grabbed it and popped it into the beginning as an intro. He asked us, "What do you guys think?" and we all agreed we had to use it. It’s a good example of how it’s not just the band that is part of the creative process. Your engineer/coproducer is also listening, taking notes in the control room, and keeping track of things that you're just throwing out there but perhaps not remembering. Unless the musicians think they really nailed it, they forget half the gems that they're offering up.

  Mike Keneally playing multiple keyboards during the BSWW sessions at Skywalker in '10

  PHOTO BY JON LUINI

  Mike Keneally pulled the same trick with "Wormhole Wizards." We found a sound on the Korg and started recording. People were coming in and out of the room, there was food out on the table, and we were all joking out loud about it because we weren't recording with microphones. Mike just kept sitting there improvising, riff after riff, arpeggio after arpeggio, and each thing he played was more brilliant than the last. He did that piano part in ONE improvised take from the beginning of the song all the way to the end. When he was done, I said, "Okay, Mike, see you later! Your job’s done!"

  Guitar cases lined up at Skywalker, '10

  PHOTO BY JON LUINI

  CHAPTER 22 * *

  Chickenfoot III—2011/2012

  "Joe Satriani’s imprint on the musical world extends far beyond his own ethereal talents. Now, with Chickenfoot, Satriani fans can see him rip into leads with the same singer as Ronnie Montrose and Eddie Van Halen."

  —Huffington Post

  The most exciting part about being in a band with great energy and chemistry is that you're all inspired as performers and writers. When you get an idea about a song with a grand arrangement, you're encouraged to imagine all the possibilities because you know that these guys can make that song a reality. I know Michael Anthony is going to come up with some bass line that’s going to be thunderous behind these chords. I know Sam’s going to come up with some incredible and unique vocal. I know that Chad’s going to exert his influence as an arranger on it and come up with an exciting drum part like he always does. With Chickenfoot, you always feel inspired and encouraged to move forward and bring ideas in.

  There was no preproduction for our second album between when we finished touring for Chickenfoot and the next time I saw the guys again in the studio. It had been over a year, and it was extra rushed because with Chad’s Chili Peppers commitments, we only had him for about ten days. I realized early on in recording that we had to move at a very fast clip, make decisions as we went, and stick with them because there was no going back.

  On the first tour, we'd done a lot of spontaneous writing backstage every night before shows. For instance, the second track on III, "Alright Alright," is from an improv we did backstage.

  Chickenfoot with 3-D glasses in Sam’s control room, '11

  PHOTO BY JON HILL

  Sammy Hagar: "Alright Alright" was a great example of what can happen in this band when you're goofing off jamming. You'll start doing something stupid like shouting, "Alright, alright, alright, alright!" like I'm yelling at my old lady, "Alright, alright already!" It was just kind of a spoof or joke against this punky kind of Clash-y riff Joe was playing. I remember we were in Atlanta backstage filming our first DVD. It didn't come out good so we did it again in Phoenix, Arizona. We were there all day, so we were getting a little stir-crazy backstage, and that’s when that song came alive. From there we played it all the time, that whole tour, and then it came together in Europe when I finally came up with some lyrics and a verse idea, and all that stuff in Switzerland at the Montreux Jazz Fest. I told Joe, "Just do a jump break, and I'll sing against the doo-doo-gaa-gaah beat," and "I just need a vocal break and a place where I can just yell some belligerent shit, then you can play, then me and the drums." That really came together in Montreux, and the song was done. Joe really came through.

  That song is definitely reflective of the kind of stuff that makes its way from tour to a record, because I don't think a song like that would have come about in a planned way. It was just one of those silly things where you start playing some chords, and everybody starts singing a chorus that’s just kind of odd enough to be catchy. So we had lots of moments like that where there were interesting little nuggets, and if they didn't actually suggest a song, they would suggest to one or all of us a kind of style of playing or something we wanted to take advantage of. Once we get started, Mikey, Chad, and I are like a freight train, so I made a note in my musical mind to make sure to write songs that had big, heavy riffs where we played together as an ensemble.

  Sammy Hagar: Joe and I are the band’s songwriting team, but Joe is the musical foundation of this band. On the second record, I think Joe had the confidence to put his opinion out there and really kind of lead the band musically. I'm the spiritual motivator and front guy, the mouth you might say, but Joe’s really like Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin. I'm the spark plug, no question about it, but Joe’s music dictates everything. I love writing lyrics and melodies and singing to his music. It’s like when Van Halen was good—I loved it. I
t was the same thing, before Eddie and I hit rock bottom. Of course, it’s no fun being creative with a guy that you're not getting along with. That’s a hard gig, brother. But Joe and I aren't there and hopefully we'll never get there.

  He’s really a fun guy to create with, and he comes through with his part. For instance, if I say, "Maybe we'll write this song kind of like a midtempo groove, like "Every Breath You Take"—you know, just throwing a title of a song out there that is vibe-y like that, or a Pink Floyd thing—Joe comes through. The next day, he'll come back with a piece of music that’s beyond what I was talking about and is definitely not ripping anybody off. He just goes in his heart, or what I like to call his little safe of music, and comes out with stuff that is ALWAYS great. I just love that. Like I said, he’s the musical dynamic behind this band.

  We made a really strong effort on this LP to try to get into some unknown territory. I kept telling Sam, "I know you're powerful in this area. We've just got to write songs to let you get there," and he really delivered! I love the way that Sammy sings on III.

  Sammy Hagar: Heading into the second record, I remember I told Joe, "I wanna do something different. I want to sing some way I've never sung before," and Joe went, "Wow, that’s really what I want from you." So I said, "Okay, write me some music that makes me want to do that!" He came through, and I came through with "Something Going Wrong," which is a huge stretch for me. Another one I think’s a pretty damn good stretch is "Come Closer." I'm touching on R&B gospel on that bridge, man, but the verses are kind of almost talking. I love it. The hardest thing to do as a singer is to stretch yourself, because it’s so personal, and if you do something stupid, you feel embarrassed. It’s embarrassing to sing, is really what it is, but having Joe around just makes it so much more comfortable. A lot of times I'm real insecure about doing it and so on the edge trying to stay on key, and it’s just hard to do something new. But when I finish it and hear it back and go, "Wow, I'm so proud of that," I look at Joe. We high-fived MANY times because of "Something Going Wrong" and "Closer." They were stretches.

  On this record, I really wanted to capture our power, and with a song like "Something Going Wrong" that captures our creativity, we're able to do things like that. But I think the band is about songs like "Soap on a Rope" and "Oh Yeah" and power. Because for four guys live, we can put off some POWER coming off the stage. So when it’s rockin' like that, from "Turnin' Left" to "Future in the Past," there’s a lot of bands, man, who can't bring that power without a bunch of overdubs and backing tracks. We're raw, straight-up live!

  Michael Anthony: Obviously from all that time playing and hanging out on the first tour we found—I don't know if I'd call it the Chickenfoot sound—but more of the niche of what Chickenfoot really is.

  As excited as the band was about the new songs, it was still difficult to get together in one place with our competing schedules, so the challenge as always was that we didn't have much time. We were picking a song in the morning, working on an arrangement, recording it for the album right then and there, then moving on a few hours later before we even knew what the song was going to be about. The plus side is all the spontaneity and energy that you get. That is the benefit of moving at a fast clip in the studio. No one gets bogged down and none of the recordings suffer from being overworked. They were all underworked.

  Me and luthier Gary Brawer at Real Guitars, S.F., getting guitars ready for Chickenfoot lll sessions. Gary has worked on my guitars for decades; he’s the best.

  PHOTO BY ALLEN WHITMAN

  The Chickenfoot experience is extreme. There’s always a lot of joking around and a super amount of energy. Personally, though, it was a challenging transition. For my solo records, I take two months to work on my songs, then bring them into the studio with guys who've had the demos and learned their parts, and then we very carefully go about recording stuff. Then we go out on tour and play these meticulously rehearsed arrangements. Then I jump from that right into Chickenfoot, where it’s completely the opposite approach.

  Michael Anthony: The one thing that I wish we had was more time just to work the songs up. In Van Halen, we'd play a song, God, a hundred times before we decided to record it. With Chickenfoot, when we all got in the studio, and we were all on a pretty heavy time schedule because Chad was getting ready to pick back up with the Chili Peppers, we were recording from the time we picked our guitars up to the time we put our instruments down. We were recording the whole time!

  Here’s the way it usually worked: Sam would say, "Let’s cut a verse or add a verse." Then Mikey and Chad would say, "Can we do it a little faster or slower? Can we get rid of, or extend, this part?" All four of us are always exerting that influence and that helps make the band work. Everybody truly respects one another, how they play, and their musicianship. That’s what makes the sessions work. We're all listening to one another and nobody tells the other person what to play. Sometimes all four of us would write something new and record it right away, like with "Down the Drain" or "Alright Alright."

  Sammy Hagar: Chad’s always fucking around on the drums or on guitar and Joe would be playing drums, or I'd be playing guitar and Joe'd be playing bass. We were always goofing, and when you're goofing, things come out of you that you normally wouldn't do, that you'd keep hidden.

  Chad Smith: All of us are good with ideas on arrangements and what works, but Joe's really good at that. Once Sam gets melody and words on top of it, that really helps. I know at some point that frustrates Joe. He'll say, "I don't know what to put down here because I don't know what Sam’s going to sing yet." Sometimes Sammy would have something halfway but not fleshed out at all, and for Joe, who plays a melodic instrument, you have to know what the singer is doing. You can put down a bonehead riff, but why? Somebody like Joe needs more info, so that was the only thing that kind of held up the second record. But it all worked out. I thought it was great!

  Sammy Hagar: My writing process for the band’s music is unique. In every song there’s usually something different, but it’s the same way I wrote with Eddie, and the same way I'd write with any guitar player, where I say, "You write the music. I'll write the lyrics." We only did it one time differently on Chickenfoot III with "Come Closer." I'd written those lyrics and really liked them, and I said, "Joe, would you take these lyrics and write music to them?" He said, "Absolutely, let me try that," which excited me because that’s what Elton John and Bernie Taupin do. The song is one of my favorites I've ever written. I write lyrics that fit in those holes, and it’s hard and stresses me out. It fucking beats me to death because every word’s got to have rhythmical power first, and then it’s also got to say something, so I paint myself into a real bad corner there, but I can't help it. I was a little embarrassed to sing a song like "Come Closer" because I meant that lyric. It’s about my wife and I—we've been together a long time, and I don't want that to happen, where we start to lose that love, and I spoke about it in that song.

  "Come Closer" was really quite unique in how it was written because Sammy sent me lyrics first. There were two pages of lyrics with four verses and a whole bunch of choruses. I sat down at my piano one morning and wrote a very moody piece of music to what I felt was a very dark kind of song coming from Sam. I emailed him a recording of it that very morning before going into the studio, and when I got there, he said he wanted to do it right away. Of course the other guys hadn't heard it yet, so I sat down and played it for them on piano. The consensus right off was, "Let’s do it." The problem was I'd never played it on guitar, and I'm not the greatest piano player, so I was afraid that if we tried to track it with me playing piano we wouldn't get a good take. So while Mike and Chad worked up bass and drum parts, I taught myself how to play the song on guitar. We cut it within about an hour and that was it.

  Michael Anthony: I was really surprised at how well the second album came together. The music was clicking so well that I remember Sammy coming to the studio, we'd tell him, "Hey, we laid another one down," and he'd say, "Hey,
slow down. I don't even have any fucking lyrics for this shit yet!"

  Sammy Hagar: The idea for "Three and a Half Letters" first came to me from a sign I saw on the side of the road. There was a little nine-year-old homeless kid, and it broke my heart. I thought "What the fuck?," so I asked Joe to play the most belligerent music he'd ever played in his life, and I was going to try to talk over it. I get these letters constantly from people with hard-luck stories, so I was going to read four or five letters on the song. We wound up with three. Normally, I don't want to dive into politics. I don't want to be judged for it and I don't want to really say what I think because there’s always somebody who’s going to say, "Fuck you, I feel different." I wanted to do that song and I wanted to make the statement. I'm more of an up-tempo guy. But every now and then, I gotta make my statement. Then I'm done with it and want to make people happy again.

  On this album, I had started to make the full transition to playing my twenty-four-fret JS guitar almost exclusively, which was a new model for us, the Ibanez JS2400. Believe it or not, when you suddenly add two frets, you've got to rethink some of your playing. By the time I got to recording Chickenfoot III, I was fully comfortable with it. I had also started developing my own acoustic guitar with Ibanez, which was used on the album and in the Satchurated 3-D movie, too. The amplifier that did 99 percent of the guitar work on this record was the prototype for my signature Marshall amp, the JVM410HJS.