Chad Smith Credits eHarmony for Chickenfoot

There's something to be said for meeting over the Internet. Wanting to spice up an interview, Chickenfoot drummer Chad Smith said, in jest, his band--which also includes singer Sammy Hagar, guitarist Joe Satriani and bassist Michael Anthony--came together thanks to eHarmony.

"It's a 'harmony' thing," Smith said during an interview with Noisecreep. "Get it? It's very musical. Now it's not Match.com. It's eHarmony. Our profiles kind of matched up a little bit. That stuff really works. It's all about the Internet these days. Psychos. Nutty people. But sometimes beautiful things happen."

OK, so they didn't really meet through eHarmony; the four are longtime acquaintances. The quartet will release its self-titled debut album on Tuesday, June 9.

"Sam and Joe live in the Bay Area (of California), most of the time," Smith said. "Sam was also the mayor of Cabo San Lucas (Mexico). That's actually where we met. I have a place down there as well."

Smith said he and Hagar were hanging out, "having a great time," when the Van Halen singer told Smith, also of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, that they should perform together.

"I'm like, 'Yeah. Lots of times people say that and nothing happens,'" Smith said. "I was getting ready to have some time off. The Chili Peppers, we've been playing like 10 years straight. Everyone's like, 'Let's take some time off--a year off, maybe a little more, it depends. I told Sam this would be a good time to do something."

Hagar's response was the band better recruit a guitar player because he's no axeman.

"You guys are too good," Smith recalled Hagar saying. "We need a real guitar player. He knew Joe and we jammed once and it felt really good and started coming up with ideas for songs and got together it was great."

The first time the four came together in rehearsal, Smith said the chemistry was palpable.

"It was really interesting," Smith said. "I had met Joe but I didn't know him and I'm not really familiar with (his music). I know he's an instrumental rock guy. 'I wonder how that's going to work.' I was worried there would be no room for vocals. He's great though. He can come up with anything.

"Me, Mike and Sam had kind of hung out a little bit. But then Joe was the last guy to join. We're kind of nutty and off the wall. He's more, I wouldn't say serious. Guitar players are weird. They're just weird guys. But he's weird in a good way. He's funny and he has kind of a dark sense of humor. He's a real character. I like him very much. We're just four guys who enjoy each other and having fun. It comes out through the music."

Fans can be the judge of that come June 9, or visit Chickenfoot's Web site to hear three songs off the release.

"We all have very strong personalities," Smith said. "We're four very distinct people, but I think there's a good blend. You can hear everybody but it doesn't sound like one of our bands. It's its own entity. I think that's great. I think it's cool.

"I think we all have similar influences of the hard blues, hard rock, that kind of stuff of the early '70s, maybe. That's kind of where we all jump off from. When I was growing up, that was the music I was listening to--the Deep Purples, Led Zeppelins, The Who, Cream, Jimi Hendrix. I think that's where we have this meeting of influence and from there, it just takes off. It's great. It's really fun and it feels very natural. There's no trying to be this or that or anything. We just go and play and have a good time."

On May 14, Chickenfoot will begin a nine-night run of sold-out North American club shows, something that impresses Smith because, he said, most people have not heard the band's music. But fans, he said, must have faith in the foursome.

"There's no pressure," Smith said. "We just play for the right reasons, which is because you love it and you're having fun. If we didn't, we wouldn't be doing it. We got together and this feels great."