Michael Anthony: Chickenfoot Is ‘Not a Super Group’

Michael Anthony of Chickenfoot would like to dispel the rumors that his band – which also features drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist Joe Satriani and singer Sammy Hagar – is a 'super group.'

"When we first got together and played, there was a magic and a chemistry there," Anthony told Noisecreep. "Even in the beginning, we didn't go out and look for a record label. We just went in and started recording and doing it ourselves. We were just four guys having fun. We are not a super group. We're destroying that whole super group rumor now.

"We're a cult band. We're working on our cult following. When you think of super groups anyway, you think of a prefabricated thing, a put together type of project that usually only lasts one album and one tour. They do it for the sake of publicity."

Chickenfoot, however, was grown out of four friends playing music and having a good time, said Anthony, a former member of Van Halen.

"It's great," Anthony said. "It really inspired me again to realize why I got into doing this in the first place – that was to make music and have fun. Everything else, like sports, or a lot of entertainment industry stuff, once it becomes big corporate business, you lose sight of why you're doing this. It's just great because we were right there recording it live in the studio. We're having a lot of fun on stage, too."

Even though the band has done very little touring in support of its self-titled debut, Chickenfoot is planning its sophomore effort.

"Before each show, we get together and we have our little set up backstage, where we kind of jam a lot," Anthony said. "It's pretty much to loosen up before the show. But there's all kinds of ideas coming out. We keep saying, 'We have to get a little mp3 recorder or something like that and just turn it on when we're back there.' But there's all kinds of ideas floating around.

"I don't want to think about [a second album], because we haven't really toured yet," Anthony added. "We did nine small shows over here and then a month of shows in Europe. But I'm looking forward to kicking off a tour here in the States."

Chickenfoot's North American tour kicks off Aug. 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

"When we start in August over here, we'll be doing mostly theaters, and a few amphitheaters," Anthony said. "There's no ego-driven thing behind this band or money. We want to build a following up. We could have easily have said, 'Let's go straight into arenas.' We didn't want to do it that way. We wanted people to realize this is a new band. That's why we're not doing any Van Halen stuff, any Chili Peppers stuff, any Satriani stuff right now. We're keeping it all Chickenfoot."