‘We can write songs on the same level’: Sammy Hagar compares Chickenfoot to his time in Montrose, Van Halen

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Sammy Hagar says his musical relationship with Joe Satriani in Chickenfoot defies age — something that’s no easy feat in the business of rock.

“I’m in my 60s, you know — and Joe’s in his 50s,” Hagar says in this clip. “He’s had, how many? 13, 14 solo albums? He’s toured the world, again and again and again — and I have myself, as well. So, to get together on that level, and still have enthusiasm and energy and chemistry, that’s very special.”

Chickenfoot debuted with a gold-selling 2009 self-titled release, following that up with III in 2011. Hagar says the group — which is rounded out by Chad Smith and Michael Anthony — plans to reconvene in 2014 to begin work on a third studio effort, once Satriani’s tandem solo work and Smith’s commitments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers have concluded.

How this new music will stack up against what’s come before from Chickenfoot — much less Hagar’s storied output with Montrose in the 1970s and Van Halen beginning in the 1980s — remains to be seen. But Hagar says he likes their chances, since this collaboration has already produced such a memorable spark.

“Eddie Van Halen and I, we had a great chemistry. But we were both young, and really hungry. Ronnie Montrose and I had an amazing chemistry, because those were some of the first songs I ever wrote in my life,” Hagar says. “But I think, if you look at in terms of where we are today, the fact that Joe and I can write songs on the same level as I did in Van Halen and the same level as I did in Montrose — songs like ‘Big Foot’ and ‘Oh Yeah,’ ‘Sexy Little Thing.'” Those are great songs. We had a gold album a couple of years ago. In this day and age? With four old guys? I think it’s pretty special. I love Chickenfoot. That’s my band.”

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