Michael Anthony has spilled his secrets for recording the new Chickenfoot album whilst speaking with Music Radar.
Bass man Anthony, who was a founding member of hard rock legends Van Halen and an integral part of the VH rock machine up until '98, has admitted that, at first, he was thrown by the promptness of the recording process, he said:
"At first, I was a little thrown, we were still writing and completing songs. A lot of things weren't fully worked out. But the spontaneity was there, and the chemistry between the four of us was so strong – why would we want to put a stop to that? It was like, 'OK, push the buttons and let's roll!"
The new record, which will be the bands second, was recorded at singer Hagar's 'The Foot Locker' studio, with veteran engineer Mike Fraser and Anthony has told how he turned up well prepared for the sessions:
"I brought a bunch of basses and four different amps with me. I even had an amp built for me. When I was jamming and working on stuff with Chad, there was a guy at the studio who was making reissues of these old amps called Versatones. I never even heard of them before, but I checked one out and it sounded great. 'OK, I want one,' I said."
Anthony has also revealed that he's backing vocals are featured more prominently on the new record then on Chcikenfoot's first outing and he cites one major factor in his increased vocal power, he has given up smoking:
"I gave up smoking. I should clarify that: I was never a real smoker – I don't think I've ever smoked an entire cigarette from start to finish – but for years and years, if I was out with people, having cocktails or dinner or whatever, and if somebody was smoking, I'd take a few drags off their cigarette. It was stupid, but that's what I did.
"Recently, though, I said to myself, 'Why am I doing this?' So I just stopped messing around with cigarettes, just cut 'em out entirely. For one thing, I want to live a long life and try to grow old gracefully, so that's a good reason to quit. But I found that my singing improved dramatically. I've always been a natural singer on stage and in the studio – never had a vocal lesson in my life. But by trying to take better care of my voice, I can really feel and hear the difference. I'm pretty proud of my singing on this new album."