Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Just ahead of Jason Bonham's tour, supergroup offers pour in

Jason Bonham is ready to rock as the offers pour in.
Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience multimedia tour is set to begin Friday tomorrow night in British Columbia, and he has still managed to keep his onstage lineup of musicians from being publicly revealed. (my mistake)

Meanwhile, just after the self-titled album from Black Country Communion hit the streets with Bonham on board, the drummer has now received a namecheck from guitarist Joe Satriani mentioning him as a possible touring member of Chickenfoot next year.

Joe Bosso of MusicRadar spoke with Satriani on the occasion of his new solo album, Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, being released. When the subject of Chickenfoot came up in the interview, Satriani mentioned Bonham and two other drummers who might be good additions to the band, which also features Sammy Hagar on vocals and Michael Anthony on bass.

Satriani says current drummer, Chad Smith, is likely available to record their second album early next year. But after that, Smith might be back with his previous band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, meaning somebody would have to fill in on any Chickenfoot live dates.

Satriani mentioned the "really outrageous" Tommy Lee as one possibility. "He's a great drummer, a lot of fun and a crazy personality," he said.

"We've had some guys sit in from time to time. Some names that have been thrown around are Abe Laboriel Jr. and Jason Bonham -- they'd be really great."

Laboriel, who plays for Sir Paul McCartney, recently participated with Bonham at the Los Angeles concert tribute to John Bonham on Sept. 25, the 30th anniversary of the late Led Zeppelin drummer's death. A full summary of the show has since been provided by Steve Krugman with photos by Alex Kluft.


Bonham sat in with Chickenfoot in Las Vegas on Dec. 5, 2009, later writing online that the band is a "great bu[n]ch of guys" and describing the experience as a "great gig and lots of fun !!!!"

In Satriani's interview, he prefaces the name dropping by saying a replacement for Chad Smith might not be necessary at all. "In all seriousness, we just did two shows with Chad, and they were fantastic," he says. "Chad played like a crazed madman. He was totally on fire, brilliant in every way. Afterward, he said he's still committed to the band, so that was cool. We're due to meet at the end of January and complete the second Chickenfoot album. So everybody's attitude is, full speed ahead. ... I'm not too worried about Chad completing the record. As for touring, we'll have to see. Obviously, he's going to be pretty busy."

Of course, singer/bassist Glenn Hughes has stated repeatedly he hopes to see his band Black Country Communion -- with Bonham, guitarist Joe Bonamassa and keyboardist Derek Sherinian -- touring in 2011 and even in 2012.


Hughes recently told "Carol Miller's Get the Led Out" he and Bonamassa have plans to meet in January and take it from there: "Joe and I will convene at my home, and we will write more songs for another album, and then we are talking of doing some shows this winter for Black Country Communion, followed by an extensive tour next summer where we'll hit most of the festivals on this side of the pond and that side of the pond."

Hughes said even more to Lemon Squeezings at the time Black Country Communion launched its album: "The band will be touring next year, festivals and what have you. We're looking into 2012 as well, as we're making the next LP in January, so we are moving forward with the machine that is Black Country Communion."

Bonham, however, appeared noncommittal last month on the subject of a Black Country Communion tour when he gave an interview to Nightwatcher's House of Rock. "I haven't been told about any touring yet," Bonham said in this September chat. "I'm still waiting to hear about that. I know Joe's quite busy. But I'm willing to tour. If they want to tour, I'm willing to go out. I think this would be a great band to go out on the road with. But that's not up to me."

His current tour is Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, which begins and ends in British Columbia, Canada. The first show takes place Friday tomorrow in Dawson Creek, and the 31st show is slated for Nov. 29 in Vancouver. A publicist for the tour says this would be the end of the first leg only, with additional dates to be announced.

Hughes told Lemon Squeezings the various tours of Black Country Communion members have so far been synched pretty well. "Joe's touring till December, I'm touring till December 10 in South America and Europe as you know, and Jase planned his tour around the same dates that Joe and I were out there, so there's no mistakes here," he said. "We're all gonna keep working simply because we want to play."

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