Meet the Meatbats

Following quickly on the heels of the first Chickenfoot record (a collaboration with Joe Satriani and members of Van Halen), prolific Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith unleashed MEET THE MEATBATS, the debut album from his band Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. Ironically, where Chickenfoot was pure `80s-style hard rock, the Meatbats (whose other members were part of ex-Rainbow bassist Glenn Hughes's touring band) deal in a brand of instrumental jazz-fusion-influenced rock of the sort usually practiced by Satriani. Though most of the songs were purportedly developed through jams, the album has a strong compositional element, often recalling the rump-shaking guitar hero stylings of Jeff Beck's classic mid-`70s instrumental discs WIRED and BLOW BY BLOW, as well as early fusion records by Al Di Meloa and Billy Cobham. On tunes such as the driving, polyrhythmic "Oops I Spilled My Beer" and the late-period Jimi Hendrix-meets-INNER SECRETS-era Santana jam "Death Match" the group is loose yet muscular, letting the funky organ stabs and liquid guitar melodies ride over the pulsing, busy rhythm section grooves.