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Joe Satriani with Sammy Hagar on stage. Satch says the new Chickenfoot album will explore new directions (© Jared Milgrim/Corbis)

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Joe Satriani smiles a beatific smile. The guitarist is in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to play his first shows with Chickenfoot since last December, and after a couple of downright kick-ass sets over the past two evenings - "rehearsal gigs," he calls them - Satch is pumped for an even bigger blow-out tonight.

"It was a little nerve-wracking at first," he admits. "There might have been a few wrong notes, but maybe you didn't hear them because we were so loud. You know, we were playing so great together last year, so I was a tad nervous that it might take us a while to find our groove again.

"But we fell into being a band again pretty quickly," he continues. "We have a very intuitive thing going on between us. We feel very lucky, and we've got a lot to celebrate."

Celebration is the order of the day - or night - here in Cabo. Not only are Chickenfoot - the supergroup that also includes vocalist Sammy Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith - helping to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina, which has become, over the past two decades, the de rigueur hang for South of the Border rockers and partygoers of all stripes, but they're also trumpeting their just-released DC3 DVD and Blu-ray release, Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On Live.

In addition to a complete concert filmed with 16 hi-definition cameras, the Daniel Catullo-directed DVD features an hour-long documentary that is, as one might expect, unpredictable and hilarious. (Check out a promo trailer here.)

Each Chickenfooter gets his own segment in the doc, ranging from Hagar popping in on The Dead's Bob Weir to ask him when he last dropped acid (Bob isn't exactly sure, although he thinks it was recently); Anthony taking a playful, although slightly painful, ribbing from comedian Adam Corolla; and Smith ambushing pedestrians in man-on-the-street reporter-mode, asking them if they've ever heard of Chickenfoot and can name the group's members (most can't).

As for Satch, he spends some quality time with Spinal Tap's legendary guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), for an interview that Satriani calls "truly remarkable. When you're granted an audience with Nigel Tufnel, well, as you can imagine, it's every guitarist's dream."

With several hours to go before soundcheck, Satriani talked to MusicRadar about the future of Chickenfoot, expressing enthusiasm about a recent group writing session ("already I can tell we're going deeper than on the first album"). He also reveals that fans can count on a new solo record in the fall.

After decompressing for a few months and playing on the Experience Hendrix Tour, what was it like to get back with Chickenfoot to work on some new material?

"Better and easier than you might think. It doesn't take long for us to start clicking. We got together and worked on some ideas. Actually, we had a bunch of stuff we recorded on the road last year, little bits of things. But we have four songs that are really taking shape. We're going to take a little more time with this record - well, we kind of have to given our schedules."

By that, you're referring to Chad and the Chili Peppers - they're getting ready to start their new record.

"That's true. Out of all of us, Chad probably has the toughest schedule right now, balancing two bands. But we made it work last time, so we'll figure something out."

Of course, last time he was on a real break from the Peppers. Now he's literally going to be jumping from band to band.

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