Chad Smith
Chad Smith
Chadwick "Chad" Gaylord Smith is an American musician and current drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which he joined in 1988 and was inducted of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Smith is also the drummer of the hard rock supergroup Chickenfoot, who formed in 2008, and currently the all-instrumental outfit Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, who formed in 2007. As one of the most highly sought-after drummers, Smith has recorded with Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDrummer
Date of Birth25 October 1961
CitySaint Paul, MN
CountryUnited States of America
I just played at a club in L.A. called the Baked Potato. It fits like 90 people. It's like playing somewhere in a basement in, like, Indiana or somewhere where all your friends show up. It's really fun and there's a very different energy to that than to play to 50,000 at a Tokyo baseball stadium.
Cardiff Stadium was a warm up for the 3 Hyde Park shows. James Brown opened. And I think it may be the only time we played Mini Epic live.
We always feel pretty creative as far as writing songs. We write them together; we just get in a room, or on occasion in Flea's garage. We just sort of improvise, like jazz musicians.
I just love to play and I get a chance to play with other musicians and I jump on it.
Going up north with the redwoods and driving along the coast, it's got everything, man. It's got the desert, the mountains, and the ocean. It's beautiful.
I took a private lesson, but it didn't really work out, so I went back to playing along with records. That's really the thing that got me into playing a lot - getting excited about playing along with my favorite bands like Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
I think it has been great for us. The exposure we get has been great.
For live you need a microphone for the snare and the high hat, the kick drum, a nice stereo overhead and one for the toms - you can get away with using four mikes.
Playing well with others is important - not being too flashy, just keeping good time and of course coming up with cool beats. A good snare drum, kick drum, high hat. Just getting good at the hand feet coordination.
Music doesn't solve your problems..but allows you to dance all over them
I just try to approach and serve the music in the way that I think is right for the band I'm in at the time.
The Meatbats are a throwback band.
I was in every band class I could get in, like after school jazz band and marching band, and that's where I really learned to read music from elementary all the way through junior high and high school.
Flea and Anthony are into funk, like old school Meters and stuff like that.