Chad Smith

For other people named Chad Smith, see Chad Smith (disambiguation).

Chad Smith
Background information
Birth name	Chad Smith
Born	October 25, 1961 (1961-10-25) Richfield, Minnesota, United States
Genres	Funk rock, Alternative rock, Experimental rock, Hard rock, Punk jazz, Jazz Funk, Heavy metal, Jazz, Funk metal
Instruments	Drums, percussion, Piano, Guitar, Oboe, Saxophone, Didgeridoo, Flute
Years active	1982–present
Associated acts	Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chickenfoot, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, Glenn Hughes, Dave Navarro

Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the longtime and current drummer of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith is also the drummer of the hard rock supergroup Chickenfoot, former Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes' backing band and his own instrumental side-project, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. In 2010 Smith released a children's record, Rhythm Train which he recorded with legend, Dick Van Dyke, and Leslie Bixler. In April 2010 MTV named Rhythm Train one of the best children's records of all time. In addition to Smith's bands, he also records with many other musicians including The Dixie Chicks, Kid Rock, George Clinton and Outernational. Smith was ranked #87 on Rolling Stone list of "100 Greatest Drummers of All time". He entered the Guinness book of the world records for playing the world's largest drum kit consisting of 308 pieces. Smith, along with his Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmates, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012.

Biography

Chad Smith was born to Curtis and Joan Smith in Richfield, Minnesota. He has two older siblings, Bradley and Pamela. He grew up in Homewood, Illinois or Flossmoor, Illinois where he attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School for two years. He then moved to Oakland County in Southeast Michigan and graduated from Lahser High School. Whilst he was still at school, he ran away from home for a period of time. When he returned with a dog called Bong, his mother sent him to a boarding school, kept the dog and shortened his name to Bo. He then worked a series of odd jobs, including Gap, while playing in several bands, most starting with the letter T: Tilt, Tyrant, Terence and E-Trian. One of them, Toby Redd, put out a record; and opened for Kansas . Later in his twenties, he moved to California , where his brother Brad lived, and ended up in Los Angeles where he joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Smith joined Pepper's in 1988, when original drummer Jack Irons left the bend, because of death of their friend and guitarist Hillel Slovak. According to Anthony Kiedis' autobiography Scar Tissue, following Smith's first audition for the band, Kiedis told him he was allowed to join the band if he shaved his head, to test Smith's devotion to the band, but mostly because of Kiedis' dislike of Smith's more conformitive Rock & Roll hair style ,which Kiedis' likened to a Guns N' Roses look, as it didn't mesh with the band's punk-funk image. Smith came back the next day with his hair still in a bandana, yet was allowed to stay as Kiedis found his obstinancy impressive. Since 1988, he recorded seven studio albums, and sold more than 60 million records with Peppers.

In 2005, Chad Smith helped Pearl Drums develop the Pearl Reference Series drums. Chad used them to record the Red Hot Chili Peppers studio album, Stadium Arcadium. Later that year, Pearl and Cee-Lite created a drum kit incorporating Cee-Lite's lighting technology to illuminate his Pearl Masters kit on stage. Chad 's new Pearl kit is wrapped with Cee-Lite's flat, flexible Light Emitting Capacitor(LEC) panels which can be programmed to dim, fade and flash. The kit features 6 ply 7.5 mm 100% aged maple shells with chrome hardware. Chad first played this kit on NBC's Saturday Night Live on the 5-6-06.

Although he is mainly known as the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smith's drumming is featured on over a hundred albums, not including those recorded with Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has also toured the world extensively performing drum clinics. Chad also have a side project, supergroup called Chickenfoot with former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.

On' December 7, 2011, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were named 2012 inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Smith replied with a post on his Twitter page saying "Those crazy bastards at the hall of fame are putting us in this year?!! Howabout them apples! Seriously..I'm very humbled and grateful. Wow."

Personal life

On May 8, 2004 in Hopetown, Abaco, Bahamas, Smith got married for the second time to architect Nancy Mack, they first got married in 1996, but they split in 1997. They have two sons together, Cole and Beckett Cash. Smith, Mack and their boys split their time between Malibu, CA and New York. Smith has 3 other children from previous relationships; daughters Manon St. John Smith and Ava Cadoso-Smith, and son Justin Smith. Smith is a diehard Detroit Pistons fan and loves playing golf, riding motorcycles, surfing and watching Saturday Night Live. He has a striking resemblance to actor Will Ferrell and has acknowledged the resemblance in various interviews.

Smith regularly contributes to the following non profit organizations: MusiCares, Surfer's Healing, an organization which provides aid to children facing Autism, Right Turn in Boston, Children's Hospitals across the United States and Camp Korey, which is one of Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall summer camps for children with serious illness.

Equipment

Chad's Pearl Reference Kit:

12x10 tom

14x14 floor tom

16x16 floor tom

24x16 kick drum

14×5.5 Pearl Sensitone Elite Beaded Steel Snare

Sabian Cymbals:

14" AA Medium Hats,

21" AA Rock Ride,

20" AA Rock Crash,

19" AA Medium Crash,

19" Vault Holy China,

10" AAX Splash

Vater Sticks:

Chad Smith Funk Blaster

Pearl Hardware:

C1000 straight stand x 5

P2000C pedal H2000 hi-hat

S2000 snare stand

D1000S throne

T2000 double tom stand

B1000 boom stand AX20 adapter

Remo Drumheads:

Clear Powerstroke 4 (Bass Drum Batter):24" Clear Ambassador (Tom Resonants):12", 14", 16" Clear Emperor (Tom Batters):12", 14", 16" Coated Controlled Sound (Snare Batter):14" Ambassador Hazy (Snare Side): 14"

Chad rarely uses his signature snare.

Selected discography

• Jam Sessions - Jamming with Linc (1977)
• Pharaoh - Point Of Entry (1982)
• Toby Redd - In the Light (1986)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk (1989)
• Second Self - Mood Ring (1990)
• Twenty Mondays - Twist Inside (1992)
• Queen Remix (1991)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
• Wild Colonials - Fruit of Life (1994)
• General Clusterfunk - Starin' Straight at the Sun (1994)
• Various Artists - A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division (1995)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - One Hot Minute (1995)
• Original Soundtrack - Grace of my Heart (1996)
• Wayne Kramer - Dangerous Madness (1996)
• Thermadore - Monkey on Rico (1996)
• Howard Stern's Private Parts (1997)
• Lili Haydn - Lili (1997)
• John Fogerty - Blue Moon Swamp (1997)
• Leah Andreone - Alchemy (1998)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (1999)
• Fishbone - The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerk (2000)
• Various Artists - Loud Rocks (2000)
• Dave Navarro - Trust No One (2001)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way (2002)
• Johnny Cash - Unearthed (2003)
• Glenn Hughes - Songs In The Key Of Rock (2003)
• Hughes Turner Project - HTP 2 (2003)
• John Frusciante - Shadows Collide With People (2004)
• Glenn Hughes - Soulfully Live In The City Of Angels (2004)
• Glenn Hughes - Soul Mover (2005)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (2006)
• Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way (2006)
• Glenn Hughes - Music For The Divine (2006)
• Glenn Hughes - First Underground Nuclear Kitchen (2008)
• George Clinton - George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love (2008)
• Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot (2009)
• Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats - Meet The Meatbats (2009)
• B'z - Ichibu to Zenbu/Dive (2009)
• Rhythm Train with Leslie Bixler, Chad Smith and Featuring Dick Van Dyke - (2010)
• Paul Oakenfold - Pop Killer (2010)
• Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats - More Meat (2010)
• Kid Rock - Born Free (2010)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm with You
• Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot III

External links

• Red Hot Chili Peppers Official website
• Chad on Twitter
• Rhythm Train
• Drummerworld
• Chad Smith on Drum Channel