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Chad Smith

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Chad Smith

Chad Smith (born 25 October, 1961) is the drummer of the American alternative rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Biography

Smith grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended Andover High School and Lahser High School, graduating from Lahser in 1980. While he was still at school, he ran away from home for a period of time. When he returned, his mother sent him to a boarding school. He then worked a series of jobs while playing in several bands, including 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. He joined the Chili Peppers in late 1988 after their former drummer, Jack Irons, quit due to the distress and chaos of former guitarist Hillel Slovak's death from a drug overdose. According to Anthony Kiedis' autobiography Scar Tissue and Flea's liner notes on the Mother's Milk reissue, after Smith's first audition for the band, Anthony Kiedis told him he was allowed to join the band if he would shave his head, to test Smith's devotion to the band, but mostly because of Kiedis' dislike of Smith's more conformative Rock & Roll hair style (which Kiedis' likened to a Guns N' Roses look—long hair and a bandana), as it did not mesh with the band's punk/funk, and alternative image. Smith came back the next day with his hair still in a bandana, yet was allowed to stay as Kiedis found his obstinacy impressive, and according to Flea, they liked his funk-groove drumming style.

Although he is mainly known as the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smith's drumming is featured on over a hundred albums in addition to those recorded with Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has also toured the world extensively performing drum clinics, and recently did a series of clinics with one of his drumming heroes, Deep Purple's Ian Paice. In 1993, Smith released Red Hot Rhythm Method, an educational video for aspiring drummers.

In November 2007, Smith performed a series of drum clinics in the UK, with legendary drummer Steve White. The drum tour went to places including Northampton, Cardiff, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Keighley, Norwich & Poole, with a massive turnout at all the venues.

Smith is currently developing a supergroup/side project called "Chickenfoot" with former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, as well as guitarist Joe Satriani, which will include a yet unnamed studio album release.

In late 2007, Chad Smith formed a new group, named Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, featuring Cosmosquad guitarist Jeff Kollman, bassist Kevin Chown, and keyboardist Ed Roth. The band's debut album, which is due out in early 2008, has already been recorded and is currently in the mixing stages.

Personal life

Chad's parents are Curtis and Joan Smith. He has two older siblings, Bradley and Pamela. He was married in 1994 to Maria St. John and while together they had one child: Manon St. John (1997), but the couple divorced the following year. He then had two other children, Justin in 1997 and Ava in 2001. He was then married to Nancy Mack on 8 May, 2004 in Hopetown, Abaco, Bahamas and together they have a son Cole Madison. Chad is lactose intolerant[2], which has caused him many difficulties while on tour, particularly in the state of Wisconsin.

When not on stage or in the studio Smith enjoys scuba diving, baseball, basketball, and riding his Harleys (he owns a black Road King that he has personally done modifications on, and in a 2006 interview with Modern Drummer magazine, said that his 2003 100th Anniversary issue Soft Tail was his "main mode of transportation"). He is also often noted as looking very similar to Hollywood actor Will Ferrell. Chad once assisted as a security guard for The Strokes at a small show in Hawaii. He lives in a 1929 Spanish house in Colorado that Cary Grant and Randolph Scott lived in together from 1932 to 1936. Ex-Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes recorded an album in Chad's home studio in late 2005 to early 2006.

Chad can also play a small amount of guitar and on his 2007 drum clinic tour with fellow drummer Steve White, he did a short guitar sequence in one of the clinics in Keighley, including a cover of Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" as a birthday tribute to a special fan.[3]Chad is 6 feet 4 inches tall and is rarely seen without his Trademark Backwards Baseball cap.

Equipment

The kit presently used by Smith is a typical example of a rock drum setup. He currently endorses Pearl Drums and Sabian cymbals. He has made with Pearl his own signature snare drum. The Chad Smith Signature Snare is a 14x5” inch snare which has a Black Nickel Plated Shell. Chad has also designed two signature crash-cymbals with Sabian—the 18.5" Chad Smith Explosion Crash and the 20.5" Chad Smith Explosion Crash. Chad also endorses Vater drumsticks and bass drum beater. He has a popular pair of signature sticks. The Chad Smith Funkblaster sticks have a unique shape wood tip which makes them stand out from Vater's other signature sticks.

In 2005, Pearl and CeeLite created a drum kit incorporating CeeLite's lighting technology to illuminate Chad's Pearl Masters kit on stage. Chad's new Pearl kit is wrapped with CeeLite's flat, flexible Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC) panels which can be programmed to dim, fade and flash. The kit features 4 ply 5 mm 100% aged maple shells with chrome hardware. Chad first played this kit on NBC's Saturday Night Live on the 5/6/2006. Chad also used a number of different snare drums on the 2006-2007 tour including the Pearl Sensitone and Yamaha's Jimmy Chamberlin signature snare drum. The following is the current drum kit used by Smith on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Current Tour Kit (2006-2007):

  • Pearl Masters MRX 6ply Maple Drums & Sabian Cymbals:
  • Drums—Custom CeeLight Finish, Classic Silver Sparkle
    • 12x10" Tom
    • 14x14" Floor Tom
    • 16x16" Floor Tom
    • 24x18" Bass Drum
    • 14x5.5" Yamaha Jimmy Chamberlin Signature Snare (Current Main Snare)
    • 14x5" Pearl Masters Snare (bottom head & snare wire removed, used as a timbale)
  • Cymbals—Sabian (all with brilliant finish)
    • 14" AAX-Celerator Hi-Hats
    • 21" AA Rock Ride
    • 19" AA Medium Crash
    • 20" AA Rock Crash
    • 10" AA Splash
    • 20" AA China
    • 21" Prototype China w/rivets (added to setup in late 2006)
  • Percussion
  • Drum Heads—Remo
    • Toms: (12", 14", 16") Clear Emperors (top), Clear Ambassadors (bottom)
    • Bass Drum: (24") Clear Powerstroke 3 with Falam Slam Patch (back), Custom Design Masters head (front)
    • Snares (except timbale): (14") Coated CS Controlled Sound with Black Dot reverse (top), Hazy Ambassador (bottom)
    • Snare/Timbale: (14") Clear Emperor (top)
  • Hardware—Pearl
    • T1000 Double Tom Stand (used as single tom stand)
    • 2000C Pearl Eliminator Bass Pedal (with Vater Hard Felt Beater and Black Cam)
    • S2000 Snare Stand (x2)
    • H2000K Hi-Hat Stand
    • B1000 Boom Cymbal Stand (x2 for Ride & AA China)
    • C1000 Straight Cymbal Stand (x3 for both Crash Cymbals & AAX-Treme China)
    • CH-70 Cymbal Arm (For Splash)
    • PPS 37 Cowbell Holder
  • Throughout the years with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chad has used a variety of different snares, from piccolos to Custom Snares. In the late 80s, early 90s, Chad used a couple of different snares, including a 14x4" Ludwig Pioneer Snare and a 14x5" Ludwig Black Beauty Snare (used to record Blood Sugar Sex Magik). In the One Hot Minute era, in 1996, Chad used a 14x5.5" Brady Jarrah Ply Wood Model Snare, and continued to use this live, until 1999 when he switched to a 14x5" DW Edge Snare. Later in the Californication Tour, he changed his snare to a 14x5" Pearl Sensitone Classic II Snare (brass with black coating). He continued to use this until early 2007, when he changed for the first time in 8 years to a 14x5.5" Yamaha Jimmy Chamberlin Signature Snare.
  • Also, Chad Smith has never used his 14x5" Pearl Signature Snare live with RHCP. He may use this snare in Clinics, but he never uses it in live RHCP shows. This is proven scientificly by researcher of the Drummer's Researching Corporation, also known as DRC, that he never uses his signature pearl kit because Pearl provided a double bass drum kit. Which he stated in Channel V, "I've never been able to play the double kickers man.... I just leave it to all the guys with serious skill you know".

Selected discography

Notes

  1. ^ Chad Smith
  2. ^ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactose-intolerance/DS00530
  3. ^ [1]


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