We’ve Got A Chad Smith In The Belfry

Red Hot Chili Peppers & Chickenfoot drummer Chad Smith appears to have superhuman stamina. With two internationally-renowned bands already commanding his time, it comes as a surprise that Smith would start yet another group, but he’s gone and done just that. The hard-hitting funktastic beat man has recently joined with Jeff Kollman, multi-faceted keyboardist Ed Roth, and Motor City bass ace Kevin Chown to form an unpredictable instrumental outfit that’s spontaneous, sarcastic and unlike anything you’d recognize in the RHCP or Chickenfoot catalogue: Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats.

The Meatbats achieve sonic alchemy by fusing together an array of influences, including old school funk, punk and 70’s R&B. Their debut album, Meet The Meatbats, consists of 10 songs written in the span of a few days at Chad’s pool house in Malibu (known as “The Tiki Room”), and exudes the feel of a spontaneous party-funk celebration of soul. That’s a good thing, too, because that’s exactly what it is.

I caught up with Chad just before the album’s release to discuss all things Meatbats, as well as to get a little insight on the future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers – which, if you’ve been paying attention to guitarist John Frusciante’s comments of late, is still riddled with uncertainty. Smith, however, feels differently.

Chad Smith: So what’s Antiquiet all about? I love the name.

Antiquiet: Thanks – we call it like we see it, popular opinion be damned. Personal taste is at the forefront, and our readers trust us not to suckle the scene teat or feed them a line of bullshit for quick hits. We don’t want to be mistaken for the bloggy payola stuff going on out there…

Chad Smith: “Bloggy payola?” (laughs) That’s fuckin’ great, man.

Antiquiet: Yeah, I’m not sure that’s an official term. I guess we’re just audacious enough to think we have better taste than most of what’s out there, and it’s working so far. We’ve got a good base who knows they can trust what we throw at ‘em. We have some spirited discussions with our readers that helps drive our approach to it. But wait a minute, I’m supposed to be interviewing you, aren’t I?

Chad Smith: Yeah, yeah, I had it backwards for a minute there (laughs). Sounds cool though.

Antiquiet: Thank you sir! So let’s talk about the fantastic Bombastic Meatbats situation.

Chad Smith: Fantastic Bombastic… Yeah! We’re pretty excited man, the record’s all set, and everything’s coming together. We’re really excited about it.

Antiquiet: Was the entire thing freeform? I read somewhere that you wrote everything in-studio, on the spot.

Chad Smith: No, we came up with some stuff… We wrote some songs at my house actually. Ed Roth, Jeff Kollman and I used to play with this guy Glenn Hughes, who used to play with Deep Purple. now he’s a solo artist, but that’s how we met. We played in his band and played a few records with him and played live sometimes. We’d just jam when he wasn’t around, and we always dug this kind of funk thing that we got into, and one day… I don’t know who it was, it might’ve been me – said “hey, we should record this shit, write some songs and get it down on tape,” and that’s what we did.

Antiquiet: How long did it take to bring it all together once you were recording?

Chad Smith: We did it all really quickly, probably in the span of a few days. We went into the studio and just recorded ‘em really quick, and boom, there’s a record.

Antiquiet: There’s little to no overdubs or overthinking done on the record, right?

Chad Smith: Yeah very minimal – we cut it all live, and I think… I think the piano had to be done separately because it was in a room that the drums would’ve leaked into. But other than that it was all old school, raw and live.

Antiquiet: The Meatbats sounds, to some extent, like Billy Preston on shrooms.

Chad Smith: (laughs) Right! There was this one guy I talked to in Alabama who said “this sounds like music Frank Sinatra would listen to if he was sniffing coke off a whore’s ass.” Sounds like a good category to be in. I haven’t seen that section in the record store, but we’ll fit it right between reggae and house music. (laughs) Okay, maybe not. But it does have that Billy Preston, Jeff Beck kind of vibe to it. All over the place.

Antiquiet: I know that the Chili Peppers really haven’t gone back to the material from One Hot Minute (the band’s one-off album with Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro) too much… John’s never played that stuff, has he?

Chad Smith: John…I don’t think he really feels comfortable playing Dave’s stuff. It’s like you’re fucking your girlfriend and she asks you to move like her old boyfriend did or something. It’s just not right to him. I think that’s what it is. There’s just so much other stuff that we can play, and so much other stuff that people complain about that we don’t play, that it’s easier to focus on all that. I’m personally proud of all the stuff we’ve done. I have no problem playing any of it. Dave is a wonderful musician… that was just a different band.

Antiquiet: How are you gearing up mentally for the Chili Peppers to kick back into gear?

Chad Smith: It’s all good! I’m ready, it’s gonna be fun. We haven’t played in two years, so that’s the longest we’ve ever not played together.

Antiquiet: There’s been a lot of concern over that, since you’ve been gone for so long. And John (Frusciante, RHCP guitarist) made a couple comments a while back on how he’s got no intention of diving back in..

Chad Smith: Yeah, he wasn’t too anxious to get back & get going. But one way or another, we’ll get going.

Antiquiet: How do you reconcile all those personalities at this advanced stage in your careers?

Chad Smith: I just try to do what’s right for the music in whatever situation I’m in. I just feel like it’s always fun to play different stuff and keep shit fresh. I just have to play, man. I just can’t not do it. I’m fortunate that I’m able to find people as passionate as I am about playing music and keeping it fun. It’s important to be artistically fulfilling, but at the same time you gotta enjoy yourself, man. It has to be a fun thing.

Antiquiet: Your name is going to draw attention to the project, but the change of pace and general atmosphere of it lends itself to more of a try-before-you-buy element. I’m not sure everybody would dive in head first to buy this new album, for a simple lack of stylistic touchstone beyond your involvement. Applying that, how do you react to P2P downloads?

Chad Smith: You know, especially for something like this, I’m all for illegal downloading (laughs). We just want to get it out there in any way we can. And I think that it promotes word of mouth, and its so important to just get it out there in any way you can these days. Whatever the means, I’m all for it

Antiquiet: So you’d take Tampax up on an ad offer?

Chad Smith: (laughs) We’ll that’s something I’d have to think about. I mean, when I was a kid, ’round twelve or thirteen, and I was interested in the music, I’d steal records too. But I’d be stealing actual vinyl records, which is much more difficult given how big they are, trying to fit ‘em under your jacket. I remember getting Masters of Reality, a Led Zeppelin album and Humble Pie’s Rockin’ The Fillmore… and shit, that was a double album. If I was a kid and I really wanted to hear the music, I’d get it any way I could. I’d steal that shit in a heartbeat. Totally. Is it right? No, of course not. But I didn’t care, it was all about me and how I could get it.

Antiquiet: So you’re not looking to cash in here, is what you’re saying.

Chad Smith: We’re not trying to compete with fuckin’ Coldplay or Lady Gaga and shit, you know? We’re a band for a little cult. A niche group that’s just having a great time playing kooky instrumental music. Any way people can get their hands on a new band, I think that serves the band well.

Antiquiet: Especially when it’s Frank Sinatra cokewhore music.

Chad Smith: Exactly.

You’ve read the words, now open your ears and check out Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats.