Chad Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Chad Smith (Disambiguation).
| Chad Smith | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Chad Smith | |
| Born | October 25, 1962 (age 44) Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA |
|
| Genre(s) | Rock, Funk-rock, Metal | |
| Instrument(s) | Drums | |
| Years active | 1982 - Present | |
| Associated acts |
Red Hot Chili Peppers | |
| Website | Official Red Hot Chili Peppers Website | |
Chad Smith (born on October 25, 1962 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA) is the drummer of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.
He joined the band after Jack Irons quit because of the distress and chaos over Hillel Slovak's death. In 1993, he released "Red Hot Rhythm Method", an educational video for aspiring drummers.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Smith grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended Andover High School and Lahser High School, graduating from Lahser in 1980. He then worked a series of odd jobs while playing in a slew of 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, he moved to Los Angeles where he joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 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. Smith's tenacity to keep his long hair was most likely due to Smith's discomfort with his receding hairline, thus clarifying the reason why he almost always wears a hat.
He was married in 1994 to Maria St. John and together had one child: Manon St. John (1997). He has three other children: Justin (1998), Ava (2000) and Cole (2005). The two divorced but he has since remarried to an architect named Nancy on May 8, 2004 in Hopetown, Abacos, Bahamas. When not onstage 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 also lives in a 1929 Spanish house that Cary Grant and Randolph Scott lived in together from 1932 to 1936. Ex-Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes recorded an album in Chad's "home studio" in late 2005 - early 2006.
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, and recently did a series of clinics with one of his drumming heroes, Deep Purple's Ian Paice. Chad is currently developing a side project called "Chickenfoot" with former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony.[1]
[edit] Chad Smith's Equipment
The kit presently used by Chad Smith is a typical example of a Rock drum setup. He currently endorses Pearl Drums and Sabian Cymbals, and uses a new custom Pearl CeeLite drum kit when performing live. He has also helped design the new Pearl Reference Series kit, which he used to record the Red Hot Chili Peppers latest studio album Stadium Arcadium. He also 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 a number of signature cymbals with Sabian - the 18.5" “Chad Smith Explosion Crash” and the 20.5" “Chad Smith Explosion Crash.” Chad also endorses Vater drumsticks. 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.
The following are the Drumkits used by Chad Smith during the past 5 Years with the Red Hot Chili Peppers:
[edit] Californication & By the Way (1999-2005) Tour Kit:
-
- Pearl Masters Custom (MRX) Drums and Sabian Cymbals:
- Pearl Drums - Silver Sparkle or Custom Colours - Satin Blue Flame or Satin Fire Purple
- 12x10" Tom
- 14x14" Floor Tom
- 16x16" Floor Tom
- 5x14" Pearl Sensitone Snare or 5x14" DW Edge Snare or 5x14" Pearl Chad Smith Signature Snare
- 16x24" Bass Drum
- 19" AA Medium Crash or 18.5" Chad Smith Explosion Crash
- 20" AA Rock Crash or 20.5" Chad Smith Explosion Crash
- 21" AA Rock Ride or 21" Ed Shaugnessy Ride
- 14" Flat Hats Top, AA Top for Bottom
- 19" AAX or AA China
- 10" AA Splash
- Vater Chad Smith Signature Series Funkblaster Sticks
[edit] Stadium Arcadium (2006-07) Tour Kit:
-
- Pearl_drums Reference Series Drums and Sabian Cymbals:
- Pearl Drums - Silver Sparkle or Custom Cee-Lite Special
- 12x10" Tom
- 14x14" Floor Tom
- 16x16" Floor Tom
- 5x14" Pearl Sensitone Snare
- 16x24" Bass Drum
- 19" AA Medium Crash
- 20" AA Rock Crash (with a 22" AA Rock Crash live)
- 21" AA Rock Ride
- 14" AAXcellerator Hi-Hats
- 19" AA China
- 10" AA Splash
- Vater Chad Smith Signature Series Funkblaster Sticks
- (Same as above, but with a 12x10" Tom and All Sabian AA Cymbals)
- Chad also uses DW Pedals (2002-2004), Remo drum heads and LP Percussion.
- Chad also has used other snares in his time with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he has used a variety of snares while recording, including a Ludwig Black Beauty used on Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Brady 5.5"x14" Jarrah Wood Model used when recording One Hot Minute and live from 1992 to 1997.
[edit] Selected Discography
- Glenn Hughes-Music For The Divine (June 2006)
- Dixie Chicks-Taking The Long Way (2006)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-Stadium Arcadium (2006)
- Glenn Hughes-Soul Mover (2005)
- Glenn Hughes-Soulfully Live..City of Angels (2004)
- John Frusciante-Shadows Collide With People (2004)
- Glenn Hughes-Songs in the Key of Rock (2003)
- HTP2-Hughes/Turner Project (2003)
- Johnny Cash-Unearthed (2003)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-By The Way (2002)
- Dave Navarro-Trust No One (2001)
- Loud Rocks-compilation (2000)
- Fishbone-The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerk (2000)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-Californication (1999)
- Leah Andreone-Alchemy (1998)
- John Fogerty-Blue Moon Swamp (1997)
- Lili Haydn-Lili (1997)
- Howard Stern's Private Parts (1997)
- Thermadore-Monkey on Rico (1996)
- Wayne Kramer-Dangerous Madness (1996)
- Grace of my Heart Soundtrack (1996)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-One Hot Minute (1995)
- A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division (1995)
- General Clusterfunk-Starin' Straight at the Sun (1994)
- Wild Colonials-Fruit of Life (1994)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
- Anacrusis-Manic Impressions (1991)
- Queen Remix (1991)
- Second Self-Mood Ring (1990)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-Mother's Milk (1989)
- Toby Redd-In the Light (1986)
- Twenty Mondays-Twist Inside (1991)
- Pharaoh - Point Of Entry (1982)
[edit] Trivia
- His favorite bands are Led Zeppelin and KISS[citation needed]
- Produced and played drums on the debut EP for the (otherwise) all-girl band, The Fuzzy Pinks, in 1999.[citation needed]
- At 6'3, Chad is the tallest member of the Chili Peppers.[2]
- Chad Smith is often noted as looking very similar to actor Will Ferrell [1] [2].
- Chad is a smoker.
- Chad and the Red Hot Chili Peppers dressed up as giant light-bulbs at Dave Navarro's first Red Hot Chili Pepper concert at Woodstock 94.
- He is best friends with the Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins.
- At a Chili Pepper concert in early 2006, Chad played John Frusciante's guitar and John played Flea's bass.[citation needed]
- His name was mentioned in episode 35 of the anime series, Bleach.
- He holds a world record for playing 308 drum kit parts.[3]
- Chad was named the number one drummer alive in a recent Doell & Ford Magazine writers poll.
- During the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, Chad played drums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the eventual album of the year winners, the Dixie Chicks.
- Chad is the oldest member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but not the oldest to play with them.
[edit] External links
- Red Hot Chili Peppers Official Website
- Romanian FanSite
- Images, sound & video clips, plus an article at Drummerworld
- Biography for Chad Smith on IMDb
- For a look at Chad's New Pearl Cee-Lite Kit!
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1962 births | Living people | WikiProject Red Hot Chili Peppers | American rock drummers | People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan | People from Saint Paul, Minnesota | Red Hot Chili Peppers members | Minnesota musicians
