Red Hot Chili Peppers |
Chad Smith says the Red Hot Chili Peppers will end their hiatus this fall and reconvene in October, after taking two years off. The band toured extensively behind 2005's double-album Stadium Arcadium. The drummer told Billboard, "Everybody was like, 'Y'know, I really like having this time off, not being a Chili Pepper and doing other things... It'll be two years in September, so now we're ready. You can't force people to play when they don't want to play or aren't ready to play or whatever -- not in our band, anyway."Smith said the band will likely "do a lot of improvising and jamming and songs will come out of that. That's what we usually do. I don't know why it would be different." He joked that while they haven't talked about a producer, he wouldn't be surprised if they work with Rick Rubin again, since he "always ends up being the guy... But we haven't discussed it."
As for Smith's current duties as a member of the supergroup Chickenfoot, the band is set to kick off a new leg of touring on August 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Chickenfoot recently filmed shows in San Francisco and at the Montreux Jazz Festival, with more shows to be documented later this year for a probable DVD release.
Smith is also planning on unveiling his own instrumental group, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. The group's debut album is due out September 15 and Smith tells Billboard, "It's all very loose. It's instrumental music -- power, funk, rock music. It's a niche. We're not going for the Mariah Carey crowd or anything. It's just really fun and they're great guys and we just have fun hanging out and playing."
