Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey everyone, Today we have the final interview in
Speaker 1: our month long series with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Speaker 1: and celebration of their new album Unlimited Love, produced by
Speaker 1: Rick Rubin. And there's only one Chili Pepper left, mister
Speaker 1: I eat drums for breakfast, Chad Smith. Chad has always
Speaker 1: been a bit of an outlier in the band. He's
Speaker 1: only member who isn't from la He's from the Motor City.
Speaker 1: It was reared more on classic rock than punk like
Speaker 1: the rest of the band, but Chad's an integral member
Speaker 1: of the Peppers. His hard hitting style is the foundation
Speaker 1: of the sound of bands known for and as we'll
Speaker 1: hear him tell Rick, Chad fell in love with the
Speaker 1: Chili Peppers the day he auditioned for them, close to
Speaker 1: thirty five years ago. On today's episode, Chad and Rick
Speaker 1: talk about the lost demo sessions that Chili Peppers recorded
Speaker 1: nearly a year before making Blood Sugar, Sex Magic. Chad
Speaker 1: talks about how Californication started out as what he calls
Speaker 1: a bad reggae song, and he remembers the time he
Speaker 1: and Flee got chased nearly naked by cops in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: This is broken record liner notes for the Digital Age.
Speaker 1: I'm justin Mitchill. Here's Rick Rubin with Chad Smith. Hi, Rick,
Speaker 1: what's happening main, Good morning, Good to see you. Nice
Speaker 1: to see you as a family. Everybody's good. Everything good
Speaker 1: on your side? Yeah, pretty good. Nice. Beckett just turned thirteen.
Speaker 1: He's a teenager now, amazing, I know, but he's he's good.
Speaker 1: He's playing the drums. What's that like? What's it like
Speaker 1: seeing your kid play the drums? Yeah? You know, he
Speaker 1: played like a while ago, years ago when he was younger,
Speaker 1: probably like nine, and then he started to play the
Speaker 1: piano a little bit, and then he went back to
Speaker 1: the drums. And he's really he's really embracing. I got
Speaker 1: a guy that comes every Sunday, pretty good teacher, and
Speaker 1: he doesn't like it's not like written music, although he
Speaker 1: can read music. He's really good with numbers and math
Speaker 1: and stuff, which kind of drumming and that stuff is
Speaker 1: when you're reading it, there's no melodic notes, but it's cool.
Speaker 1: He teaches him. He wants to learn songs, so yesterday
Speaker 1: he learned the whole intro to War Pigs. And I'm
Speaker 1: just like in the bedroom, I'm here, Donna I'm like,
Speaker 1: that sounds like war pigs. It wasn't take on me.
Speaker 1: It wasn't you know jump by what I'm like, that's
Speaker 1: one of the most epic songs you could ever you
Speaker 1: could ever learn. Get a big smile on his face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And he plays open handed. Rick he plays he doesn't
Speaker 1: cross over with the high hat. He's right handed, but
Speaker 1: he just like naturally so the hat he plays the
Speaker 1: hat on the left and the snare like this, which
Speaker 1: is great because like I wish I would have learned
Speaker 1: like that, I suppose, because I mean, when you're right handed,
Speaker 1: you just you know you'd left is here and you
Speaker 1: lead with your right except for Ringo who lead leads
Speaker 1: with his fills with the left, but he crosses over.
Speaker 1: But your your right hand is wide open to do.
Speaker 1: You don't have to get out of the way. Does
Speaker 1: anyone play that way? Yeah? Any drummers we know who
Speaker 1: who's who's known who plays in that style. I mean,
Speaker 1: guys do it that are ambidicutous, like Simon Phillips, you
Speaker 1: know the drummer Simon Phillips. Yeah, he plays open He
Speaker 1: can do what he can do any He's a freak.
Speaker 1: He can do anything like that, and he does play
Speaker 1: his hat real low. I mean, it just makes sense
Speaker 1: you think about it, like why cross I guess the reason,
Speaker 1: the reason the crossing must have started, if we think
Speaker 1: about it, has to do with the pedal. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: because the the other you're the foot that you want
Speaker 1: to be on the kick drum wants to be that
Speaker 1: foot right which which puts the high hat on the
Speaker 1: left side. Yeah. Well yeah, way back when when it
Speaker 1: was the low hat you got in New Orleans, when
Speaker 1: when it was just somebody just put the two symbols together,
Speaker 1: but just to play with your foot to keep time.
Speaker 1: And then I don't know who, but somebody smartly, so
Speaker 1: well let's bring it up so you can hit it
Speaker 1: with the stick. So yeah, that left foot still stayed
Speaker 1: over there, and if you're right handed, you just ended
Speaker 1: up going over here. And then if you're leave on
Speaker 1: or Charlie, watch you got out of the way. Tut
Speaker 1: tut tut tu tun kat. But the open thing, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna give me some lessons. I didn't realize Levon
Speaker 1: did that as well. I know Charlie's famous for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well I asked Charlie once about that and I thought
Speaker 1: he was doing it from the very beginning, but he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He He told me that he he saw Leven when
Speaker 1: the band was playing with Dylan when they were they
Speaker 1: the Hawks back then. Yeah, but they were the Hawks
Speaker 1: and then when they started playing with Dylan, they became
Speaker 1: the band. But what but they did a tour with
Speaker 1: him in England. I think it's the famous when somebody
Speaker 1: yells out Judas when he came out of an acoustic
Speaker 1: when he went electric and people were booing and freaking out.
Speaker 1: And I think Charlie said he saw that and Levin
Speaker 1: was was doing that, was getting out of the way,
Speaker 1: and he went, oh, so Charlie got it from Levin.
Speaker 1: That's an incredible bit of trivia. That's what he told me,
Speaker 1: But he was kind of fuzzy about it, but he
Speaker 1: said I saw him do it, and I said, oh,
Speaker 1: I'll try that, you know, get out of the way.
Speaker 1: I get it, just to get a bigger, stronger backbeat.
Speaker 1: But it's such a it's such a sound and such
Speaker 1: a feel thing. Yeah, and I assume it has to
Speaker 1: effect the high hat hits as well, but both the
Speaker 1: the last one before you pull away and the first
Speaker 1: one when you come back, has to have some impact
Speaker 1: on those if it's just not all constant. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lope to it. And then there's that space
Speaker 1: obviously that it leaves went not having the hat and
Speaker 1: the and the snare together that makes this the snare
Speaker 1: land and sound like it lands in a certain way.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've done it, but I'm thinking about it,
Speaker 1: which is not never a good thing for me. You're
Speaker 1: thinking about it while you're playing. But once once, it's
Speaker 1: just second nature. I mean, Charlie's he's the king of it.
Speaker 1: But what was the thing Levan was doing at Woodstock
Speaker 1: in the later years. It was just him and his family.
Speaker 1: It was called like it was at the barn there.
Speaker 1: I did get to go up there and see them
Speaker 1: play and got to sit in with him, and it
Speaker 1: was it was incredible is singing. You know, he had
Speaker 1: the operation on his throat. He was still a little raspy,
Speaker 1: but he was so sweet and kind and it was
Speaker 1: I'd never seen him in person, up close or anything,
Speaker 1: and to see him play and one of a kind,
Speaker 1: you know, amazing when he played was the groove? It
Speaker 1: did it sound like Levin like was an hundred percent
Speaker 1: you close your eyes. That's him. It's amazing. How different
Speaker 1: is that closing your eyes a personality of different drummers
Speaker 1: for people who are less tuned into listening specifically to drummers.
Speaker 1: How obvious is it the difference between drummers. Yeah, in
Speaker 1: rock and roll, not being a melodic instrument used as
Speaker 1: support and as rhythm, I think it might be more
Speaker 1: difficult to hear other than style, but a sound like
Speaker 1: certainly certain drummers. John Bonham has a specific sound. Phil Collins.
Speaker 1: When you hear or his drumming, you know it Tim,
Speaker 1: he has a specific sound. Stuart Copeland's style of drumming. Definitely,
Speaker 1: you know it's Tim. There's a lot you know, Keith Moon.
Speaker 1: I think the personality comes out through your instrument. And
Speaker 1: I think he's a little harder on the drums again
Speaker 1: because it's not such an a lot of instrument. But
Speaker 1: I'm more, you know, being a drummer, I'm more in tuned.
Speaker 1: Like there's guys that you know right off the bat,
Speaker 1: and then you could hear all those great pop hits
Speaker 1: from the seventies that hal Blaine played on, and he
Speaker 1: would morph into whatever scene he was in and whatever music,
Speaker 1: and he was just playing for the song, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily a sound, but there's a thing that he
Speaker 1: did that was so special that made all those records
Speaker 1: so special. But I didn't know that was hal Blaine
Speaker 1: until years later. My brother worked with him and they
Speaker 1: put out a book and he worked with them, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it like every song that I ever listened to as
Speaker 1: a kid. Basically how played the drum, and you know,
Speaker 1: he was a chameleon. So probably the most in rock
Speaker 1: and roll to me, the most recognizable would be probably
Speaker 1: John Bonham, you know, because it's just sound and that
Speaker 1: music and his the way that he played. I never
Speaker 1: I didn't hear much. I've heard Band of Joy. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think of other situations where Bonham had played,
Speaker 1: not in led Zeppelin. There's not a lot out there.
Speaker 1: There's the Donovan song that's very clearly John Bonham when
Speaker 1: you know it and does it sound like him and
Speaker 1: his job? Absolutely? Did Page produce it? What Page plays?
Speaker 1: It's Page hurdy gurdy man. No, it must be hurdy
Speaker 1: gurdy man, because I know he played enough it must
Speaker 1: be hurdy gurdy man. And they played together pre led
Speaker 1: Zeppelin right well, I mean the one that I heard
Speaker 1: it was like a PJ. Proby, Yeah, And I think
Speaker 1: Zeppelin had formed, hadn't done any recording, and there was
Speaker 1: a session that John, Paul Jones and Paige had to
Speaker 1: do for this guy, for his singer. I believe he's
Speaker 1: a singer. And so there was the first time that
Speaker 1: they recorded together. And it sounds like Bonham because you know,
Speaker 1: like his grooves and his musical choices and stuff, but
Speaker 1: the sound of the drums is not that big ambient
Speaker 1: thing yet. But how great rick is is it? That
Speaker 1: here's a kid and I call him a kid. He
Speaker 1: was a teenage nineteen years old making the first led
Speaker 1: Zeppelin record and right out of the box, first song,
Speaker 1: first Good Times, Bad Times, and he's doing the triplets
Speaker 1: with his feet, the sound of the drums, the whole
Speaker 1: these was fully realized. I mean, obviously he went on
Speaker 1: and changed and grew, but like right from the get go,
Speaker 1: that's rare. That's like Tony Williams with miles, you know, seventeen,
Speaker 1: Like a fully formed musician at such a young age.
Speaker 1: Amazed me. But like bottom just came out, like do anything.
Speaker 1: I listened to your podcast with Robert Plant. Yeah. Interesting, right,
Speaker 1: we learned so much great. I loved it. He was
Speaker 1: at mc Yeah, that's a little dance halls. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: But him saying meeting bottom and bottom is saying I'm
Speaker 1: the I'm the greatest drummer, and they're like not lacking
Speaker 1: any confidence at all. But you know, that's just like
Speaker 1: you have your thing and and and and then and
Speaker 1: then obviously you have Jimmy Page and being able to
Speaker 1: capture that and knowing, you know, I've got a thing here,
Speaker 1: here's this is what I gotta do. And back then,
Speaker 1: as you know, everybody jammed the MIC's up into the
Speaker 1: toms and took the heads off and he said no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no the air and and that was his sounding boom.
Speaker 1: Do we know anything about Bonham's influences only from what
Speaker 1: I've read. I talked to Jason a little bit too,
Speaker 1: asked him about it. But a lot of Ohtown, like
Speaker 1: a lot like funk stuff like that that it makes sense.
Speaker 1: He loved Modet, I loved James Brown. He said that
Speaker 1: his dad loved these. There's a drummer, kind of a
Speaker 1: fusion guy named Alphonse Musants who's a fusion drummer in
Speaker 1: the seventies, combat billy cobbum type, and he says Dad
Speaker 1: loved those records, would play them constantly at home. More
Speaker 1: RMB funk kind of stuff. Part of it, you know,
Speaker 1: which is interesting to me because people think of led
Speaker 1: Zeppelin's is a heavy band bottoms just a real loud,
Speaker 1: hard hitting drummer. But it was the finesse that he had,
Speaker 1: and that's what people sort of, I think miss when
Speaker 1: they play those songs, or maybe a Bill Ward in
Speaker 1: Black Sabbath, the heaviest band, but he was like a
Speaker 1: jazz drummer playing behind that stuff. He wasn't bashing, yeah no,
Speaker 1: and both of them were ultra groovy, like yes, ultra
Speaker 1: vie drummers swinging, swinging away. It was it was never
Speaker 1: it was never straight for me. It's interesting early listening
Speaker 1: to I liked heavy music when I was young, but
Speaker 1: I always preferred swinging heavy music to straight heavy music.
Speaker 1: So the you know, the Iron Maidens and the Judas
Speaker 1: Priests of the world never spoke to me in the
Speaker 1: way that led Zeppelin or Aerosmith or any of the
Speaker 1: ones that were more or a CDC were as straight
Speaker 1: as a CDC was. It was always groovy. It never
Speaker 1: felt straight. As straight as it was, it never felt
Speaker 1: straight right to me. That's the key of for that
Speaker 1: kind of music, like that kind of rock and roll,
Speaker 1: is it has to have that swing to it. And
Speaker 1: a lot of those English drummers, like the Ian Paces
Speaker 1: and the and the Mitch Mitchell's and obviously Ginger Bakers,
Speaker 1: you hear their jazz influence in their playing. And because
Speaker 1: at their house that's what they were listening to their
Speaker 1: parents or whatever. That was the music the day before
Speaker 1: Skiffule and other stuff came along. But then they started
Speaker 1: listening to the Chuck Berry and the R and B stuff,
Speaker 1: and that all was like swinging stuff that wasn't straight.
Speaker 1: That was they just started they straightened it out as
Speaker 1: much as they could, you know, Earl Palmer's all of
Speaker 1: a sudden started playing straight ags and oh yeah, oh
Speaker 1: I got a backbeat too, not just on the shout chorus,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a backbeat through the whole song. And
Speaker 1: then they just took that with this loud, heavy blues
Speaker 1: music and like that's the swing behind it, and that
Speaker 1: I mean that makes you dance, that makes you pop
Speaker 1: your head and tap your feet and so I listened
Speaker 1: to a lot of those guys growing up. That was
Speaker 1: I had an older brother, and that's the music that
Speaker 1: I listened to. That those bands from the you know,
Speaker 1: late sixties, early early seventies, the ones we've been talking about,
Speaker 1: and all those drummers had that swingy thing. So you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of just lucked out loving that music and
Speaker 1: trying to emulate those drummers. Was drums. You are first instrument,
Speaker 1: first thing you ever picked up to play. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: would be uh ice cream tubs, those you know, the
Speaker 1: scooped the ice cream moudel made of cardboard and spoons.
Speaker 1: I had an older brother and older sister and they
Speaker 1: both She played piano, my brother play guitar, and so
Speaker 1: I just wanted to hit stuff anything, you know, the
Speaker 1: usual pots and pans and stuff around the house. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my first drum set. Would be the Baskin
Speaker 1: Robins put my dad put a bunch of black tape
Speaker 1: on him where I went through those pretty quick. And
Speaker 1: then I think there was a store called chris Key's
Speaker 1: kind of like a Kmart store, and I got then
Speaker 1: I got a little drum set that came in up,
Speaker 1: came in a box but paper heads and had a
Speaker 1: little triangle and a little tin symbol. Went through that
Speaker 1: pretty quick, and then saved up enough money from I
Speaker 1: grew up outside of Detroit, so it was mowing lawns
Speaker 1: and shoveling snow. And got enough money if my parents did,
Speaker 1: if you get half of the money, we'll put up
Speaker 1: the other half. And I bought and I got a
Speaker 1: slinger link kit for one hundred and sixty dollars at
Speaker 1: eighty dollars of of getting up before school. But then
Speaker 1: it was like it was oh my, oh my god,
Speaker 1: gold sparkle slinger La beautiful. Yeah, sold it for a
Speaker 1: bag of weed in high school. Oh, I was just safe.
Speaker 1: He still had those sparkles perfect, and I got one
Speaker 1: at home. Now it's just like it's not the one,
Speaker 1: but yeah, but that was great. And then it was
Speaker 1: off to the headphones and putting on records like Chicago.
Speaker 1: I loved Chicago. Yeah, yeah, early Chicago. The early Chicago's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It was amazing, Terry Cat incredible, so that that drummer
Speaker 1: Danny surfing, and so I played to those records and
Speaker 1: then anything that my brother had, you know, he would
Speaker 1: be upset with me because don't touch my records. Do
Speaker 1: you remember any of the weirder records he had? Yeah,
Speaker 1: My first that I bought forty five is VIC like
Speaker 1: when I was like eight years old and nine years old,
Speaker 1: so I started playing at seven. So eight or nine,
Speaker 1: I would buy forty fives and God, and I think
Speaker 1: about now, I was like, I was like some kind
Speaker 1: of record guy. I would and they would give a
Speaker 1: little chart. You go buy the record, and they had
Speaker 1: the charts. And there was this station outside of Detroit
Speaker 1: and Winsor called c kalew the Motor City, but they
Speaker 1: weren't in the motor city there across the river. Anyway.
Speaker 1: I would listen to that station at night going to bed.
Speaker 1: My mom's like, God, good night. I'm like good night,
Speaker 1: Mom'm gonna put the radio on that And that seeped
Speaker 1: into my subconscious I'm sure, but they it was. It
Speaker 1: was all am you know, hits of the day. But
Speaker 1: you would hear Sly and the family Stone next to
Speaker 1: Jackson five likes to Spirit in the Sky by Norman
Speaker 1: Greenbolt like whatever that seventies Melanie lay Down, stay Down,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. So there was this song. It was
Speaker 1: a novelty song called the Groovy grub Worm that came
Speaker 1: on and it was I want to say, Harlow Wilcox
Speaker 1: to check it, but a long time ago, and so
Speaker 1: I and it was just this country funk kind of thing,
Speaker 1: all instrumental. Then in the middle of the song there
Speaker 1: was a little drum kind of wipe out break and
Speaker 1: the guy would go, I'm a grub worm and then
Speaker 1: don't think. And I thought that was the greatest thing.
Speaker 1: I would speed it up. I would slew it down
Speaker 1: in my drobe my family crazy. I wore out Groovy
Speaker 1: grub Worm. So yeah, that was weird, but I god,
Speaker 1: you know, I would have I would buy those forty
Speaker 1: fives and I had a good stack of them. I
Speaker 1: don't know where they are anymore. And I would go
Speaker 1: and then they would give a little sheet, like a
Speaker 1: little small it wasn't even a full piece of paper,
Speaker 1: and it was the charts to c KLW charts, and
Speaker 1: I remember war good God ja Edwin Starr and I
Speaker 1: love that song. I'm just so heavy incredible, and I was.
Speaker 1: I would I bought the record. I would go back
Speaker 1: to next week and it would go up to number
Speaker 1: six and with a star and then it would go
Speaker 1: up to number four. I was like rooting for war
Speaker 1: and it got to two and c kl W or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I was like, Wow, I'm really invested in this.
Speaker 1: It's really amazing. So it wasn't It wasn't just the
Speaker 1: love of music went beyond the drumming. It sounds like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I mean early on, for sure, it was
Speaker 1: like the pop stuff and obviously grown up in Detroit
Speaker 1: lots of motown, which was very prevalent in eight sixties,
Speaker 1: that was great, and I, you know, but you just
Speaker 1: kind of know what you like and I didn't know.
Speaker 1: I wasn't necessary listening to the drumming for it. I
Speaker 1: just it felt good to me. I loved it. I
Speaker 1: just loved the music and it didn't really matter. Later
Speaker 1: when I started to get into the led Zeppelins and
Speaker 1: the Sabbaths and the Mitch Mitchells and those guys that
Speaker 1: that I started when I could had a little more
Speaker 1: facility on the drums, and I started to really listen
Speaker 1: to the drumming and all that stuff. But at the beginning,
Speaker 1: it was just love of music. What was the first
Speaker 1: band that you joined as a kid. My brother and
Speaker 1: I had a band called in the We moved to
Speaker 1: Chicago nineteen seventy and we had a band called Rocking Conspiracy,
Speaker 1: good name, not Rocking, Rocking you know water Gate, and
Speaker 1: we were very you know, oh yeah, we were a political,
Speaker 1: very political political twelve year olds, and we worked up
Speaker 1: the songs of the day. We had Lane Linder on
Speaker 1: the farfisa. We had Dave Stender on the custom remember
Speaker 1: those custom bass amps that looked like those bicycle seats
Speaker 1: that were padded. Yea, was it a black one, a
Speaker 1: black one, or a blue sparkle? I think it was
Speaker 1: a silver sparkle, silver sparkle, which but like he'd bought
Speaker 1: it from some bar band. It was like yellow sparkle
Speaker 1: from all the smoke. And my brother had a very
Speaker 1: out of tune guitar, and we sounded really bad, and
Speaker 1: we played Fire by Jimmy Hendrix. We played light by
Speaker 1: Fire by the Doors. We played bad versions of Stairway
Speaker 1: to Heaven, and then we would do country roads like
Speaker 1: you know, but we plan and played the hits of
Speaker 1: the deck. And we were hired by our junior high
Speaker 1: school to play the junior high school dance class. So
Speaker 1: we go, We're like really excited, We're gonna play all
Speaker 1: of our songs. We play our songs pretty bad, and
Speaker 1: the kids are trying to dance. It's going okay, and
Speaker 1: in about twenty minutes into it, says, well, we need
Speaker 1: to do the foxtrot, so you guys have a song
Speaker 1: in three. We had no songs in three. You're right.
Speaker 1: We had to voot rock conspiracy at one game. Now
Speaker 1: we would play in our basement like my parents would
Speaker 1: have parties and but one public gig, so to speak.
Speaker 1: Couldn't do anything in three. Done, next out find us
Speaker 1: a foxtrot band. Do you remember the first song you
Speaker 1: learned in three? Breaking the Girl? Now, that's a good question.
Speaker 1: I love playing in three. I wish I wish I
Speaker 1: would have learned earlier. That's what's one of those I
Speaker 1: could do, okay, because it's got such a swing to it,
Speaker 1: you know, no, you know that that's you know. It
Speaker 1: had to have been a popular song of the day
Speaker 1: that was in three. Yeah, I'm sure, yeah, before that,
Speaker 1: like Babies in Black would have been. But that would
Speaker 1: have been too early, right, And it wasn't really a hit.
Speaker 1: It was just but still Beatles. Every Beatles song seemed
Speaker 1: like a heavy Beatle song, right, and then any other
Speaker 1: bands as you were growing up? And when did you
Speaker 1: decide to come to LA. Yeah, then I just like
Speaker 1: through school, high school and and and then I started
Speaker 1: playing bands. I always played with guys who were older
Speaker 1: than me, which was always good because that kind of
Speaker 1: pushed you and maybe they were, you know, better. And
Speaker 1: but once I got to high school, sports went away
Speaker 1: and it was more you know, girls, and and you
Speaker 1: know it was it was struck sex in rock and
Speaker 1: roll for me. From tenth grade on, I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not that good at baseball and you know, but
Speaker 1: you know I could play this backyard party and with
Speaker 1: my band Paradise, I was Paradise. Tell me about that
Speaker 1: one Paradise. We were a little heavy year. We would
Speaker 1: do cream and maybe some rush songs. And of course
Speaker 1: growing up in Detroit in the late seventies, Ted Nugent
Speaker 1: and Robin Chower Hendrix and we were a three piece
Speaker 1: and the guitar player nick name was Gloves McClintock. He
Speaker 1: was from Texas and being cold in Detroit, he would
Speaker 1: always have ski gloves on all the time. He always
Speaker 1: wore ski gloves in school. He had the comb. Do
Speaker 1: you remember the guys in school. Rick that had the
Speaker 1: comb brush comb you kind of went around your thing
Speaker 1: and you can slick your hair back and then put
Speaker 1: it in your back pocket of your corduroy Levi's yes,
Speaker 1: that was gloves McClintock. That was his look. And he
Speaker 1: was kind of crazy. He was an alcoholic in high school,
Speaker 1: come out at lunchtime and drink a bunch of vodka.
Speaker 1: He was crazy, Texas crazy guy. I would be shocked
Speaker 1: if he's still alive. I hope he is. But he
Speaker 1: was a really good guitar player. I bet he could rip.
Speaker 1: And so we played one Battle of the Bands and
Speaker 1: we actually won. I don't know. I mean maybe the
Speaker 1: competition wasn't so good, but we were we were okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were pretty good. But then I had sold my
Speaker 1: gold Sparkle and I was going through my rush phase.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to have my Neil Piert set up
Speaker 1: with the cow bells and all the bells and whistles
Speaker 1: that some drummers go through. When you can sort of
Speaker 1: play a bunch of stuff, you want to do it
Speaker 1: all the time. I'm so glad you got rid of that, kid, Rick,
Speaker 1: because for our lovely listeners. Rick, when we're doing sessions
Speaker 1: or whenever recording, I'll do something and and hells did
Speaker 1: you always Chad? Did you always do that? Well? No,
Speaker 1: maybe just a crash. That's good enough, Bob Boom say,
Speaker 1: that's that's for the live, that's for live. You could
Speaker 1: do that. Yeah, yeah, that seems more like the live version.
Speaker 1: You don't want to give that over and over on
Speaker 1: a record. It's true, but as drummers, we want to
Speaker 1: get in your lake here and there, you think, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I learned that. But when I was in Paradise, I
Speaker 1: was I had not I was all but look, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I could go from all the way around
Speaker 1: and touch them all oh Emerson Lake and Palmer Emerson
Speaker 1: Lake and Terrible. Yeah yeah for me, Yeah so I
Speaker 1: did that. But yeah, then you know, graduate right out
Speaker 1: of high school, played in a bunch of bands, and
Speaker 1: Detroit played the all the bars six nights a week,
Speaker 1: three sets a night. That's an interesting thing we can
Speaker 1: talk about, is cover bands, because if I don't know
Speaker 1: that that's something that really exists anymore. But when we
Speaker 1: were growing up, and I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: the case in Detroit as much as it was where
Speaker 1: I grew up in Long Island. But there was a
Speaker 1: whole circuit of clubs that cover bands would play at,
Speaker 1: and they would tour around and come around, and then
Speaker 1: certain bands kind of grew out of that, Like Twisted
Speaker 1: Sister was a band that started that way and then
Speaker 1: they became Twisted Sister. I think I believe Aerosmith grew
Speaker 1: out of that world of being was a cover band yep,
Speaker 1: but that we don't see that as much anymore. Maybe
Speaker 1: you probably were, but that's exactly what the scene was
Speaker 1: like in Detroit. For me, it was there were probably
Speaker 1: seven or eight clubs in the Tri County area, and
Speaker 1: you could it was you were a cover band. You
Speaker 1: could sneak in your originals here and there. Not too
Speaker 1: many you don't want to clear out the dance floor
Speaker 1: for too long. Yeah, Yeah, that was it. We played
Speaker 1: and there was a very vibrant circuit and there were
Speaker 1: lots of bands that played them. Now, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think of any groups at that time that came out
Speaker 1: of that that graduated to being a getting signed, a
Speaker 1: national active, but not that I remember. But there were
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of bands. We put out
Speaker 1: on your own records, and you were local rock guys
Speaker 1: and I had a band called Toby Read and we played.
Speaker 1: Literally that's where I really got my ten thousand hours,
Speaker 1: so to speak. I mean, it was and Rick. I
Speaker 1: loved it. I was eighteen, right out of high school
Speaker 1: and playing bars. I'm staying out laid girls, Beard did rock.
Speaker 1: It was like I made it. Yeah, I'm a professional musician.
Speaker 1: I'm getting paid one hundred and sixty five dollars a week.
Speaker 1: At eighteen, I was living at home. Yeah, at eighteen
Speaker 1: in the eighties, it was a lot of money. It
Speaker 1: was great. Yeah, I was like this. Did I want
Speaker 1: to be in led Zeppe? Of course, but like this
Speaker 1: is like, this is what I wanted to do. And
Speaker 1: it beat having any other job. Oh kidding me. Those
Speaker 1: stiffs working, they have to get up. I'm sleeping till three. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I never you never looked back? Did you know? There? Ever? Know?
Speaker 1: Was there ever a time though? I never got a job? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. I couldn't. Yeah, I understand, I couldn't. I
Speaker 1: there's nothing else that I'm remotely good at. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I luckily, like we've been talking, I found my
Speaker 1: passion at seven or eight, and I like I did
Speaker 1: other things. I did sports and stuff, but I no
Speaker 1: one was making me go play music or play the drums.
Speaker 1: I wanted to. I loved it. And that's so lucky,
Speaker 1: I mean amazing. You know, my kids they like stuff,
Speaker 1: but they don't have a real focus shit. And that's fine.
Speaker 1: Everybody will find their path. But I found it early. Man.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you I lucked out in that way one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. And I was happy doing it, you know.
Speaker 1: And then eight years went by, and then the guys
Speaker 1: in my group were getting a little bit older, and
Speaker 1: they're married, and they got little houses, and they were
Speaker 1: still kind of plugging along. Thanks up, things went down,
Speaker 1: you know, had a record come out and da da da,
Speaker 1: and and at a certain point, I was like, I
Speaker 1: probably got to make a move. I gotta go to
Speaker 1: where the music is. No one's gonna come to the
Speaker 1: side Street lounge in Lincoln Park and go, oh, you're
Speaker 1: the drummer firm Guns of Roses or whatever. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: one's gonna happen. So it was either New York or La.
Speaker 1: I had some friends that had moved to La. La
Speaker 1: is much warmer. I'd had enough of the cold weather,
Speaker 1: and you know, Sunset Strip was going off and MTV
Speaker 1: and like I said, the Guns of Roses is and
Speaker 1: all that, and I was like, I'm gonna go there
Speaker 1: see what happens. And what year was at nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 1: August of nineteen eighty eight, packed up to Beverly Hill
Speaker 1: Billies and drove across country with my brother, God bless him,
Speaker 1: who lived in San Francisco, and I slept on my
Speaker 1: friend's couch and that was August and I joined the
Speaker 1: Chili Peppers into Snuber of that year, like six months later.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break here, but we'll
Speaker 1: be right back with more from Chad Smith and Rick Rubin.
Speaker 1: We're back with more of Rick Rubin's conversation with Chad Smith.
Speaker 1: What's the first time you ever heard of the Chili Peppers?
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty five, George did George Clinton did their
Speaker 1: second record in Detroit, and I was in another band
Speaker 1: in the early eighties, and the percussionist from that group
Speaker 1: was Larry for Tangela, who was a percussionist for p Funk.
Speaker 1: So he played on Freaky STYLI Wow. He played percussion
Speaker 1: on some of the songs I'm Freaky Stall and I
Speaker 1: would see Larry from time to time and he and
Speaker 1: so probably eighty seven we were hanging out and I said,
Speaker 1: what you want, what you've been doing? I did this
Speaker 1: session for George. He's crazy kids from California and Da
Speaker 1: da Da da day. You might like it. And he
Speaker 1: played me some of it and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is cool. Yeah, you know, pretty good. And that
Speaker 1: was it. That was my That was yeah, first, the
Speaker 1: first that came to my radar. Later, I had some
Speaker 1: friends that that we were definitely loved at Chili Pepper,
Speaker 1: my friend Nut Cole who actually kind of got me
Speaker 1: the gig. And this was still in Detroit or no,
Speaker 1: you're already, Yeah it was. It was still in Detroit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was still in Detroit towards yet. So probably sometime
Speaker 1: in eighty eight he went and saw them at a
Speaker 1: club in Detroit and he told me about it. He
Speaker 1: loved it, and he was, you know, he was pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: And I got on stage like six times and was
Speaker 1: diving at Saint Andrew's you know that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And they had like Anthony had like coffee cups on
Speaker 1: his like jacket. It was so weird and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I was like really okay, but again like not, I
Speaker 1: didn't have any records anything. Oh the guys with the
Speaker 1: socks on their dicks, Yeah, I've heard of them. Yeah, okay, great.
Speaker 1: And when I that's when the call came to do it.
Speaker 1: I was like, do they have a record deal? And
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, I'm a great I'll try out for that. Great.
Speaker 1: That's all that mattered to me. But he was like,
Speaker 1: you will love this. They are just you will you
Speaker 1: will love this. There they just do it all. It's hard,
Speaker 1: it's great. It's this. It's that they're crazy, you know, Okay,
Speaker 1: And and that was it. It's it's interesting for a
Speaker 1: band that has a reputation or at least had a
Speaker 1: reputation of being so crazy, the level of musicianship is
Speaker 1: so high compared to anybody else. Yeah, well that you
Speaker 1: know what. That's that's one of the things that that
Speaker 1: I was somewhat taken aback when I when I for
Speaker 1: the first audition. There's this place in Silver like I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's no longer called Holly Gully, which is a
Speaker 1: little rehearsal place. And the woman Denise Zoom, Billy Zoom's
Speaker 1: ex wife, you know, connect the dots here was going
Speaker 1: out some way. They were friendly with my friend Nut,
Speaker 1: who had told me about the Chili Peppers in California.
Speaker 1: Denise knew John for Chante and so she knew the
Speaker 1: Chili Peppers were looking for a drummer. And so Newt
Speaker 1: told Denise, I got your guys from Detroit. He eats
Speaker 1: drums for breakfast. This is what she told Denise, who
Speaker 1: told John. So I show up to Holily and I'm
Speaker 1: bringing in my drums, and I got my long hair
Speaker 1: and my bad dan. You remember the look, yes, and
Speaker 1: and and this is nineteen eighty eight, and you know,
Speaker 1: cut off shorts and the other guys at this point,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna they were very you know, the aesthetic was important.
Speaker 1: You know, you had to have the right mohawk and
Speaker 1: haircutt and tattoos, and you know, they didn't really like
Speaker 1: the sunset strip kind of thing. And I'm coming with
Speaker 1: my Detroit rock thing. They're like, oh, get this guy
Speaker 1: out of here. Oh and I'm like sixty three and
Speaker 1: they're not six three. It'd be like the Mods and
Speaker 1: the Rockers. You know. It was just like a different yeah,
Speaker 1: different in group, you know, different right Sharks and the jets. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit, but still in under the same umbrella,
Speaker 1: and so Flee says, is that your breakfast? And I'm
Speaker 1: like what, So I bring my drums in. We set
Speaker 1: up and remember John was eighteen at the time, Young
Speaker 1: John for shot with a big, long black mohawk and
Speaker 1: a Steve vyge I've been as guitar. And Anthony was there.
Speaker 1: Everybody was there, and Michael Beinhorn, who had produced Uplift
Speaker 1: the record before Mother's Milk, was there as well. You know,
Speaker 1: he was just hanging in the back. So I set
Speaker 1: up and we started playing and and everything was fast
Speaker 1: and hard. Everything was popping in fast and super fast.
Speaker 1: James Brown on speed and I was like, these guys
Speaker 1: are good. Wow. Yeah. I was like yeah, So I'm
Speaker 1: get in and like I'm I'm like going for it
Speaker 1: and then I'm like double timing and they're like whoa
Speaker 1: and that and that was the first time. Remember he
Speaker 1: was like, no, all the other drummers we kind of
Speaker 1: led them. You were kind of like leading us. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I was just going for it. This
Speaker 1: is fun. It was fun. And Anthony was running around.
Speaker 1: We were just jamming and he was laughing his hats off,
Speaker 1: like I'm like, what's so funny? But he was just
Speaker 1: Hee's thought it was so ridiculous, like what was happening musically?
Speaker 1: It was this big explosion and he was just like
Speaker 1: he was just and then Bine, I was just sitting
Speaker 1: in the corner. We jam and it was great, and
Speaker 1: we might have even done higher Ground or something. So
Speaker 1: because we're trying to do something, I didn't really know
Speaker 1: any of their songs. I listened to the cassette tape
Speaker 1: to Long Ago. It was in the car. This is
Speaker 1: how much I put into it. I probably should have
Speaker 1: been a little more prepared. I waited until the parking
Speaker 1: lot and my cassetting of the Abbey Road be and
Speaker 1: I went, okay, and that's cool, funky crime, Okay, I
Speaker 1: could do that. They do Fireben Jim Hendrix. I haven't
Speaker 1: done that with Rock and Conspiracy. And then and then
Speaker 1: a couple of their songs fight like a Brave. So
Speaker 1: I went in and I was like, all right, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happened. If they were this big, you know,
Speaker 1: famous band, I probably would have been, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: more nervous or did more homework. But I was kind
Speaker 1: of going in and so we're jamming and John breaks
Speaker 1: the string and I've never seen anyone changes string faster
Speaker 1: in my life. So it was a guitar and I
Speaker 1: was just like, whoa, he just didn't want to miss
Speaker 1: out on the jam. Wow. Yeah, we were just it
Speaker 1: was it was really guys so long ago. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: But we planned we play a couple of their songs
Speaker 1: and then I leave. They thank man, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: call you typical stuff, and bine Horn went to two
Speaker 1: guys and they were like, what are you thinking. He goes,
Speaker 1: that's your guy. They're like what the hair or the
Speaker 1: thing and the what that's your guy? Yea byin horn Boom,
Speaker 1: who notoriously hard on drummers. He'll replace the drummer out
Speaker 1: of a band, and sat, I know he's called me,
Speaker 1: and um he was like telling you if that's the
Speaker 1: guy and answers, I don't know, no, Fleet was Plea
Speaker 1: was kind of on board. I think John was on board,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, you know, so I remember how
Speaker 1: long it went by a couple of weeks maybe, and
Speaker 1: they left the messages again. Nineteen eighty eight. On my
Speaker 1: answering machine at the house, I was staying at uh
Speaker 1: it's fleeing Ant and even Peppers. Yeah, if you want,
Speaker 1: we want you in the band, but you have to
Speaker 1: shave your head. We'll see you on Monday. I'm not
Speaker 1: shaving my head. These beautiful Detroit locks I've been working
Speaker 1: out since the eighties. Yeah, so I but you wish
Speaker 1: you still had them. I wear a week the other
Speaker 1: day for the video we did for These Other Ways,
Speaker 1: I was like, I haven't had the bank since eighty four,
Speaker 1: long ago, and so I'm like, I'm not fucking shaving
Speaker 1: my head from the Are these guys so I shoved
Speaker 1: and who don't shave head? I'm like, no, They're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we respect that. So from the from the first time
Speaker 1: you played with them, forgetting the stylistic difference, were they
Speaker 1: different than everyone you've ever played with before. Yes, it
Speaker 1: was really intense, like as soon as we started playing,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if it was like they were like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're fishing and you go, we gotta we
Speaker 1: gotta one on the line kind of thing. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was like because I was bringing it
Speaker 1: and equaling the energy kind of thing or not, if
Speaker 1: they'd play like that all the time. I didn't. I
Speaker 1: had no idea. I'd never played with these guys. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't even think that there was no television thing
Speaker 1: of them, you know that I knew of. I mean,
Speaker 1: sure it was a video, but like, no, it was
Speaker 1: I mean Flee was really why? Wow? Yes, No, I
Speaker 1: never heard that that was very unique. Never heard that that.
Speaker 1: I was like, fuck, yeah, this is funning great. I
Speaker 1: could do this all day. You'd say it was a
Speaker 1: great experience. Yeah, oh yeah, I was. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be in the band badly. Yeah. Yeah, it was hard,
Speaker 1: but it was like groovy and soulful. It wasn't metal
Speaker 1: was but it was like I could see that, like
Speaker 1: it had the possibility even back then when everything was
Speaker 1: we were kind of still going pretty hard. Like they
Speaker 1: had good musical taste, you know, just from a little
Speaker 1: bit that we talked and what kind of music do
Speaker 1: you like and that kind of stuff, And yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: I was like, this is not Toby red and detroited,
Speaker 1: this is not this is like something else. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: even at eighteen, was John fully formed as John No
Speaker 1: to me, and he would I would say this if
Speaker 1: he was sitting next to me. I think that that
Speaker 1: d Hot Chili Peppers was his favorite band, and so
Speaker 1: at eighteen, I think he was kind of more emulating
Speaker 1: what he thought a Chili Pepper guitar player should be,
Speaker 1: maybe as in Allah Hellela, And there was definitely some
Speaker 1: of that and he and I've heard him say, I
Speaker 1: know he would say that. So not until Rick we started,
Speaker 1: I would say, writing for Blood Sugar, and we had
Speaker 1: toured and we were a band and we were pretty
Speaker 1: solid by then. And once we started writing for the
Speaker 1: Blood Sugar stuff, then I heard Then I started to
Speaker 1: hear what would as we know as John, you know,
Speaker 1: more melodic, his own voice, and he just maturity, just
Speaker 1: grew up, you know a little bit, and and figured
Speaker 1: it out and wanted to do his own thing and
Speaker 1: become his own, his own musician. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he was. I mean, he had the facility, but he
Speaker 1: didn't have his voice yet. Makes sense. It makes sense
Speaker 1: also age wise, like didn't have enough experience for for
Speaker 1: it to be you never been in a band before, Yeah,
Speaker 1: never been in a band eighteen years old, joined your
Speaker 1: favorite band, Yeah, you play like you're in the band, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Whereas I just kind of, you know, i'd had a
Speaker 1: lot of experience, and I just kind of did me yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, but but I wasn't. I don't think it.
Speaker 1: And this right around the same time. That's why I
Speaker 1: think but Sugar is such a special special record is
Speaker 1: that that was the first time that I felt like, Okay, this,
Speaker 1: this sounds this more, has more of a personality to it.
Speaker 1: This sounds like you know, the whole band obviously, but
Speaker 1: that sounds more like me when I hear myself, But
Speaker 1: that sounds like me. And that was, you know, the
Speaker 1: way it was recorded in the songs and everything, and
Speaker 1: other people playing along as well, But like, okay, that
Speaker 1: felt like often you come back in the control room
Speaker 1: and you're like that, I don't know, that doesn't sound
Speaker 1: anything like what I thought it was gonna be. It happens,
Speaker 1: but you would walk in and go, shit, that sounds
Speaker 1: fucking better. Yeah. It's amazing when it happens. Right, When
Speaker 1: when you can play something and then you play, you
Speaker 1: hear it back and you're surprised by how good it is. Ah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Nothing better, nothing better, nothing better. Then you're
Speaker 1: then you're way ahead of the game. Yeah. No, And
Speaker 1: we've had that experience many many times you know me
Speaker 1: and you, but like, yeah, that was a magic that
Speaker 1: was that was a magical time for sure. Well, people
Speaker 1: often act like what's your favorite chili peppers? Bickon and
Speaker 1: often because of many things and probably sentimentally thirty years ago,
Speaker 1: but us really finding our thing, yeah and working with you.
Speaker 1: There's an interesting story about that album that we'd never
Speaker 1: talk about, but it's interesting, which is the band was
Speaker 1: leaving their label and moving to another label, and we
Speaker 1: were originally planning on recording i think almost a year
Speaker 1: earlier than we did close to it, but because of
Speaker 1: the switchin labels, we couldn't record. We weren't allowed yet
Speaker 1: to record the album, and instead of it being a
Speaker 1: negative of oh, we're going to get stale waiting a year,
Speaker 1: we kept writing and we continued and we ended up
Speaker 1: writing essentially, you know, more than two three albums worth
Speaker 1: of material that may not have happened had it not
Speaker 1: been for that, And because of that experience and because
Speaker 1: it went so well, that's been more the model that
Speaker 1: the band has used ever since, where we tend to
Speaker 1: write way more than an album material. Yea, And in
Speaker 1: some ways, if you record four albums of material and
Speaker 1: then picking the best of that for your one album.
Speaker 1: It's going to be that much better. It has to be.
Speaker 1: It's just the odds of it have to be better.
Speaker 1: So again, not through any decision of our own. Really,
Speaker 1: the conditions set up something for us to really overwrite
Speaker 1: in a way that we might not have and it
Speaker 1: ended up becoming part of the playbook now forever. That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were contractually still em i'd and I mean we wrote,
Speaker 1: I know for sure we wrote, but the song blood Sugar,
Speaker 1: Sex Magic was was definitely after so Psycho was not
Speaker 1: fully formed even till we got into the studio. I
Speaker 1: remember Anthony still working out I mean musically we had
Speaker 1: to kind of get it all arranged. That was. I
Speaker 1: don't even know if that was around or an idea
Speaker 1: it might have been, but it was, it wouldn't have
Speaker 1: gotten finished. Yeah, and you were just like keep writing.
Speaker 1: We're like no, no, we we got we got twelve,
Speaker 1: We're good, no, no, no, keep keeping you never know,
Speaker 1: you never know, And lots of times, as we both know,
Speaker 1: the best shit comes at the end. Yeah, unexpectedly for us.
Speaker 1: What I've noticed is that you just keep writing until
Speaker 1: you're written out, whether wherever that is. You know what,
Speaker 1: when the song stop being good, that's the time to stop.
Speaker 1: But not before that. If the last song you wrote
Speaker 1: was your best song, you gotta keep writing because the
Speaker 1: well's not you know, you're because they won't always be flowing.
Speaker 1: That's the other part of it. It's like we never know.
Speaker 1: So when they're flowing, get them all, get them all,
Speaker 1: because no years later when it's time to do it again,
Speaker 1: who knows if they're going to be flowing, and they
Speaker 1: won't be those same songs, right, you know it'll you'll
Speaker 1: never get those again. So it's the only chance to
Speaker 1: to to go mining, you know. And I love that,
Speaker 1: and you can you can think, ah, that's it, I
Speaker 1: got it. Okay, that's that's all that. I can't do
Speaker 1: any thing after that. That's that's just that's it. I'm dry. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Yeah, no, it actually that's probably
Speaker 1: sparked something else that will make something probably that you
Speaker 1: didn't think you could do. And I've seen that many
Speaker 1: times and and that's a that's a beautiful thing. But
Speaker 1: rick you know that you have to have someone that can, like,
Speaker 1: you know, point that out and be like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: keep going and then almost like doing takes, you do three,
Speaker 1: four and then number five and you're like, hmmm, I
Speaker 1: think we've hit the wall. Yeah, yeah, it's not getting back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's yeah, let's either take a break, take a break,
Speaker 1: or come back to it another time. Because it rarely
Speaker 1: turns around once once it you know, once it goes
Speaker 1: up and peaks and then starts going the other way,
Speaker 1: very difficult to recover. Do you find that be the
Speaker 1: case working with other people as well? Everybody, everybody with everybody,
Speaker 1: but see the Beatles would do fucking sixty eight. I
Speaker 1: know they're writing it and arranging it while they're doing it.
Speaker 1: They're not full takes, but like I read stuff about
Speaker 1: it and they're like, yeah, we used you know, the
Speaker 1: basic track was take thirty four or something. Yeah. But
Speaker 1: they also that was happening also really quickly, because their
Speaker 1: sessions were so short and the songs had just been written,
Speaker 1: like the week before the song was written. The band
Speaker 1: had never heard the songs before they started recording. Only
Speaker 1: John and Paul knew them. Yeah, which is radical to imagine.
Speaker 1: It's just it's radical and that music and oh I'm
Speaker 1: gonna come up with this part Doom doom. Yeah, in
Speaker 1: the moment, really in the moment. Yeah, fucking amazing. That's
Speaker 1: why they are the Beatles, and then everybody else, everybody
Speaker 1: I'm comparing us to that. I just think about that
Speaker 1: because to me, yeah, I'm the same way, and I
Speaker 1: know so many other bands. And you just said that
Speaker 1: it's never happened with you, and it's three or four times,
Speaker 1: and then if you haven't got you move on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are some bands I will say that keep getting
Speaker 1: better overtakes. So it might not be three or four
Speaker 1: for some bands. It might be twelve or fifteen before
Speaker 1: it turns down where that peak. But when it happens,
Speaker 1: it's very clear when it happens, very clear. When now,
Speaker 1: by playing it more, it's diminishing returns. It's not like
Speaker 1: getting better, it's only getting worse. And as soon as
Speaker 1: that happens, it only gets frustrating. So it's better to
Speaker 1: let's play something else. There's another thing that I just
Speaker 1: thought about that we haven't talked about in a long
Speaker 1: time and would be interesting to listen to now in
Speaker 1: retrospect because of what happened with Blood Sugar and that
Speaker 1: two year period of not being able to from the
Speaker 1: time we started until we recorded, instead of it being
Speaker 1: nine months or a year. That extra year. I remember
Speaker 1: I went into A and M to do a remix
Speaker 1: of a Queen song and you came in to play
Speaker 1: drums on it on the remix, and then I remember,
Speaker 1: so legally we're not allowed to record, but we had
Speaker 1: this studio for Queen Thankee Sessions or whatever or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. I don't know what it was called, but
Speaker 1: I called everyone and just said, hey, can you guys
Speaker 1: come down here? And we recorded whatever version we were
Speaker 1: up to in that moment of all of the Blood
Speaker 1: Sugar songs, probably a year before we recorded the album.
Speaker 1: And that exists somewhere. Probably where's that it exists somewhere.
Speaker 1: We could try to find that, but I've never heard
Speaker 1: it since. I never thought about it until we just
Speaker 1: have this conversation. I haven't thought about that in a
Speaker 1: way long time. I mean, I was so jazz, You're like,
Speaker 1: I think that Queen had signed a Hollywood record, Yes,
Speaker 1: and they were having people do remixes for to put
Speaker 1: the record out, And Rick was like, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think we played on it too at the end end. Yeah,
Speaker 1: at the end. We jammed out at the end of
Speaker 1: We Will Rock You. Rick did a a remix of
Speaker 1: it up front, and then when the guitars come in,
Speaker 1: we just play and played out and and it was
Speaker 1: it was It was great. But I remember it was
Speaker 1: late at night ish. Yeah, and the other guys came
Speaker 1: in or John came in. Yeah. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Anthony was there or not. But do we do it
Speaker 1: like live I called together? I think so. I think
Speaker 1: we did it like kind of like a tracking session.
Speaker 1: But we only played the songs once, maybe in some
Speaker 1: cases twice, but I think mostly once. So and back
Speaker 1: then we weren't as proficient as now. So I will
Speaker 1: say it'll be, uh, feel a little rough. It'll be rough,
Speaker 1: but it'll be fun to listen to Oh my God,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure some of the parts and the arrangements
Speaker 1: and stuff were different. Yeah, different, definitely evolved. I've forgotten
Speaker 1: about that. You're right, trip right, that's the box box
Speaker 1: set from anthology Blood Sugar Demos. Yeah, Blood Sugar Demos.
Speaker 1: In a way, that's probably what it is. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think if we listen back, I don't know if
Speaker 1: they exist anywhere, but we always had demos of everything
Speaker 1: during the making of the albums, you know, just the
Speaker 1: recordings of the of the rehearsals where we would listen
Speaker 1: to them and then talk about the parts. Let's try
Speaker 1: changing this, you know, changing the arrangements. So those exist
Speaker 1: somewhere dats. Remember we always had dats of the dats
Speaker 1: of all the rehearsals. Yeah, and the rehearsals were the
Speaker 1: writing sessions essentially, right, Yeah, I mean either at the
Speaker 1: swing house, but we did so much stuff at the alley,
Speaker 1: the alley, and we recorded all that, all that we
Speaker 1: did almost for every record up until I mean stadium,
Speaker 1: we wrote tons at the alley. Yeah, we would recordings
Speaker 1: where the dats. Yeah, we've never looked Rick. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you, what what'd you think about doing? I mean,
Speaker 1: we've done all of our records with you to tape.
Speaker 1: How was it working with tape or no big deal?
Speaker 1: Nobody's deal from good. Yeah, it does matter at all.
Speaker 1: Other other than we couldn't remember. In the stadium, it
Speaker 1: was there were tape was hard to find. Remember it
Speaker 1: was there's three reels in Green Bay. There's it was
Speaker 1: like trying to get drugs or something. It was like
Speaker 1: trying to find Yeah, yeah, this one too, this one,
Speaker 1: but we were on it and we had you know,
Speaker 1: we had experts searching the globe for tape. But we
Speaker 1: still went over stuff, which back in the day we
Speaker 1: never did. Yeah, yeah, never did. I mean there'd be
Speaker 1: boxes up to the ceiling. But I'm hoping that we
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is true, but I'm hoping
Speaker 1: we have a digital version of everything we went over.
Speaker 1: I hope it would be good if that exists. We should,
Speaker 1: I would, I would think, I hope. So it's always
Speaker 1: cool to document stuff you never know, it's fun to
Speaker 1: listen to someday. How did how did a song get
Speaker 1: to the version that we ended up using? The evolution
Speaker 1: even in the studio, because sometimes they changed quite a
Speaker 1: bit when even when recording, they evolve. I mean, the
Speaker 1: song Californication is a perfect example of a song evolving.
Speaker 1: And again one of the rare songs that Anthony had
Speaker 1: words for before he had heard any music. It was
Speaker 1: basically like like a poem. He wrote, like a poem
Speaker 1: like under the Bridge. He so he had this these
Speaker 1: lyrics and we were trying to come up with music too,
Speaker 1: and there's and we did a session early on and
Speaker 1: before Californication came, it was again and like another demo
Speaker 1: session at Teatro and Oxnarden, this little studio up there,
Speaker 1: and there's a I'd heard a version of Californication that
Speaker 1: he did there. It was like reggae, like bad reggae version. Wow,
Speaker 1: it was not I mean you could hear the melody
Speaker 1: and but the music and do you remember we worked
Speaker 1: on it and like, no, it's just not coming together.
Speaker 1: Anthony wasn't feeling you weren't feeling it, I think. And
Speaker 1: then finally I think it was towards the end. Was
Speaker 1: it towards the end of this recording or no? It
Speaker 1: was definitely him showing up with the simple chords when
Speaker 1: we were at Ocean Way Yea or East West and
Speaker 1: that that song and talking about like going and hearing
Speaker 1: different versions of songs and like learning from I mean
Speaker 1: that would if we would have gave up on that,
Speaker 1: I'm glad. It's perseverance of like there's a song in
Speaker 1: there somewhere. Yeah, there's a good song in there somewhere.
Speaker 1: We just have to find the right approach. Yeah. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's as simple as the approach. Yeah, the wrong approach
Speaker 1: can sink a great song, right, And up to that
Speaker 1: point we it was almost like, oh, well we're not
Speaker 1: gonna that, We're not gonna get that one. But you know,
Speaker 1: John came in that one day with the chords and
Speaker 1: all came together and it's like, I think it's our
Speaker 1: most popular song now something like that. Yeah, crazy almost
Speaker 1: almost wasn't so persevere kids? Yeah, how would you say
Speaker 1: the band has changed from the band that you joined
Speaker 1: to the band today? Talk about the evolution of the band. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's thirty four years almost now for me? You know, God,
Speaker 1: we've had mainly I mean mainfully and Anthony since nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight, but different guitar players come, and we've had
Speaker 1: some great musicians, Dave Navarro and Josh Klinghoffer. But it's interesting,
Speaker 1: you're just growing up and I would have never thought
Speaker 1: that our band would still be walking into Holly Gully
Speaker 1: making that record. I would have never thought we'd still
Speaker 1: be making music or a band thirty four years later.
Speaker 1: Not in a million. I thought, ah, you know, five years,
Speaker 1: six years, couple records if you're lucky, because it was
Speaker 1: pretty volatile back then. Still, you know, band members leave,
Speaker 1: is drug, there's this, there's that, Everyone has their ups
Speaker 1: and downs, you know, but if you have this goal,
Speaker 1: which I think that we somehow all maybe not as
Speaker 1: much earlier, but certainly the second time that John came
Speaker 1: back into our group in nineteen ninety eight, that's the
Speaker 1: one time that I felt like the Chili Peppers were
Speaker 1: gonna be over. David gone out, Anthony was was not
Speaker 1: around that much. I don't think he was doing took grade,
Speaker 1: and it just it felt like it was falling apart. Lindy,
Speaker 1: our manager, left. He's like I'd said, I've had enough,
Speaker 1: I can't deal with this anymore. I think he wanted
Speaker 1: us to go no, no, don't quit. We're like, fine,
Speaker 1: you should beg It's okay. And that was the one
Speaker 1: time that I felt like, Okay, this this feels like
Speaker 1: this probably this is probably the end. We'll probably hang
Speaker 1: it up. We didn't have another guitar player. And then
Speaker 1: John comes back in the group, and that's when I
Speaker 1: really felt like we all went, oh, wow, this is
Speaker 1: like something special, this chemistry that we have as a band,
Speaker 1: and we have another way, we have a second chance
Speaker 1: at it. That's when I felt like we all kind
Speaker 1: of just stood up and went, wait a minute, we
Speaker 1: can do this. Let's not take this for granted. This
Speaker 1: is something special for whatever reason. Rick, We're put on
Speaker 1: this planet, all different places and whatever, and we all
Speaker 1: come together and we make this music that we make
Speaker 1: and there's no trying to be like this or preconceived anything.
Speaker 1: Just get together in a room and what do you
Speaker 1: got and bring your whole thing to it. And I
Speaker 1: think that evolution of people growing up and changing and
Speaker 1: lives and children and wives and next wives and whatever,
Speaker 1: it's all part of it. It's all part of the
Speaker 1: big movie. But I think that there's a goal, and
Speaker 1: there is you know, you got to you gotta be flexible,
Speaker 1: you gotta have know your role in the group. There's
Speaker 1: dynamic shifts, there's powershifts, there's a lot of things that happen.
Speaker 1: But we're all doing it for the same good cause,
Speaker 1: which is the end result of making this special music
Speaker 1: that only the four of us can make. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I'm proud of that, the fact that we've been able
Speaker 1: to persevere and do that in an authentic way of
Speaker 1: doing it for the right reasons, doing it from our hearts,
Speaker 1: doing it because we love it, and we genuinely love
Speaker 1: to make music together. Yeah, we do, not all the time,
Speaker 1: but we genuinely do. Because man, when you go play
Speaker 1: all over the world and you see people's faces light
Speaker 1: up with joy and dad's next to kids and whatever,
Speaker 1: in any country, all over the world, it's amazing. And
Speaker 1: you shouldn't take that for granted. That's a real gift
Speaker 1: to be able to do that make people happy for
Speaker 1: a couple hours. That's awesome. So we have that, But
Speaker 1: we also love still love what we do, maybe more
Speaker 1: than ever. You know, it's which is wild. It hasn't
Speaker 1: dissipated at all. I mean, I love playing music more
Speaker 1: and I did. I got so much more to do
Speaker 1: and I want to get so much better and and
Speaker 1: I love playing all the time. And I just did
Speaker 1: a little tour with Eddie Vetter and we just hadn't
Speaker 1: played in two and a half years and played little
Speaker 1: theaters in New York and Chicago, and the people were
Speaker 1: just so happy to be there and their faces and
Speaker 1: it was so joyful. It was beautiful, and it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful thing about music, and I love that connection. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back after a break with more from Chad
Speaker 1: Smith and Rick Rubin. We're back with the rest of
Speaker 1: Rick Ruben's conversation with Chad Smith. Any any particular Chili
Speaker 1: Pepper gigs you can remember that stand out in your mind,
Speaker 1: either as particularly great or particularly bad over the years.
Speaker 1: What comes up? What do you think of what comes up?
Speaker 1: We played it. We played in Japan and it was
Speaker 1: a typhoon and we were on stage for that at
Speaker 1: not too long and the stage fell and Anthony had
Speaker 1: Remember when Anthony had his motorcycle accident, he had that
Speaker 1: big cast and the pins and stuff. So he's in
Speaker 1: a cast and the typhoon and the symbols and the
Speaker 1: drums are like blowing into I remember that not being
Speaker 1: like a great time, but that was just like weather
Speaker 1: stuff that happens, that happens all the time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the typhoon I remember playing in in Green Bay. I
Speaker 1: think it was on the Mother's Milk tour. And we
Speaker 1: used to, you know, go on stage scantily clad, and
Speaker 1: certainly at a certain part of the show at the
Speaker 1: end we would do a song and in Green Bay
Speaker 1: pubic hair in public not okay, not having it. So
Speaker 1: the cops chased I remember, they chased Flee. They ended
Speaker 1: up chasing Flee and I and we ran out of
Speaker 1: the gig and it was cold, and we just tried
Speaker 1: to ditch the cops and kept running through fields and
Speaker 1: we ended up in this guy's house. They'd never caught us,
Speaker 1: and we ended up playing like video games in this
Speaker 1: guy's house that we just like knocked on the door
Speaker 1: and said can you come with us? And we're naked. Incredible. Oh,
Speaker 1: maybe we'd found something at that point A leaf. Now
Speaker 1: do you remember those times fondly or like I do
Speaker 1: I do those? Yes? I do, kid well, and we
Speaker 1: got away with it, yeah, so to speak or whomever, Oh, no,
Speaker 1: I do, because it was like an innocent time. You know.
Speaker 1: It was like didn't matter, we're not hurting anybody, and
Speaker 1: it was fun. It was like you were having fun.
Speaker 1: You didn't you didn't like the next day it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we can never let that happen again. There was no regret.
Speaker 1: It was just uh no, not not at that time, No,
Speaker 1: certainly not. I mean, it was just what we did.
Speaker 1: It was we were kids and we were having fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we were open about everything. And as long as
Speaker 1: you're not hurting anybody or hurting yourself, you know the
Speaker 1: way we express ourselves on stage or with our music.
Speaker 1: It's all good. Talk about a little bit about what
Speaker 1: life on the road is like. From how does it
Speaker 1: come like hot? From where you guys started to now
Speaker 1: the difference in how we want to know all these
Speaker 1: way back when, and it's interesting. It's interesting, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, like the progress and when things change and
Speaker 1: how they change. Yeah, it's true. I mean we go
Speaker 1: from a little you know, before me it was stationed
Speaker 1: wagons and vans, but they're just playing clubs and yeah,
Speaker 1: from Mother's Milk. We had first tour bus, which is
Speaker 1: like a big deal, big deal. Yeah, we had done
Speaker 1: little little south Wind is like a you know, like
Speaker 1: a camper. Yeah, it's like a camper, not as not
Speaker 1: as great. Yeah, this is an actual tour bus with
Speaker 1: a driver that just takes speed all the time. And
Speaker 1: had seventeen people on our bus, a twelve person bus.
Speaker 1: We had the t shirt girl and we had two
Speaker 1: background singers. It took the back lounge and you know,
Speaker 1: if there was a place to sleep or crash, it
Speaker 1: was taken. And then we had we had a crazy
Speaker 1: bus driver, you know, and that smelled like you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was not a good but we have
Speaker 1: a bus. This is amazing. This is the coolest. That's
Speaker 1: my tour bus. Wow. And what were the venues you
Speaker 1: were playing at that time? Oh, we were playing bigger clubs,
Speaker 1: some theaters, but I'd say fifteen hundred when we probably
Speaker 1: started out with Mother's Milk, and you know, we would
Speaker 1: get we could get lucky and bigger cities and maybe
Speaker 1: play two nights or play a bigger place. But three
Speaker 1: thousand and four thousand, Max, we came back here at
Speaker 1: the end of the tour and the record had done
Speaker 1: pretty good for us, and you know, hier Ground was
Speaker 1: on MTV and all that stuff, and we played the
Speaker 1: Greek Theater and you were at that show, that's right.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've talked to you or met
Speaker 1: you with that show, but yeah, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I I remember his Axel Rose came back and hung
Speaker 1: out with us, and I was like, oh wow, and
Speaker 1: we took a picture of Axel. But do you remember
Speaker 1: did you get there and see David Saint Hubbins from
Speaker 1: Spinal Tap introduce us? I do that. We were like
Speaker 1: because we were really in the Spinal Tap at that
Speaker 1: point where oh man, this is the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 1: He was great, but that was our, That was our
Speaker 1: That was like a big show for I mean his
Speaker 1: hometown show, but that we did play the Palladium, but
Speaker 1: like that's la like but you know, if we would
Speaker 1: go to you know, Minneapolis something, we're playing like Prince's
Speaker 1: Club and places like that, which is great. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: loved it, loved it. It was so exciting, and our
Speaker 1: record was doing well, like you know, I remember we're
Speaker 1: in the top forty the Chili Peppers. Are you fucking
Speaker 1: getting me? Amazing? So that was a great experience going
Speaker 1: to Europe incredible for me first time, unbelievable. And then
Speaker 1: you know, we came back and wrote and made all
Speaker 1: his records and then everything changed when Bud Sugar came
Speaker 1: around and the music changed when we got really popular,
Speaker 1: which which was great. John was not enjoying that aspect
Speaker 1: of it, and so that touring bit was should have
Speaker 1: been like really great, but as you know, the four
Speaker 1: of us on stage, if we're not all we all
Speaker 1: have to be connecting, and he was not wanting to
Speaker 1: be there. And this went on and on and on,
Speaker 1: and he finally left in Japan. I'm going home now. God,
Speaker 1: we have a show like two hours in Yokohama. I
Speaker 1: know I have to go home now, but you know,
Speaker 1: we've been lucky to be able to keep playing at
Speaker 1: a high level, which is really important to us. We
Speaker 1: want people to come and leave and go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's the greatest rock and roll band I've ever seen,
Speaker 1: and we take a lot of pride in that that
Speaker 1: has never waned now instead of, you know, getting chased
Speaker 1: by the cops in Green Bay, and we do everything
Speaker 1: what we can do to ensure that we can perform
Speaker 1: it at a top level. We're not spring chickens anymore.
Speaker 1: And you know that's really important in our lifestyles have
Speaker 1: changed and I stopped drinking and doing drugs twelve years ago,
Speaker 1: and I want to be able to perform at the
Speaker 1: best that I can be, And so everything's geared towards that.
Speaker 1: It's getting good rest and how you eat, exercise. But
Speaker 1: I still love to go out and just see everybody.
Speaker 1: They're all coming. This is amazing, They're still coming to
Speaker 1: see us, and I just want to really do well.
Speaker 1: I want the band to feel really confident and knowing
Speaker 1: that they can look back and they like, I could
Speaker 1: do whatever I want. This guy's this guy's got it,
Speaker 1: He's got us. It's great. Yeah, that's really important to me.
Speaker 1: And then that energy just goes out to the crowd.
Speaker 1: And so that's the most important thing I saw. I
Speaker 1: saw from an audience perspective. The most dramatic show that
Speaker 1: I saw was the Hyde Park series. It was five shows.
Speaker 1: I think it was eighty thousand people every day for
Speaker 1: five days in a row, and it totaled. It was.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's been surpassed since, but it
Speaker 1: was the biggest concert biggest concerts in the history of
Speaker 1: the UK at that time. At that time, I have
Speaker 1: no idea since I think we beat Queen or something. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: it was amazing. Yeah, but I just remember the feeling of,
Speaker 1: you know, eighty thousand people singing along with every word
Speaker 1: of every song, and every song were ones that we
Speaker 1: worked on together. It was such a surreal feeling of
Speaker 1: people really like it. It's a great feeling, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It is? It is And I'll say, we don't make it,
Speaker 1: we don't make it for that, but the fact that
Speaker 1: it happens is radical and so cool. I know, I mean,
Speaker 1: one hundred percent, that's the thing. People. Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: do you listen you think about this song or you
Speaker 1: want to play one like that. It's like, no, we
Speaker 1: just make songs that we're happy with, make us happy
Speaker 1: that we like, and then it goes out and hopefully
Speaker 1: everyone connects with it or doesn't. If they don't, that's okay.
Speaker 1: But we love it. Yeah, you know, not all of
Speaker 1: them the same amount, but like we're pretty happy with
Speaker 1: the records that we make. I am I know that,
Speaker 1: and you are I know that. So it's like there,
Speaker 1: it's where you start. And then it's just like gravy
Speaker 1: when you just go play and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: like you get people singing along to your songs. There's
Speaker 1: nothing but you know, you make a little song in
Speaker 1: your garage and then you go to Estonia and the
Speaker 1: whole crowd is singing along. Amazing, it really is. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that you got to go to those those shows.
Speaker 1: You know that. The other the other surreal thing was
Speaker 1: James Brown was playing with us I remember, which was
Speaker 1: wild and James we went to a Mojo Awards show
Speaker 1: prior to the Hyde Park shows and there was we
Speaker 1: got an award for something and James was probably getting
Speaker 1: a lifetime a chief A warning had and we're taking
Speaker 1: pictures afterward as Jimmy Page and all my heroes are
Speaker 1: standing around Roger Daltrey AND's not James Brown is there
Speaker 1: and we hadn't played with him yet. And so he's
Speaker 1: in a blue sharkskin suit and the hair slicked back
Speaker 1: and shiny teeth of headlights and brights are out. James
Speaker 1: Brown not a tall man. I'm six three. So I
Speaker 1: come up to him and I'm kind of nervous. Mister Brown,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call him mister Brown. Chat. I'm the drummer
Speaker 1: with the Chili Peppers. Thank you so much for playing.
Speaker 1: He's conscious with us, such an honor, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: he says Sam Man, and it was hard to understand him.
Speaker 1: I have to say. He's say, man, I'm just kind
Speaker 1: of like kind of trying to listen. And he goes,
Speaker 1: I got two pieces of advice for you. Don't give
Speaker 1: me some advice. Great number one, when you come to
Speaker 1: the gig in his James Brown voice, I could, I
Speaker 1: can't really do it. But when you get to the gig,
Speaker 1: always back, always back your car because you never know
Speaker 1: when you gotta get the fuck out. Good advice. Good advice,
Speaker 1: like probably going back to the chilling circuit stuff. If
Speaker 1: there's some weird shit happening in the bar, got you
Speaker 1: gotta be gotta get out and always take your wallet
Speaker 1: to the stage. Good good advice, sage advice from mister Brown.
Speaker 1: But those concerts were amazing. But I remember one of
Speaker 1: the nights we I look over on the side of
Speaker 1: the stage my laught and there's Roger and Brian from
Speaker 1: Queen and Roger with his kids, Ian Anderson from Jethro Toll, Wow,
Speaker 1: Tony from Sabbath, Jimmy Page. I'm trying to think of
Speaker 1: if there were other any you know, rock English Royalty
Speaker 1: over there. And I'm just like, all right, I got
Speaker 1: a gig to do here. I'm not gonna look over here.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep focused here. He was on John said,
Speaker 1: poor John. I don't know if peoplelieve, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: knew that like something was happening, because like it was
Speaker 1: one of those things like why are we playing all
Speaker 1: these nights and selling out at this giant thing, and
Speaker 1: why are all like the gods of rock over here?
Speaker 1: Something something, something going on? Amazing. Talk about the nature
Speaker 1: of Flee and Anthony's relationship from what you remember when
Speaker 1: you join to now it's it's fascinating. One thing that
Speaker 1: I learned in the conversation with Flee that I never
Speaker 1: really thought about before is that their relationship was bonded
Speaker 1: pre music. So they were just friends first and then
Speaker 1: music came into it. So their connection isn't a connection
Speaker 1: over music. It's just as people fascinating. Yeah, no, and
Speaker 1: which I think speaks a lot for their relationship and
Speaker 1: the longevity of it and the love for each other. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Anthony loves to tell me he was he added some
Speaker 1: guy in a headlock in like ninth grade or something,
Speaker 1: and Flea's like hey, Nanthy's like whoa, And was it?
Speaker 1: That's how they started hanging out. Yeah, Anthony used to
Speaker 1: MC for what is this he would bring on the band?
Speaker 1: I think Flea's band with Jack and a thin Hello
Speaker 1: was they were all pre Chili peppers, And I think
Speaker 1: Anthony used to kind of MC the band when I joined. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, and all this is I don't know any
Speaker 1: really in the history, and John being so young, so
Speaker 1: he was like Anthony's shadow, you know. Whatever Anthony did
Speaker 1: or wanted to do or dada da da. I mean
Speaker 1: they were they were inseparable. They hung so Flee and
Speaker 1: I and back then we would room together. You know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't everybody have his own room. It was you
Speaker 1: split up two guys. And I think that they were
Speaker 1: having a little you know, at the beginning, there was
Speaker 1: it was the dynamic. It was a little tough. I
Speaker 1: think maybe Flee felt like, I don't know, you could
Speaker 1: speak to this better than me. But I get the
Speaker 1: feeling that he was probably like, you know, this the
Speaker 1: new guy, and that's just now he's like with John.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if he felt like it hurt
Speaker 1: his feelings or anything, but there was some There's always
Speaker 1: a little power struggle, and that's completely normal. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you have very strong personalities in this band vera everybody
Speaker 1: very which is great. But you're gonna butt heads and
Speaker 1: you know, in the old days it would be like
Speaker 1: fuck you, fuck you and you don't talk to the
Speaker 1: guy for two days. Now we talk it out, We
Speaker 1: figure it out. You don't sulk and be grumpy or
Speaker 1: or or ice somebody. You know, we just we. I
Speaker 1: think we've grown up. And I've seen that with them too,
Speaker 1: and they're I mean, they're always going to be best
Speaker 1: of friends. Yeah, your lives change, your priorities change, you
Speaker 1: get families, you have this, you have that, you grow
Speaker 1: up fucking almost sixty years old, for God's sake. But
Speaker 1: they have a connection like nobody that I've ever seen
Speaker 1: before that I've been around. And it's not just the
Speaker 1: music connection. It's part of it. It's a big part
Speaker 1: of it. It is now, But but it didn't stem
Speaker 1: from that, and it doesn't feel like that's what drives it.
Speaker 1: It feels like they're just they would be hanging if
Speaker 1: they weren't playing music together, they would still be hanging out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go, sir, let's go to this. So they have
Speaker 1: a lot of there's very similar in some ways, some
Speaker 1: ways very different, of course. Yeah, but the core of
Speaker 1: it is that is that bond and that friendship, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's beautiful. Yeah. I think of them as wildly
Speaker 1: different from each other, but also probably more similar than
Speaker 1: they are to anybody else. Yeah, yeah, because they really
Speaker 1: they don't suffer squares. Those guys they like freaks and
Speaker 1: they come from the same place, so they share they
Speaker 1: share like a worldview that because of the way they
Speaker 1: came up together in the streets of Hollywood. They just
Speaker 1: have a sense of the world. That's how they see it,
Speaker 1: and it's different than everybody else. Yeah, and that shapes
Speaker 1: that shapes a lot of things. And you know it's great.
Speaker 1: But they're kind and they're carrying and the good dads
Speaker 1: and the value part, you know, is important and growing
Speaker 1: up and seeing the world and doing great things that
Speaker 1: you can do and flee school and I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of him. I think he's amazing and Anthony
Speaker 1: you know as well, just like you know, I'm proud
Speaker 1: proud of those guys. I'm proud of our group and
Speaker 1: what we do and what we stand for, and we
Speaker 1: put positive energy out in the world. And those guys
Speaker 1: are you know, they're the face of the band and
Speaker 1: so it's like it's important and they they're amazing. Tell
Speaker 1: me a little bit about your experience of John coming
Speaker 1: back this time and writing them, the writing process for
Speaker 1: this album and the recording for this album. Just talk
Speaker 1: about this album a little bit. Yeah, well, you know it.
Speaker 1: And I think Anthony said, he you know, come on
Speaker 1: over and he's like, what do you think of John
Speaker 1: coming back in the band? I was like, what I mean,
Speaker 1: the first time he came back in the minute, I thought,
Speaker 1: I really thought it was crazy, but this is ten
Speaker 1: years now. I really thought that ship had sailed. And
Speaker 1: I was like what, and he's like, flee be They
Speaker 1: kind of been hanging out a little bit and I
Speaker 1: was like, are you on good terms? Everything okay? And
Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, yep, we're good. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to talk to John to see
Speaker 1: the obvious question, why do you want to come back
Speaker 1: in the band? So we flee and I went over
Speaker 1: to his house. And I hadn't seen John in a
Speaker 1: long time, long time. Once in a while we text
Speaker 1: each other, but a long time, probably seven years at least.
Speaker 1: And he said, well, I want to play music again,
Speaker 1: and I want to play guitar in a band. And
Speaker 1: the only band I want to be in as a
Speaker 1: Red Hot Chili Peppers. I go. But when you left,
Speaker 1: he were like, I didn't want to do all the
Speaker 1: things that you gotta do. You remember, and all the
Speaker 1: stuff you gotta do to be in a band, right,
Speaker 1: it's not just writing the songs and recording. It's a
Speaker 1: touring and the press and the videos and this and
Speaker 1: that in a travel and he seemed more self aware
Speaker 1: to me like he seemed you know, that he like
Speaker 1: understood what it takes, he knows what it takes, but
Speaker 1: that he was he was prepared for it, and that
Speaker 1: he wanted to do it and he really wanted to play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that won me over. I was like, Okay, I mean,
Speaker 1: you never know with anyone, and you know, look, this
Speaker 1: is the third time he's been in been in our group.
Speaker 1: But to go back to what I was saying before,
Speaker 1: we do have this special thing. Yeah, and I love
Speaker 1: Josh and he's a great musician, but we do have
Speaker 1: a special special chemistry with John, and I think that
Speaker 1: we had more music to make and have more experiences
Speaker 1: to have. And it was the timing felt right. Do
Speaker 1: you remember the first time you were in the room
Speaker 1: playing together. Yeah, it was the first time the whole
Speaker 1: group together. Or did you jam with John? No, we
Speaker 1: were all together. We were at the place in Beverly
Speaker 1: Glen that we were that very briefly. This was during
Speaker 1: the lockdown or not yet it was a lockdown already happening. Okay. No,
Speaker 1: it was in mid to late January, Okay, and we
Speaker 1: just jammed. We didn't play any songs. We just kind
Speaker 1: of jammed and he's like, I haven't stood up and
Speaker 1: played guitar in a long time, you know. And it's
Speaker 1: like dancing with some you know, you used to your
Speaker 1: dance partner, and then you're like okay, and then oh well,
Speaker 1: and you kind of figured out for a minute, like
Speaker 1: clean eye, we've been dancing a long time, John. We
Speaker 1: just had to kind of re just get acclimate a
Speaker 1: little bit to like each other's thing. Yeah, and didn't
Speaker 1: take long though, and he was really interesting to me.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to play. We didn't start trying to
Speaker 1: write songs right away. We just jammed and then he
Speaker 1: wanted to play old songs, like old blues songs. And
Speaker 1: you know, you know, John has such a vast, you know,
Speaker 1: vocabulary of music that he loves, and he would just say, hey,
Speaker 1: it was guys, we want to learn this one and
Speaker 1: this one, this one, and so we would learn them
Speaker 1: and play those. Then as a little bit time went by,
Speaker 1: he wanted to just play because we thought we were
Speaker 1: going to have to do some gigs that eventually got canceled,
Speaker 1: which was great for us, but he wanted to just
Speaker 1: play old chili pepper song, not the one anyone before
Speaker 1: him or I joined, like from the first and second
Speaker 1: and third album. He wanted to play Green Heaven and
Speaker 1: Get Up and Jump and you know, Mommy Wears Daddy,
Speaker 1: And he didn't want to play anything that he had
Speaker 1: played on or we had played on and and you know,
Speaker 1: that first couple of days, I was like, Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: learn Love Trilogy. Okay, we haven't played it in like
Speaker 1: twenty five years, but okay, were those things that you
Speaker 1: guys had played on tour when you first joined the
Speaker 1: band or not so much? Maybe maybe when I first joined.
Speaker 1: We yeah, we Mother's Milk. We had to play a
Speaker 1: lot of the older songs, but no, but yeah, but
Speaker 1: there were some that were like just random and what
Speaker 1: and what My conclusion wasn't I could speak for better,
Speaker 1: but I feel like he was trying to reconnect with
Speaker 1: the reason why he fell in love with the Red
Speaker 1: Hot Chili Peppers. That's just my take of it. And
Speaker 1: so then and then we started the usual process, jam
Speaker 1: who's got an idea? I had this baseline, I had
Speaker 1: this thing from home, Da da da da da, And
Speaker 1: we just started writing and Pandemic Kid of course, which
Speaker 1: was bummer for everybody in the world. But we could
Speaker 1: just be in this place, the four of us, we
Speaker 1: got to write and do our thing for We were
Speaker 1: at that point like, who knows how long just go
Speaker 1: with no interruption, nothing, and that what a you know,
Speaker 1: We're so fortunate to have that experience and have that
Speaker 1: outlet in such dark, weird times. So that was great,
Speaker 1: and so we just kept writing and until we saw
Speaker 1: you and you came down to the village that one day,
Speaker 1: but that was until like September or something, I think, right,
Speaker 1: So that was yeah, eight months, nine months or something
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, it was great here just for walking
Speaker 1: around just like with a big smile on your face.
Speaker 1: You look so happy. You're like, oh my god, these
Speaker 1: guys are back together. I can't believe this. That's to
Speaker 1: feel like I got seeing you just kind of walk
Speaker 1: around the room while we were just playing our songs.
Speaker 1: We hadn't played them for anybody, yeah, you know, and
Speaker 1: then you know they weren't all done or everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you think of this? When you think of that,
Speaker 1: and you're just like, right, great, sounds great. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even about the material yet, it was more it was
Speaker 1: just the feeling of you guys playing together. Sounded magical.
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't where there are these songs good
Speaker 1: enough yet, It wasn't that at all. It was just
Speaker 1: the feeling of like hearing the interaction of the playing
Speaker 1: and the basslines and the chord structures, and it just
Speaker 1: like wow, it's such a familiar feeling. It was like
Speaker 1: all new material, but a familiar flavor coming from people
Speaker 1: I love. So it was very exciting to feel. I
Speaker 1: remember crying, you know, it made me cry. Ah, that
Speaker 1: was awesome. Yeah, I mean you felt like this sounds
Speaker 1: like these four guys. Yeah. Were you apprehensive? Did you
Speaker 1: were like, oh, what if I go? Yeah? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I was excited to hear. But but I again have
Speaker 1: no idea what I'm gonna walk into, right. I have
Speaker 1: a funny story to tell the from the first time
Speaker 1: that John quite. I can't remember how long that window
Speaker 1: was where he wasn't in the band, but sometime during
Speaker 1: that time, towards the end of it, I went to
Speaker 1: I think it was Lochma. It was a museum had
Speaker 1: a film festival of Louis Bunol movies, and I remember
Speaker 1: I took a Bunol class when I went to school.
Speaker 1: I loved Bunol and I went to the Bunol movie
Speaker 1: and the movie ended and I walked out and someone
Speaker 1: came over to me, and it was this kind of
Speaker 1: plump guy wearing a sport jacket, like something that like
Speaker 1: substitute teachers used to wear. It was like a woven
Speaker 1: sport jacket. Is that at the substitute teacher's clothing store
Speaker 1: that you go to that you buy that. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just the only people I've ever seen where this
Speaker 1: type of jacket was like a substitute teacher in class.
Speaker 1: And he looked at me. It's like it's John and
Speaker 1: it's like, what do you mean, John Who? I'm looking
Speaker 1: right in his face, like John Who. It's like it
Speaker 1: was John Fashanti. He was unrecognizable. Wow, unrecognizable. I remember that.
Speaker 1: And I was so happy to see him, just because
Speaker 1: I loved him, and the time i'd seen him before that,
Speaker 1: it seemed like I might never see him again, because
Speaker 1: before that, he was, you know, probably weighed you know,
Speaker 1: eighty pounds and was in a room covered in blood
Speaker 1: and vomit. So I didn't seem like this was different. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it was shocking to see him look so different,
Speaker 1: and I was so happy to see him, and he
Speaker 1: seemed great, like he was just in a great mood,
Speaker 1: but really upbeat. And I was so happy to see
Speaker 1: him upbeat. The fact that he was coming out to
Speaker 1: see a movie was a good sign, Like everything about
Speaker 1: it was great. I don't remember how how long after
Speaker 1: that he ended up rejoining that first time. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know anybody like him. He's a unique individual. Yeah,
Speaker 1: best musician I've ever played with. I mean I played
Speaker 1: with some good ones. I mean the most unique for sure,
Speaker 1: and especially on his instrument. I mean, he's amazing, and
Speaker 1: you know, and he just goes for whatever it is.
Speaker 1: He focuses on that laser focus and you know what,
Speaker 1: it's music, his drugs or is this or that? Or
Speaker 1: painting and no, no, no, And you know that's just
Speaker 1: who he is. And right now he's as you know,
Speaker 1: he's just he's dedicated. Man. He's into everything, into it
Speaker 1: all aspects of of the music and the band and
Speaker 1: the thing. And and it makes you up your game,
Speaker 1: you know, being around people like they. Yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: but as you mentioned, I too, I saw him in
Speaker 1: many different phases and yeah, I didn't I thought for
Speaker 1: sure that he was not gonna make it and I
Speaker 1: remember see him at the viper room with like and
Speaker 1: I came and he was playing becaustic guitar and this
Speaker 1: he had not many teeth. And I saw him in
Speaker 1: the back and I walk into the little dressing room
Speaker 1: in the VIP rooms were a quite a little dark
Speaker 1: little room, and somebody hits me in the back of
Speaker 1: hey fucker. And I look around and I was like you.
Speaker 1: I was like, who's this? Did not recognize them, unrecognizable
Speaker 1: two feet away. It was a little dark, but from
Speaker 1: here to here, I'm like, the fuck are you? And
Speaker 1: then I went oly, shit, his hair was really dark,
Speaker 1: but one amazing transformation. And you know what's great, Rick,
Speaker 1: is that another great thing about this is we get
Speaker 1: to make music together, make a lot of music, a
Speaker 1: lot of great music, and then we get to go
Speaker 1: play concerts with him. A lot of people have never
Speaker 1: seen him play with us before, and then the ones
Speaker 1: that have probably never thought they would again, and so
Speaker 1: it'd be really exciting. And of course, not being able
Speaker 1: to play any concerts for two and a half years
Speaker 1: almost so this is this is going to be pretty
Speaker 1: much June rolls around. It's going to be pretty pretty exciting.
Speaker 1: It was so lucky to participate in this thing. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like where it's a crazy thing. We get to
Speaker 1: be part of this thing. Rick, I want your listeners
Speaker 1: to know. I want your listeners to know that you are.
Speaker 1: We couldn't. We couldn't do it without you. We really couldn't.
Speaker 1: We could do it, but it would not be what
Speaker 1: it is, and you bring it. Thank you. Still, what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is the fact that all of us get
Speaker 1: to have this experience of making something and people caring
Speaker 1: about it is unbelievable that this is the life we
Speaker 1: get to live. It's unbelievable and how odd it is when,
Speaker 1: like you said, coming from the garage making things that
Speaker 1: you like, that's all it has ever been, you know,
Speaker 1: for me, my dorm room, making things I like. That's
Speaker 1: all it ever was. Just trying to make something that
Speaker 1: I liked, that I was excited to play for my friend.
Speaker 1: That's all, nothing more than that. And you keep it
Speaker 1: that way. It's always been right, always been that. I've
Speaker 1: always been that, and that's the authentic thing I believe,
Speaker 1: along with what the music is that connects with people
Speaker 1: because it's not trying to be something that it isn't
Speaker 1: other than what is real to me and what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to do or what we're trying to do as
Speaker 1: a group, and that's what connects with people. I gotta
Speaker 1: think that's what is because it's what we've done the
Speaker 1: whole time, and it's still connecting. For some odd reason,
Speaker 1: we're still relevant to people. Little kids come up to
Speaker 1: me and singing songs off of our record. My kids
Speaker 1: are singing and singing Black Summer. It's a trip. I know.
Speaker 1: It's great. Yeah, you know what. Enjoyed this immensely. It's
Speaker 1: nice to see your face saying I got I got
Speaker 1: three guys waiting to jam and win't show up, don't
Speaker 1: make it happen. This was great. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for doing this. Of course, send my love to the lads.
Speaker 1: I will. I just texta Gaya said, I'll be a
Speaker 1: little lam I'm talking to Rick, no problem, Oh good
Speaker 1: cool man, have fun. Will Thank you Rick, you too. Bye.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to Chad Smith for breaking down his history
Speaker 1: with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and talking about his
Speaker 1: life before joining the band. You can hear the Chili
Speaker 1: peppers new album Unlimited Love, along with all of our
Speaker 1: favorite songs of theirs on a playlist at broken record
Speaker 1: podcast dot com. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube
Speaker 1: channel at YouTube dot com slash broken record Podcast, where
Speaker 1: you can find all of our new episodes. You can
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken Record is
Speaker 1: produced with helpful Lea Rose, Jason Gambrel, Van Holiday, Eric Sandler,
Speaker 1: and Jennifer Sanchez, with engineer and help from m chafee
Speaker 1: and also Shangarlow Studios. Our executive producer is Milabelle. Broken
Speaker 1: Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love
Speaker 1: this show and others, some Pushkin can sit a subscribing
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Speaker 1: Ar the Music Expect Kenny Beats, I'm justin Richmond.