WEBVTT - Chad Smith 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:23.236 Pushkin. Hey everyone, Today we have the final interview in 0:00:23.276 --> 0:00:25.756 our month long series with the Red Hot Chili Peppers 0:00:25.956 --> 0:00:29.716 and celebration of their new album Unlimited Love, produced by 0:00:29.796 --> 0:00:33.836 Rick Rubin. And there's only one Chili Pepper left, mister 0:00:33.956 --> 0:00:38.116 I eat drums for breakfast, Chad Smith. Chad has always 0:00:38.116 --> 0:00:39.996 been a bit of an outlier in the band. He's 0:00:40.036 --> 0:00:42.716 only member who isn't from la He's from the Motor City. 0:00:43.036 --> 0:00:45.276 It was reared more on classic rock than punk like 0:00:45.356 --> 0:00:48.236 the rest of the band, but Chad's an integral member 0:00:48.276 --> 0:00:51.236 of the Peppers. His hard hitting style is the foundation 0:00:51.276 --> 0:00:54.196 of the sound of bands known for and as we'll 0:00:54.196 --> 0:00:56.116 hear him tell Rick, Chad fell in love with the 0:00:56.196 --> 0:00:58.596 Chili Peppers the day he auditioned for them, close to 0:00:58.716 --> 0:01:02.236 thirty five years ago. On today's episode, Chad and Rick 0:01:02.316 --> 0:01:05.156 talk about the lost demo sessions that Chili Peppers recorded 0:01:05.316 --> 0:01:08.876 nearly a year before making Blood Sugar, Sex Magic. Chad 0:01:09.316 --> 0:01:12.476 talks about how Californication started out as what he calls 0:01:12.516 --> 0:01:15.636 a bad reggae song, and he remembers the time he 0:01:15.716 --> 0:01:22.556 and Flee got chased nearly naked by cops in Green Bay. 0:01:22.556 --> 0:01:25.716 This is broken record liner notes for the Digital Age. 0:01:25.996 --> 0:01:31.196 I'm justin Mitchill. Here's Rick Rubin with Chad Smith. Hi, Rick, 0:01:31.716 --> 0:01:35.476 what's happening main, Good morning, Good to see you. Nice 0:01:35.516 --> 0:01:39.836 to see you as a family. Everybody's good. Everything good 0:01:39.876 --> 0:01:44.676 on your side? Yeah, pretty good. Nice. Beckett just turned thirteen. 0:01:44.756 --> 0:01:49.796 He's a teenager now, amazing, I know, but he's he's good. 0:01:49.876 --> 0:01:53.876 He's playing the drums. What's that like? What's it like 0:01:54.196 --> 0:01:59.396 seeing your kid play the drums? Yeah? You know, he 0:02:00.156 --> 0:02:04.796 played like a while ago, years ago when he was younger, 0:02:04.956 --> 0:02:07.476 probably like nine, and then he started to play the 0:02:07.476 --> 0:02:09.876 piano a little bit, and then he went back to 0:02:09.916 --> 0:02:13.316 the drums. And he's really he's really embracing. I got 0:02:13.356 --> 0:02:15.676 a guy that comes every Sunday, pretty good teacher, and 0:02:15.956 --> 0:02:19.116 he doesn't like it's not like written music, although he 0:02:19.156 --> 0:02:21.556 can read music. He's really good with numbers and math 0:02:21.596 --> 0:02:24.796 and stuff, which kind of drumming and that stuff is 0:02:24.836 --> 0:02:28.676 when you're reading it, there's no melodic notes, but it's cool. 0:02:28.716 --> 0:02:31.436 He teaches him. He wants to learn songs, so yesterday 0:02:31.956 --> 0:02:35.236 he learned the whole intro to War Pigs. And I'm 0:02:35.276 --> 0:02:43.836 just like in the bedroom, I'm here, Donna I'm like, 0:02:44.236 --> 0:02:48.756 that sounds like war pigs. It wasn't take on me. 0:02:48.956 --> 0:02:53.556 It wasn't you know jump by what I'm like, that's 0:02:53.596 --> 0:02:55.636 one of the most epic songs you could ever you 0:02:55.676 --> 0:02:58.396 could ever learn. Get a big smile on his face. Yeah, 0:02:58.476 --> 0:03:01.716 And he plays open handed. Rick he plays he doesn't 0:03:01.756 --> 0:03:04.956 cross over with the high hat. He's right handed, but 0:03:05.116 --> 0:03:08.836 he just like naturally so the hat he plays the 0:03:08.876 --> 0:03:11.956 hat on the left and the snare like this, which 0:03:12.036 --> 0:03:15.556 is great because like I wish I would have learned 0:03:15.676 --> 0:03:19.036 like that, I suppose, because I mean, when you're right handed, 0:03:19.076 --> 0:03:20.796 you just you know you'd left is here and you 0:03:20.956 --> 0:03:23.756 lead with your right except for Ringo who lead leads 0:03:23.756 --> 0:03:27.116 with his fills with the left, but he crosses over. 0:03:27.516 --> 0:03:30.236 But your your right hand is wide open to do. 0:03:30.436 --> 0:03:32.396 You don't have to get out of the way. Does 0:03:32.436 --> 0:03:35.236 anyone play that way? Yeah? Any drummers we know who 0:03:35.396 --> 0:03:38.636 who's who's known who plays in that style. I mean, 0:03:38.716 --> 0:03:42.916 guys do it that are ambidicutous, like Simon Phillips, you 0:03:42.956 --> 0:03:46.196 know the drummer Simon Phillips. Yeah, he plays open He 0:03:46.236 --> 0:03:47.956 can do what he can do any He's a freak. 0:03:48.036 --> 0:03:50.996 He can do anything like that, and he does play 0:03:51.036 --> 0:03:54.396 his hat real low. I mean, it just makes sense 0:03:55.636 --> 0:03:59.476 you think about it, like why cross I guess the reason, 0:03:59.636 --> 0:04:02.116 the reason the crossing must have started, if we think 0:04:02.156 --> 0:04:04.956 about it, has to do with the pedal. Yeah, exactly, 0:04:04.996 --> 0:04:07.556 because the the other you're the foot that you want 0:04:07.556 --> 0:04:10.356 to be on the kick drum wants to be that 0:04:10.516 --> 0:04:14.916 foot right which which puts the high hat on the 0:04:14.996 --> 0:04:18.636 left side. Yeah. Well yeah, way back when when it 0:04:18.716 --> 0:04:21.676 was the low hat you got in New Orleans, when 0:04:21.836 --> 0:04:25.676 when it was just somebody just put the two symbols together, 0:04:25.756 --> 0:04:27.876 but just to play with your foot to keep time. 0:04:28.476 --> 0:04:31.516 And then I don't know who, but somebody smartly, so 0:04:31.716 --> 0:04:33.396 well let's bring it up so you can hit it 0:04:33.396 --> 0:04:36.236 with the stick. So yeah, that left foot still stayed 0:04:36.276 --> 0:04:39.676 over there, and if you're right handed, you just ended 0:04:39.756 --> 0:04:42.596 up going over here. And then if you're leave on 0:04:42.796 --> 0:04:46.396 or Charlie, watch you got out of the way. Tut 0:04:46.436 --> 0:04:51.636 tut tut tu tun kat. But the open thing, I'm like, 0:04:51.756 --> 0:04:55.436 you're gonna give me some lessons. I didn't realize Levon 0:04:55.556 --> 0:04:58.636 did that as well. I know Charlie's famous for that. Yeah, 0:04:59.236 --> 0:05:04.276 well I asked Charlie once about that and I thought 0:05:04.356 --> 0:05:07.116 he was doing it from the very beginning, but he wasn't. 0:05:07.556 --> 0:05:10.916 He He told me that he he saw Leven when 0:05:11.436 --> 0:05:14.756 the band was playing with Dylan when they were they 0:05:14.836 --> 0:05:17.916 the Hawks back then. Yeah, but they were the Hawks 0:05:18.076 --> 0:05:20.076 and then when they started playing with Dylan, they became 0:05:20.196 --> 0:05:22.876 the band. But what but they did a tour with 0:05:23.076 --> 0:05:27.156 him in England. I think it's the famous when somebody 0:05:27.236 --> 0:05:29.756 yells out Judas when he came out of an acoustic 0:05:29.836 --> 0:05:33.196 when he went electric and people were booing and freaking out. 0:05:33.476 --> 0:05:36.636 And I think Charlie said he saw that and Levin 0:05:36.876 --> 0:05:39.036 was was doing that, was getting out of the way, 0:05:39.076 --> 0:05:41.596 and he went, oh, so Charlie got it from Levin. 0:05:41.756 --> 0:05:45.716 That's an incredible bit of trivia. That's what he told me, 0:05:46.036 --> 0:05:48.476 But he was kind of fuzzy about it, but he 0:05:48.636 --> 0:05:52.356 said I saw him do it, and I said, oh, 0:05:52.436 --> 0:05:54.636 I'll try that, you know, get out of the way. 0:05:54.676 --> 0:05:58.116 I get it, just to get a bigger, stronger backbeat. 0:05:58.476 --> 0:06:01.036 But it's such a it's such a sound and such 0:06:01.076 --> 0:06:04.556 a feel thing. Yeah, and I assume it has to 0:06:04.676 --> 0:06:08.876 effect the high hat hits as well, but both the 0:06:09.196 --> 0:06:11.876 the last one before you pull away and the first 0:06:11.956 --> 0:06:14.876 one when you come back, has to have some impact 0:06:14.996 --> 0:06:19.556 on those if it's just not all constant. Yeah, yeah, 0:06:20.916 --> 0:06:24.436 there's a lope to it. And then there's that space 0:06:24.996 --> 0:06:28.676 obviously that it leaves went not having the hat and 0:06:28.796 --> 0:06:32.076 the and the snare together that makes this the snare 0:06:32.796 --> 0:06:35.316 land and sound like it lands in a certain way. 0:06:35.836 --> 0:06:40.516 I mean, I've done it, but I'm thinking about it, 0:06:40.756 --> 0:06:44.036 which is not never a good thing for me. You're 0:06:44.076 --> 0:06:47.396 thinking about it while you're playing. But once once, it's 0:06:47.396 --> 0:06:50.876 just second nature. I mean, Charlie's he's the king of it. 0:06:51.036 --> 0:06:55.476 But what was the thing Levan was doing at Woodstock 0:06:55.836 --> 0:06:58.956 in the later years. It was just him and his family. 0:06:59.996 --> 0:07:02.436 It was called like it was at the barn there. 0:07:03.396 --> 0:07:05.956 I did get to go up there and see them 0:07:06.076 --> 0:07:08.476 play and got to sit in with him, and it 0:07:08.636 --> 0:07:11.316 was it was incredible is singing. You know, he had 0:07:11.356 --> 0:07:15.356 the operation on his throat. He was still a little raspy, 0:07:15.436 --> 0:07:19.836 but he was so sweet and kind and it was 0:07:20.396 --> 0:07:23.636 I'd never seen him in person, up close or anything, 0:07:23.796 --> 0:07:26.716 and to see him play and one of a kind, 0:07:26.876 --> 0:07:29.756 you know, amazing when he played was the groove? It 0:07:29.876 --> 0:07:32.556 did it sound like Levin like was an hundred percent 0:07:33.076 --> 0:07:37.516 you close your eyes. That's him. It's amazing. How different 0:07:37.676 --> 0:07:40.636 is that closing your eyes a personality of different drummers 0:07:40.756 --> 0:07:46.556 for people who are less tuned into listening specifically to drummers. 0:07:46.596 --> 0:07:50.876 How obvious is it the difference between drummers. Yeah, in 0:07:51.036 --> 0:07:54.196 rock and roll, not being a melodic instrument used as 0:07:54.276 --> 0:07:58.196 support and as rhythm, I think it might be more 0:07:58.316 --> 0:08:02.356 difficult to hear other than style, but a sound like 0:08:02.716 --> 0:08:08.436 certainly certain drummers. John Bonham has a specific sound. Phil Collins. 0:08:08.676 --> 0:08:10.596 When you hear or his drumming, you know it Tim, 0:08:10.676 --> 0:08:15.036 he has a specific sound. Stuart Copeland's style of drumming. Definitely, 0:08:15.636 --> 0:08:19.196 you know it's Tim. There's a lot you know, Keith Moon. 0:08:19.436 --> 0:08:22.796 I think the personality comes out through your instrument. And 0:08:23.036 --> 0:08:25.836 I think he's a little harder on the drums again 0:08:25.916 --> 0:08:28.156 because it's not such an a lot of instrument. But 0:08:28.316 --> 0:08:30.996 I'm more, you know, being a drummer, I'm more in tuned. 0:08:31.076 --> 0:08:33.836 Like there's guys that you know right off the bat, 0:08:33.956 --> 0:08:37.316 and then you could hear all those great pop hits 0:08:37.356 --> 0:08:40.676 from the seventies that hal Blaine played on, and he 0:08:40.836 --> 0:08:44.556 would morph into whatever scene he was in and whatever music, 0:08:44.596 --> 0:08:46.476 and he was just playing for the song, and it 0:08:46.596 --> 0:08:50.236 wasn't necessarily a sound, but there's a thing that he 0:08:50.436 --> 0:08:52.916 did that was so special that made all those records 0:08:52.956 --> 0:08:56.156 so special. But I didn't know that was hal Blaine 0:08:56.276 --> 0:08:59.556 until years later. My brother worked with him and they 0:08:59.756 --> 0:09:01.876 put out a book and he worked with them, and 0:09:01.956 --> 0:09:04.156 then all of a sudden was like, oh my god, 0:09:04.196 --> 0:09:06.556 it like every song that I ever listened to as 0:09:06.636 --> 0:09:09.836 a kid. Basically how played the drum, and you know, 0:09:10.476 --> 0:09:13.956 he was a chameleon. So probably the most in rock 0:09:13.996 --> 0:09:16.556 and roll to me, the most recognizable would be probably 0:09:16.676 --> 0:09:20.076 John Bonham, you know, because it's just sound and that 0:09:20.356 --> 0:09:23.916 music and his the way that he played. I never 0:09:24.036 --> 0:09:27.236 I didn't hear much. I've heard Band of Joy. I'm 0:09:27.276 --> 0:09:30.636 trying to think of other situations where Bonham had played, 0:09:30.756 --> 0:09:33.356 not in led Zeppelin. There's not a lot out there. 0:09:33.596 --> 0:09:37.836 There's the Donovan song that's very clearly John Bonham when 0:09:37.876 --> 0:09:40.036 you know it and does it sound like him and 0:09:40.196 --> 0:09:44.436 his job? Absolutely? Did Page produce it? What Page plays? 0:09:44.636 --> 0:09:47.836 It's Page hurdy gurdy man. No, it must be hurdy 0:09:47.876 --> 0:09:50.276 gurdy man, because I know he played enough it must 0:09:50.276 --> 0:09:53.236 be hurdy gurdy man. And they played together pre led 0:09:53.316 --> 0:09:57.956 Zeppelin right well, I mean the one that I heard 0:09:58.036 --> 0:10:02.396 it was like a PJ. Proby, Yeah, And I think 0:10:02.916 --> 0:10:08.476 Zeppelin had formed, hadn't done any recording, and there was 0:10:08.516 --> 0:10:12.116 a session that John, Paul Jones and Paige had to 0:10:12.196 --> 0:10:14.716 do for this guy, for his singer. I believe he's 0:10:14.756 --> 0:10:17.076 a singer. And so there was the first time that 0:10:17.196 --> 0:10:22.876 they recorded together. And it sounds like Bonham because you know, 0:10:23.276 --> 0:10:26.516 like his grooves and his musical choices and stuff, but 0:10:26.676 --> 0:10:29.996 the sound of the drums is not that big ambient 0:10:30.676 --> 0:10:34.356 thing yet. But how great rick is is it? That 0:10:34.676 --> 0:10:37.276 here's a kid and I call him a kid. He 0:10:37.356 --> 0:10:40.596 was a teenage nineteen years old making the first led 0:10:40.636 --> 0:10:46.036 Zeppelin record and right out of the box, first song, 0:10:46.556 --> 0:10:50.996 first Good Times, Bad Times, and he's doing the triplets 0:10:51.036 --> 0:10:54.436 with his feet, the sound of the drums, the whole 0:10:54.556 --> 0:10:57.436 these was fully realized. I mean, obviously he went on 0:10:57.556 --> 0:11:00.756 and changed and grew, but like right from the get go, 0:11:01.236 --> 0:11:04.636 that's rare. That's like Tony Williams with miles, you know, seventeen, 0:11:05.116 --> 0:11:07.676 Like a fully formed musician at such a young age. 0:11:07.836 --> 0:11:12.516 Amazed me. But like bottom just came out, like do anything. 0:11:12.796 --> 0:11:16.916 I listened to your podcast with Robert Plant. Yeah. Interesting, right, 0:11:17.036 --> 0:11:20.076 we learned so much great. I loved it. He was 0:11:20.156 --> 0:11:25.436 at mc Yeah, that's a little dance halls. It was amazing. 0:11:25.796 --> 0:11:28.436 But him saying meeting bottom and bottom is saying I'm 0:11:28.476 --> 0:11:31.036 the I'm the greatest drummer, and they're like not lacking 0:11:31.116 --> 0:11:38.116 any confidence at all. But you know, that's just like 0:11:38.996 --> 0:11:41.036 you have your thing and and and and then and 0:11:41.116 --> 0:11:44.476 then obviously you have Jimmy Page and being able to 0:11:44.636 --> 0:11:47.756 capture that and knowing, you know, I've got a thing here, 0:11:47.836 --> 0:11:49.756 here's this is what I gotta do. And back then, 0:11:49.836 --> 0:11:52.116 as you know, everybody jammed the MIC's up into the 0:11:52.236 --> 0:11:55.156 toms and took the heads off and he said no, no, no, no, 0:11:55.236 --> 0:11:59.956 no the air and and that was his sounding boom. 0:12:00.436 --> 0:12:04.516 Do we know anything about Bonham's influences only from what 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:06.436 I've read. I talked to Jason a little bit too, 0:12:06.476 --> 0:12:09.876 asked him about it. But a lot of Ohtown, like 0:12:09.996 --> 0:12:13.876 a lot like funk stuff like that that it makes sense. 0:12:14.716 --> 0:12:17.916 He loved Modet, I loved James Brown. He said that 0:12:18.116 --> 0:12:20.276 his dad loved these. There's a drummer, kind of a 0:12:20.356 --> 0:12:25.436 fusion guy named Alphonse Musants who's a fusion drummer in 0:12:25.556 --> 0:12:29.356 the seventies, combat billy cobbum type, and he says Dad 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:32.996 loved those records, would play them constantly at home. More 0:12:33.476 --> 0:12:37.796 RMB funk kind of stuff. Part of it, you know, 0:12:37.876 --> 0:12:40.916 which is interesting to me because people think of led 0:12:40.956 --> 0:12:44.476 Zeppelin's is a heavy band bottoms just a real loud, 0:12:45.116 --> 0:12:49.676 hard hitting drummer. But it was the finesse that he had, 0:12:50.316 --> 0:12:52.876 and that's what people sort of, I think miss when 0:12:52.916 --> 0:12:57.156 they play those songs, or maybe a Bill Ward in 0:12:57.436 --> 0:13:00.756 Black Sabbath, the heaviest band, but he was like a 0:13:00.876 --> 0:13:05.236 jazz drummer playing behind that stuff. He wasn't bashing, yeah no, 0:13:05.396 --> 0:13:08.796 and both of them were ultra groovy, like yes, ultra 0:13:09.236 --> 0:13:13.236 vie drummers swinging, swinging away. It was it was never 0:13:13.716 --> 0:13:18.556 it was never straight for me. It's interesting early listening 0:13:18.636 --> 0:13:21.716 to I liked heavy music when I was young, but 0:13:21.876 --> 0:13:25.236 I always preferred swinging heavy music to straight heavy music. 0:13:25.396 --> 0:13:27.436 So the you know, the Iron Maidens and the Judas 0:13:27.476 --> 0:13:29.556 Priests of the world never spoke to me in the 0:13:29.636 --> 0:13:32.316 way that led Zeppelin or Aerosmith or any of the 0:13:32.356 --> 0:13:35.356 ones that were more or a CDC were as straight 0:13:35.396 --> 0:13:39.036 as a CDC was. It was always groovy. It never 0:13:39.316 --> 0:13:42.276 felt straight. As straight as it was, it never felt 0:13:42.356 --> 0:13:47.196 straight right to me. That's the key of for that 0:13:47.396 --> 0:13:49.716 kind of music, like that kind of rock and roll, 0:13:50.676 --> 0:13:52.836 is it has to have that swing to it. And 0:13:52.956 --> 0:13:56.756 a lot of those English drummers, like the Ian Paces 0:13:56.916 --> 0:14:00.356 and the and the Mitch Mitchell's and obviously Ginger Bakers, 0:14:00.436 --> 0:14:04.356 you hear their jazz influence in their playing. And because 0:14:04.676 --> 0:14:07.116 at their house that's what they were listening to their 0:14:07.196 --> 0:14:10.476 parents or whatever. That was the music the day before 0:14:10.876 --> 0:14:13.996 Skiffule and other stuff came along. But then they started 0:14:14.036 --> 0:14:16.116 listening to the Chuck Berry and the R and B stuff, 0:14:16.156 --> 0:14:19.196 and that all was like swinging stuff that wasn't straight. 0:14:19.316 --> 0:14:22.276 That was they just started they straightened it out as 0:14:22.396 --> 0:14:25.276 much as they could, you know, Earl Palmer's all of 0:14:25.276 --> 0:14:28.556 a sudden started playing straight ags and oh yeah, oh 0:14:28.636 --> 0:14:31.516 I got a backbeat too, not just on the shout chorus, 0:14:31.676 --> 0:14:34.356 I'm gonna do a backbeat through the whole song. And 0:14:34.516 --> 0:14:38.036 then they just took that with this loud, heavy blues 0:14:38.276 --> 0:14:41.676 music and like that's the swing behind it, and that 0:14:41.996 --> 0:14:44.556 I mean that makes you dance, that makes you pop 0:14:44.636 --> 0:14:48.276 your head and tap your feet and so I listened 0:14:48.316 --> 0:14:50.636 to a lot of those guys growing up. That was 0:14:51.116 --> 0:14:52.756 I had an older brother, and that's the music that 0:14:52.836 --> 0:14:55.796 I listened to. That those bands from the you know, 0:14:55.916 --> 0:14:59.316 late sixties, early early seventies, the ones we've been talking about, 0:14:59.876 --> 0:15:03.436 and all those drummers had that swingy thing. So you know, 0:15:03.476 --> 0:15:05.876 I kind of just lucked out loving that music and 0:15:06.316 --> 0:15:09.476 trying to emulate those drummers. Was drums. You are first instrument, 0:15:09.556 --> 0:15:11.836 first thing you ever picked up to play. Yeah, it 0:15:11.836 --> 0:15:15.276 would be uh ice cream tubs, those you know, the 0:15:16.116 --> 0:15:21.396 scooped the ice cream moudel made of cardboard and spoons. 0:15:21.836 --> 0:15:23.956 I had an older brother and older sister and they 0:15:24.036 --> 0:15:27.076 both She played piano, my brother play guitar, and so 0:15:27.236 --> 0:15:30.476 I just wanted to hit stuff anything, you know, the 0:15:30.596 --> 0:15:32.916 usual pots and pans and stuff around the house. But yeah, 0:15:32.956 --> 0:15:35.916 that was my first drum set. Would be the Baskin 0:15:36.036 --> 0:15:39.316 Robins put my dad put a bunch of black tape 0:15:39.316 --> 0:15:41.476 on him where I went through those pretty quick. And 0:15:41.596 --> 0:15:44.836 then I think there was a store called chris Key's 0:15:44.916 --> 0:15:47.036 kind of like a Kmart store, and I got then 0:15:47.076 --> 0:15:48.796 I got a little drum set that came in up, 0:15:49.276 --> 0:15:52.156 came in a box but paper heads and had a 0:15:52.236 --> 0:15:56.756 little triangle and a little tin symbol. Went through that 0:15:56.916 --> 0:16:03.356 pretty quick, and then saved up enough money from I 0:16:03.436 --> 0:16:06.316 grew up outside of Detroit, so it was mowing lawns 0:16:06.396 --> 0:16:10.796 and shoveling snow. And got enough money if my parents did, 0:16:10.836 --> 0:16:12.916 if you get half of the money, we'll put up 0:16:12.916 --> 0:16:15.596 the other half. And I bought and I got a 0:16:15.716 --> 0:16:18.796 slinger link kit for one hundred and sixty dollars at 0:16:18.876 --> 0:16:23.876 eighty dollars of of getting up before school. But then 0:16:23.996 --> 0:16:27.036 it was like it was oh my, oh my god, 0:16:27.156 --> 0:16:31.996 gold sparkle slinger La beautiful. Yeah, sold it for a 0:16:32.076 --> 0:16:34.116 bag of weed in high school. Oh, I was just safe. 0:16:34.156 --> 0:16:39.636 He still had those sparkles perfect, and I got one 0:16:39.676 --> 0:16:41.916 at home. Now it's just like it's not the one, 0:16:42.556 --> 0:16:45.556 but yeah, but that was great. And then it was 0:16:45.796 --> 0:16:49.556 off to the headphones and putting on records like Chicago. 0:16:49.636 --> 0:16:54.996 I loved Chicago. Yeah, yeah, early Chicago. The early Chicago's unbelievable. 0:16:55.316 --> 0:16:59.996 It was amazing, Terry Cat incredible, so that that drummer 0:17:00.116 --> 0:17:03.836 Danny surfing, and so I played to those records and 0:17:03.956 --> 0:17:07.476 then anything that my brother had, you know, he would 0:17:07.516 --> 0:17:10.756 be upset with me because don't touch my records. Do 0:17:10.836 --> 0:17:14.716 you remember any of the weirder records he had? Yeah, 0:17:15.596 --> 0:17:18.196 My first that I bought forty five is VIC like 0:17:18.356 --> 0:17:20.556 when I was like eight years old and nine years old, 0:17:20.556 --> 0:17:22.996 so I started playing at seven. So eight or nine, 0:17:23.036 --> 0:17:26.956 I would buy forty fives and God, and I think 0:17:26.996 --> 0:17:28.596 about now, I was like, I was like some kind 0:17:28.596 --> 0:17:31.036 of record guy. I would and they would give a 0:17:31.116 --> 0:17:33.876 little chart. You go buy the record, and they had 0:17:33.916 --> 0:17:36.756 the charts. And there was this station outside of Detroit 0:17:36.836 --> 0:17:42.076 and Winsor called c kalew the Motor City, but they 0:17:42.116 --> 0:17:45.236 weren't in the motor city there across the river. Anyway. 0:17:45.596 --> 0:17:48.076 I would listen to that station at night going to bed. 0:17:48.396 --> 0:17:50.276 My mom's like, God, good night. I'm like good night, 0:17:50.356 --> 0:17:53.356 Mom'm gonna put the radio on that And that seeped 0:17:53.396 --> 0:17:56.356 into my subconscious I'm sure, but they it was. It 0:17:56.516 --> 0:18:00.316 was all am you know, hits of the day. But 0:18:00.436 --> 0:18:03.116 you would hear Sly and the family Stone next to 0:18:04.756 --> 0:18:09.436 Jackson five likes to Spirit in the Sky by Norman 0:18:09.516 --> 0:18:15.196 Greenbolt like whatever that seventies Melanie lay Down, stay Down, 0:18:15.476 --> 0:18:18.276 all that stuff. So there was this song. It was 0:18:18.356 --> 0:18:22.436 a novelty song called the Groovy grub Worm that came 0:18:22.516 --> 0:18:26.516 on and it was I want to say, Harlow Wilcox 0:18:26.996 --> 0:18:29.596 to check it, but a long time ago, and so 0:18:29.716 --> 0:18:33.356 I and it was just this country funk kind of thing, 0:18:34.276 --> 0:18:37.596 all instrumental. Then in the middle of the song there 0:18:37.716 --> 0:18:40.116 was a little drum kind of wipe out break and 0:18:40.236 --> 0:18:42.996 the guy would go, I'm a grub worm and then 0:18:43.076 --> 0:18:47.636 don't think. And I thought that was the greatest thing. 0:18:48.116 --> 0:18:50.876 I would speed it up. I would slew it down 0:18:51.596 --> 0:18:56.036 in my drobe my family crazy. I wore out Groovy 0:18:56.116 --> 0:19:02.076 grub Worm. So yeah, that was weird, but I god, 0:19:02.236 --> 0:19:04.276 you know, I would have I would buy those forty 0:19:04.316 --> 0:19:07.436 fives and I had a good stack of them. I 0:19:07.556 --> 0:19:11.396 don't know where they are anymore. And I would go 0:19:11.596 --> 0:19:15.716 and then they would give a little sheet, like a 0:19:15.836 --> 0:19:18.196 little small it wasn't even a full piece of paper, 0:19:18.276 --> 0:19:21.716 and it was the charts to c KLW charts, and 0:19:21.796 --> 0:19:26.116 I remember war good God ja Edwin Starr and I 0:19:26.276 --> 0:19:30.116 love that song. I'm just so heavy incredible, and I was. 0:19:30.316 --> 0:19:32.236 I would I bought the record. I would go back 0:19:32.276 --> 0:19:34.116 to next week and it would go up to number 0:19:34.196 --> 0:19:36.996 six and with a star and then it would go 0:19:37.076 --> 0:19:39.596 up to number four. I was like rooting for war 0:19:40.596 --> 0:19:43.756 and it got to two and c kl W or whatever. 0:19:43.916 --> 0:19:47.036 But I was like, Wow, I'm really invested in this. 0:19:47.916 --> 0:19:51.876 It's really amazing. So it wasn't It wasn't just the 0:19:52.796 --> 0:19:55.276 love of music went beyond the drumming. It sounds like, 0:19:56.596 --> 0:20:00.556 oh yeah, I mean early on, for sure, it was 0:20:00.676 --> 0:20:04.876 like the pop stuff and obviously grown up in Detroit 0:20:05.196 --> 0:20:09.836 lots of motown, which was very prevalent in eight sixties, 0:20:10.636 --> 0:20:12.436 that was great, and I, you know, but you just 0:20:12.676 --> 0:20:14.436 kind of know what you like and I didn't know. 0:20:15.956 --> 0:20:18.516 I wasn't necessary listening to the drumming for it. I 0:20:18.636 --> 0:20:21.396 just it felt good to me. I loved it. I 0:20:21.516 --> 0:20:25.076 just loved the music and it didn't really matter. Later 0:20:25.836 --> 0:20:28.676 when I started to get into the led Zeppelins and 0:20:28.796 --> 0:20:31.076 the Sabbaths and the Mitch Mitchells and those guys that 0:20:31.276 --> 0:20:33.636 that I started when I could had a little more 0:20:34.356 --> 0:20:36.876 facility on the drums, and I started to really listen 0:20:36.956 --> 0:20:39.276 to the drumming and all that stuff. But at the beginning, 0:20:39.276 --> 0:20:42.716 it was just love of music. What was the first 0:20:42.796 --> 0:20:46.396 band that you joined as a kid. My brother and 0:20:46.596 --> 0:20:49.796 I had a band called in the We moved to 0:20:49.876 --> 0:20:54.956 Chicago nineteen seventy and we had a band called Rocking Conspiracy, 0:20:55.956 --> 0:21:03.636 good name, not Rocking, Rocking you know water Gate, and 0:21:03.756 --> 0:21:06.756 we were very you know, oh yeah, we were a political, 0:21:07.476 --> 0:21:13.516 very political political twelve year olds, and we worked up 0:21:13.556 --> 0:21:16.276 the songs of the day. We had Lane Linder on 0:21:16.356 --> 0:21:20.116 the farfisa. We had Dave Stender on the custom remember 0:21:20.156 --> 0:21:23.636 those custom bass amps that looked like those bicycle seats 0:21:23.636 --> 0:21:26.236 that were padded. Yea, was it a black one, a 0:21:26.316 --> 0:21:28.636 black one, or a blue sparkle? I think it was 0:21:28.676 --> 0:21:32.996 a silver sparkle, silver sparkle, which but like he'd bought 0:21:33.036 --> 0:21:35.916 it from some bar band. It was like yellow sparkle 0:21:35.996 --> 0:21:39.436 from all the smoke. And my brother had a very 0:21:39.556 --> 0:21:44.276 out of tune guitar, and we sounded really bad, and 0:21:44.476 --> 0:21:48.516 we played Fire by Jimmy Hendrix. We played light by 0:21:48.596 --> 0:21:52.836 Fire by the Doors. We played bad versions of Stairway 0:21:52.876 --> 0:21:55.316 to Heaven, and then we would do country roads like 0:21:55.596 --> 0:21:58.196 you know, but we plan and played the hits of 0:21:58.276 --> 0:22:02.156 the deck. And we were hired by our junior high 0:22:02.196 --> 0:22:05.796 school to play the junior high school dance class. So 0:22:05.996 --> 0:22:08.676 we go, We're like really excited, We're gonna play all 0:22:08.676 --> 0:22:11.236 of our songs. We play our songs pretty bad, and 0:22:11.316 --> 0:22:13.316 the kids are trying to dance. It's going okay, and 0:22:13.396 --> 0:22:16.316 in about twenty minutes into it, says, well, we need 0:22:16.396 --> 0:22:19.636 to do the foxtrot, so you guys have a song 0:22:19.756 --> 0:22:22.956 in three. We had no songs in three. You're right. 0:22:24.236 --> 0:22:27.436 We had to voot rock conspiracy at one game. Now 0:22:27.516 --> 0:22:30.396 we would play in our basement like my parents would 0:22:30.396 --> 0:22:36.476 have parties and but one public gig, so to speak. 0:22:37.036 --> 0:22:41.836 Couldn't do anything in three. Done, next out find us 0:22:41.876 --> 0:22:44.276 a foxtrot band. Do you remember the first song you 0:22:44.396 --> 0:22:51.436 learned in three? Breaking the Girl? Now, that's a good question. 0:22:51.876 --> 0:22:54.276 I love playing in three. I wish I wish I 0:22:54.356 --> 0:22:57.516 would have learned earlier. That's what's one of those I 0:22:57.596 --> 0:22:59.956 could do, okay, because it's got such a swing to it, 0:23:00.116 --> 0:23:03.196 you know, no, you know that that's you know. It 0:23:03.276 --> 0:23:05.396 had to have been a popular song of the day 0:23:05.476 --> 0:23:09.716 that was in three. Yeah, I'm sure, yeah, before that, 0:23:09.836 --> 0:23:12.956 like Babies in Black would have been. But that would 0:23:12.956 --> 0:23:15.876 have been too early, right, And it wasn't really a hit. 0:23:15.996 --> 0:23:18.716 It was just but still Beatles. Every Beatles song seemed 0:23:18.756 --> 0:23:21.836 like a heavy Beatle song, right, and then any other 0:23:21.916 --> 0:23:24.476 bands as you were growing up? And when did you 0:23:24.556 --> 0:23:27.716 decide to come to LA. Yeah, then I just like 0:23:27.876 --> 0:23:31.156 through school, high school and and and then I started 0:23:31.156 --> 0:23:33.396 playing bands. I always played with guys who were older 0:23:33.476 --> 0:23:36.396 than me, which was always good because that kind of 0:23:36.476 --> 0:23:38.916 pushed you and maybe they were, you know, better. And 0:23:39.476 --> 0:23:41.716 but once I got to high school, sports went away 0:23:42.396 --> 0:23:45.876 and it was more you know, girls, and and you 0:23:45.956 --> 0:23:48.996 know it was it was struck sex in rock and 0:23:49.156 --> 0:23:51.636