That’s right, yet another interview with Chad Smith where he talks about his music and all three bands he plays in: Meatbats, Chickenfoot and Red Hot Chili Peppers. After everything that he’s been working on lately, no wonder he is the center of attention!

antiMusic: Considering I would imagine when it’s time for the Chili Peppers to do their thing, you spend a lot of time jamming out with Flea. What do you get from this band that is different than that kind of experience — just less of a familiarity?

Chad: Well, we all live in L.A. which is great, you know. We play whenever we can and everybody’s cool with that. Luckily, it’s not like some other bands where it’s “OK, you can’t do it. We’ve got to get somebody else”. There’s no pressure. I think maybe the other guys would like to be able to play a little bit more and travel. Once the record comes out hopefully people will get into it, and I would like to do too. But uh, I just gotta say no to things at some point. (laughs) I have a family at home, and I can’t travel as much as I used to. I’ve traveled a lot with Chickenfoot since May and my wife is very patient… but I have a feeling that she would be really upset if I said, “Hey, I’m going to Japan a week after I get home.” So, you know, we’ll play wherever we can. It’ll just make it that much more special you know. It’s not like we’re some big huge touring band, with 59 people working for us. It’s not like a Chili Peppers thing. It’s just the four guys. We set up our own stuff. And we go play. It’s cool. I like that. It’s so different from some of the other situations that I’m in. I start playing with these guys, just for the love of it and that’s great. Really. It’s good for me to play to 90 people and with no singing, no light show. You’re just there. It’s all music and that’s what it’s all about. It’s why I started playing. And I want to continue to do that. It’s fun and I want it to be fun and stay fun. When it’s not going to be fun anymore, then I’m not going to do it.

This is just a part of the interview where he talks about Red hot Chili Peppers, and the importance of his other two bands and how he sees his role in every one of them. To read the rest of this great interview by Morley Seaver, go to MorleyViews. Enjoy!

I know it has been a while now, but there were no news to report. Red Hot Chili Peppers are still on hiatus, and we don’t know how long that hiatus is going to last. In the mean time, here are some news about the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and his super group - Chickenfoot.

Chickenfoot’s self-titled debut CD will be released in either April or May. The first single might be either ‘Oh, Yeah!’ or ‘Bitten By The Wolf’. The tour will kick off in May, warming up in smaller venues (possibly clubs) in the USA followed by a few weeks in Europe during the summer. Then the band will return to the USA for a larger headlining tour this fall. The band is planning on performing the entire CD as well as songs from each of the band members careers.

Joe Satriani, the guitarist, recently described Chickenfoot’s music as, “High-energy, kick-ass rock’n’roll. We all bring to the table some unusual influences and then we also share a lot of roots. And I think that’s where a true color of a band comes out, just how we react to each other. So, it’s definitely rock music. We haven’t brought each other together to do a techno record.”

He described the music as “Funk, blues and experimental. The material is really slamming, and anybody who has ever been around Chad knows that he is a very huge personality, a very high-energy guy and his drumming in person is explosive. This band really gives him carte blanche to go crazy. I think it’s the best of what you’d expect, that’s the best way to put it. No one is acting out of character.”

For those of you who missed the Chickenfoot podcast videos, here is the teaser, enjoy!

Flea will appear as a special guest trumpeter with Caltech Jazz Bands on January 23, 2009, starting at 8pm. This event is free to the public and will be held at The Beckman Auditorium. Music selections will include Blue Train, Some Skunk Funk, Take the A Train, Basin Street Blues, El Macho Muchacho, and Billie’s Bounce, as well as new musical arrangements by Les and Elliot Deutsch.

A free reception for all will follow the concert. For more information, go to caltech.edu

And here are some more Flea news… Want a FLEABASS -instruments designed for style and performance by legendary bassist, Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers? That’s easy now, go visit fleabass.com and pick one you like!

Here is what Flea has to say about it: FLEABASS is born of my love of music education as a studier and a teacher of music, and a lover and a romanticizer of the tradition of it. I wanted students to have an instrument they could fall in love with, and I wanted them to be able to do it with the limited means that most of them have for acquiring one.

“The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority. Sometimes I’ll get extremely technical, and other times I’ll just kind of go with the gods of music. I think an artist has to answer to whatever spirits are guiding him. Even if they’re in conflict, that’s OK.” John Frusciante

Without further induce, head over to music radar and listen to the three part John Frusciante interview where he talks about his new album, future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the way he sees it, and answers your questions.

Also, for those of you who are more interested in his solo work, read about his new album, The Empyrean, described in his own words. Visit John’s blog where he talks about The Empyrean. The so called story consists of three parts, and one of them was posted yesterday by great John Frusciante. Enjoy!

As for the future of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, as you can hear in the interview, he didn’t seem very enthusiastic, or to be more precise, he didn’t want to discuss it, with his plain “no plans” comment… Maybe he is just tired after creating this masterpiece and maybe, I really hope so, they will get back together at some point when they all feel ready for it.

Here is something new, something exciting. They’ve been talking about Flea playing with Faces before, but it hasn’t been official till now.

Ian McLagan, Faces keyboard player,  has confirmed that rehearsals for The Faces reunion in 2009 went well. The Faces evolved from 60s band The Small Faces and became known as The Faces in 1969 when Rod Stewart joined the band. They released four studio albums and the split up in 1975.

At his official website macspages.com, McLagan posted “The rehearsals were a lot of fun, everybody was in fine form and things are looking good for a gig or two next year, but these things take time to work out and I’m just going to wait until there’s something solid to report, so I’m not getting excited just yet………….I’m holding my breath”.

The Faces line-up will be McLagan on keyboards, Ronnie Wood on guitar, Kenney Jones on drums and Rod Stewart on vocals with, and now comes the most exciting part, Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea playing bass in place of the late Ronnie Lane.

The extent of a tour is yet to be worked out. “We just have to sort out when and where and drop all of the management egos and just do what we can. We know we can do it. It’s just a matter of getting everyone’s availability sometime next year,” Ronnie Wood told Rolling Stone.

I really hope Flea finds it fun, and we get to enjoy a gig or two listening to this great line-up.