Grammy camper Nick Arnold had, as he says, a great privilege to interview Chad Smith during MusiCares event. Here is an interesting part of that interview:

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NA: One last question before I let you go: With this new Chili Peppers record, are you guys taking a new direction, or will you be sticking with your more recent sound?

CS: It is a new direction because we’ve got a new guitar player, Josh Klinghoffer, and he’s an amazing musician, so it’s obviously gonna change. But it’s also gonna change because we’ve got a new guy in the group, and he’s very talented, very musical. It’s fresh, it’s fun, everyone is in a good mood, everyone is coming up with lots of good ideas, and I just look forward to what the future is gonna bring. I know it’s gonna be different and exciting. It just makes me really happy to get up everyday and go to rehearsals, because I know something new and cool is gonna happen, and so I’m looking for it; it’s awesome.

NA: Sounds very cool! And I think that since we’re here, I should ask you about tonight. What does the song you’re playing tonight mean to you? Would you say you’ve been influenced by Neil Young?

CS: Yeah, of course! We’re huge Neil Young fans, all of us. We’ve played his show he puts on every year in San Francisco, called the “Bridge School Benefit,” we’ve done that a couple times. He’s fantastic! We love him, and we were just honored to be part of this. We’re playing a song called “A Man Needs A Maid,” and we’re doing our own take on it, and I hope he likes it.

CS: So it’s the first time we’ve played out with Josh, just the four of us, so it’ll be an exciting night for him.

NA: It’s almost like a reunion, or a re-debut for you guys, because you’ve been on a break for a while.

CS: Yep, so we’re taking it slow. One song at a time.

NA: Riding your way up the charts and airwaves like a new group.

CS: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s right, that’s what we are.

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This is just one part of the interview where he talks about Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the way he sees their new start with Josh Klinghoffer. Please go to grammycampblog to read the rest of the interview where he talks about his feelings about drumming, music in general, and his other bands. Gotta enjoy Chad Smith and his sincerity!

Here is yet another new interview with drummer Chad Smith where he talks about his new Bombastic Meatbats project, as well as his other band – Chickenfoot. But he also talks about Red Hot Chili Peppers, even though, so it seems, he’d rather skip those questions – especially when it comes to John Frusciante. Looks like something is definitely going on, but we’re not supposed to find out what yet.

Here is a short part of the interview about Red Hot Chili Peppers:

So the Chilis have finally returned to work, following the 2006 double-set Stadium Arcadium. Did guitarist John Frusciante, who in recent interviews seemed to express antipathy towards doing so, take some persuading?
[Sounding uncomfortable]: Well… at this time I can’t talk about that. I have been told to stay away from the John questions.

Nevertheless, the tenth album is underway?
What I can tell you is that the Chili Peppers are writing songs, and we’re looking forward to making a record next year.

Who might produce it?
I really can’t go into any more detail than what I’ve said.

That’s all that’s been said and it seems that we won’t get more details any time soon, so we can only speculate… If you want to read the whole interview by Dave Ling, and find out what else Chad’s been up to with his other two bands, go to classicrockmagazine.com

After a long, long time with no news to report, there is finally some interesting info, a rather major news from Chad himself! After his older announcement that Red Hot Chili Peppers will get back and make new music, a new one appeared, stating exactly the same thing. This time, Chad Smith tells the band is about to reunite and work on something new in October.

“That’s the plan,” Smith tells, noting that what was announced as a one-year break turned into two for the quartet after touring to support 2005′s “Stadium Arcadium.” “Everybody was like, ‘Y’know, I really like having this time off, not being a Chili Pepper and doing other things…It’ll be two years in September, so now we’re ready. You can’t force people to play when they don’t want to play or aren’t ready to play or whatever — not in our band, anyway.”

He seems very excited about trying out new things with his bandmates. The group will mostly likely “do a lot of improvising and jamming and songs will come out of that, too. That’s what we usually do. I don’t know why it would be different.“No prospective release date has even been considered yet, and Smith says he and his bandmates also haven’t talked about who will produce, though he acknowledges with a laugh that Rick Rubin, who’s produced the group’s last five studio efforts, “always ends up being the guy…”

The looming Chili Peppers sessions, with another Chickenfoot tour and and the first release of his instrumental side band Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats, make Smith “the bad guy”, but the other members of the all-star group have assured him they’ll continue to work according to his schedule.