Chad Smith

Drums all have their own particulars - each drum has a place where they sound the best - where they ring out and resonate the best, and the head surface isn't too loose or too tight, mainly so you get a good rebound off of the head.

I just played at a club in L.A. called the Baked Potato. It fits like 90 people. It's like playing somewhere in a basement in, like, Indiana or somewhere where all your friends show up. It's really fun and there's a very different energy to that than to play to 50,000 at a Tokyo baseball stadium.

I'm being a dad and a good husband.

I'm a musician. It's what I do! I wouldn't be too good at anything else.

The Meatbats are a throwback band.

Edible names are what drives me as a musician. My next band will be called the Hot Dogs.

I had sort of exhausted all the avenues playing in Detroit. So again, through the stewardship of my brother, I ended up in California and went to the Musicians Institute in L.A. I wanted to get better as a player.

I just love to play and I get a chance to play with other musicians and I jump on it.

Jazz can be so serious, no sense of humor.

There's something about the rawness of the live thing, there's no rhythm guitars behind the solo, nothing other than what you hear the people playing at that moment. It's exciting, it's about the performance.

I just try to approach and serve the music in the way that I think is right for the band I'm in at the time.

Family time is really important to me.