Fantasy Football Today - Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Chad Smith Talks Rock & Roll, Fantasy Football, His Beloved Detroit Lions and More! (08/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 24, 2025

Do you want to play Fantasy Football against Chad Smith? You can do that (https://x.com/ChadSFoundation/status/1958272809458970778) while helping Chad raise money for his foundation. Find out about that and find out the stories behind some RHCP songs, Chad's favorite venue, favorite band to tour with, Top Five 90's rock bands and much more. We start much of the music talk around the 18:00 minute mark! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everyone? Today we are combining some of our favorite things, fantasy football, rock and roll, and charity. Wow, what an awesome random episode of fantasy football today. This is going to be. We're presented by FedMGM, the sports book Horn in Vegas. And what an honor it is to have Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Lewis Smith, the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation here on FFT. What's going on, Chad?

Thank you so much for coming on. What a pleasure to have you. Thanks for being here. My pleasure, Adam. My pleasure. My pleasure. We got to talk some fantasy. You know, I do have a little bone to pick with you about your little fantasy rankings.

So let me get this straight. You have an RB2 who could lead the position in receiving yards and a wide receiver 826 and tight end number five, all on the same team? And I'm a little upset. You don't have my dog. Jared Gough is not in your top 10. Do you not know the lines that had the best offense in the NFL last year?

Don't sleep on golf, all right? So I'm saying. That's all I want to say right now. You're doing your fantasy league. You're living in a fantasy, baby. I love it, man. I can't wait. I can't wait for to be in a league with you.

And you can take Jared Gough really early. And I'm just going to whoop you, man. Like, I'm sorry. I hate to lay it down in the first two minutes of the show, but I'm going to whoop you in fantasy? Well, who are you taking? Well, that's the thing about quarterback. There are so many good ones, you know?

So I'm happy to take golf. No, no, no, no. There's good ones. And then there's my boy, Jared Gough, my friend. All right, so are you? He is on fire? Wait, blah, blah, blah. And what is this?

The league is this not beat Chad Smith League? No, no, no. It should be, it's the lose to Chad Smith League. I can change the name if you want. Like, this is totally negotiable. It's a nice thing to it. Hey, Lewis Smith. What's going on, Lewis?

Let's talk about how this all came together and what our purpose here is. Yeah, well, thanks for having us. Honestly, I'm just in shock. I'm like with two goats. The drumming goat, the podcast host goat. like this is very very star-struck i i feel like i have to really prove why i am included in this group of three but now thanks for having me this is really exciting like from our perspective music and sports like feels really separate but they're all actually like super tied together

i mean you can't really have sports without music i mean we all remember that train wreck of a nix half where they did like silent and just the pure sound of the game with no music And it was awful. And also something I've thought that a great philosopher, Kevin Durant, I know, agrees with. Rock stars want to be athletes. Athletes want to be rock stars. Katie was always like, yeah, rappers want to be in the NBA. NBA players want to rap.

So, like, there's this tie between the two. But also, the real reason why we are actually here is all you. It's all Adam. There is probably, like, three years ago, I was listening to a podcast, and you were probably giving some outlandish take. You know, you were like, oh, yeah, Daniel Jones, easily top five QV in the league. But you went back and after you said easily,

you stop and you're like, hey, guys, you know the song easily? I read Hot Chili Peppers? That's a good song. And I was listening. I thought I was the only guy that still listened to those deep cuts off Californication. So you've got great taste in music. Some of your takes, I know, are controversial,

but your taste in music, S tier. Thank you. Chad, you know, it easily, to me, is the most underrated chili pepper song. I don't know if you want to talk about that or other underrated chili pepper song, but I love that song, man. Wow. Well, we used to play it a lot. We don't play it too much anymore.

When it came out, I remember when that record came out all those years ago, probably around the time that we toured with the Food Fighters. Did you happen to see that concert? So funny, you ask, you know. So Food Fighters would be my second favorite band. behind the chili peppers. I'm not just saying that to butter you up. It's a well-known fact about me if people listen to the podcast. There was a Food Fighters, Chili Peppers tour, and I wanted to go, and I had a chemistry test. I'm not going to be a chemist. I had a chemistry test the next day

in high school, and my dad would not let me go. You asked me before the show, where was it? It was in South Florida. I'm not sure what venue you were playing at, but he wouldn't let me go, and I don't think I'll ever get to see those two bands. Can you guys maybe, Reunite, go on to her again, and I'll, and I'll show up. They don't make places big enough for those two bands now. You know, and I did, wait, what, what, what, what, what town was that? What, what, what were you? It would have been Broward County.

It would have been like Fort Lauderdale, maybe, maybe Miami or maybe, like, where the, the hockey arena there or something like that. But let's, it's probably like American Airlines arena back then or something. Yeah, I think we played easily that night. of course you did I think we opened with it I think we opened with it if I can remember

you know No actually I heard you opened and closed with it actually So I really missed a good show Oh just in case you came late You know This one's for Adam maybe He's doing his chemistry test

He's going to become a meth A meth dealer Thank God that he's doing chemistry Like Walter White Yeah that's me I was Walter White Before Breaking Bad So Chad

Actually, Lewis, maybe you want to talk about this, too. There's an opportunity here to play fantasy football, to lose to Chad Smith, apparently, and to raise money for this foundation. Tell us about the foundation was just launched. Well, Chad Smith Foundation, Chad, you can be the first one to talk about it. Well, you know, music and education has always been really close to my heart. I would have never made it through school if I didn't have all those programs in my public schools outside of Detroit. Detroit. And, you know, any way to give back, I'm lucky to be in a position where, you know, I'm in a group that people seem to like. And I, and I can shed a little bit light on the educational part. Teachers, we need teachers. We need teachers. We need equipment in people's hands. We need to inspire people. We need, you know, just the younger, the next generation to want to play music. And it served me so well. I've been so lucky. And I'm so passionate about it. So we're starting a foundation to get all these kids, either through scholarships or through, you know,

there's lots of after-school programs that need kids that want to play, that need teachers, and also just instruments, just literally physical things to hit, make some noise. And so I'm just trying to get that going with the help of my brother, Brad. It's also in the music industry. And, of course, Louis, who's very passionate about it. And he could speak much more articulately about it. But for me, I just love the idea of the next generation of musicians being able to have the opportunity and exposure to be able to do what I love and they'll love if they want to do it. Yeah, Chad's story so great.

Like he got exposed to music early. He had a music program. Then he was able to dedicate his life to being a musician, it worked out. So we're just trying to replicate that with. You get them started. You let them smack a drum or strum a guitar and see if they want to be a musician. If they do, then you give them the access to education to keep playing. And then if they want to go to college to pursue a career, we have scholarships set up.

So we just announced our foundation publicly this week. So this is one heck of a coming out party being on this podcast. So everyone can check out chadsmithfoundation.org to learn more. Chad SmithFoundation.org. Very cool website, by the way. And here's what we're doing for fantasy football, right? So Chad's going to be in six leagues, and you can be in them too. They're going to be 14 team leagues, half PPR.

Don't even think about drafting Jared Gough. He's reserved for Chad. One quarterback, two running backs, two receivers, two flex, one tight end, no DST or kicker, no trading in these leagues. Top six teams make the play. Yeah. And I agree, because as running the FFT open, you don't want any collusion whatsoever. So you don't want to even have controversy.

Trades can make people go crazy. So I think it's best to not do it. Six teams are going to make the playoffs. But basically, we're going to have two nights of drafting. They're going to have two nights of drafting with three snake drafts each night. So a little bit, you know, hopefully you're up late if you're on the East Coast. 4 p.m. Pacific time, 5.30 p.m. Pacific, 7 p.m. Pacific with 45 second clock. So if you want to play in these leagues, what do we?

doing September 2nd and 3rd. What were the nights? I'm sorry, Lewis. Second and third. Okay, September 2nd and 3rd. Three drafts each day, 4 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Pacific time on September 2nd and 3rd. So if you want to be, if the people want to be in a league with Chad, how do they sign up? Yeah. So you can go to the Chad Smith Foundation, Twitter. We got Chad S Foundation, because there's a character limit in Twitter names. And you can see the links. You sign up for each league you purchase your entry by draft time so make sure you see the draft time of the league that you want to buy into as soon as you buy your ticket you have your spot reserve so we'll email out the draft information once the whole league is filled and depending on how many people

sign up maybe we add another league or two we'll see but uh really excited for this and also adam so i was planning on coming here and just saying like i want to per i want to personally buy you a spot in one of the leagues because I appreciate you having us on here and I think you're so great at your job and all those things are true. But then I listened to yesterday's podcast and you can totally blame Jamie for this. I will gladly personally buy you a spot in one of the leagues if you sing one red hot chili pepper lyric to Chad. If you don't sing a lyric, I will blackball you from every league.

So this is your one shot. Can it be the one I sang yesterday? You're in. Can it be the one I sang yesterday? Yeah, but you got to do the whole line. You got to do the whole line. You stopped halfway. That's why I meant you give it your all.

And you got Chad Smith here. Well, I just, I wanted to know Chad because you said you had 20% battery left on your phone. So how long, how long can we podcast for? I don't know. Can I do that, Lewis? Is that okay? You're right. You're right.

That's great, man. All right. Cool. Oh, man. Okay. I'm sorry. Let's get. Not bad. Not bad. Thank you. Thank you. I will tell you that that was, uh, that was the first song I ever sang in front of a crowd. When I was in high school, I actually got into music too. Actually, I think it was the second song. I sang two songs. I sang Santa Monica by Everclear and other side by the Chili Peppers. The first time I ever performed in front of people. Um, all right. So you're a big. How did it go? How did it go? Did you go to the world? It did not really. I don't remember how it went. I think it was okay.

I was so nervous, but it was okay. So I know you're a bit, we're going to talk music in a bit. We're going to get some of your favorite chili pepper songs. I'm going to ask you for your top five 90s rock bands other than the chili peppers. Really fun stuff today. But talk about the lions, man. You must be so pumped up. What would it mean to you if they won the Super Bowl?

Would it just bring you to your knees in joy? I mean, you know, obviously never in my lifetime. and so in 60 plus years. The Lions, you know, I feel like this is the window. They got their window. They ran into, you know, I've been at the playoff games.

I've playing the drums before the games. I know some of the players, Dan Campbell is awesome. What a coach. Like, what a culture there. It's so great for the fans and the people of Detroit to rally around their sports teams.

like they always do win or lose, but now having the line being a really great team is so great for the city. But he's amazing. It would be, it would, you know, I don't, I just never thought it was possible. They could even, you know, I mean, when they got close, they'd never been to the Super Bowl, obviously. But I think that it would be, I don't know,

my head would blow off. Yeah, that's what would happen. I've always liked the Lions, I think, because of Barry Sanders. When I was growing up in the 90s Thanksgiving and Barry Sanders, and I just love the Lions. Yeah, man. What are some of your favorite memories? Yes, obviously when I was younger, Barry Sanders, of course.

And, you know, Megatron, like, those are the two standout offensive players for the line. But, like, Matt Stafford was a great quarterback for them for a long time. just couldn't they didn't have they could never put it together and and so it was they would give you hope for a minute and then crush your soul so i feel like this this this is a more um the chemistry is good they have a more unified team the the injuries the defensive injuries decimated us and caught up to us last year um but you know hutchison is back Gibbs and Montgomery, my boy, Brian Branch in the back. I mean, Sam LaPorter, don't sleep on Sam LaPorta. No, we definitely won't, man. He's so good. He's a dog.

He's great. Like, I'm not worried about the office. And everyone's like, oh, you know, they lost Ben Johnson. They lost their defensive quarter. You know, it's Dan Campbell's team. Yes, those guys were great. But I think that, you know, I think they're going to be okay. And, and, but they have a brutal schedule, like a really, really difficult schedule.

Yeah, man, they're facing the Giants. My Giants, dude, we got, we're coming for you. No, besides the Giants and the Browns, I think the first eight teams are all playoff contenders. Oh, man, that's cold. Wait, you're a Giants fan? I am. No. Dude, look, you see this, this back here is Super Bowl.

It would be worse. Right now. That's really bad. It's like the old line. Oh, my God. It's not good. DART? Is DART your boy?

I think I'd like to see Russell Wilson do well enough or we can keep Jackson Dard on the bench. Oh, no, you want Tommy. Tommy Cudlitz of the comeback. Oh, so listen, Lewis, you know Dave Richard. He's still on a team. I think he's third string. I think he's still on a team. I love that guy.

His agent was like amazing. Oh, yeah. I love his agent maybe more than him. Listen, Lewis, Dave Richards in the chat, and he says there should be a Giants Lions bet. So maybe. Adam, are you feeling that confident that you want to take that? Well, do I get any points?

I do not want to take that. I guess Heath is a professional linemaker. He'll have to set the spread. That's true. Yeah. You know, is it in Detroit or is it in New York? It is, does it matter? It's in Detroit.

It's in Detroit. We're probably going to have a 13 point spread. Probably. You know, look, it's in November. A lot of guys could be injured at that point. You never know. You never know. So, Chad, set in the line.

We'll give you 13 and a half. 13. All right, I will take that. That's a huge line. If we can't cover that. Definitely take that. Yeah. That's a really, that's, that's, that's pretty good.

All right. If the Giants cover, there you go. The Giants cover, you know, sorry. The Giants might cover. If they cover, they cover, I just want the lines to win on them. Yeah, but no one in the right mind is going to take that bet out right for the Giants. No, definitely not. All right, so let's get into music if that's cool with you.

Let's talk about if you wouldn't mind your top five, top five 90s rock bands other than the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Who do you got? Oh, that's, well, you know, there's the grunge, the grungeys. I mean, do they have to be. started in the 90s or popular in the how does that you guys obviously you started in the 80s but you know so anything that's 90

no they didn't have to start in the 90s popular in the 90s okay I like um I like the Pearl Jam I like the Nirvana I like um 9 inch nails I god man there's so many there's really good bands in the 90s though

I like um Like, I do like the Seattle band. I like, I do like the Alice and Chains. I enjoy the Guns and Roses from that era. How many is that? That's five. That's Pearl Jam, Drivana, Nine Inch Nails, Alice and Chains, Guns and Roses. Can I, can I give you a couple more that maybe think about, throw them on there?

Yeah. How about the Food Fighters? And. I guess they're a 90s band. I like the 50s. Foo Fighters. How about Sublime? A little bit different,

different vibe. That was one of my favorites. I liked the sublime, but I like them more now than I did back then. I thought they were kind of like, I mean, I get, I get what they were doing.

But, yeah, I mean, yeah, you know, food fighters could be in there, smash me pumpkin. There's a lot of good band,

you know, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's good 90s, 90s. It was the best.

It was the best. It was the, best. Yeah. And you toured with, I'm assuming, most or all of those bands, right? I mean, who did you really enjoy going out with? We played shows with all those bands, for sure. We obviously tour with the Food Fighters that you didn't see. That was a great. I think that Sunrise Florida show is one of the best ones on the tour, by the way. That's what I thought they said. I think there's a live record somewhere. Like, wow, what a night. He's done twice. You toured with Nirvana, like, when they blew up.

We did. We did a West Coast tour. We did, we did. Pearl Jam. We took Pearl Jam on their first, like, real tour with their first album. So Pearl Jam, Smasher Pumpkins, Chili Peppers in 91. In 92, we played with Nirvana. Yep.

We did, right when they were, you know, taking over Michael Jackson in the charts. Those were great shows. Yeah, most of those bands, you know. I mean, I don't think we've played with guns. I don't we've never toured with Guns of Roses. But, you know, we all know each other. And, you know, when you've been around that long, yeah. But, yeah, there's been, we're just fortunate to be able to do our thing.

And people still want to come out and see it. We're just happy as clams, almost as happy as Aiden Hutchinson when he's eating quarterback. Wait a second. I have a memory. I don't know if you guys happens to you a lot, but I think I have these memories where I'm only about 30% sure they actually happened. But I'm going to throw this out there. I'm going to say it was about 10 years ago. It was in New York at City Field and the Foo Fighters. It was a Foo Fighters concert. One of the last concerts I've attended, unfortunately. Did you come out and play drums like as a guest appearance or am I making this up? Yes. I was at that show. Okay, I did see a Chili Pepper's Foo Fighters show. How about that? Let's go. Not quite. No, yeah, it was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was, it was, it was cityfield or met life, cityfield. It was city field and Dave Grohl had broken his leg and he was in his throne of guitars. Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we played a faces song and Taylor sang, saying that, uh, stay with me. Oh, awesome. That's a great song, too. That's so fun. Yeah, I think that's what it was. Like 2016, something like that? Yeah, something like that.

It was, yeah, I think I was still living. Long time ago. Yeah, yeah. Cool. All right. All right. You saw a version of it. Yeah, there you go.

I knew you recognized me. All right. I'm the guy from Florida. The chemist. The chemist, yep. All right. So this was a cool idea from Lewis in the sort of fantasy theme here. Make a fantasy rock band.

You can pick one musician for vocals, one guitarist, bass, bass, drums, producer, anything you like. Give me a fantasy band. Live or dead? All time greats. Yeah, anything, yeah. All time grades? Like the Mount Rushmore? Yeah, yeah, Mount Rushmore, absolutely.

But, what? No Chilli Peppers' members. I'm talking rock for me. But, Chad, no Chilipers members. I don't want there to be some hot take about you. I would never, I don't rate us like that. I would put, it would be, this is just for me. This is my taste.

John Bonham on drums. Jimmy Hendricks on guitar. Paul McCartney and or John N. Twistle on bass. Maybe they're both on bass. And on keyboards, it would probably be, I don't know. Hard to say. Maybe Elton John, maybe, but he plays piano.

I don't know. Nicky Hopkins, used to play with the Stones. And then vocals, I'd have to go with Ozzy. Because I love him so much. Yeah, that would be a fun band. Yeah. Was John Bonham an influence?

Yeah, I think so. They'd be okay. I'd see them. Bonham and Hendricks? Would Bonham? Would you get a chemistry test for that band? What'd you say, Lewis? We could skip a chemistry test to see that band?

I think I would, yeah. I got an A, by the way, just in case anyone's wondering. Was John Bonham an influence for you, Chad? Yeah, big time. Led Zeppelin and those English bands, you know, from that, those classic rock bands. Yeah. Yep, I had an older brother and had all those records and I listened to all those. So, yeah, for sure.

Bonham, Mitch Mitchell from Jimmy Hendricks, Keith Moon, Ian Pace from Deep Purple, Bill Ward from Black Sabbath, all those guys had such a great swing and were such great drummers. But for rock and roll, yeah, for sure. Jack, I figured on drums you were going to go, John Bonham, or maybe a Neil Peart.

Yeah, you know, but I'm trying to put the right team together. It's like a sports thing, the chemistry. Oh, you're like taking in chemistry, like booking this band for a tour? balance and personality? I'm thinking like I got, you know, they got to work together. Like if you got all like alpha crazy shredders, it's not going to work. There's only, there's only one football.

That's the problem with the lions in fantasy, by the way. Too many, too many mouths to feed. Was there a moment when you were growing up, you heard something on the drums, someone on the drums, the first time you remember, wow, being blown away by a drummer and wanting to do that? I mean, early, early on. You can talk about a whole lot of long? I mean, that's hard.

That's easy. But even before that, because I grew up in Detroit, so I listened to the radio at night, and it was a lot of Motown songs. And so, and the drumming on the Motown songs are great. So it probably would be one of those, but I can't think of a specific, like, Oh, like, some people have the Ringo star on Ed Sullivan with the Beatles and all that, but like, yeah, it might have been more like, I was trying to figure out a drum solo in one of the Black Sabbath songs called Super Not, and it was actually two drum sets. They overdub, which they recorded twice, and I couldn't figure it out and was pissing me out so bad because it was actually two drums at the same time, and I was trying to, and I was like, oh, my God, I can't do that. That's unbelievable. How does you do that?

that's cool i didn't i didn't know about all the uh you know recording techniques back and back when i was like nine years old but anyway yeah not one specific but i was always drawn to the drums all right well if you want to get uh we'll wrap up in a little bit but if your phone's about to die if you want to get your other phone totally uh go for it louis and i can kill some time here um i know but but i don't i feed back yeah i can i can probably take care of that but um I wanted to ask you basically, you know, you guys obviously started in the 80s and you're still going, how has the Red Hot Chili Pepper's music evolved over time? And then I'm going to throw up this picture here for you.

You want to look at this. Yeah, just talk about the evolution of your band over time, basically. Crazy picture. That's a crazy picture. What the hell? God bless the Internet. Yeah. Yeah.

We're just old. But you've changed a lot, yeah. I think why we've stayed together for this long, and we have changed band members, except Fleon and I and Anthony have been together for a long time. But John, Frasante, is kind of come and gone. He's his third time in the band. And he's a really important part of our group,

the chemistry again goes back to that you know to find the right people to make music but but we just always want to get better and learn how to be better bandmates and and are interested in all kinds of different music and art and stuff and um we play from our hearts and it's authentic and and i think that's what connects with people and we can kind of play anything and it still sounds like us which is pretty cool, for good or for bad. We don't always make the greatest records, but, like, it's who we are at that time. It's very honest.

And we love to play live, you know, so we love to go out and do our thing on stage. And we're so, like I said before, so grateful that people want to come and see us play. But, yeah, you just, I think any artist needs to keep growing and changing, and that's really important because you just do the same thing over and over. You know, I don't know. we don't feel that there's any real value in that.

So until somebody doesn't want to do that anymore, then we won't be a band together. But right now, it's all, you know, it's all good. So we love it. And why not? What else am I going to do? How about start a foundation, you know, something like that? Well, exactly.

I got that and like, you know, I'm a dad and I got other things going on. Your priority shifts a little bit. I probably love music more than I did starting out. You know, I just, I'm just a student, and I want to learn and get better, and I'm fortunate I get to play with other people, too, and make records with other people and do shows and stuff, and I just love it, man. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be able to find my passion in early age

and be able to do it for living, and it's taking me places I never dreamed of. It's amazing. Ontario, the weight is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden opportunity at Golden Nugget Online.

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at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. Are there any songs that the record label maybe or somebody pushed you to release as a single that you thought was a bad idea? Maybe the band pushed back on it ended up being a huge hit. Anything that surprised you in terms of becoming a huge hit, something like that? No, we're always right. That's what I figured. Just had to ask.

no you know you want them to be they want to be involved you kind of want them to be involved so they get behind it and everything but they but Warner brothers we've done with since 1991 they've always been very hands off you know whatever you guys want to do they have their opinions you know but and we listen to them but they ultimately are it comes down to what we want what we're what we're into but yeah um I mean Like a long time ago, a song like Under the Bridge almost didn't make the album. Because back then, we were kind of all fast and hard, didn't really play slow or songs or softer or whatever. And we had, for that record, we had three kind of more mellow songs.

I could have lied in a song called Soul to Squeeze and Under the Bridge. And we don't want to put them all on there. We're like, you know, we don't want people think that chili peppers are going. know, and soft here. So we had to, like, leave one of them off. And at the time, the president of the record company, Mo Austin, came and listened to Under the Bridge, and he was like, that's a good, that's a good song. I think you should put that one on.

And we were like, okay. We didn't think it was going to be, like, this big hits, one of our most popular song, but, like, Mo Austin knows a thing or two about music. We were like, okay. I thought I saw something about Anthony saying that it was originally just a poem that he had written. And someone was like, oh, what is this? And he said, it was just a poem. And then I thought it was Rick Rubin, but maybe you guys weren't working with him at that point and said, no, you should make this into a song. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, that's right. You're right. It was Rick.

Because the way we had written music up until that point, the music always came first, and then Anthony would listen to it and come up with his thing. And on that record, he was starting to sing more. and yeah, he'd just written this poem about how lonely he was in Los Angeles and everything and he was with Rick and they were talking about songs for the record and I think he saw the back of his notebook

and he was like, well, what's that? They're like, ah, it's just a poem for me it's not a thing for the band. What is it? Rick being Rick, who's like very in tune and he's like, nah, it's not for the... And so he had a melody and he sang it,

in his own way and Rick's like you should take that to the band and he was like and I think John came over and John made the chords behind it and next thing you know there you go

yeah that's awesome and they were like Chad you don't have to do anything for the first minute of the song just got to chill there just play some little click side there yeah

he just wait no but like to really you're like stare with have the good songs, the drums wait, and then they come in and they brings to the next level, you know, just trying to do what's right, be musical. Yeah, but we didn't think, like, we thought, oh, that's a cool song, we didn't think anything like, oh, that's going to be a big, you know, next thing you know, all the housewives are singing it. What, you said you love playing live. What goes into a concert set list? Do you have certain

rules like we've got to play these three songs like take me through making a set list well every set list easily always has to be in it so there's another 17 that we have to come up with but yeah we Anthony writes to set lists usually when we all kind of he can we get to the gig and everybody's doing their thing and whatever they got to do and he he kind of writes them out um And there's probably, if we play like 18 songs, there's probably 10 that we, I don't say we need to do, but I like the popular songs that people want to hear, that we're very fortunate that people like.

There's snow and scar tissue and under the bridge and give it away in Danny, California, and can't stop. And, you know, songs like that. that usually they'll be in the set and then we have like another eight that we can kind of move around and swap out different different ones, you know, some deeper cuts or suck my kiss

instead of around the world. We kind of have slots for like the vibe of the songs, like let's put this one here, let's put this one here, make it different. So for us, we're not playing the same set every night. you know we're we can't do that you got a we jam too much for that so it's important to keep it fresh for us but anthony anthony's and depending on his voice and you know a lot of things or what we played there last time stuff like that there's stuff that goes into it yeah you

talked about you know playing under the bridge and just kind of chilling for a little bit before you come in but then there's give it away which is the exact opposite so what is that like to to open give it away in front of a packed house and everyone's loving it. You know, that must be a fun, a fun feeling for you. Does it ever get old? No, because people love that song.

They really do. And then, you know, isn't that the energies is so great? Yeah, I mean, I've probably played that song maybe every concert we've done since 1991. That's a long time.

Sometimes we'll give it a night off and then they're all... They're like, give it away. Yeah, you get a couple of those. You can't keep everybody happy all the time. But now, it's the energy of it, you know, and yeah, I'm just playing, and usually I'm just looking out

and just seeing people, like, having a good time and nothing better than that. I will say, as a person who's attended quite a few with Julie Pepper shows, I really enjoy playing. Give it away is definitely up there as one of his favorites. And I don't feel like he ever says he has a favorite song, but it is definitely can't stop when it's got like the slow build.

And then he just smacks his drum. And every single time you'll see him, you'll see him stand up as John just kind of shreds his guitar lead into the rest of the song. And he says, like, standing on top of his throne, look it out of the crowd. and I feel like watching you that is 100% your favorite song. You would love that moment every time you play.

Well, you know, it's one of those songs. It's interesting. Can't Stop. It's kind of taken on a, well, that, to your point, Adam, that was the song, the record company was like, I think it was the third single from that record. And they were like, eh, you know, it's okay. You know, we were like, no, we want to make this cool video that we made for it.

And I think we had to kind of like convince him like, no, no, this is, this is, we really want to do this. And they did. But it wasn't like a big hit back when it came out, but it's kind of grown like into like this. It's a sports song. Like when the Rams come out for the kickoff, it's like da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Like it's taking on its kind of life. So the intro thing, yeah, is it's a good build-up. And it's a, yeah, it's a good. good release and people go nuts and it's great. I mean just that people like our songs that we make in the garage

or little little room, the four of us, just for us that we like. We're not making it for anyone else. We're just doing it for us. Sounds kind of selfish but like if we like them, well then maybe somebody else will sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. That's okay. But like it's just

it's amazing when music is so universal. and connects with so many people all over the world, and then I get to be part of that. It's awesome. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what can't stop is about, right? I know sometimes the lyrics are a little tough with Anthony because he's just on like another level,

but I feel like it's about, you know, sharing music and this energy, if I'm not mistaken. I think you're right. I can't speak for him and what he writes about, to your point, It's like esoteric, and it's one of the great things about what he does. It's not like, I love you, baby, baby, and get in my car.

And, like, it's not so literal, you know. So you get to, as a listener, it can meet something completely different to you that does to me. But yes, the way that he talks, I think you're right. I think you're right. It's about the connecting of music and people. Yeah. We're going to get some rapid-fire questions and let Chad go. and remind you how to play fantasy football against them.

But I just want to say, my personal favorite Chili Peppers album is Stadium Arcadium. And for those of you who also love that album, you can go on YouTube, and there's basically an explanation of every song on the album. And it's Chad and John, I think, in one setting, and Anthony and Flea in another setting. And I don't know, if you want to just kind of like,

that was really cool for a fan to be able to hear insights on every song. and a lot of it is Anthony telling what the song is about. But I wish artists would do that more, Chad, you know, and let the audience kind of in on the process more because it connects us more. So I encourage everyone to look at that, but what do you remember about that? And that was really fun for me and for all the fans, I think, to experience. That record has like 28 songs.

That's a lot. We were rolling, man. We obviously, you know, and there's other ones that never came out. But we love those. So I think I know, yeah, I know what you're talking about. We're like on the couch in John's house, and he's talking about, oh, I was listening to this Bhutan Klan record all weekend long, and it had the doodoo kha, to doon, do kha, and I brought it in,

and then you started playing this, yeah. yeah those are i mean yeah you're right it's a little insight for fans and stuff um i'm i'm a little leery about like again dictating when the artist tells you what it is um because i think it takes some of the mystery out of it and people can again get to connect however they want that also happens when you make videos you're kind of like telling him this is our visual idea idea what goes with the song. So that's tricky. Sometimes we've made great videos

other times than we haven't, but that's just how it goes. But yeah, Stadium Arcadium was a you know, there's just, we had so much music and we were playing at a pretty high level. I think that John had been back in the good, John, if he, our guitarist, John, if he had, been holding back on the last two records at all.

He was like, I remember him saying, like, on this stadium, arcadian record, I'm going to get mine. I mean, there's, I think there's guitar solos in every song. Yeah. And ripping, not melodic ones, like, ripping. And he's like, I'm getting mine. And it was, and he obviously, you know, he's unbelievable. And so it had that energy and it was really fun.

I remember in the middle of the record, my first, my son was born. We took the weekend off in 2005 and did that. And then right after we finished that record, I went and made the Dixie Chicks album. Rick Rubin was also producing that record. And went and made that record, which was really great. And then the Grammys came around and it was like, I think I played on like nine songs.

I won like nine Grammys. wow that's awesome yeah and like we're both up for like album of the year and i'm like sorry guys i'm like i didn't write those songs you know i just played on the record and you're like dixie chicks no they're all good all good all worked out but the fun like with my life just doing those records and and uh yeah great yeah i've never heard you say that about john and say Arcadian but you like 100% feel it like turn it again i tell you all the time it's my favorite song and you can just hear like john like two minutes left in the song just absolutely gets completely carried away like i like to think that john starts playing and then you're sitting there like shock

looking at flea like why is he still going anthony's already like in his car on the way home and he just keeps going and going. I think that song has, and which is a deep cut, I think it, I think it has one of the longest solos in chili pepper history. Yeah.

The album starts with Danny California, where he just shreds a solo at the end of that. It's pretty nasty. Yeah, he's got, no, I mean, he's an incredible, like, just the musician all around, unbelievable. probably the best musician I've ever been lucky to play with.

He's just on another level. And, um, yeah, insane. Yeah, he's just. Go ahead, Louis. You're going to talk, you're going to jump into a rapid fire. But while we're still talking about peppers and tying into fantasy, uh, I know there's people watching and that'll listen. We need your help.

We need good red hot chili peeler. pepper fancy football names yes we need some team names right now i feel like the top contender is under the teddy bridgewater okay that's a good level to send them to chad smith foundations comment on here or the podcast but we need some more red hot chili pepper themed fancy football team names well i'll tell you what you got tyree kill who's who's the cheetah right we could just go with slow cheetah for that because he doesn't he's got an injury right now but i are I'm going to get on that as soon as possible. So let's do the rapid fire to end things here.

And then again, we'll promote the charity. We'll promote how to play fantasy football against Chad. But I'm going to ask you guys both this rapid fire segment on Chad, you can answer. And then, Lewis, I want you to answer the same questions either just from a fan perspective or you've been to so many of their shows. So I'll ask him, for example, favorite song to play live. And then you tell me after he goes, you tell me your favorite song to hear live. But Chad, that's the first rapid fire question, your favorite song to play live.

wet sand I was going to say because you played it at Soldier Field last time I felt like that was the only other time I've ever heard it but I will say hard to concentrate that came out right after I started dating my now wife and that was kind of our song

and he played it in Milwaukee all right, excellent how about what song does the crowd get into the most higher ground and I'll say can't stop because that's a good trio of John shredding Chad standing up on his throne and flea doing a handstand

with his skirt coming down over his face walking across the stage favorite venue Chad River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina My favorite concert was at Soldier Field I've seen the YouTube clips of Red Hot Chili Peppers at Slane Castle and that looked incredible Can you talk about that real quick?

Also amazing, yeah I mean the Irish just they go for it Yeah, that was, you know, it's interesting because you do obviously a lot of performances. And when you film something and record it, you know, all the crew and the money and the thing and there's a little extra pressure, you know, and sometimes we do pretty good often and everything's filmed now. But back then, it was a long time ago, it wasn't. It was kind of, I know we were a little nervous, but it didn't last long because the crowd was just so into it, man. They were just, like, loving it.

And we had a good time, and we started playing well, and that was all great. But, yeah, a lot of people do come up to me and, like, I watch Staling Castle 16 times. It's amazing. You know, they really love it. Yeah. It's a good, it is. It's a good, and it's, you know, we got, yeah, it's before steady marketing,

but there's lots of good songs on that. Yeah. All right. Favorite band to tour with? For me, it was the foo fighters. I swear to God, because Taylor was my buddy. I love Dave, too, and the other guys in the band, but I spent more time in their dressing room than my own dressing room.

I don't have an answer. Adam, I appreciate you letting me join in on this rapid fire, but I just want to also hear. his answers. Okay, fair enough. Top three red hot chili pepper songs. Top three? Mm-hmm. For me, I would say, oh man, come on. Okay, you're not going to probably even know this one. For your eyes only,

to be side on the B sides of some. something. Then I'm going to say porcelain. And then I'm going to say, porcelain. And then I'm going to say. You just say easily. I actually do want to say three because I, this is my favorite topic. That's for you. For a lesser known songs off different albums, a minor thing, by the way, torture me on Stadium Arcadium. I feel like is the most impressive song that I've ever heard.

Chad play on an album. I don't get how he makes all those sounds at the same time. And then my favorite as little kid, it would be the song I'd request to the big organ pianists on my birthday. I like dirt. I would say, yeah, I'll just go chalky here. For me, it's under the bridge. It's other side and it's probably scar tissue.

God, is that so late. Chad, I'm sorry. Is that lame to choose those three? No, no. Those are popular songs. and they connect, and I get it. They're good. I'm good with that.

I also, you know, it's not one of my three favorites, but I want to give a shout out to the song, Peace and Love, on your newest album, your latest album, Return of the Dream Canteen. I love that song, and I really love that album, Chad. Oh, thank you. And you know what, you know what's a jam? Eddie is a jam.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, awesome. That's another long guitar solo one. I hope that you, you know, take this as a compliment. When I heard Eddie a couple of years ago, I heard it on Sirius, and I was like, damn, how did I miss this chili pepper song? Because it sounded like it would have been on, by the way, or something like one of the stadium arcadium or something. And then I didn't realize, I didn't realize there was a new album out. And it just, I love that that album, Return of the Dream Canteen, it takes you back to different eras of the chili peppers, in my opinion.

Is that what you guys were going for? no but I'm glad that that's how you you that affected you seriously no it was all recorded at the same time both those records and we just had you know again we because of COVID or whatever John just come back in the band we just had all this material so we just record all the songs and because of COVID we had time to finish them all actually instead of ones that we didn't think we're going to make the album sometimes don't get finished so we finished them all so we're like we had two albums, double albums, let's put it out. Eddie came kind of late, but it was in the writing process, obviously inspired by, you know, the death, the unfortunate death of Eddie Van Halen.

So, but yeah, that's got all the classic chili pepper stuff in it, the, you know, the arpeggiated riff on the guitar and jamming and, like, Anthony's vocal. Yeah, I mean, I knew when we record, I'm like, oh, this is a really good song.

And I actually lobbied for it to go on the first on the first record and because we all kind of vote on the songs we were very democratic in our in our way and often we like nine of them we all agree on and it's the last three or four that like oh no and it's so great

you know this has to be on the album I mean come on we'll text each other you know dude you got to vote for that one you need lobby Yeah, there's some, there's, there's, well, I'll give two votes to that one and take my other vote for that. But we, uh, we just, no, it's just all whatever's happening at the time. There's no preconceived, oh, let's try to write something like this or from that era.

It just, it just comes out the way it comes out. Uh, Lewis, let's talk, uh, one last time about this fantasy football challenge. Actually, I saw the tweet and it looks like there might be. Are there more than, uh, all right, how many leagues are we talking about here? I was going to let you know. We opened it up to eight. So we're doing four on the hour each of the two nights. Okay.

So the times I gave were wrong earlier, four, five, six and seven p.m. Eastern, on Pacific, Pacific, four or five, six, seven p.m. Pacific on September 2nd and September 3rd, eight opportunities to playing a 14 team league to lose to Chad Smith in fantasy football. Um, and it's going to be really fun. And Chad, thank you so much for. coming on. I'm going to retweet this. So if you guys want to follow either at Chad S Foundation or if you're following me, I'll retweet it, but follow at Chad S Foundation. Thanks for coming on. Good luck to you in everything you're doing here with this charity. Music was a very important

thing for me growing up. It was the most rewarding thing for me when I started playing music and opened up a lot of new things for me. And other than that, you know, one night with that chemistry test, you know, I just have a lot of great music memories. But this was, this was among them this was really fun thanks so much for being here man yeah man thank you adam hey you're the best and and good luck but you know you're gonna lose lewis thanks for putting this all together dude thanks for having us this is awesome good luck in the league hope you finish back in good luck with your tennis career you got you got two supporters over here that is career right all right that's Chad Smith and Lewis Smith,

Chadsmith Foundation.org at Chad S Foundation on X and we will talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football today.