Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith has surprised drum students as substitute teacher – check it out below.
The drummer teamed up with Drumro to surprise a group of music students, where he arrived as a stand in tutor.
In a video of the moment, which you can watch below, it shows Smith in a car on his way to the music school, before it cuts to someone telling the students that their regular drum teacher isn’t available.
Smith then arrives in the class and meets a 10-year-old who says he likes “punk rock” and lists his favourite bands as Blink-182, Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers – while not realising he was talking to the latter band’s drummer.
Smith laughs with the student and replies: “Red Hot Chili Peppers, they’re not really punk rock, but okay!” He then tells the student: “Well, do you know I drum with Red Hot Chili Peppers?,” much to the child’s surprise.
Elsewhere in the clip, Smith encourages a young student who is nervous, joking with her, “Ignore the camera, and ignore me, the Hall of Fame drummer sitting next to you.” Smith is then later seen jamming with students and giving tips. Watch the full video above.
In other news, the band clarified that they had “had nothing to do with” a new Hillel Slovak-era Netflix documentary on a creative level, but have said they hope it’ll spark interest in his work.
On January 30, it was announced that a new documentary was set to explore the early years of the band, as well as chart the impact of their original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died in 1988 of an accidental heroin overdose.
Directed by Ben Feldman, The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers will include input from Anthony Kiedis and Flea and is set to premiere on March 20, per Variety. “At its heart, this is a deeply relatable story – about the friendships that shape our identities and the lasting power of the bonds forged in adolescence,” Feldman has said in a statement.
“What’s less relatable, of course, is that here those friends went on to create one of the greatest rock bands in history. I’m profoundly grateful to the band and to Hillel’s family for their trust and generosity, and to Netflix for helping bring this story to the world stage.”
Following that announcement, however, the band went on to release their own statement, in which they distanced themselves from the project. You can see their full statement here:
“About a year ago, we were asked to be interviewed for a documentary about Hillel Slovak. He was a founding member of the group, a great guitarist, and friend. We agreed to be interviewed out of love and respect for Hillel and his memory,” the band wrote. “However, this documentary is now being advertised as a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, which it is not,” they clarified.
“We had nothing to do with it creatively. We have yet to make a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary. The central subject of this current Netflix special is Hillel Slovak and we hope it sparks interest in his work.”
Meanwhile the band’s bassist Flea recently announced his debut solo album, ‘Honora’, as well as live tour dates in North America, the UK and Europe.
The musician released the first single from the forthcoming record in December in the form of ‘A Plea’. Now, it’s been confirmed that the full 10-track project will arrive on March 27 via Nonesuch Records. Pre-order/pre-save here.
Guest contributors include Nick Cave and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on vocals. The latter previously worked alongside Flea in the side-project group Atoms For Peace.
Red Hot Chili Peppers released their latest material in 2022, after they welcomed guitarist John Frusciante back into the line-up in 2019. They released two albums, ‘Unlimited Love’ and ‘Return Of The Dream Canteen’.
Speaking to NME at the time about what it was like to have the classic line-up back together, frontman Anthony Kiedis said the band were determined to bring something new to the table.
“I really didn’t want to tell the same old story that we’ve been hearing for the last 50 years in rock music,” he explained. “I liked reaching out in 10,000 directions and seeing what was out there. We weren’t limiting ourselves but trying to tap into something that is honest and emotional.”
He added: “The biggest event, honestly, was John returning to the band. That was the most monumental change in our lives. And God was I down for anything and everything.”