Chad Smith

In 2009 Chad Smith juggled an unusually packed schedule of commitments. He supplied the drumming for the supergroup Chickenfoot and finished the year tracking the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ tenth studio album, yet still carved out space to start an entirely new outfit, Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats.

The project grew out of Smith’s long-standing friendship with Glenn Hughes, the bassist and singer once central to Trapeze and Deep Purple. While jamming alongside Hughes, Smith met guitarist Jeff Kollman and keyboardist Ed Roth, both frequent members of Hughes’ solo band. With bassist Kevin Chown stepping in for Hughes, the four musicians decided to document their playing.

Warrior Records issued the resulting debut, Meet the Meatbats, in September 2009; the record delivers funk-jazz-fusion rooted in the vintage sound of Billy Preston colliding with Return to Forever. Late October 2009 found the quartet opening a string of dates in Japan, although further touring stayed limited by Smith’s Red Hot Chili Peppers schedule. Smith later regrouped the Meatbats to record 2010’s More Meat and released a document of their 2009 concert performances, Live Meat and Potatoes, in 2012.