by Greg Prato
In 2009, drummer Chad Smith was certainly one busy gentleman. It was during this year that Smith manned the drums for supergroup Chickenfoot and closed out the year with work on the Red Hot Chili Pepper's tenth studio album overall. And between the two, he somehow also found the time to launch another project, the all-instrumental Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. The genesis of the band can be traced back to Smith's friendship with former Trapeze/Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes. Through jamming with Hughes, Smith befriended several musicians who often play in Hughes' solo band -- guitarist Jeff Kollman and keyboardist Ed Roth. After they played together, they soon decided to record their efforts -- with bassist Kevin Chown assuming the spot of Hughes. The debut Meatbats recording, Meet the Meatbats, was issued in September 2009 via Warrior Records, and is comprised of vintage-sounding Billy Preston meets Return to Forever funk-jazz-fusion. In late October 2009, the quartet launched a multi-date Japanese tour, but further dates seemed few and far between due to Smith's commitments to the Chili Peppers. However, Smith has indicated that the Meatbats will be an ongoing project -- schedule permitting.