Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has hinted that the California band could be set to retire. The drummer, who first joined the band in 1988, was speaking to Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk when he suggested that age could be taking its toll on the band – with Smith, singer Anthony Kiedis and ba...
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has hinted that the California band could be set to retire.
The drummer, who first joined the band in 1988, was speaking to Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk when he suggested that age could be taking its toll on the band – with Smith, singer Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea all in their mid-fifties.
“We were riding in a van after a gig and Flea was like, ‘How much longer do you think we should… How do you think we should end this?’”, Smith said.
“I was, like, ‘I don’t know!’ I want to make records, I still love making records, but the touring part… I don’t know if we can continue.”
He added: “I mean, three of us are 54 years old — Anthony, me and Flea. Josh [Klinghoffer, guitarist] is 38 or 39, so he’s a young man. But I don’t know if we can continue to do the long tours — the year, year and a half we normally do. That’s a good question.”
But he also suggested that the band could instead strip back their extensive touring schedule to make time for their families instead.
“We all have families and different things, your priorities shift a little bit. You kinda see that what’s gonna work for you maybe doesn’t necessarily work for other bands”, he said.
“But again, we’re just so grateful that people want to come and see us play, and we love to perform. I don’t know in the future how that’s gonna look.”
