Jordi Vidal/RedfernsBack in May, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith released a live album, titled Live Meat and Potatoes, with his side project Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats. The album includes a performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick,” which the band first covered on the 2010 studio album, More Meat. Smith says that his band's live version of the classic track is very different from the original.
“It’s an homage, a nod to the greatest rock drummer,” Smith tells ABC News Radio, speaking about Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, whose drum solo on "Moby Dick" was one of Zeppelin's signature pieces. “We just do kind of a slower, funkier version. We just do the instrumental part. I’m not gonna go and do a drum solo with ‘Moby Dick.’ That would be like trying to cover a Beatles song or something. You just can’t, it’s a classic. It’s like, that’s his song."
Smith added that he had hoped to jam with Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page during the Red Hot Chili Peppers' recent summer U.K. tour, but unfortunately the legendary guitarist was unavailable. “Jimmy Page blew me off,” reveals the drummer. “Very disappointed. Actually, our management manages Jimmy and Jimmy was on vacation, so he sends his regrets but he’ll catch up with us another time, so maybe it’ll happen. I hope so."
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio