Chad Smith

Chad Smith was born to Curtis and Joan Smith in Richfield, Minnesota. He has two older siblings, Bradley and Pamela. He grew up in Homewood-Flossmoor, Illinois where he attented Homewood-Flossmoor High School for two years. He then moved to Oakland County in Southeast Michigan and graduated from Lahser High School. Prior to joining Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smith was in a local Detroit band called Toby Redd. He joined RHCP in time for them to put out the album Mother’s Milk in 1989. In 1991, Smith had a small role in the short film Session Man, which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.

In 1995, Smith and Dave Navarro formed a side project called, Honeymoon Stitch. They recorded one song for a Joy Division tribute album and produced a successful remix of the Traci Lords single, Fallen Angel. Smith has released an instructional DVD with Hal Leonard entitled Eastern Rim, which includes footage from his clinics in Melbourne and Tokyo, footage from various live performances, and interviews. From 2004 to 2008, Chad played drums on one live album and three studio albums by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple bassist/vocalist, Glenn Hughes.

In 2008, Chad formed Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats, a instrumental funk-rock band. Smith is involved in a supergroup/side project called Chickenfoot. He is joined by guitarist Joe Satriani, as well as former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. Their album was released by Best Buy in the U.S. on June 5, 2009. In the May 2006 issue of Doell & Ford Magazine, Smith was named the number one rock drummer alive. In 2006, Chad played drums on the Dixie Chicks album, Taking The Long Way. The album won five Grammy Awards including album of the year.

In April 2010, Chad teamed up with singer, Leslie Bixler and legendary actor, Dick Van Dyke to record a children’s album titled, Rhythm Train. Van Dyke raps on the album and Smith plays various characters. As of May 2010, Smith is back in the studio with the Red Hot Chili Peppers working on their tenth album, which is due out in 2011. Smith also plans on recording a second album with Chickenfoot sometime in late 2010 and the 2nd Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats album will be released in Oct 2010.

Bill Bruford

William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949 in Sevenoaks, Kent), better known as Bill Bruford, is an English drummer who is recognised for his forceful, precise, polyrhythmic style. He was the original drummer for the highly successful progressive rock group Yes, and has been a prominent figure in the progressive rock movement. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring drummer for Genesis. From 1972 to 1997, Bruford was the drummer for progressive rock band King Crimson. Bruford moved away from progressive rock to concentrate on jazz, leading his own jazz group, Earthworks, for several years. He retired from public performance in 2009, but continues to run his two record labels and to speak about music. His autobiography, Bill Bruford: The Autobiography, was published in early 2009.

He began playing the drums when he was thirteen, and was influenced by jazz drumming, which would manifest itself on early Yes albums and would remain an influence on his style throughout his career. He had success in the early seventies during his time with Yes playing on their first five albums including the LPs The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. He left Yes at the height of their success in 1972, returning briefly for the Union album which was released in 1991. Bruford is ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the sixth greatest drummer of all time.

Bernard “Buddy” Rich

Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as “the world’s greatest drummer” and was known for his virtuoso technique, power, groove, and speed.

Rich first played jazz with a major group in 1937 with Joe Marsala and guitarist Jack Lemaire. He then played with Bunny Berigan (1938) and Artie Shaw (1939), and even instructed a 14-year-old Mel Brooks in drumming for a short period when playing for Shaw. At 21, Rich participated in his first major recording with the Vic Schoen Orchestra (the band that backed the Andrews Sisters). In 1938, he was also hired to play in Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra where he met and performed with Frank Sinatra. In 1942, Rich left the Dorsey band to join the United States Marine Corps. He rejoined the Dorsey group after leaving the Marines two years later. In 1946, Rich formed his own band with financial support from Sinatra, and continued to lead different groups on and off until the early fifties.

Buddy Rich performing with a jazz group in the 1940s. In addition to Tommy Dorsey (1939–1942, 1945, 1954–1955), Rich also played with Benny Carter (1942), Harry James (1953-1956–1962, 1964, 1965), Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, and Jazz at the Philharmonic, as well as leading his own band and performing with all-star groups. In the early fifties Rich played with Dorsey and began to perform with trumpeter Harry James, an association which lasted until 1966. In 1966, Rich left James to develop a new big band. For most of the period from 1966 until his death, he led successful big bands in an era when the popularity of big bands had waned from their 1930s and ’40s peak. In this later period, Rich continued to play clubs but he had stated in multiple interviews that the great majority of his big band’s performances were at high schools, colleges and universities, with club performances done to a much lesser degree. Rich also served as the session drummer for many recordings, where his playing was often much more understated than in his own big-band performances. Especially notable were Rich’s sessions for the late-career comeback recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, on which he worked with pianist Oscar Peterson and his famous trio featuring bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis.