We went through their factory, him and Jim Keltner, another very good friend of his and another amazing drummer. … This company DW, he plays their snare drums and I also do, and I got a chance to hang out with him. I did have a chance to spend a whole day with. Smith took some time on Wednesday to reminisce about that magical day, and to reflect on Watts’ unassuming mastery behind the kit. It would take nearly 25 years, but Smith, a longtime Stones fan, eventually got to enjoy some more extended face time with Watts - and soak up decades’ worth of drumming lore - when spent a day with him in Oxnard, California, touring the headquarters of the DW drum company and interviewing him for the Drum Channel. He says, ‘Oh, is that a new one?’ And I said, ‘No, the company makes them.’ And he goes, ‘I’ve got one Mel Lewis has one like that.’ That was his thing he connected with the color of the drums.”įor Smith, the moment perfectly captured both the late Stones drummer‘s low-key demeanor and his discerning aesthetic sense, the way he knew exactly what he wanted out of his instrument both visually and sonically. “I finish, I go over: ‘Charlie, nice to meet you.’ ‘Oh, man, you sound great.’ ‘Oh, wow, thank you.’ And I had a green-sparkle drum set at the time. I’m like, ‘Ah, shit, Charlie fuckin’ Watts is watching me …’ “Īs it turned out, the Stones drummer wasn’t there to offer any kind of critique. It was a warm Los Angeles afternoon, and he’s in a perfect suit. “I look over and he was giving me one of those, like, ‘Hey, look over here,’ and I look by the monitor desk and Charlie Watts was standing there. In the fall of 1994, Chad Smith was in the middle of a soundcheck at the Rose Bowl, where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were about to open for the Rolling Stones, when his drum tech started gesturing to him with his head.
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