This year we’ve seen some Twitter Q&A’s go pretty badly, thankfully Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith was involved in a very entertaining back and forth with fans.
Smith chatted about the band’s infamous “socks” look, onstage dramas and his rivalry with “pampered movie star” Will Ferrell.
Some people just don’t want to hear the word ‘no’, resulting in a few cringe inducing social media Q&A’s in 2014. JP Morgan were forced to cancel their planned session, tweeting that the Q&A was a “bad idea.”
And the relentlessly talentless singer Robin Thicke also ventured down the same road, and was not surprising derided as a misogynist, and asked “At what age did you realise you wanted to grow up to be a pound-shop Ricky Martin?”
There were no such problems for Chad Smith, he was in very good form and very amusing. Read some of his Twitter Q&A’s below (via Rolling Stone).
Would you rather jam with John Bonham, Keith Moon or Neil Peart?
— @jessgambino
I would like to take a lesson from Neil Peart. I would like to jam with Bonham and party with Keith Moon. If we were playing “f**k, marry, kill,” then it would be I’d probably marry Neil. [Sighs] Ah, I couldn’t f**k or kill either of those guys. Plus, they’re both dead. That’s not fair.
What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you onstage?
— @liv_rhcp
Back in the days when we used to play clubs and smaller venues, people would jump up onstage and stage dive. Once in a while you get the overzealous fan that wants to get a little closer. And for encores, we used to play with socks [on our private parts and nothing else]. I had one female fan jump up onstage that was gung ho on trying to get my sock off. The other guys can run around a bit or put their guitars in front of them. For me, it was a battle for about two minutes, but I won. I stayed intact. It was very funny. She had balls…she almost had my balls.
Why did you guys stop doing the socks?
— Rolling Stone
It’s not that we stopped or never would do that again. It was fun to play like that. And 20 years ago, we were known for that. Somehow in Europe, it overshadowed the band a little bit. Like, “Oh, the guys with the socks on their d**ks.” But it’s really just a spontaneous thing. We’ll be playing and we’ll finish, and somebody will say, “Hey, socks? OK!” It’s nothing really too planned out. You never know. I don’t know if anyone wants to see 50-year-old guys with socks on their d**ks. That was a long time ago. But we like to entertain; we’re from Hollywood.
Who would win in the Hunger Games final: you or Will Ferrell?
— @Katrina_flip
I’m not familiar with the Hunger Games. I don’t know what it is, but I would win. He’s a pampered movie star, and I do have an edge. Rock & roll wins out over acting. I’m physical and I would survive. He’s going down.
Why exactly are there no penguins in Alaska?!
— @ChipSpacey
Is that true? There’s a lot of moose. I’ve seen them. They wander the streets. I came out and they were in the parking lot of a gig that we played in Anchorage. I think Sarah Palin has scared all the penguins away.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
— @itsteenspirit
Oooh, X-ray vision. [Laughs] That’s all I’m gonna say about that. Use your imagination.
How would you sum up your career in three words?
— @EmKiedis
Just. Getting. Started.
