During a recent interview with The Trap Set, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith opened up about quitting drugs and alcohol in 2008. This was around the time John Frusciante left RHCP and the band were on hiatus. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.
“Maria, I fell in love with, and we got married in 1992. I just thought she was amazing, and the coolest woman I had met up until that point. I was like okay, things are going pretty great, I think I’ve done all of my fucking around, and I’m ready to settle down. So in 1992 I was like, it’s time to grow up a little bit I think – WRONG!”
“I just wasn’t ready. As long as I kept being an addict with drugs and alcohol, I liked cocaine, but I wasn’t a big cocaine user. Mainly it was alcohol, and then kind of all bets were off. If there was cocaine, I would do cocaine, if not there wasn’t. I just made a lot of poor choices.”
He then discussed finally quitting drugs and alcohol 9 years ago.
“I’ve had to be more responsible. Drinking and drugs and fucking around and all of that.”
“I have six children. I was married once, from my first marriage I have a daughter, from another relationship I have another son, then from another relationship I have another daughter, and three boys with my wife Nancy. Cole, our oldest, was probably 4 or 5 years old, and I was just doing stupid stuff. Really, alcohol and drugs were behind, I had to stop doing that.
Once I figured that out, then it was like okay, I’ve got to be there for my kids, I’ve got to be there for my wife. It was hard, this is 9 years ago, and you’re used to a certain lifestyle and nobody telling you no. ‘I’m not in the gutter, I’m in a successful rock band, I’m playing great!’ Whatever, You can tell yourself all this stuff. Spiritually, I was pretty bankrupt, so I was like okay, let’s try this. I went to rehab.
It sounds kind of cliche, but it’s what I needed to do. I’ve only been to one rehab, I had one, I drank a couple of beers in San Francisco after one of those Chickenfoot records. It was so stupid, it was like what am I doing? I was in my hotel room, we finished a record, I put it on, and I’m having drinks from room service.”
