Drummer CHAD SMITH Confirms He Won't Be Able To Tour With CHICKENFOOT Next Year

Drummer Chad Smith has confirmed to MusicRadar.com that he won't tour with CHICKENFOOT next year in support of the band's second album due to scheduling conflicts with his main group, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.

Although Smith plans on taking part in the recording sessions for CHICKENFOOT's second album, he will be enable to go on the road with the rest of the band — Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani — because RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will be touring in support of their long-awaited new album.

"I can't play in both bands next year," Smith told MusicRadar.com. "Believe me, I'd love to play with CHICKENFOOT and I'm pretty certain I'll be able to finish the second record. I'm really excited to get deeper into the mussy with those guys. Touring, though? I don't see how."

He added, "CHICKENFOOT started out as this fun thing to do, then it just got bigger and bigger. Everybody loves it — I love it, too. We have the best time together. But I got this other group. The PEPPERS have festival dates booked for the summer of 2011 already.

"It's funny — I'll be talking to Joe about CHICKENFOOT stuff, then when I bring up the CHILI PEPPERS he'll say, 'Man, I keep forgetting you're in another band.'"

When asked whom he would ike to stand in for him with CHICKENFOOT, Smith said, "I don't have a preference — it's whoever they want. I'm cool with it."

In a recent interview with MusicRadar.com, CHICKENFOOT guitarist Joe Satriani said he had a few replacements in mind for Chad Smith already. Satriani said, "Were Chad not able to be in the band because of the CHILI PEPPERS, I think it would be fun to get somebody really outrageous like Tommy Lee. He's a great drummer, a lot of fun and a crazy personality. We've had some guys sit in from time to time. Some names that have been thrown around are (Paul McCartney drummer) Abe Laboriel Jr. and (LED ZEPPELIN drummer) Jason Bonham — they'd be really great."

CHICKENFOOT frontman Sammy Hagar told The Pulse of Radio that he and Smith have a chemistry that's hard to duplicate. "Him and I, the way we bounce off each other, we make the whole world go round," he said. "And it's not on a creative level, it's just really on a personality level and the way it creates an energy within the band and it makes like a carnival ride. And without Chad I'm not sure we have that."

Satriani added at MusicRadar.com that he thinks Smith will be available in January to record the second CHICKENFOOT album, but might not be able to tour with the band after that.

CHICKENFOOT's self-titled debut disc came out in June 2009 and was certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 copies.

Smith and the CHILI PEPPERS have not released an album since 2006's "Stadium Arcadium". The band parted ways with guitarist John Frusciante last year, replacing him with Josh Klinghoffer, and are working on their 10th studio effort now.