Meet The Meatbats

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has a lot on his plate as of late taking the time to put out music with super group Chickenfoot as well as here with The Bombastic Meatbats. The Meatbats consist of Chad Smith on drums (duh), guitarist Jeff Kollman (Cosmosquad), Bassist Kevin Chown (Unkle Kracker), and keyboardist Ed Roth.

Seeing the front cover of the album I figured maybe this was some ambitious garage band who acquired the funds to pump out a couple of hundred albums and one just happened to land in my hands, after all the artwork for the CD does remind me of those local demos. Seeing Chad Smith’s name on the cover just didn’t click, not even when I flipped the CD over and saw some dude that looked like Will Ferrell (ha ha I had to). Of course the unmistakable drum style of Chad Smith is apparent from the get go and the style of music that the band puts out puts it to good use. Think Frank Zappa, a jazz exploration of funky sounds, totally jam worthy but with intelligent design. Ed Roth’s funky jazz keys reminds me slightly of Medeski, Martin and Wood pulling the sound in and out of a straight jazz groove to a 70’s funk the like of Sly and The Family Stone. Expect to get a head nod on and an incessant toe tap before the albums end. If you’ve ever lain your hands on a guitar, a drumset, a bass, or a keyboard this album is going to be the motherland. If you just like listening to music, fair warning, there are no vocals, no flash, no cry for commercial acceptance. If this brings up red flags for you its still not to late to turn back. Enjoy.