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News > Music News - Classic Rock
Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Says His Band Struck Deal with Metallica to Headline Orion Festival
4:37AM Thursday
March 7, 2013

Red Hot Chili Peppers will be one of the headliners for Metallica's second annual Orion Music + More Festival this summer, and Peppers drummer Chad Smith says that to get his group on the roster, Metallica made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

"They said if you come and play the festival, we will come and play a [charity] show for [bassist] Flea's Silverlake Conservatory of Music, which is a non-profit music school," he tells ABC News Radio.  "It's a beautiful thing [and] it's a great school, so it's a win-win."

Smith says he's looking forward to performing at the fest, which will take place June 8-9 at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, near his hometown.  "I grew up in Michigan outside of Detroit,"  he says.  "It's a great place to play music…and my mother still lives in the house I grew up in, so she's really happy.  She gets to see me and then I'll bring my family in and she can see the kids and…[we'll] make it a good weekend."

In other Smith news, the drummer is headed to Washington, DC, next month to join members of the National Association of Music Merchants to lobby Congress about the importance of funding comprehensive music education in schools.  Smith will be speaking to NAMM delegates and guests at a dinner at the U.S. Capitol on March 19, and will be in meetings on Capitol Hill with members of Congress on March 20.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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