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Exclusive: Chad Smith Talks Sobriety, Music and Helping the Next Generation
Ahead of Sunday’s Generation S.O.S. Summer Celebration in Water Mill, the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer speaks with Spark Hamptons about recovery, creativity, his family’s Hamptons ties and supporting a movement helping young people overcome addiction and mental health struggles.
Chad Smith has spent decades playing before sold-out arenas with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. On Sunday, the six-time Grammy Award-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer will step onto a much different stage in Water Mill.
Smith is the featured guest at Generation S.O.S.’s annual Summer Celebration, supporting a nonprofit that is changing how young people talk about addiction, mental health and recovery. Actor Jason Biggs, who has spoken candidly about his own struggles with addiction, will interview Smith during the event. Both men have spoken openly about recovery and the importance of helping others.
Helping a Generation of Youth Cope
Generation S.O.S. was born from tragedy.
After six students in a New York City school community died from overdoses within months, founder Robin Aviv watched schools, parents and students struggle to talk openly about addiction. She believed another lecture wasn’t going to change anything.
Instead, she invited young people in recovery to tell their own stories.
“They shared their deepest, darkest, most vulnerable secrets,” Aviv told Spark Hamptons. “Every kid in the audience could identify with something. That’s when I knew we were onto something.”
What began with those conversations has grown into a national nonprofit expected to reach more than 200,000 students this year through school assemblies, peer-led clubs and programs in middle schools, high schools and on college campuses.
The organization’s approach is rooted in peer-to-peer connection. Rather than relying on adults to lecture students, Generation S.O.S. brings in young people who speak honestly about addiction, depression, anxiety and recovery. After sharing their experiences, they answer questions—many of them anonymously—in an environment where students often feel safer opening up than they would in a counselor’s office.
“We’re about prevention, awareness and safety,” Aviv said.
The conversations don’t end after a single assembly. Student-led Generation S.O.S. clubs continue meeting throughout the school year, creating communities where teenagers support one another and learn healthy ways to cope with life’s challenges.
Aviv, who has been open about her own recovery, believes connection can change—and even save—lives.
“The opposite of addiction is connection,” she said.
Her goal is to bring Generation S.O.S .to every school in the country.
“I know if Generation S.O.S. had been around when I was young and struggling, it would have been a game changer for me,” she said. “Asking for help is a sign of strength and not a weakness. It’s a sign of courage.”
It’s a philosophy she sums up in one sentence:
“It’s so much easier to build a strong adolescent than to repair a broken adult.” — Robin Aviv, Founder, Executive Chair, Generation S.O.S.
On Sunday, that message will take center stage in Water Mill when Jason Biggs sits down with Chad Smith for a conversation about recovery, resilience and why neither believes young people should have to face addiction alone.
SPARK Conversation: Chad Smith
Why does this Generation S.O.S. event matter to you — and how did you get involved with it?
CS: Jimmy Mack (Southampton Town Trustee and president) is my wife’s brother, and Jimmy brought this to me. He was like, “It’s a really cool event. Robin’s amazing, and they work with kids and with a lot of people that need some inspiration around how they get through life.” He thought I’d be a good person for this. I was like, “Really?” He was like, “Yeah, you have a great story.”
I’ve been sober since 2009 so I can speak on that. But just in general, if you can inspire somebody to live in gratitude and love, and help someone open up when you’ve got things happening in your life that make you uncomfortable, you try to do that.
Find people to talk to. There’s support out there.
My son, Beckett (Smith), has a band, Cold Spring Harbor, and he’s going to play and I’m going to play with them. It’s going to be a fun night.
Sobriety and Making Choices
In terms of getting better, when you were at your lowest point, how did you lift out of that — and how do you stay sober?
CS: As a kid and being a musician, I looked up to all those rock ‘n’ roll guys from the ’70s. And it looked so glamorous, you know, drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll — I thought I gotta be like that, like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and The Who.
It’s kind of cliché but you don’t need to be that tortured artist to be able to be a creative person. It took me a while to figure that out.
I had to go through lots of ups and downs. I found sobriety a little bit later in life, in my late 40s. You can fall into a sort of trap — things were going well for me in my career, but my personal life was a shambles, and I just kind of ignored that because to the outside world it looked like I was doing great. I didn’t miss any gigs. I was professional. But my relationships and the other part — drugs and alcohol — really were a part that I thought was under control — and it wasn’t.
It got to a point where it wasn’t rock bottom bottom, but I had to make the choice: what was more important, my family and my children or for me to keep making bad choices around my drug and alcohol intake? And so that was the turning point. I just had had enough and I was like, “OK, I have to make this choice,” and that’s what I did.
And the band too — sober?
CS: Yeah. You know, early on we had quite the reputation — rightly so — there were a lot of drugs involved. We also had a founding band member who overdosed on heroin in 1988, and that was devastating. But it didn’t stop some of the guys in the band from doing it.
Our singer has written a book and he talks a lot about it, and he’s been sober a long time. And John, our guitar player, also struggled with drugs a lot, so it’s not easy. But there is support out there, which is great, much more so than in the times when I was enamored with these musicians I looked up to.
Back then, it wasn’t OK, you never really talked to anybody about it. Now there is so much help and so many support groups and there are ways to deal with whatever you are dealing with — whether it’s drugs or alcohol, depression or anxiety — lots of things that play into mental health issues.
I think it’s important for young people to know there’s help out there for you.
What music do you like these days?
CS: I like so much music. I go through phases. I’ll listen to most of the bands I grew up with and I just love that music. It’s like a really nice, soulful, home-cooked meal or comfort food. [Laughs.] The great thing about our music is it takes you back to a certain time in your life, and I love doing that.
I always like to listen to new music. I have younger kids. I have a 17-year-old who’s also a drummer, so I’ll ask him what he’s listening to, and I’ll listen to some of the stuff he’s into.
I’ve been listening to some more jazzy stuff lately. I’m going to play this weekend with Jon Batiste at the Newport Jazz Festival. We might touch on some of Lee Morgan’s music.
The pop music — I play on lots of records, so anyone from Elton John to this new rock singer from England who goes by the name of Yungblud. I just made a record with him. I play with lots of people, Michael Stipe and Brandi Carlile. It just kind of depends. Anyone who is good. Olivia Dean is really good. I really like her.
What do you tell young musicians who look up to you?
CS: I get asked, “What can I do to make it?”
If you really love it then you’re going to play from the heart and be passionate about it.
To be able to do something in your life that you love to do, whatever it is, but especially music, it’s such a beautiful thing — everybody loves music, and it’s creative.
Attitude, Gratitude and “Making it” in the Business
Another piece of gratitude is I was so fortunate to find the thing I love to do at a young age. I loved music at age 4, and I started playing the drums at 7 years old. I’m 63 years old. That’s a long time.
There’s no shortcuts. You got to put in the work, you got to work hard at it and make your break and luck and opportunity. Good things happen if you put in the hard work. But do it because you love it, then you’ll always be happy.
I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that I would be able to travel the world and play music people love and give people joy, including myself. I’m so lucky and so fortunate.
But even when I was right out of high school playing in the dirty bars in Detroit six nights a week, I loved it too. I was like, “Yeah, I made it! Woo hoo!” For $165 a week. [Laughs.]
You have a strong connection to the East End.
CS: My wife of 22 years, Nancy, grew up in the Hamptons. When I scooped her up and took her to Los Angeles she said, “I have to be close to my family in New York,” so we got a place in Montauk and we come here every summer and on the holidays, but always in the summer. And obviously when I’m not working I’m always here.
This summer’s been great to be able to be around and spend time here. The kids love it.
You’ve been with the Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1988 — any favorite songs, gigs or memories?
CS: I’m really looking forward to the new ones. I’m always looking forward to making new music. It’s a crazy world we live in. We have some new things in the fall. Playing concerts is so much fun and bringing joy to so many people.
Little concerts, big concerts, anywhere, it doesn’t matter. I play The Talkhouse, I play MetLife, I’m happy.
Bringing Music and Support to the Next Generation
How is your music foundation going?
CS: The foundation is great. We’re partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs and we’re getting music and instruments and teachers in place for those kids to be able to do after-school programs, so that’s really exciting.
They always seem to cut the arts when it means the most to kids.
CS: Exactly. That’s the thing that makes so much sense for me — to give back — because my little public high school in Detroit had like four music classes.
Kids need a place to go that’s safe where they can learn and have fun, and we’re going to provide them with the instruments and the teachers at the Boys & Girls Clubs. We’re just starting that out. It’s happening in Milwaukee, it’s happening in Detroit. We’ll do it in New York. They have like 600 all over the country, so we’re working on that, which is really fun and exciting.
The artwork you make — are you painting?
CS: It’s photography — a process where I’m drumming in a dark room and I use these fluorescent sticks, and the shutter speed of the photography makes the motion pretty cool. I had done this a while ago. It’s super cool and makes sense because it’s born from rhythm — you see the power in it. It’s fun because it’s also something based in music.
You were so good on SNL with Will Ferrell. I thought you had taken acting classes.
CS: I’m giving him acting classes, actually. We had fun with that, for sure.
Do you think you resemble Will Ferrell?
CS: I look like probably one of his brothers. I wouldn’t say we’re twins. When I met his mother for the first time at SNL, she was like, “Ah, my long-lost son!” I’m like, wow, even the mom’s kinda funny. That’s awesome.
The response to Sunday’s event has been tremendous. What are you most looking forward to?
CS: I think there will be some good inspirational stuff happening, all uplifting and positive.
If You Go
Generation S.O.S. Annual Summer Celebration
When: Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026
Where: Private residence, Water Mill
The 2026 Generation S.O.S. Annual Summer Celebration will feature Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, actor Jason Biggs and America’s Next Top Model winner Sophie Sumner.
In-person tickets are sold out, but you can join the waitlist or purchase livestream tickets.
For more information, to join the waitlist or purchase livestream tickets, visit generationsos.org/generation-sos-annual-summer-celebration.
More Information
- generationsos.org
- chadsmith.com
- chadsmithfoundation.org
