Peppers End Break After Two Years

Drummer Chad Smith, who used his downtime to form supergroup Chickenfoot with Sammy Hagar, insists he and his bandmates plan to "jam" together for the first time in two years this autumn (09), ending reports of a split.

Smith tells Billboard.com, "Everybody was like, 'Y'know, I really like having this time off, not being a Chili Pepper and doing other things... It'll be two years in September, so now we're ready.

"You can't force people to play when they don't want to play or aren't ready to play or whatever - not in our band, anyway."