Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith was challenged to play drums to a song he never heard before as he listened to it for the first time, and he absolutely crushed it. The song was the Thirty Seconds to Mars hit “The Kill,” which he guessed was “My Chemical Romance or something” right after playing along to it.

The challenge was presented by Drumeo as part of its “For the First Time” series. After some banter between Smith and the series’ hosts, Smith listened to the song’s quiet opening verse before pounding away to the heavy chorus. From there, he played absolutely killer drums for the rest of the song, almost instinctively knowing what was coming next.

When it was all said and done, Smith exclaimed, “What the fuck was that? Is that like My Chemical Romance or something?” When the host asked him if he knew the song, Smith shook his head “no” and responded, “It’s some kind of emo thing.”

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After being told it was Thirty Seconds to Mars, the RHCP stickman replied, “Ahhh! Jared’s band. Jared Leto. His brother [Shannon] is the drummer.”

Smith received glowing comments on YouTube for his performance, with one person writing, “I was sitting in disbelief through the entire video. He literally played some parts perfectly to the note without even hearing them prior to it. What an amazing showcase of a truly genius musician.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to play the Global Citizen concert in New York City’s Central Park on Saturday (September 23rd), weather permitting, followed by shows in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Bridgeport, Connecticut. They’ll kick off a Latin American tour on October 31st in San José, Costa Rica. Tickets for their upcoming concerts are available here.

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