Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith isn’t one to presume that every album the band makes is destined to be a hit. But during the making of the band’s new double CD, Stadium Arcadium, he saw telltale signs that the group was poised for another round of major success.

"We felt really good about all of this music," Smith explains. "We wrote so much of it, and we wanted it all to be together, hence the double record. And that, to me, when things are flowing like that and everyone’s getting along and everyone is happy and healthy, that’s a sign that we’re not labouring over it. It’s coming real naturally and real organically, and for our band, that’s when we do our best stuff."

It didn’t take long for Smith to see that his instincts were right.

Stadium Arcadium became the first CD in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 23-year career to debut at number one on Billboard magazine’s album chart. It grabbed that spot with first-week sales of more than 400,000 copies and has since gone platinum, with more than one million copies sold.

The CD’s lead single, "Dani California," became a blockbuster, grabbing hold of the number one slot on Billboard’s "Hot Modern Rock" and "Hot Mainstream Rock" charts for much of its five-month run. The song is still in the Top 15 on both charts.

Indeed, these are some of the best of days for a band that has seen its share of peaks and valleys.

RED HOT AT THE TOP

Formed in 1983 by singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (real name Michael Balzary), guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons, the band was rocked in 1988 by the death of Slovak. The next year guitarist John Frusciante filled the guitar slot, while Smith replaced the band’s second drummer, Cliff Martinez.

With Frusciante bringing more of a pop sense to the band’s hard-hitting funk-rock sound, the Chili Peppers broke through in a big way with 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which spawned the now-signature hits "Give It Away" and "Under The Bridge."

The band survived the temporary departure of Frusciante from 1992 to 1999 and struck multi-platinum again with 1999’s Californication.

But the band’s sometimes-volatile chemistry became strained during recording sessions for their next album, By The Way.

In particular, Flea felt Frusciante had become too possessive of the music-writing process and ignored his ideas–a sentiment that, as Flea revealed in a recent Rolling Stone cover story, nearly caused him to quit the band.

Smith says he was surprised by Flea’s revelations. But that situation makes sense in hindsight.

"I didn’t feel a big tension, but there was some," Smith says of the By The Way sessions.

"[Frusciante] had a real preconceived notion of how he wanted the stuff he was coming up with to sound. He kind of had more of an idea of what he wanted prior to [the recording] and [didn’t] let everyone do his own thing to it. I think that he knew, not at the time, but afterwards. He was like, that’s kind of a selfish way of being and I’m not using these other musicians to their fullest."

SMELLS LIKE TEAM SPIRIT

So a team ethic returned. And Smith says life outside of the band also helped improve the chemistry between the four musicians. Today Smith is married, Flea is engaged, and Kiedis and Frusciante are in long-term relationships.

"I think that we’ve found a balance," Smith said. "And if you’re happy at home and in your home life, then that’s going to carry over into your, if you want to call it your work place, or whatever it is that you do."

Ultimately, Stadium Arcadium brings back more of the funk influence that defined the band’s early albums. Songs like "Hump de Bump," "Charlie," and "Readymade" deliver plenty of slamming beats to go with a good deal of melodic impact.

And while Smith says it’s tempting for the band to stock its live set with Stadium Arcadium songs, the band is wise enough to avoid it.

"You can’t just do that," he said. "You have to play some of the old chestnuts that people come to enjoy and are part of the reason they come to see us play. So we do play about six or seven new songs a night, and we switch those up from town to town and night to night."