As the Red Hot Chili Peppers prepared to headline the coveted Isle of Wight festival over the weekend, the band’s influential drummer Chad Smith (Chickenfoot) made an impromptu visit to North West London’s Institute of Contemporary Music Performance on Friday, June 13th. Students at the Institute were surprised and excited by the visit from such a huge hero in the rock community the world over, queuing for hours to listen and jam with him.

Chad took a tour of the school’s premises before answering questions from the students about his career, his legendary drum off with actor Will Ferrell, and how he first met the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He spoke to the students in length about his pure passion for drumming. With a career spanning over three decades he enlightened the Institute students, made up of many aspiring musicians, with his experiences and advice about the music industry.

“There are no shortcuts, work hard. You have to put the work in. Play with as many other people as you can and learn as many different types of music as you can because it will always help you to become a more well-rounded musician.”

He went on to talk about music education and how important he felt it was. Commenting on the Institute Chad said: “You guys should just take advantage of how great this school is!”

Ian Edwards, Head of Marketing and Admissions at the Institute, stated: “I am so grateful to Chad for taking time out of his hectic schedule to visit us here at the Institute. Chad is such an inspirational musician and passionate communicator who is totally focused on supporting and encouraging our students to build real careers in the music industry. ”

Just last month, actor Will Ferrell and Chad Smith squared off in a drum battle on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. They turned their similarity in appearance into a hilarious joke.

Now, according to Alex Hudson of Exclaim, the pair have roped Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich into their facetious feud, and it seems that another drum-off is in the works.

When Spin recently asked Smith and Ferrell if they had any more drum battles planned, they mentioned Ulrich, saying, "Lars gets pissed because he gets mistaken for both me and Chad Smith. He can settle that score now, too."

Now, Ulrich has accepted the challenge. His full statement to Spin reads: "It was a little lonely on the sidelines during the first drum-off, given the somewhat forced nature of the lookalike element between Chad Smith and Will Ferrell, when I'm truly the one carrying that dead-ringer gene around! As for any further drum-offs, I'm sure that with a bit of practice, I could give Chad a run for his money. But Will? That's a whole different story. He rules the 'bad-ass drummer universe.' I mean, you're talking about a guy who's so next level, actually, so beyond next level, that he may just be completely unreachable! That said, I'm definitely up for the challenge... Bring it on!"

There's no word as to when or where the drum-off will happen.