If Taylor Hawkins ever steps away from his Foo Fighters drum kit for good, the rest band can take heart: There’s a talented drummer out there who knows the music and knows how to get attention too. Of course, since he’s just 7 years old, they’d have to work around his early bedtime.
Viral video star Jaxon Smith is already entertaining crowds online with his beats on the Foo Fighters' "Pretender," as well as songs from The Who, Heart, Rush and more. On Tuesday morning the phenom and his father visited TODAY to share his story (so far).
“From a young age, I’d say from the age of 1, he took spoons on our coffee table and put about -- to my wife’s horror -- about 500 dents in a brand new coffee table,” dad Kevin Smith recalled. “I thought, ‘What’s going on here?’”
Whatever it was, it marked incredible progress for an infant that started life with the odds against him in a neonatal intensive care unit, weighing in a just one pound.
As time went on, Jaxon continued to thrive, and his unexpected talent took over.
“At the age of 2, (he played) on the sinks, with toothbrushes every morning,” his father explained. “It just evolved to chopsticks on the couch. We probably got him his first kit when he was 3-years-old. He was a bit sloppy on it for a while, (but) he’s totally taught himself. It’s like 100 percent Jax. I don’t know how he did it ... just watching live concerts of bands that I like on TV.”
That’s right -- there’s been no formal training for the tyke. But Dad admits there’s a chance that some of the talent has been handed down. After all, two of Jaxon’s grandparents were music teachers, and his mother knows a thing or two about rhythm as a dancer.
As for Jaxon’s drumming motivation, he explained that for himself.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just feel really good at it.”
To prove just how good at it he is, the pint-sized performer put on a show.
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