Category Archives: Anthony Kiedis

Rick Rubin Comments on the New RHCP Album

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Rubin was talking on the Chris Jericho podcast and he has confirmed what we already assumed since both Flea and Chad have posted photos from his studio. Rubin is working on the new RHCP album. Here is the transcript of the relevant parts:

Transcript

CJ: When you worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, how do you corral them? I know you’ve worked with them for so many years. What was your role? I know they are obviously very artistic and very free in their jams and their song writing. Where did you fit in?

RR: It still is. We’re finishing the new album right now.

CJ: Ah, you’re working on the new record with them?

RR: Frusciante is back in the band.

CJ: I know that…

RR: And it’s unbelievable.

CJ: Chad is one of the best people on the planet. Just great… and one of the best drummers in the world and you know as you use them all the time

RR: Absolutely. I went to the first rehearsal that I was invited to after John re-joined the band and it made me cry. It was so thrilling seeing that group of people back together coz they just made such great music for such a long time together. It just hit me in an emotional way.
So with the Peppers we just talk about songs. They have really good habits in that they write lots of songs. It is something I’d say we probably developed together from the beginning; this idea of overwriting. You know, if there’s going to be twelve songs on an album, they might write fifty, they might write a hundred to find those twelve. And they we just talk, they play for me in rehearsal. We talk about song strengths, weaknesses, how to make them better, where they work, where they don’t and then we try new stuff. I don’t necessarily have the way to fix them, I just say what I think. I notice where the weaknesses are and just say, “This part going into that part doesn’t sound so good. Is there a better way to do it?” And then they come up with a better way.

***

The interviewer chats and mentions some albums ending with Stadium Arcadium.

RR: I hope you like the new stuff. If think if you like Stadium you might like this

CJ: Frusciante to me is like Adrian Smith in Iron Maiden or Phil Rudd in AC/DC, without that integral part, people might not realise but Frusciante is the Chili Peppers. Hopefully everything is cool coz they brought him back a third time and that rarely happens in rock ‘n’ roll.

RR:  And I would say that’s the combination. It’s when Flea and John play together something magic happens. When Chad plays with Flea and John, something magic happens. When Anthony sings based on what those guys play, it sounds like the Chili Peppers. And there are some flavours where it happens on the new album and it’s like, “Oh my God! Nobody else sounds like that. So quintessentially Chili Peppers…

You can hear the podcast here: Episode link

Rest In Peace Blackie Dammett

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Rest in Peace

Blackie Dammett/ John Kiedis

“Lord of the Sunset Strip”

7th December 1939-12th May 2021

The cruelty that is dementia has reached its inevitable end and Blackie, so sadly, passed away earlier today (12th May).
I know many of us here have fond memories of Blackie as the Head Honcho of the RHCP fan club. Others will have memories of someone who went on to become a dear friend, whether in real life or online. Some will know him as an actor and some of you will be family. You may only know him as the father of Anthony Kiedis and may have possibly have read his autobiography, ‘Lords of the Sunset Strip.’ He was also a talented artist, a collector of skulls and a champion of wolf dogs…

Blackie was a flamboyant, larger than life, character who blazed his own trail through life. His life certainly wasn’t conventional- nor was his method of parenting- and had its rollercoaster of ups and downs, but in later years he very much found his place leading the tribe of RHCP rockinfreakapotomi as president of the official fan club. He didn’t just produce the fan club magazine or organise meet-ups, but there was often a personal aspect too with individual letters or little mementos sent out to fans along the way. Blackie was an amazing link between the band and the RHCP fan base, and since his retirement, he has been very much missed having left a huge void in his wake.

I personally have missed my chats with Blackie about art and literature, & the crazy details of his life and his latest exploits. Helping with his book was fun and I was so delighted to be mentioned in the credits.

My thoughts and love, and I’m sure those of many of us, go to all of Blackie’s family and friends at this sad time, but especially to Peggy, Anthony, Everly Bear, Julie and Jen.
Rest in peace, my friend. Our friend. Head Honcho.

Rebecca

RHCP at Rock Werchter 2021 Cancelled

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Sad news, but not unexpected given the times… Rock Werchter, Belgium, has cancelled for this year. RHCP were due to perform. Although many festivals have cancelled for 2021, this is the first one featuring RHCP in the line up to do so.

So sorry for everyone with tickets <3

Rock Werchter will not take place this summer. The four-day music festival will be back in full swing in 2022, from 30 June to 3 July.
This is not a decision we have taken lightly and in recent months we have been talking to governments, experts and colleagues in here and elsewhere about how festivals could take place. With the great momentum on vaccine rollout, we had hoped that it might be possible, however we have come to the reluctant conclusion that given current restrictions we simply cannot prepare for a 2021 festival in the normal way. We want every fan and artist to enjoy the festival to the fullest, and with the current situation we could not achieve this for you.
Whilst we know that this is the right decision, we also know that this decision affects many: our employees, the technical crew, suppliers, artists and their entourages, all the local associations and their volunteers, and of course the fans. Our sector has been on hold for a whole year now. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the dark times are not over, even with the cautious restart happening soon. The once thriving live music industry needs government support. Belgian festivals are internationally renowned.
We have a special word of thanks to you, our fans and friends of the festival: YOU ROCK WERCHTER. Every time. Over and over again. You kept hoping during the dark days, showed understanding over the uncertain situation, and gave support to each other and to us. We cannot thank you enough. We look forward to making great memories together again in the future.
Rock Werchter will be back next year, in full swing and even much better than that. Some of the planned Rock Werchter 2021 acts will appear. New names will be added to the 2022 line-up too. The line-up and practical information will be revealed later. But you can make a note of these dates now. Strong as ever, we will be back from Thursday June 30 to Sunday July 3, 2022. Ticket holders will be contacted shortly by our ticket partner, Ticketmaster. They can choose to retain their ticket, carry it over to 2022, or ask to be given a credit to the value of their booking. This credit can be spent on any of the festivals that will take place at the Festivalpark in Werchter in 2021 and 2022. Ticket sales for Rock Werchter 2022 will resume later this year.

Spanish Edition of Red Hot Chili Peppers by Gaar

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I’ve just uploaded a load of photos of the Spanish edition of Red Hot Chili Peppers by Gillian G. Gaar and updated the band bibliography to include more details of this book.

Gaar: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Many thanks to Cesar for spending so much time helping out with this! 

Deep Kick Footage?

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A five minute clip, entitled ‘Deep Kick’, has been posted on YouTube by a long-time RHCP fan. Deep Kick was the name given to the “lost” documentary which was made/being made of the recording of RHCP’s One Hot Minute album. Video was filmed over the three year recording period, but the final documentary was never released. Only some brief clips have previously surfaced e.g. in the My Friends video and it’s not even known how much of the documentary was made/completed.

This recently uploaded video clip shows brief live footage of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and some shots of them in a coach and a car. Flea is seen conducting a group of children as they are recorded singing “It’s my aeroplane” for the song Aeroplane and there’s also a minute of him (heavily bearded) talking about his elephant tattoo and his “life” ideas for his daughter, Clara (she can do whatever she wishes as long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else or herself). It also features Chad bouncing his child on his lap while sitting at a drum set. The main footage in the clip though is of Henk Schiffmacher tattooing Anthony (dagger) at his tattoo studio in Amsterdam.

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To Finger Paint…

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A video recorded on January 1st, 1990, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers were touring London has (re)surfaced. Snippets of this have been online in the past, but this is the first time we have seen the whole thing. The video features all members of RHCP although Anthony Kiedis and Flea feature more heavily- John and Chad are seen more in the background. Enjoy!


Blast from the Past: More Music Interview

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More Music Interview from Canada

Clips from this interview have been around previously, but the whole interview hasn’t been online before. John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis are interviewed in front of a live audience both inside and outside the studio. They answer questions from the audience or others sent in by viewers. They also take pizza orders and pizza is delivered to the studio which is then shared.

Enjoy!

 

 

RHCP Cairo Documentary

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Update on the Cairo/ Pyramids Concert/ Documentary. URGENT ACTION NEEDED! Please help try to get a change of decision! (Details below).

Sadly, this has now been pulled by RHCP’s management and currently will NOT be released due to the change in band members.

So many of us would love to have that documentary and we’ve been looking forward to its release. We saw the live footage of the concert at the time and it was amazing. And there’s the interviews, etc. which we haven’t seen. I know people were looking forward to it even more given the cancellation of the upcoming US shows (and expected cancellation of the others) and there was a lot of excitement about the news it was coming yesterday (this is why the post about it was removed).

If you would like to see this, please could you message ASAP Flea and Chad on their social media accounts and especially RHCP’s management- there is a chance we could get this decision reversed today if enough people say they would like it:

https://www.instagram.com/qprimemgmt/