I think it’s working and it’s still growing and the most important thing is the three of them are three of the greatest people I could ever consider friends.
Josh Klinghoffer has been interviewed for Winnipeg Free Press. There’s a brief history of the band and then a short interview with Josh where he talks about working with the band, the mundane trials of touring versus the feeling you get when playing liv,e and Chris Cornell’s death.
So glad that the souvenirs have evolved and you can now buy t-shirts hahhaha A brilliant little interview from the original master recording made in 1988. Many thanks to Richard Alan White.
Rolling Stone is running an article on ’10 things you didn’t know about BSSM’ and you can read it HERE
Radio.com is also running an interesting article.
And Chad Smith has been interviewed discussing the album:
Transcript:
Loudwire interview with Chad Smith for 25th Anniversary of Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Blood Sugar Sex Magik turns 25. Pheew! I can’t believe that it’s that long when we made that record. It doesn’t seem like it. You know the band was in a very exciting place creatively at that time. I remember it was the first time that Rick Rubin had worked with us and we recorded in this house in Hollywood so we weren’t in a proper, regular studio and we all lived in the house. We had a bunch of songs and John especially was coming into his own as a song-writer and feeling very comfortable in the band. Prior to that, John and I had sort of joined around the same time and we had done Mother’s Milk in 1989 and we toured and the chemistry of the band was really, we were firing on a real high level. We toured a lot, got to know each other musically and personally a lot, and sort of solidified that chemistry and wrote all those songs together. It was fun, man. I think back on it and it went really quickly, I mean we did the album in two months and yeah, Anthony was singing more and the songs were becoming more melodic and this is the first time I remember, thinking like wow listening to the play back that this is the first time that the band’s organic natural sound and energy’s been captured on tape, as it was back then. And we were just really excited with the way the songs we were playing and the way they were coming out. And of course we were playing with Rick and Brendan O’Brien was engineering, went on to be a great, amazing producer. It was just like a perfect storm, everything was happening at the same time. And then, rock music was changing as well, you know, I think people were getting were tired of that whole Sunset Strip kind of hair metal thing which was sort of popular at that time… We were doing what we were doing anyway, as we had been for a long time but then bands like Nirvana came along and you know, the Seattle scene. We went on tour with Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins and I remember that being a really exciting tour, feeling that like, something really exciting is happening in music. And we were happy to be part of it. Yeah, that Nirvana record came out the same day as ours; I didn’t know that … but two pretty good records. But they were just so amazing. It was an incredible band. And again having Dave Grohl in the band, you know I think it was the first record they did with him. And you know those songs, obviously it’s an incredible record and we did get to tour together at the very end of ’91. Right after Christmas we did a west coast tour together. It was Pearl Jam was the opening band, Nirvana and then the Chili Peppers and we played up and down the west coast. And I just remember being in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, on New Year’s Eve and watching Nirvana launch into Teen Spirit and the crowd and the place was just like …amazing. Like nothing I have ever felt before. It was so exciting and so, I just can’t explain the feeling. It was incredible. And just like, this is something, we are seeing something really amazing. And they were great and, you know, it was a great time for music and we were just happy to be at the right time when it was all going on. And, it’s probably my favourite because of those reasons I said, it’s probably my favourite record of mine to make with the band. I love all of our records and they all have a special place, but because it was happening at that time and the band becoming, we became pretty popular after that record and ‘Under The Bridge’ came out a few months later and everything sort of changed for us and our band. But those initial six months was like really cool.
First dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play America have been announced with more to be added!
January 5 | San Antonio, TX | AT&T Center ^
January 7 | Houston, TX | Toyota Center ^
January 8 | Dallas, TX | American Airlines Arena ^
January 10 | New Orleans, LA | Smoothie King Center ^
January 12 | Memphis, TN | FedExForum ^
January 14 | Tulsa, OK | BOK Center ^
January 15 | Wichita, KS | Intrust Bank Arena ^
January 18 | St. Louis, MO | Scottrade Center ^
January 20 | Lincoln, NE | Pinnacle Bank Arena ^
January 21 | Minneapolis, MN | Target Center ^
February 2 | Detroit, MI | Joe Louis Arena *
February 4 | Toronto, ON | Air Canada Centre *
February 7 | Boston, MA | TD Garden *
February 10 | Buffalo, NY | Key Bank Center *
February 12 | Philadelphia, PA | Wells Fargo Arena *
February 15 | New York, NY | Madison Square Garden *
March 2 | Denver, CO | Pepsi Center *
March 4 | Glendale, AZ | Gila River Arena *
March 5 | San Diego, CA | Valley View Casino Center *
March 7 | Los Angeles, CA | Staples Center *
March 12 | Oakland, CA | Oracle Arena *
March 15 | Portland, OR | Moda Center at Rose Quarter *
March 17 | Seattle, WA | KeyArena *
March 18 | Vancouver, BC | Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena *
^ Support = Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Jack Irons
* Support = Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Pre-sale tickets available Wednesday, September 21st at 10am local, except Los Angeles which begins on Tuesday, September 20th at noon PT. Log in to the RHCP Community for your unique password. Go to your PROFILE and click USER SETTINGS. Your unique pre-sale password will be under YOUR PROMO CODES.
General on sale starts Friday, September 23rd at 10am local for all dates, except the following cities begin at noon local: Dallas, Tulsa, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Toronto, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. General on sale for San Antonio begins on Saturday, September 24th at 10am local.
Episode 60 of Sword and Scale featuring Dave Navarro can be listened to/downloaded in this link for anyone interested: Episode 60 of Sword and Scale
In the episode, Navarro talks about his film, “Mourning Son”, which details the events leading up to, and surrounding, his mother’s brutal murder when he was just 15 years old.
Many thanks to Rachel for the info!
Josh Klinghoffer has been interviewed for The Daily Record. During the interview he talks about playing Scotland’s T in the Park Festival following a concert the previous day in Moscow and also the muddy conditions there:
“T in the Park came during a strange week because we had done a lot of travel.
“We had overnighted from Moscow so when we got to T in the Park it was a strange, gloomy, muddy summer’s day after we had just been in Russia. We didn’t know which way was up.
“I remember being a little surprised to return to the mud, though I guess you expect it from time to time up there at T in the Park.
He then goes on to say that he and band were unhappy at how far away the fans were from the stage:
“I remember having a good time at the show, though the crowd were quite a bit further away than usual, which I didn’t like. I like the crowd to be as close to the band as possible.”
He also discusses the whole Fox TV debate where Fox news presenter, Greg Gutfeld, called the Red Hot Chili Peppers the worst band in the worse only to then issue an apology saying he meant to call them the worst band in the universe.
He said: “Much like most of the things they report, they are quite incorrect about that, too. They know they are ridiculous. We don’t need to tell Fox News they’re a joke.”
The Fox presenter’s comments came after seeing an article about Flea meeting a gorilla, called Koko, from the California’s Gorilla Foundation and he compared the animal to Anthony Kiedis (who came off unfavorably in the comparison). Josh explained that he’d heard the meeting between Flea and Koko was going to happen but that he doesn’t feel he’ll be replaced in the band after Koko was videoed playing Flea’s bass:
“I was at a girlfriend’s wedding in the mountains so I didn’t see it straight away. It looks like an amazing experience but it doesn’t look like I should feel threatened.”
The end of the interview talks about how Josh has been received by RHCP fans and that some have not been welcoming after he replaced previous guitarist John Frusciante and how he deals with that reaction.
Josh added: “I still continue to get flak. The internet is a scary place.
“You can’t help but notice a nasty comment on YouTube when you go there to look at a live performance video of yourself or some footage of how the band used to play a song.
“There is lots of lovely footage too but it is funny that people can be so insensitive and think that it means something to post their negative comments online.
“In the back of my head, when Flea initially asked me to join the band, I considered everything – including all the flak I might get from people who are devoted to my predecessor.
“You have to keep reminding yourself that it is make believe and doesn’t really reflect the way everyone thinks – positive or negative. That’s why we are in such a strange political climate.
Source and full article: The Daily Record
Gigwise have interviewed Andy Gilll (Gang of Four) for the release of a new live album and during the interview, Gill’s time producing the Red Hot Chili Peppers was mentioned:
But Gill’s highest profile producing assignment wasn’t always such a love-in. When Gill produced The Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s eponymous debut, things reportedly got so bad members of the band defecated on his desk. He recalls the origins of some of the frustrations.
“They were these kids who’d never been in the studio before so had no idea how anything worked,” he says. “So there was one time I tried to put compression on Anthony (Kiedis’s) vocals and he couldn’t understand what I was trying to do. He’d say ‘I was it to sound bigger, not smaller!’. And I had to try and explain to him that it would make it sound bigger. So it was tough trying to explain the process.”
A large source of friction came from the young Californians’ insistence that everything had to be “real and organic”, according to Gill.
“Another time I tried to get the drummer (Cliff Martinez) to play along to the click track and they wouldn’t have it because they say it was playing with a machine and not a human’” he says.
“So we reached a compromise where they drummer played a cowbell along to the click track and they’d play along to that.”
This absurd agreement perhaps explains why the marriage of Gang of Four, a band whose aesthetic couldn’t have less to do with protecting the man against machine, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers was not always a happy one.
Source and full article: Gigwise
Many thanks to Graeme for the link.
Flea: “Next thing I knew two weeks later I was onstage rocking out like a feral beast and I realised that was something for me that was so immediate and so intense and I had a much better chance of girls liking me when I did it.”
Presenter: Girls liked you more playing the guitar than the trumpet?
Flea: “Girls much more, especially back then, liked a guy in a rock band way better than like a jazz kid geek in a suit with a trumpet.”
I’ve finally written up (where does the time go?!) and added the transcript to the Australian interview that was aired on May 29th. The video link has also been updated as the previous one was removed- watch it while you can just in case this version gets removed too! You can find the link and transcript HERE
All members of RHCP are interviewed but Anthony Kiedis and Flea are the main ones featured and there are lots of interesting comments and details about their friendship and the band.
I’ve also scanned and uploaded the latest version of OOR magazine from The Netherlands (06 2016). I knew there was a retrospective photo of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the front and a review of ‘The Getaway’ but I had no idea there was also a 10 page article (it seems to be a history of the band) until I received it today (many thanks to my lovely friend Wil who rushed out to get the magazine and sent it to me!). Lots of pictures- the cover gives some idea as to what may be inside (Warning! Maybe don’t open next to Grandma or young children!). You can see full scans HERE for reference purposes but if you are in The Netherlands and can buy a copy please do.
Last night (April 29th 2016) saw the Red Hot Benefit Comedy, Music & Quinceanera take place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Beneficiaries from the event included Cancer for College and The Silverlake Conservatory of Music.
The evening centered around the drumming talents of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ own Chad Smith and actor Will Ferrell returning to the theme of their drum-off on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ back in 2014 for a re-match.
This video starts with some of the pre-show warm up trivia, some interviews and then swaps to footage of the actual 2016 show (about 11 minutes in) which begins with a clip from the original drum off with Jimmy Fallon. The new drum off them takes place with guest appearances by drummers including Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters, Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Tommy Lee (from the late, great Motley Crue but who only clapped rather than play the drums). It concluded with Mick Fleetwood playing a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’ accompanied by a marching band, the USC Trojans (who looked more like Roman centurions than anything Troy related but what does this English girl know?!).
There was also other entertainment including Devo and a brief set by RHCP…
Credit: Dave Rat
Set List:
Can’t Stop
Snow
Otherside
Californication
By The Way
Encore: Higher Ground
UPDATE: This video shows the whole show; some from back stage and there are clips of the person who took it and side views too but it gives those of us who weren’t there a better idea of what happened!
Please note: Videos and photos are only really starting to come out now. I will update if there’s anything else 🙂
Many thanks to Angra who was my LA reporter once again! And Shalhevet for extra information.
Scan: cover
For people who don’t know, the Rockinfreakapotamus magazines are the ones Blackie Dammett was behind during his time as Head Honcho of the RHCP fan club. They were sent out to members (four per year?) as part of their fan club subscription. I’ve managed to get six of these magazines myself and all six are now copied and online:
Rockinfreakpotamus Magazine index
If anyone can help out with any of the others, I’d love to hear from you- whether you can scan them, photograph them or want to sell them. I’d love to get as many of these online as I can as a record of all that Blackie did for the Chili Peppers’ fans and so those of us who weren’t members of the fan club at that time get to enjoy them too.