Chilis Split as Flea burns out?

Glastonbury shows pulled as drug and rift rumours flare!

The future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is the subject of intense speculation this week, following the cancellation of the band’s scheduled headlining appearance at this month’s Glastonbury Festival.

The LA quartet’s record company Warner Brothers stated last week that bassist Flea is suffering from “chronic fatigue syndrome” as the result of heavy touring, although the band have now been off the road for roughly five months.

The Warners spokesperson commented: “The doctor has said that he (Flea) can’t go on the road. The disease causes extreme tiredness. Some mornings you can’t pick up a cup, let alone a guitar.”

However, US sources claim that the Glastonbury show has been pulled because guitarist Arik Marshall has been sacked. Marshall replaced John Frusciante last year before the Chilis headlined the Lollapalooza tour.

It is rumoured that Marshall has been dismissed because his writing proved incompatible with that of the rest of the band. The Chilis have just begun preparing the follow-up to the multi-million selling ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ album.

Wilder rumours suggested that vocalist Anthony Kiedis had suffered a drug overdose, but Kiedis appeared in good health on US TV recently when he performed a duet with Madonna which ended in a heated embrace!

Kiedis has admitted developing a serious drug problem prior to the death of the band’s original guitarist Hillel Slovak, but following Slovak’s heroin overdose, Kiedis kicked the habit. Ironically, Kiedis wrote of his drug addiction ion the band’s biggest hit to date, ‘Under The Bridge’.