Tsunami

Nearly twenty-five years of existence, a story worthy of the greatest novels, some unforgettable records. The RHCP, like it or not, will leave their mark on the rock history. They turn up today with “Stadium Arcadium”, a 25 tracks double album, but the Red Hot today what is it exactly?

Funny atmosphere

Los Angeles in all its splendour: Sunset Boulevard stretching out its palm trees under a fierce sun for a month of February and the Chateau Marmont, the hotel for stars par excellence, opens its magnificent doors to us. Ken is having a quick dip in a swimming pool overloaded with vegetation and Barbie, in her little blue T-shirt, is trying to control a dog-like dog that in fact looks like a rat-like rat. Everything is here. Apparently Brad Pitt was in the plane (“without Angelina”, says the customs officer) and Kirsten Dunst and Courtney Love are having lunch at the restaurant up there. Welcome to the land of glitters, superficiality and pasteboard. Of ridicule too, a bit. Funny atmosphere to come to listen to the new record of one of the craziest band of the planet, strange surroundings to talk with four lads who, that was a time, walked naked on stage, a sock threaded on sex for only get-up. Time has gone by since the first meeting between Anthony Kiedis and Michael Balzary (aka Flea) in 1977 in a Californian high school. This famous meeting was to give birth, six years later, to a journey of a thousand adventures, a story of friends united for better or worse for twenty-three years: The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Funk, sex, drugs, rock, alcohol, death, disappointment, success, cinema, love, musical turn, separation and reconciliation, the RHCP have gone through almost all stages, happy and less happy, that musical life and life as such can offer. And inevitably, the animal is back on its feet, giving thanks to an unfailing friendship and integrity made of concrete.

I played in the street

And today, in this luxurious hotel, twenty-three years after their forming, are the Red Hot still a mates story? “Yes, RHCP is still a story of friends, says Flea (bass). This band has always been a story of friends. Anthony and I started the Red Hot in 1983, we were already friend and we explored everything together, we explored life. In many ways, this friendship is the backbone of the band, even if, on the other side, everyone is a part of it in a same way and offers something different.”

“Yeah, more than ever, adds Anthony Kiedis (vocals), but I can also say that it becomes increasingly clearer to me. The beauty, power and perfection of imperfection in friendship. Recently I was told that sometimes you get a gift for life, which no one can remove. Even when you have the illusion these things have been removed, they always come back to you, they’re yours for life. I never really thought about it, but Flea in particular, and John, and Chad, are these gifts for me. I met Flea when we were 15 and whatever happens – and it happened a lot – our friendship could not be destroyed. Even when we didn’t like each other, even when people died, people left the band, or moved or married or had different ideas. Our friendship has been restored again and again. And at a certain point, we only have to say: OK, I can not fight, we are clearly meant to be a gift to each other for our entire lives. And I think when we become aware of it, it becomes even more special. It is rather strange that after all these years, the desire to create a decent friendship still exists. There was much conflict and weird things have occurred throughout our way … But I love these guys …”

“It’s also about motivation, says the bassist. For us, already in 1983, our motivation was to do our best, all that matter was to do the best music as possible, the best show as possible. While the only thing that young bands are generally interested in is to be famous. And that could kill any other band. If you try to be famous, it’s over, the end. Maybe we will make a good disc, once, and that’s all. And especially if you have to work with other people, if wanting to be famous is all that matters, so it’s like drugs, a strange kind of addiction, you can never have enough of it. You need it to love yourself. Wanting to be famous isn’t the right way in music because music is about what you can give and not about what you can take. Fame is deadly. Especially if you grew up in LA where everyone wants to be close to celebrity or to mix with famous people, to feel this magical power, all of this is so empty. It’s like cocaine, it’s bullshit!”

Well, celebrity status has yet some good things… Don’t bury our head in the sand; the glitters in the room where we stand are pretty nice… “Yes, of course, I know that we live rock stars lives, of course, we’re rock stars who live in a rock stars world, but the deeper motives, what make that everyone wants to do what he does, each one is the only one to know them. And I know that my deeper motive isn’t to be famous, I don’t care to be respected, and I don’t care to stand in front of the public in the right way. My goal is only to play good music and that’s what it’s about is that band. I like the fact that we are popular, it’s true. I like this change, the fact I grew up. But you know, about a month ago, I was in Australia and I played in the street! I took my trumpet and a hat and I played in the street! I swear, I’m not kidding, and just for the fun. Yes, but no, I earned 25 dollars. A good fish & chips!”

Memory, a strange thing

Many of us would have paid more than $25 to see Flea play in the street but, better than pretty words and anecdotes, it’s “Stadium Arcadium”, Kiedis and friend’s new album which proves the Chilis are still the beautiful story it has always been. Within a few months in studio they recorded no less than 38 music pieces… “Initially, we wanted to record 3 albums of 12 tracks, explains Chad Smith (drums), all in one go! But the major didn’t really agree: too expensive, too hard to promote properly, etc… We said: “well, we will release them several months apart, or something like that.” But it’s true that it could upset people. Furthermore the idea that our music can be release in a year and a half from now, that is, 3 years after the composition, is too long. We created this music all at once, all together, so it was more logical to release the whole thing at one time. And we ended up with 25 tracks. Damn!” We can regret that among the 13 tracks turned down is the one Omar Rodriguez (from Mars Volta) participated, but the guy reassures us: “We selected those that seemed the best and that seemed to match together. But surely others will come on B-sides, on iTunes or something like that … And then there’s also Billy Preston playing on this disc. But we’re quite reserved, we’re not mad of featuring and everything, having guests only to have guests does not interest us, and why not Puff Daddy (laughs). We call people for special needs, such as a cello, an instrument which we are not playing or that kind of thing.“

In nearly twenty-five years of existence, successfully churning out an 25 songs album is a proof of a creative and physical health of iron for a band that has experienced black periods not so long ago … “Memory is a strange thing, said Anthony, it can be very selective, and I tend to remember more clearly the good times, those funny or productive. And I do not know why, but I forget the most painful, the most violent. This is where we are today that interests me. I am aware of our history, but I do not live in the past. I have to say that I like every piece of everything that has happened so far, and whether some of them were very difficult, everything seemed to have a goal, to have occurred for one particular reason. Today the band is healthy and works hard. Everyone has been very conscientious in his simple act of getting up in the morning and come to work, and it is an important step in the process, just take the time to work everyday. And the understanding was very good; there were far fewer critics in the band, much more acceptance and contribution from everyone.”

I’m fascinated by Brandy

And if there’s a member of the band with which the words acceptance and contribution make sense, it is the guitarist John Frusciante, a completely atypical and usually reserved and introverted character, he has simply changed. Both physically and psychologically (he wears a bright smile and, incredibly, agrees to talk about himself in all honesty) that musically: he puts solos, real guitar solos in almost all the songs … and is more prolific in interviews. A metamorphosis hard to believe … “ I am constantly changing and passing by different phases all the time. At one time, I was more Carlos Alomar than Mick Ronson. They both played with Bowie, but Mick Ronson was more in the solos while Carlos Alomar was more in the texture, with very good rhythm. I was more in it. I saw the rhythmic guitar as a form of art. Let’s say I have changed and that today I would rather be Mick Ronson, I play more bluesy, or offbeat, whereas on the previous album everything has to be well square, well in time. I was always imposing limits on myself. For this record, I decided to adopt the style of someone more expressing himself, taking more risks, which finds its own groove in music. There was a time when the solo was everywhere, now it seems that we fled the solos.

And I had enough of that. I want to move in this direction, I think the guitar solo is something you should want and seek in a song, rather than something you try to hide. It’s connected with the fact to open myself as a person and to expose myself more and more. Even in interviews, I’m surprising myself talking about things that really concern me, without ulterior motive. At the time of “By The Way” and “Californication,” when you asked me a question, I became very suspicious, I would not say much about the real me because I thought it was going to fall back on me, I felt like I was going to trivialize it, or it would be distorted. Today I do not care, for me it is not worth hiding me all the time. My girlfriend helped me a lot to open, to be myself, to be honest with myself and my family. And in a sense, it was the same with my guitar playing, this is what gave me the freedom to play guitar like that on this album. Before I was imposing limits on me all the time, now I exposed myself much more…

But getting back to solos: in the 50’s and until the 60’s, guitarists began to have strong fingers, to acquire more technique, to play faster. In the 70’s, they were even faster and have more technique and even more in the 80’s! But then we started to lose something in terms of musicality and substance. There were some musicians who were very good at that time who were very quick, very good at tapping all the tricks and techniques, but it was somewhat too far in the art, and it was to the detriment of musicality. People in the 80’s have forgotten the importance of simply writing a beautiful song. Some of them were still writing good songs, like the firsts Ozzy Osbourne for example, where there were some very good songs, but in Steve Vai and David Lee Roth’s albums, there were no songs as good as those of Led Zeppelin, for example. Something had been sacrificed. Then people like me came with ‘BSSM’ or Nirvana with Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam and all those who avoid playing anything that is like this kind of technical play. And it was far cooler, more musical, the songs were better. From there, people have somehow forgotten this guitar playing. And it’s like this for 15 years. I feel that it is the right time to wonder if there is not again something interesting to do with the guitar solos. Because it was not a bad idea, and there were no bad intentions in what Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai played because they did nothing different from what Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix did in the sixties they just tried to be faster, stronger, more technical. But they were not aware at the time they went a little too far…

Now, in regard to my playing, I only try to think about doing new things with old ideas, new ways of playing, new rhythms. Maybe I play the same notes as those played by Jimi Hendrix for example, but I give them a rhythm, I put them in contexts where he would not have necessarily put them. I say: OK, if playing faster is not the answer, and then let’s try to see what we can do by making these old ideas in other contexts in which songs wouldn’t have been played in the 60’s…

The idea of a best of

Many people have done great things regarding guitar in the last twenty years, and it was above all about texture, and I learn much of these people. There were good guitarists since the late 80’s, who did not have much technique but who had very good ideas, who had produce interesting sounds. And I learned from all these people as much as from guitarists like Jimmy Page. Now I just try to merge these two streams. While at the time of ‘By The Way’, I ignore people like Jimmy Page and I was concentrated only on ideas, simple things. Today I try to combine the two, I try to take ideas from bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, for example, where the guitar really does not sound like a guitar, or things like Clapton did in Cream and things like that, and I try to combine all these styles that I love. But all this happens naturally, I refer to these guitarists in interview, but otherwise I do not think about it, because I spent years studying these people, so it became natural, most of the time I don’t think of other guitarists. I’ll think more of Brandy for example, the R&B singer, her phrasing, her voice, her rhythm. I am fascinated by Brandy, by her music and her singing. Most often, she affects my playing more than most people I have mentioned, in a conscious way. It is important to remember that it must first be a question of music, and no physical way of playing that instrument, and that is what guitarists have forgotten for a period, I think.”

A return to the solos, a 25 tracks double album, some will see a commercial risk, and yet this is not the case because the specificity of this disc is its diversity: a mixture of styles, periods. While some pieces are in the tradition of the previous “By The Way”, others clearly revive the beginnings of the band to offer a range of music, a best of all what the RHCP have been and are. «Yes, confirms Flea, I feel that we picked up everything. We keep the initial explosion of what we were, and we only continue to grow, to do something bigger, deeper.” And Chad added: “I totally agree with the idea of a ‘best of’, but there was nothing premeditated about it. We simply did what we do all the time: to lock ourselves in a room and improvise. And yes, it got out a result which brings together all the elements of music that influence us, that we played and play. That was natural. ”

“People seem to see here a kind of reminiscence of the energy and sound of our beginnings, ends Anthony, in particular on some of the funkiest tracks of the disc. For us, this period of our history is never dead, we always had a relationship with it, but this is not necessarily clear to people. There are songs like “Charlie,” “Tell Me Baby,” “Hump de Bump” or “Warlocks” which are clearly more in the funky side… ”

Private Contest

And that’s where fans from the outset, those who have never recovered from “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, will provide a curious ear to “Stadium Arcadium”, especially since the album was recorded in the same (and since mythical) studio where the famous “BSSM” was born. “One of the reasons why we chose this studio, says Chad, is the one where we have recorded the two previous albums has closed. The good thing is it was bought by a guy who will build a new studio and not make a fucking grocery or anything. So we went back there. We were among the first to record there in 1991 for ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magic’. But there were lots of other bands since then… Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, System Of A Down, Mars Volta, Love and Rockets … and to be back, in fact, I just find this feeling of an old girlfriend who had fucked in the meantime with all these guys. It has a bit dated but it’s good to see her again, there is good energy. This is a good place to make music, it’s just different”. Anthony laughs: “It is really a horrible analogy. (Laughs) I’m glad that Chad is feeling it, because I do not at all.”
“For the mix of the album, Kiedis resumed, we made a contest, a private one, not public, but a contest. We went to four professionals in mixing, two of them very young in their career, with almost no big record, and two others who have much experience, veterans. We listened to the four mix indiscriminately, we did not know who does what, then we selected two people among the four. And it turned out that the two we selected were the two who had no experience … and veterans, those who always win the job … well … they have lost by far. At first we hired just one of the two inexperienced, Ryan Hewitt, but the job was too big because there was [ONE MISSING LINE!] unknown second, Andrew Scheps. They have done an incredible mixing job, something very cool. It does not sound like the traditional RHCP, there is a new dimension here thanks to these people completely new to the musical circle.”

Hard to know more as our four musketeers seriously starting to be tired, I have to say that they promote for three days immediately after a weekend of shooting for the video of ‘Dani California’ (first single, far from being the best song of the disc …), directed by Tony Kaye (“Amercan History X”) and obviously worth its weight in gold…

“There was a lot of fun on this video, Anthony continues. I think it will be one of the most interesting videos we’ve ever made. We worked with the director Tony Kaye, he is English and very eccentric. And it turned out it was great to work with him. He is not complicated, he is not an asshole, and he is not strange or anything. He is probably one of the nicest people with whom we have worked so far. His concept for the video was to trace the rock history starting with the late 50’s and until today. All significant rock’n’roll trends, those who wrote History. We’re lucky enough to be born at a time when 50 years of history of a movement took place, and we have experienced the majority of it, we wanted to pay tribute to this. It began in the late 50’s with rockabilly and rock’n’roll of the early 60’s with the Beatles, the English psychedelic explosion of the late sixties and the glam periode, funk, punk, post-punk, goth, metal of the 80’s, the grunge movement of the early nineties, and at the end we become ourselves. We played a total of ten characters! It took us two days with a lot of costumes, wigs changes. We had fun. But this is not a parody, it’s a tribute. »

We’ve calmed down a bit

Finally, Chateau Marmont or not, glitters or not, it seems the the Red Hot still really are the bunch of mates who would only want to laugh, play, grow up, but not too much getting old… “I feel like being a work in progress throws Anthony. I started very late in life regarding maturity, so I think some things I live through my early forties, I should have live them in my twenties. I live a little weird kind of delayed development… ”

“We’ve calmed down a bit … confesses Chad. But we are very passionate, we love what we do, and if we shouldn’t feel this energy anymore, then we would stop everything. We only are a rock band! And if we separate tomorrow, then I will continue to do my music and I think it’s the same for others.”

“We are happy, ends Flea, there is a very powerful link between us, we know each others very well, it is also for this reason that it can be very difficult sometimes. But right now, it’s fine. I can even say that I feel better today in that band than when we started. I feel like starting a new music era, I am proud to be in a band that grows up, that change over time. There are many times that it might have go off or in the wrong direction, but we always carry out successfully to straighten up by simply staying on the way that was the most beautiful for us. Our music is honest, this is what we are. And this album is the best we could have done. If someone does not like this album, then it does not like the Red Hot.”

– Aliz Tale