Red Hot Psycho Sex

Rip It Up, Issue 171, 1 October 1991, Page 18

Red Hot Psycho Sex

What can you say about the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Since their debut as Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem some seven years ago, they've been flying off on a dangerously individual trajectory ever since. Pretty much single-handedly they helped re-establish the concept of a rock band getting funky, spawning a generation of imitators in the process.

They got George Clinton to produce their second album Freaky Styley in 1985, then turned around and released The Uplift Moto Party Plan two years later, reaffirming their rock roots with tracks like 'Backwoods', a blistering combination of Hendrix and punk mutated by the Peppers' own wildness. Tragedy struck in 1988 with the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak due to a heroin overdose, but rather than give up, vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea decided to power on. (Drummer Jack Irons had decided to kick back in the Valley for a while, although he does currently have a new band called Eleven.) Collecting Thelonious Monster guitarist John Frusciante and itinerant drummer Chad Smith, Flea and Anthony got the momentum rolling again with Mother's Milk— a justifiably acclaimed album that proved the Peppers had not forgotten the lessons learnt from the previous albums — it was pretty much their definitive work.

Until now, that is. After being sequestered in a house/studio in the Hollywood Hills with producer Rick Rubin and some ghosts, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have come up with Blood Sugar Sex Magik, an album so good it's almost painful. In celebration of this fact we've taken Flea away from an evening of hanging out with his daughter to give us the oil on the new opus. Like how come Mr Slayer 'n' Danzig himself, Rick Rubin? . "He's the type of guy who's a good producer to have for a rock band, funk band or whatever you wanna call it. He's very intelligent, very clear-headed, very knowledgeable about music and very in-tune with youth culture. One of the main reasons we used him is because before we made this record we knew we wanted to make it very simple and live, not a lot of overdubs and stuff. We wanted to make a real natural sounding record, so when you listened to it you could hear these guys getting into it, and that's

what Rick did. He didn't over-exert himself, he just helped us with turnarounds and arrangements and stuff, and just let us go." Doing the recording in a house rather than a studio seems like a pretty cool deal. "It was really relaxing in there and we just got into the music and it felt beautiful to us, so we played it the way we felt it. I think there are some songs on there that are more relaxed than things we've done before, but I don't mistake that for lack of intensity. I don't think you can play something that's soft and beautiful and not have it as intense as something that's wild and thrashing and exploding in your face like a wild baboon having an orgasm. Also we didn't want to go into a sterile recording studio where someone else creates the atmosphere, we wanted to create our own atmosphere and be able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, without dealing with studio management and attorneys and receptionists and stuff. We didn't want to have to deal with this thing where you go home at night and someone else comes in and uses the equipment and puts their vibe on it. Like Poison could have been there before, putting their vibe on it. What if Poison had've been there? It would have destroyed the whole feeling we're trying to create. Also

all the good studios are caught up in being up to date with all the modern computer equipment and all that. We wanted to get a nice warm sound, away from the sterile modern technical sound, so in the studio we built in the house we used all old seventies equipment." Maybe that's what helps give this album its feel, 'cos to me it sounds a lot like one of those jammed out Funkadelic things, in fact I'd go as far as to say it's even funkier than Freaky Styley. "Yeah, I don't think we were as in-tune with ourselves then as we are now. We made some really innovative moves on that album, it seems to have influenced a lot of people, but this is the first record we've made where we've had the same lineup for two records. It's the first time we've been able to tour one record, then write and record another one together, so all the things that make a band good like telepathic communication when you're playing and stuff, these things have gotten stronger." The Chili Peppers seem to be a very spiritual combo. "Definitely, we spend so much time together now, Anthony and I have been hanging out very closely for like 13 or 14 years now, and we love each other very much, and that's something that can't be explained, it's something that comes out of being around each other so much." There's also a real link with the. public. I mean you guys are basically responsible for all this funkrock, good and bad, which makes you very influential men! "I feel proud that all these people have taken our music to heart, but we've always just done what we've wanted to. I mean we were influenced, by Funkadelic and Defunkt and James White and the Ohio Players and Led Zeppelin, and of course a lot of great LA punk bands like the Germs and Black Flag. So we were influenced by people without copying anyone. When you hear someone that's emotionally stirring, there's energy in there and that energy affects musicians and anyone who cares about music so if we can have that effect, that energy that hits people and makes them want to do something, then great." You guys pretty much evolved out of the punk scene in L.A. didn't you? 'Yeah, the punk scene in LA was great, there was a lot of serious hardcore music going down, a very vital great explosive thing that happened and we were definitely affected by it. The whole intensity of it was great. Like growing up on jazz as I did, and being able to see the beauty there, it was incredible to see that someone could play a simple punk rock song with three chords in it, and that was just as heavy as Coltrane taking these incredible saxophone solos. It was beautiful, it had authority and honesty and commitment and it shows in the simplest music and the most intense

music, and that's what we're about." I spent some time in LA with Henry Rollins and was amazed by how powerful and cool what he's doing is, it's like the most nihilistic scene ever has spawned all this positive development. "Definitely. I really dig Rollins, I mean he's done a lot of violent things in his day, but what he's doing is so beautiful, it's really wonderful but if you get in his way he'll get you out of his way real quick. For me, I have nothing but respect for Henry and what he's doing." You dedicated the new album to another great man, Mike Watt of Minutemen / Dos / Firehose fame. 'Yeah, we were just sitting around one day, and we were talking about what a great man Mike Watt is, what a great bass player he is and what a totally solid person he is, and someone said 'Hey, let's dedicate the album to him' and that was that." Okay, let's talk art for a moment. Those are some fine tattoos you're sporting on the Blood Sugar Sex Magiksleeve, are they mainly Hanky Panky's work? "A lot of it was done by Hanky Panky and a lot of mine were done by Bob Roberts. I'm in the middle of getting this one done on my back, this big Balinese face. It hurts to get those fuckin' things, you get these people who say 'Oh, it doesn't hurt at all' but it's like, 'Fuck you man, it hurts!' Hank also did the design on our album cover, and a guy called

Gus van Zandt took the photos. He directed Drugstore Cowboy and he has a new movie coming out called My Private Idaho with River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves and I'm also in it."

You're developing a bit of a side career in the movies it seems.

"I've done a lot of movies, but I'm into playing music. I'll do movies if someone asks me amd it's someone like Gus who I appreciate. He took the inner sleeve tattoo photos too. When we come to New Zealand I want to get a tattoo, a Maori tribal sort of thing." I know just the man to do it, you just show up here. Are we really going to see a tour? There's a constant rumour circulating about you guys touring down here. "Well, we start touring in a couple of weeks, when we get to New

Zealand I don't know. We tour here till the New Year then Europe then Australia and Japan, and hopefully New Zealand then. No, definitely New Zealand then, I promise we'll make it there man! I'm not good at this stuff, I just get on the bus and play the concerts, I'm no businessman."

So what can you say about the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Well, Flea pretty much summed it all up in one sentence.

"We just let it flow and do what feels natural and good at the time, it's a very natural human thing."

KIRK GEE