Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has reacted to retirement rumors in a new interview with TMZ.
“Yeah, I don’t ever know, that’s just silly talk. We never really look past the immediate future, but we’re on tour right now, we’re rocking out, we’re feeling the spirit and letting the music move us.
To be honest, since the day we started this band nearly 35 years ago, I’ve never ever known what’s next, or what’s around the corner, or anything. I think the power of the band lies in that, kind of just staying in the moment, and staying with the energy that’s moving.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith was asked by Eddie Trunk earlier this month how much longer he thinks RHCP can keep going. Ultimate-Guitar transcribed Smith’s response.
“We were riding in a van after a gig and Flea was like, ‘How much longer do you think we should… How do you think we should end this?’ [Chuckles]
“I was like, ‘I don’t know!’ I want to make records, I still love making records, but the touring part… I don’t know if we can continue…”
“I mean, three of us are 54 years old – Anthony, me and Flea. Josh is 38 or 39, so he’s a young man.”
“But I don’t know if we can continue to do the long tours – the year, year-and-a-half we normally do. That’s a good question.”
“Like the next album cycle – another tour, it would be something that will maybe be brought up, like, ‘Will we do tour the way we have in the past?’ I know Metallica does…”
“James has kind of a thing, like 50 shows a year, that’s it. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.
“So it takes longer to get around the world. That’s the thing, everybody wants to see you, you’re so lucky, but it takes a long time.”
“We all have families and different things, your priorities shift a little bit. You kinda see that what’s gonna work for you maybe doesn’t necessarily work for other bands.”
“But again, we’re just so grateful that people want to come and see us play, and we love to perform. I don’t know in the future how that’s gonna look.”
