Flea recently reflected on recording the first RHCP demo and told Rick Beato in a recent interview that he still vividly remembers the exciting feeling of those sessions.
Red Hot Chili Peppers reign supreme as one of the world’s most prominent rock bands. In 2018, the band had already held the record of having the most No.1 singles on the Alternative Songs chart, according to Billboard, adding two more since then in the form of 2022’s “Black Summer”, which officiated their reunion with John Frusciante, and “Tippa My Tongue” from the same year.
Add to that three Grammy awards and inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2012) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2022), and you’ve got one hell of a career.
Flea opens up on RHCP
When they started out in 1982, however, the Chilis were a bunch of hellions who financed their 1983 demo with the help of a friend who dealt heroin, as Flea told Rick Beato in a December 5 interview.
“We made a demo, which was one of the best things we’ve ever recorded in our lives. We had been together for, I don’t know, six months maybe, something like that. And Anthony [Kiedis] and our friend Fabrice [Drouet], who was turning over some heroin, got a little cash, got some money together, and paid for our recording studio.”
“It was just like a little studio up on Hollywood Boulevard. I was playing in the punk rock band Fear at the time, and the drummer from Fear, Spit Stix [Tim Leitch] produced it, because I knew he knew something about being in a studio. We just went in there and jammed, and we had six or seven songs, and recorded them.”
As per Flea, recording that first demo felt so good that he can only compare it to the moment when he became a father, as he added:
“I can distinctly remember the feeling, the smell, the visual of being in that studio, in that moment of recording those songs. I had that feeling one other time. I felt like I was floating up above us, and something was controlling us that wasn’t us. And I really do think it’s always the feeling that I aspire for every recording when I’m in a recording studio, like, I want it to feel like that. And I felt like that when my first kid was born, too.”
Flea noted that recording that first demo felt so good that he can only compare it to the moment when he became a father, as he added:
“I can distinctly remember the feeling, the smell, the visual of being in that studio, in that moment of recording those songs. I had that feeling one other time. I felt like I was floating up above us, and something was controlling us that wasn’t us. And I really do think it’s always the feeling that I aspire for every recording when I’m in a recording studio, like, I want it to feel like that. And I felt like that when my first kid was born, too.”
Recording the first rhcp demo in 1983. I was lost in a trance and it was the best recording session of my life. Been reaching for that same feeling ever since. Thank you to fabrice drouet for the photo. pic.twitter.com/bT2NJ94vwG
— Flea (@flea333) September 8, 2018
