A new Post Gazette article discussed a wild Red Hot Chili Peppers show at The Decade in western Pennsylvania in 1985.
“I was one of those 12 people when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were there,” Richard Parsakian, of Eons Fashion Antique, recalls. “I remember Flea whipping it out and Anthony pushing his bare butt in a girl’s face sitting in the table next to me. I knew then they were meant for stardom.”
“They were [jerks],” says Carsickness singer Karl Mullen, referring to a part of the male anatomy. “I thought their music was awful. Still do. There was a fight that night with them. Can’t remember the details. That night my Carsickness lyric book vanished from the shared dressing room. So far, they don’t seem to have used them.”
The band performed at the Grafitti in 1988, along with Fishbone and Thelonious Monster.
Kiedis was “using the [house] mic as a drum stick, banging it on the floor,” according to former Graffiti owner Tony Policcicio.
After the show, he insisted they pay $100 or so to replace it.
The road manager was drunk, so they took matters into their own hands, going out to the back alley to confront them. Fishbone had a real tour bus; the Chili Peppers were in a Winnebago-type thing.
“When Tony and I approached the Chili Peppers [vehicle],” says former Next Big Thing promoter Jack Tumpson, “Anthony was all crazy, wanting to have a fist fight. When cooler heads prevailed, the road manager gave Tony a handful of cash money and off they went.”
When they walked, they noticed what happened in the dressing room: a mirror was smashed, the bathroom door was kicked in, food was all over the place.
But this happened all the time with rock stars, right?
“It was unprecedented for me,” Mr. Policcicio says. “And there was a difference between making a mess out of anger and making a mess out of frivolity and fun. This was anger.”
