Chili Peppers ready to flex their funk
California band still wowing audiences with wild shows 34 years after making the scene
Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem weren’t supposed to last.
Formed in the early 1980s at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles by friends Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons and Michael Peter Balzary, the quartet was put together as a one-off punk/funk jam band. Guitarist Slovak and drummer Irons were already in a serious group called What is This?
Including future Queens of the Stone Age member Alain Johannes, What is This? had a deal with MCA records and a solid following in Southern California.
But Tony Flow and Co. featuring What is This? roadie and crowd pumper Kiedis on lead vocals/raps went over really well at their debut. So much so, they were asked back.
Changing its name to Red Hot Chili Peppers in ’83, the band meshed with L.A. crowds and headed into the studio to drop its self-titled debut in ’84. Slovak and Irons were still in What is This? Guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez recorded the debut in what was to become a rotating roster of drummers and guitarists.
Red Hot Chili Peppers was followed by Freaky Styley. Produced by Parliament/Funkadelic head honcho George Clinton, the album continued to cement the band’s tastes — songs about L.A. and California, plus select covers by everyone from Sly Stone (If You Want Me To Stay) to that rock ’n’ roll icon Dr. Seuss (Yertle the Turtle). During the sessions, both Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons rejoined.
While still not even nearing the Billboard Top 200, the Chili sound was developing, as well as a deadly live reputation.
On May 1, 1986, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played at the Town Pump. The former Gastown venue was rammed to the rafters and the group tore the place apart. By the time the band did its encore wearing only strategically placed sweat socks, every group in town was retooling its sound to get funkier.
It didn’t hurt that, right around this period, Fishbone and Living Color also played the Pump and Prince performed a jaw-dropping show in the round at the Pacific Coliseum. Air-slapping bass became a thing distinct from playing air guitar.
On Dec. 31, 1987, the band rang in the new year at Graceland. The former venue in pre-condo tower Vancouver was epic. As is always the case, if everyone who said they were there had been, it would have been a sold-out Pacific Coliseum show. It wouldn’t be until the One Hot Minute Tour pulled into the arena on April 13 that the quartet became a stadium act here. It’s been one ever since.
Slovak died from a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988. The rest of the band were equally messed up and Irons would leave at this time.
New guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith filled out the group as it played three PNE Forum shows on the Blood Sugar Sex Magic Tour in 1992. Frusciante would fall prey to demons and leave the group in 1992. Replaced by former Jane’s Addiction six-string ace Dave Navarro for the One Hot Minute album, Frusciante returned from 19982009. Tour support guitarist Josh Klinghoffer officially replaced Frusciante in 2010.
When the band was inducted into the Rock ’n’ roll Hall of Fame in April 2012, Klinghoffer became the youngest-ever living inductee at age 32.
In its 34-year existence, the Red Hot Chili Peppers has certainly been through some major personal downs. But the band’s sales trajectory, since the tedious monotone ballad Under The Bridge somehow hit No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, has been almost entirely up. OK, One Hot Minute didn’t come close to the breakout Blood Sugar Sex Magic, but it still hit the charts at No. 4.
Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006) all cranked out multiple top-10 singles. While 2011’s I’m With You failed to impress as much, it still peaked at No. 2.
In an effort to mix it up on its 11th studio release, The Getaway was produced by Danger Mouse and mixed by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame. After a quarter-century with Rick Rubin behind the boards, the Red Hots pursued a different mix and succeeded.
The leadoff single, Dark Necessities, was the group’s 13th No. 1 single on the Alternative chart. Go Robot is a hit video and reviews for the album have been favourable.
Bassist Flea (a.k.a. Balzary, 55), singer Kiedis (55), drummer Smith (55) and Klinghoffer (37) don’t venture outside their comfort zone on the new record. Save for the change in producer and engineer yielding up some significant improvements, The Getaway is the same as the other albums.
However, the group seems pretty pumped up for this tour.
One thing that the Chili Peppers can’t be faulted for is putting on a mediocre show. Even when Kiedis’s back was making his signature dance moves and muscle flexes all but impossible, the stage was still lit up. As long as the band keeps those ballads to a bare minimum and pumps up the funk, the show should kick.
Looking over set lists from The Getaway World Tour, the band barely looks back any farther in its catalogue than Californication. But the uptempo new material is all getting good reviews.