Red Hot Cholo Peppers have Indio party plan

Most Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute bands try their best to look the part and imitate their inspiration, not cover themselves in flannels and bandanas.

But Redlands-based group Red Hot Cholo Peppers is not your average Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band. Thegroup (vocalist David Strickland, also known as Papi Cholo, with guitarist Big Al, bassist Fonzo Fresh and drummer Joeker) combines Southern California's cholo culture with the original band's rock and funk sound.

“Fans of the music can expect to have some fun,” Strickland said ahead of the band's free show at Fantasy Springs Casino's The Rock Yard stage in Indio on Dec. 3. “They can expect a great performance, and I love putting some humor into it and sharing my cultural heritage with the people that come to the show.”

Strickland said the idea to form the tribute band came from his co-workers and fellow musicians at Guitar Center about four years ago. While brainstorming, the band's original drummer, Vince, proposed the name the Red Hot Cholo Peppers as an homage and reclamation of their Mexican heritage.

“I died laughing,” Strickland said. “It was hilarious but could be really fun, and that was the beginning of it.”

One of the reasons he believes Chili Peppers music and cholo subculture

blend so well is the scenes manifested side by side in Los Angeles.

“It becomes this building aspect of the place you come from,” Strickland said. “When you know these cultural things originate from the same place, you connect in that aspect, and you can share that with people.

“Cholo culture has gone through this massive evolution, but the point of it has always been pride in who you are and where you come from.”

Strickland has been playing music for over 20 years and said he did have some success with other bands, but as years passed, he realized music was a labor of love and that anything too serious would require more strict dedication.

He played the violin in his early childhood, an interest sparked by mariachi music he had grown up with. In his preteen years, he was given a guitar, and his older cousin introduced him to bands like the Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Green Day. That combination led Strickland to reconsider his focus.

“Something about growing up and listening to a bunch of new stuff as an 11-year-old and then realizing those guys over there are playing something with strings too, and they're having a lot more fun,” Strickland said. “So I switched from the violin to the guitar.”

With his influences and the trajectory of his music career, Strickland and his band of homies find themselves playing their favorite Chili Peppers songs from albums like “Californication” and having a good time with their audiences.

“Maybe the world has always been crazy, but anytime that you can laugh and have fun where no one's trying to hurt each other and no one's putting anyone down, and you can share that with somebody else, maybe you can help offset whatever else someone has going on with their life,” Strickland said.

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