Featuring
13 new Red Hot Chili Peppers originals, including the single "Warped,"
One Hot Minute is the long-awaited follow-up to the group's 1993 multi-platinum
smash, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In the interim, the Peppers recruited a new
guitarist (former Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros mainstay Dave Navarro),
stopped the show at Woodstock '94, appeared and performed in a number of
films and wrote some of the most original and exciting music of their career.
In a recent interview, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Anthony Kiedas, Flea,
Dave Navarro and Chad Smith) discussed the making of One Hot Minute and
related subjects.
Q:
How would you categorize the music on One Hot Minute?
Dave:
I don't think there is a categorization that fits. I think if we categorize
our music, it leaves us in a closed position where we're trying to open
doors.
Flea:
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have never been a part of any movement or any
collective thing or any existing category. We just try to create our own
categories.
Q:
Recently, there have been remarks about you getting away from your early
funk influences. Any comments?
Anthony:
The funk is so subtle that obviously it eludes any shallow interpretation
of what funk is. There's funk all over this record, but we don't necessarily
sound black or white. We sound like people connected to a universal energy,
inspired to play music that knows no color.
Q:
Any favorite songs on the new album?
Anthony:
My favorite track is different every day. It depends on the mood that I'm
in because all of these tracks are very meaningful to me. They were born
and grew out of honest experiences, sad experiences, happy experiences.
And because those experiences are expressed in these songs, today my favorite
track might be "Deep Kick," but tomorrow my it might be "Blender."
Chad:
My favorite track is one called "Deep Kick," because I think that it blends
a lot of different styles together and shows a real influence of what Dave's
brought to the band. I think it's some new territory that we're exploring
and it's really exciting to me that that track is one of my favorites right
now.
Flea:
Actually, the album has many different sounds and emotions and feelings
going on in it. You really couldn't limit it to just one song. It would
be unfair to single out any particular track.
Q:
Who produced One Hot Minute?
Anthony:
Rick Rubin, who also did our last album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He was
with us the whole time and his influence was greatly appreciated. He's
our friend as well as our producer, so we have a great rapport and it was
a rewarding experience as always to work with him.
Q:
It's been well over a year since your last album. Why did it take so long?
Anthony:
Because we don't subject ourselves to time. We have no deadlines or due
dates or expectations of when something should be finished. When we found
Dave Navarro we started getting to know each other and hanging out together
and working on music. No one told us when it was finished because we knew
when it was finished. If it takes ten years to make a record, then that's
how long it takes. This record took us a year to make and it's a good thing
that it took that long, because if it would have taken less time, it wouldn't
be what it is now. There's a natural flow of creative unity and that doesn't
happen according to a schedule or a deadline.
Q:
Dave, what do you feel you've brought to the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
Dave:
I think that everything that encompasses who I am and who I've been in
my life has been brought to this band in an amicable way. I think that
I come from a slightly different place, musically speaking. These guys
are percussive and sharp edged, to use an expression that Flea has come
up with, and I'm into melodic and ethereal sounds. And I think that the
combination has really worked and given birth tosomething really new.
Q:
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been together for over a decade. What's
the secret to your longevity?
Anthony:
Well, obviously it takes a whole lot of love and a lot of friendship and
a lot of learning for a band to stay together for that amount of time and
to constantly do something different with every record. And I think without
a genuine love for each other, we would have dried up a long time ago as
a band. There have been tragedies and incredibly inspirational experiences
along the way, but the one thread that has been consistent has been the
desire to create something honest, soulful and powerful. When we were making
music 12 years ago, we were making it because it felt good and we wanted
to do it and we're still making music because it feels good and we want
to do it.
Flea:
And the difference between our band and other bands is very obvious. We're
not really concerned with what other people think about us. Our only concerns
are just progressing artistically.
Chad:
This band is not based on strangers coming together to make music. It's
based on friends sharing their lives. That's who we are and without that
friendship I don't think we would exist at all.
Q:
Have you had trouble adjusting to your success?
Anthony:
Well, what is success? Success is different to a lot of different people.
You know, I think that we were successful from the very first day we became
a band because we were doing something that we believed in. Playing music
for people, whether it's two people or two million people, is being successful.
Q:
What's your feeling about the commercial potential of One Hot Minute?
Flea:
The commercial success of a record is really not our concern. Our concern
is trying to make the most honest music that we can. We're really proud
of this record. We think we've grown a lot and made an album that sounds
different than anything we've ever done. And whatever the world wants to
do with it is fine. We hope that we can communicate to as many people as
possible because we have love to give the world.
Chad:
We really feel that we've grown and changed by learning about ourselves
and learning about our lives and trying to become more kind, sensitive
people and that's all reflected on our new record.
Q:
Was it difficult integrating a new member into the group?
Dave:
Well, it's been different for me because for the past 13 years I've worked
by myself and now I have the input of these guys. But it works to the fullest
potential and we've come up with something really exciting and new and
we hope everyone loves it.
Anthony:
Dave had something that nobody else had and that was Dave. Dave had Dave
and Dave brought Dave to the band.
Q:
What was it like playing at Woodstock?
Flea:
For us, playing Woodstock was a very exciting experience. I think we went
there really questioning the whole thing, questioning the fact that they
were advertising peace and love and at the same time it seemed to be about
corporate structures and merchandising. But when we got to play, the energy
of the whole thing really took over. There were zillions of people having
a great time and it was our first show with Dave and we were really excited
and we had a fun time.
Q:
Can you describe some of the themes of the music on One Hot Minute?
Anthony:
No. I hate talking about songs. I really hate analyzing our music. It takes
all the fun out of it, it takes the mystery and the beauty out of it. We
work on songs and we record them for people to hear and it isn't our place
to sit there and try to give detailed explanations of how a song came to
be or what it's about.
Q:
Do you think your explanations will be misunderstood?
Flea:
Being misunderstood is sort of par for the course, at least for us. I think
probably because of certain things we've done in our career, there have
been a lot of misconceptions about this band. There have been misconceptions
that we're just a party band from California that surfs and skates all
the time and that all of our songs are about that. I think that's a very
common misconception. I think the Red Hot Chili Peppers have always run
a pretty wide spectrum throughout our careers and obviously through the
years we have become more capable to express that range. But, you know,
people can think what they will. We don't regret anything; we're proud
of everything that we do.
Q:
How do your songs come about?
Anthony:
Songwriting is a state of mind, it's a state of spirit. It happens every
way imaginable. There's no formula. No song is ever written the same way
twice. It happens with a bass line. It happens with a guitar part. It happens
with a drum part. It happens with a vocal part. It happens when we get
together and work and there is no secret to it. It's just an intangible
factor of illogic behavior. And then some.
Q:
Did you approach this album in the same way as the last one?
Anthony:
For the last record, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, we all moved into a house and
lived together while we recorded. But I think it would be pretty stupid
to try to recreate something we did a long time ago, so we tried to do
something new this time. We went to Hawaii for three months and lived and
wrote songs and played around together.
Q:
How do your parents feel about your career choice?
Dave:
They really wanted me to be whatever I wanted to be. I was fortunate enough
to come from a very supportive family that encouraged me to undertake whatever
interests I had.
Anthony:
I think all of our parents love what we do and completely support us. They
come to our shows and we've even had the privilege of Flea's grandmother
sitting on stage while we play.
Flea:
They were proud of us before we were in a band and before we had the commercial
success that society places so much emphasis on. They just wanted us to
be happy whatever we did, as long as we didn't hurt ourselves or anybody
else.
Q:
There's been a lot of film work, both in acting and music, among the group.
Will we be seeing more of that?
Anthony:
Right now the most important thing in our artistic careers is being the
Red Hot Chili Peppers. We all have other interests and sometimes we experiment
with doing movies or producing other records or fiddling around on a Sunday
afternoon at the park with our children. But as far as being creative people,
this is the most important thing in the world to us right now. We have
a lot on our plate as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and it's all we can do
to maintain focus and accomplish what we're trying to do, which is play
music.
Q:
Flea, could you talk about the song you wrote for River Phoenix?
Flea:
It's called "Transcending" and it's about one of the kindest people I ever
met in my life. When I think about River I don't think about his death.
I don't get sad about it. I think about how incredibly fortunate I was
to be friends with a person who looked inside me and saw things that no
one else ever saw before. And that song is a respectfully loving song for
him.
Q:
This group seems to put a premium on emotional honesty. How has that affected
your music?
Anthony:
We've always been emotionally diverse and I think that the longer that
we're alive, the more aware of ourselves we become and that gives us the
ability to express ourselves more clearly. It's always been there and it's
just what people are able to connect with from the outside in.
Dave:
I think we all relate to each other in our personal experiences whether
they be joyous and happy or traumatic and sad and that's what this album
is. It's a combination of all our personal experiences thrown into the
mix to create a beautiful and wonderful combination.
Flea:
All there is in life is honesty and love. There's nothing else, really,
and without those, we simply couldn't exist. It just would be ridiculous.
Dave:
And if we weren't honest, do you really think we'd tell you about it?
