Can The Red Hot Chili Peppers Live Through This?
The Chili Peppers often face one another while they rehearse. They look inward, gathered like the four points of a diamond, and feed off one another's energy as the music booms and segues into extended jams. They occasionally turn to face the car seat, but always revert to their tight collective.
They lak little between songs, making only minor comments about intricacies they hear in the music or what songs they want to play next. As the songs boil, Smith slams the skins with ferocious, Mike Tyson-like swings. Flea bounces and slap-plucks his silver bass while working the effects pedals at the foot of his microphone.
Kiedis is all rock-star swagger. He clutches the microphone stand in his right fist even when not singing. He quickly removes his shirt mid-jam to reveal a cut torso and numerous tatoos, including one of an Aztec-style mask that spreads across his shoulder blades. Cupping a cigarette in his left hand, he unleashes his trademark staccato rap and rocks back and forth, occasionally raising his left knee in a half-kick.
Then ther's the slightly hunched figure of Frusciante, languidly moving his head and gently wiggling his butt as he lays down potent hooks. Close your eyes and you hear a talented, inventive guitarist. Open them and you see a man with his shirt unbuttoned, his weak, addled chest exposed. With unkempt hair and a haggard face, he looks like an aging human train wreck. But Frusciante, who walked out on the Chili Peppers at the height of their popularity, os only 29.
Whili the body looks beaten, Frusciante's voice is what stands out. He succumbed to heroin for several years, and now, when he speaks, its'in a stereotypical, drugged-out Southern California surfer drawl. One must listen closely to understand him.
Though renowned for the wild sexploits and their brash attitude, the Chili Peppers seem remarkably genial and pensive today. They have also become something of a paradox: able to sing "Give the finger to a cop" (in "Get On Top"), but just as able to lauch into a heartfelt discussion about spirutuality and soulfulness.
It is likely this latter characteristic that has allowed the band to survive the many other arrows with which they've been hit. In 1993, Flea was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was prescribed rest for a ful year. That same year one of the band's best friends, actor River Phoenix, overdosed outside L.A's Viper Room. In 1997, Kiedis crashed his Harley Davidson, breaking 11 bones in his wrist and undergoing five hours of surgery. Not to be outdone, Smith flew off his own motorcycle that same year, dislocating his shoulder.
After Kiedis' accident, the band played a gig in front of Mt. Fuji. Typhoon Rosuz poured in, however, and ended the show. In 1998, the Chili Peppers were performing in Washington, DC, at the Tibetan Freedom Concertt. A lightning storm flashed, and several fans were struck.
Yet thses travails are minor compared to the band's drug problems? Even though their founding guitarist died from a heroin overdose, the Chili Peppers have continued to use.
Nit the entire band, though: by all accounts Flea (who has a 10-year-old daughter) and Smith have remained clean. But Frusciante has endured years of drug abuse, and as recently as 1997 he had to be hospitaliezd for his addiction. Likewise, Kiedis discovered a gateway in the painkillers he'd been prescribed after his motorcycle accident: They would lead to heroin.
The band speak frankly about their past. Frusciante says he's learned much from his addiction, though the lesson isn't what one might expect. He says he's "glad" he went through the period. He says the drugs and the free time he had after leaving the band allowed him "to go inside myself and explore the different kinds of art... I basically did nothing with my life for a few years, and I'm richer inside because of it."
