Jan 1979: Fairfax High School, Los Angeles: young Michael Balzary, a bashful jazz-loving bassist, joins Anthym, a heavy-rock band featuring, amongst other members, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. One of their biggest fans is fellow student Anthony Kiedis.
Jan 1980: Anthym start playing local shows. Balzary, now going by the name Flea, introduces a funk influence to their sound, and the band rename themselves What Is This
Jan 1981: Summer Flea leaves Anthym, joins hardcore punks Fear. They tell him to lose the funk flashes in his playing
Jan 1983: Flea auditions to join John Lydon's PiL, but ultimately turns the band down.
Apr 1983: Flea, Hillel, Jack and Anthony play a show under the name Tony Flow and The Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, as a joke. The show, a mix of punk and funk is something of a success, and the band rename themselves Red Hot Chili Peppers and start taking the project more seriously.
Jul 1983: The Chilis support Run DMC at a mini-festival in LA.
Jul 1983: Buzz about Chilis hits its peak, as the band play a show at the Kit Kat Club, famed for its semi-nude waitresses, the band playing their set totally naked, save for gym-socks on their unmentionables.
Oct 1983: Red Hot Chili Peppers sign a seven-album deal with EMI America. What Is This sign to MCA. Hillel and Jack decide to stick with What Is This, to Flea and Anthony's dismay. Red Hot Chili Peppers hire guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez. A demoralised Chilis enter the studio with producer Andy Gill, who envisages a sound involving much new technology, jarring with the band's own concept of their sound.
Aug 1984: The band's eponymous album is released, to general indifference. Sherman opts to leave the band, conveniently as Hillel decides he wants to rejoin. Anthony and Hillel start to experiment with harder drugs. Anthony soon realises he has a drug problem; Hillel denies this. Hillel experiments further with heroin, in thrall to his hero Jimi Hendrix.
Jan 1985: The Chilis come to the attention of Dr Funkenstein himself, George Clinton. The band repair to his studio, hidden in a farm just on the outskirts of Detroit, and record what will become Freaky Styley. His production is much more in tune with the Chilis' style, but the album still doesn't make them stars.
Sep 1985: Freaky Styley released
Sep 1985: Hollywood (Africa) is released as a single,
May 1986: The band tour Freaky Styley and stir up much attention. Irons has returned to the drumstool and the original lineup is complete once more, but Hillel's drug addiction is taking its toll. He is fucking up songs onstage, and becoming increasingly alienated from the rest of the band.
May 1987: The band enter the studio to record Uplift Mofo Party Plan with producer Michael Beinhorn, Rick Rubin having refused to produce a band so obviously on the verge of drug disaster. Beinhorn's experience with artists like Nona Hendryx and Herbie Hancock stands him in good stead, and he helps the band create their first great record
Sep 1987: Uplift Mofo Party Plan released. In an 8/10 album review,
Jan 1988: The band release their cover of Jimi Hendrix's Fire as a single. June 20 Hillel Slovak dies of a heroin overdose in his Hollywood flat. Anthony fled to a small village in mexico to kick drugs himself, while Jack Irons quit the band, distraught, blaming them for the death of his friend, and ends up in a mental hospital for a short period. A month or so later, Kiedis returns to LA, and the band reform, with ex-Clinton guitarist Duana McNight and ex-Dead Kennedys drummer Darren Peligro. McNight lasts four shows, and Peligro is fired late November, and the second solid line-up of the Chilis gells, with Chad Smith playing drums, and friend and Slovak-protege John Frusciante on guitar.
Aug 1989: Mother's Milk, again recorded with Beinhorn, is released. |
