One Californian summer evening, inside a small club on the bustling LA Sunset Strip, aspiring Hollywood actor, young Anthony Keidis jumped onto the stage to join his two best friends, Michael Balzary and Hillel Slovak to rap out one his own poems, as his friends gleefully improvised on their guitars. 33 years since that momentous evening of 1983, the genius of the iconic funk rock band, Red Hot Chili Peppers has not only become better, more maniac but laudably, a lot more mature. The band released their 11th album, The Getaway this summer (June, 2016), encompassing new sounds, fresh vocal melodies, interesting artistic collaborations and a treasured collection of personal experiences expressed through songs. But what truly stands out in the new release, is the band’s deep burgeoning bond that has triumphed over 3 decades worth of experiences, personal struggles and tragic losses.
A Broken Arm, Some Struggling Love, and a New Producer
In an interview with BBC Radio earlier this year, Keidis expressed his inspiration for the album to stem from a two year old relationship that had ended, “like a nuclear bomb”. Along with the other band members, he is not unknown to gaping emotional holes that failed relationships and lost friendships leave behind. In the year 1988, just as the band’s original lineup had started their Europe tour, guitarist Hillel Slovak’s drug addiction, started impacting his playing and overall health. When they returned, their 26 year old best friend passed away, in an unfortunate heroin overdose.
It is evident that the band has peeled out a renewed medium of expression in their latest tracks, infused with reminiscent, yet vibrant song structures. Keidis’s otherwise staccato, rap like lyrics, have found a more melodic, romanticized expression in their latest tracks like “Sick Love” and “Dark Necessities”. Enhanced further by compositions freshly inspired by the band’s new producer, Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse), and supported strongly by Michael’s (more popularly known as Flea), famous skills on the bass guitar.
The band had started recording their new album back in 2014, but production was unfortunately stuck owing to Flea’s broken arm, the result of a snowboarding accident. Their long time producer Rick Ruben (founder, DEFF JAM Records) departed because of his busy schedule, leaving the band slightly clueless, but armed with an invigorating collection of 30 odd songs. Burton, entered the scene, encouraged the band members to start afresh, in an all new recording environment, over the course of the next 18 months.
Skater Girls over Some Powerful Melodic Bass
While the record label and band members themselves preferred the song “Go Robot”, or the album’s title track “The Getaway” as the first singles, it was Burton, who suggested “Dark Necessities” to be introduced first. And the choice aptly demonstrates RHCP’s signature expertise layered with copious amounts of their latest music explorations, more mature in comparison to the earlier compositions.
It’s ironic that the band’s potentially most mature album single follows a group of skater women and their physical bruises, when the band was dismissed by music critiques as mere “skateboarders looking for a different kind of kick”, during its initial days. And it is not just the video that is different. The RHCP sounds are famous for Flea’s signature slapstick base riffs, however it’s John Klinghoffer’s guitar solo in “Dark Necessities”, that leaves a delightful impression on the listeners, almost in a Paul McCartney like manner. Klinghoffer interestingly, has played bass on the track “The Hunter”, the only song in the album without Flea.
Some “Princely” Inspiration and a Royal Piano Collaboration
RHCP’s affable, oversized drummer, Chad Smith, places his personal favorite as the “Go Robot”, a track that has drawn inspiration from hit ‘80s single “Controversy” by legendary singer songwriter, Prince. The track is exciting as well as eclectic with light electric sounds whooshing past the bass guitar, and a pretty hummable chorus. A feature somewhat missing earlier in the rap like lyrics classic to the band (exception being the track that “hollywood”ized California for the entire world in the year of 1999).
Confirming rumors of Elton John’s collaboration on this latest release, the band reported of the superstar’s piano playing in the song “Sick Love”. In addition, Anna Waronker, from That Dog’s fame (LA based rock band), has lent her vocals to the title track “The Getaway”. The collaborations add individual sparkles to the band’s work, reaffirming the band’s progressive outlook to innovate beyond their original style of funk and pop rock.
“Getting Away” towards Evolving Sounds, with Live Wire Energy
Back in the year 1983, at a popular Kit Kat Club in LA, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, pulled a bizarre act that had driven their audiences wild with frenzy. They had just finished their set and were heading backstage, leaving behind an encore of their fans screaming for more. Suddenly, infused with insane energy, the boys decided to strip all the way down, wearing just a sock each, over their essentials. They ran out in their new minimalist outfits to __play once more and established themselves as the newest, craziest, most refreshing live outfit in the whole of Los Angeles.
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In today’s date, the band does not require any such outrageous stage acts to reaffirm their position as the ultimate gods of alternate, experimental rock music. With their recent “Getaway”, this almost seems like the start of another chapter in the story of their phenomenal music journey.
(This article has been written by Shweta Sharma, who is a Delhi based entrepreneur/musician)
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