Flea (musician) Totally Explained

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Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962), more commonly known by the stage name Flea, is an American bassist, trumpet player, and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist and founding member of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. His work with the band incorporates several musical styles, ranging from aggressive slap bass, to more subdued and melodic techniques. Aside from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he's collaborated with many artists, including Jane's Addiction, The Mars Volta and Alanis Morissette. Drawing influences from funk and punk rock, Flea centers his bass playing on simplicity and minimalism, viewing complexity as a device that should be used in moderation.
Originally a trumpet prodigy, Flea initially learned to play bass in high school after being taught by close friend and future Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, who required a bassist for his band Anthym. Flea joined the group, but quit several months subsequent in order to play for the punk rock outfit Fear. He soon rejoined Slovak to form an intended one-off band along with fellow high school alumni Anthony Kiedis and Jack Irons; the impromptu collaboration would ultimately give birth to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea has also made forays into acting, appearing in numerous films such as Back to the Future Part II (1989), Thrashin' (1986) and The Big Lebowski (1998).

Biography

Early life

Flea was born in Melbourne, Australia on October 16, 1962. His father, Mick Balzary, was an avid fisherman who would often take him fishing. When Flea was five, his family relocated to Rye, New York for his father's career. In 1971, his parents divorced and his father returned to Australia. Flea and his siblings stayed with their mother Patricia, who soon remarried to a jazz musician and bassist. His teachers considered him to be a prodigy, paralleled only by musician Herb Alpert, who also attended Fairfax High. Furthermore, he'd no interest in rock music at the time and idolized jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. In order to cope with this situation, Flea started to experiment heavily in marijuana at the age of thirteen, which he started smoking on a daily basis.
Flea attended Fairfax High School, and was somewhat of an outcast due to his taste in music. Kiedis recalled, "We were drawn to each other by the forces of mischief and love and we became virtually inseparable. We were both social outcasts. We found each other and it turned out to be the longest-lasting friendship of my life." Kiedis became a significant influence on Flea, turning him on to rock music, particularly punk rock. Following several months of commitment to the instrument, Flea developed proficiency and joined the group. Shortly thereafter, Anthym entered a local Battle of the Bands contest and won second place. Although Fear was a thriving act, Flea was discontent in the band and left shortly after joining. Flea, Slovak, Kiedis and former Anthym-drummer Jack Irons formed a band called Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. The band had only one song, entitled "Out in L.A.", and was formed for the purpose of playing the song once. Following the group's first show at The Rhythm Lounge, the owner of the bar asked them to return, but with two songs instead of one. After several more shows, and the addition of several songs to their repertoire, the band's name was changed to Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Red Hot Chili Peppers entered Bijou Studios to record a demo tape and subsequently secured a record deal with EMI. Flea ultimately respected the decision, but felt the band would be lost without them. He and Kiedis hired drummer Cliff Martinez and guitarist Jack Sherman to fill Iron's and Slovak's places, respectively. Flea himself felt that the album was stiff and "a big mistake", but also admitted "we [heand Kiedis] were just disrespectful and obnoxious." After a relatively unfruitful tour, Sherman was fired in early 1985. Slovak, who had been contemplating a return to the Chili Peppers, rejoined the group after being encouraged by Flea.
Funk musician George Clinton was hired to produce the band's second album, Freaky Styley. The strong chemistry between Clinton and the Chili Peppers was felt instantly. Flea later referred to Clinton as "the warmest, kindest man in the world." When Freaky Styley was released in August of 1985, however, it received only a bit more attention than The Red Hot Chili Peppers with roughly 75,000 copies sold by year end. The band hired Michael Beinhorn, their last resort among potential producers, to work on their next album. What Is This? had finally disbanded, and Irons returned to the Chili Peppers in mid 1986 after Martinez was fired. Flea, Slovak and Kiedis especially were involved in heavy drug use and their relationships became strained. Flea recalled that "it began to seem ugly to me and not fun; our communication wasn't healthy." Following the Uplift tour, Slovak's drug use dramatically increased. Flea's relationship with Slovak faded, and Slovak became isolated and depressed. Peligro was a friend of John Frusciante, an eighteen year old guitarist and avid Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. Peligro introduced Frusciante to Flea, and the three jammed together on several occasions. Flea was impressed with Frusciante's skill, and astonished by his knowledge of the Chili Peppers' repertoire. Flea realized that Frusciante could provide the spark McKnight was lacking. McKnight was fired, and Frusciante accepted an invitation to join the band. Flea and Zeviar started to grow apart, and he began trying to recreate the memories of his adolescence by smoking marijuana on a daily basis.

1990–1998: Mainstream success and side projects

The ensuing Mother's Milk tour put a strain on Flea's marriage. In order to make money, he needed to tour, and therefore spend time away from his family. Furthermore, he and Smith were arrested on charges of battery and sexual harassment after a performance on MTV's coverage of spring break; By the time Red Hot Chili Peppers returned to Los Angeles, Flea and Zeviar agreed to a separation. Rick Rubin, who rejected an opportunity to produce The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, agreed to produce their next album. Flea had largely used the principal slap bass technique on the band's preceding four albums, and decided to downplay this style in favor of more conventional, melodic bass lines. To record the album, Rubin suggested a mansion that once belonged to magician Harry Houdini. Flea felt it was "a creatively fertile situation", and decided to bring his daughter Clara with him. Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana also toured with them during the West Coast leg of their United States tour. The band hired guitarist Arik Marshall to complete the remaining tour dates.
Marshall was fired at the end of the tour, and the band added former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro to record a new album. Kiedis was in the middle of a heroin relapse, which forced Flea to assume the role of lyricist, something he hadn't yet done. He wrote most of the song "Transcending", and the intro to "Deep Kick". Flea also wrote the lyrics to an entire song—"Pea"—which he both sang and played bass on. These three songs appeared on the Chili Peppers' sixth record One Hot Minute, which was released on September 12, 1995. The album received mixed reviews and was significantly less commercially successful than Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Flea began to practice yoga, and slowly decreased his marijuana consumption. Navarro was fired from the Chili Peppers in 1998, and Flea questioned whether or not the Red Hot Chili Peppers would stay together: "the only way I could imagine carrying on is if we got John [Frusciante] back in the band." Frusciante had completed drug rehabilitation in 1997 after a severe addiction to heroin and crack cocaine left him on the brink of death. Flea visited Frusciante in early 1998, inviting him back to the Chili Peppers; an emotional Frusciante readily accepted.

1998–present: Californication, By the Way and Stadium Arcadium

The band, with Frusciante back on guitar, began writing new songs during the summer of 1998 in Flea's garage. which was only lifted when his daughter, Clara, comforted him after several weeks of crying. He founded the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a school dedicated to help youth progress in music, because of this. "I just wanted to fill the void that public education has cut from their curriculum. They've dropped the ball by cutting out music programs", Flea laments, "I grew up in LA public schools and was in the music department. It was really an important thing for my life, it gave me something to hold onto, and it was an important access for me. Without music I would've gotten into a lot of trouble and there are a lot of kids like me out there. I just wanted to try to provide something like what I got." The ensuing tour, however, was extremely profitable; the Chili Peppers performed three concerts in London's Hyde Park to over 250,000 attendees and a total gross accumulation of $17.1 million. It became the highest grossing concert at a single venue in history. Unlike By the Way, both Flea and Frusciante were more musically conjoined when writing the record. They found inspiration in Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Eddie Van Halen among others. The double album was ultimately released on May 9, 2006 to generally positive reviews, selling over seven million copies in less than two years. During the October 2007 California wildfires, Flea's $4.8 million home in Malibu was burnt down. The location was not, however, his primary residence and had been vacated pending sales.|width=310px}} Flea has displayed a wide variety of techniques throughout the years, ranging from his initial use of slapping and popping to the more traditional methods he's employed since Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Greg Prato of All Music Guide has noted that "by combining funk-style bass with psychedelic, punk, and hard rock, Flea created an original playing style that has been copied numerous times." Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan recalls that when he first saw the Chili Peppers in 1984, "Flea was playing so aggressively that he'd worn a hole in his thumb and he was literally screaming in pain in-between songs because it hurt so bad. Someone kept coming out and pouring crazy glue into the hole." however he was to change this style when the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed. He began to incorporate a "slap" bass style that drew influence largely from Bootsy Collins. His intellectual beliefs on how to play the instrument was also altered: "I was trying to play simply on Blood Sugar Sex Magik because I'd been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, 'I've really got to chill out and play half as many notes'. When you play less, it's more exciting—there's more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good."

Influences

Flea's stepfather was in a bebop band that frequently jammed in his presence; he, therefore, became fascinated with the trumpet soon after. They would become a notable aspect of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' sound up to Mother's Milk. Originally, Flea was given the impression by punk bands that one should play as hard and fast as they possibly could, but ultimately rejected this philosophy during Blood Sugar Sex Magik: "I was so into being raw [...] it was all bullshit." He played a minor role in the 1991 independent film My Own Private Idaho as the character Budd. Flea has, more recently, made appearances in the films The Chase (1994) as a monster truck driver, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1997) as a musician, and The Big Lebowski (1998), as a German nihilist. He lent his voice as the character Donnie to the animated series The Wild Thornberrys.
In 1991, Red Hot Chili Peppers released a black and white film documenting the recording of Blood Sugar Sex Magik called Funky Monks. They have released two video concerts, Off the Map in 2001 and Live at Slane Castle in 2004—the latter of which had over eighty thousand attendees. Flea has also appeared in television broadcasts with Red Hot Chili Peppers on several occasions. Several months before Frusciante's departure in 1992, the band performed two songs on Saturday Night Live—Kiedis felt the show was an embarrassment due to the guitarist, who purposely played out of tune and incorrectly. Flea was initially reluctant but eventually agreed: "when we got to play, the energy of the whole thing took over." In 1996, he guest starred on an episode of The Ben Stiller Show. On the episode, Flea beats Stiller in a game of basketball. For the 1999 Woodstock Festival, he played the concert naked.

Discography

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