| Flea (musician) |
Article Index for Flea |
Website Links For Flea |
Information AboutFlea (musician) |
|
Flea (born '''Michael Peter Balzary''' on October 16 , 1962 in Burwood , a suburb of Melbourne , Australia ) is the '''bassist''' for the Alternative Funk Band Red Hot Chili Peppers . Flea is considered to be one of the most talented bassists in the rock and roll scene. In March 1967, Michael's father, Mick, who worked as a Customs officer, was posted to New York, and the whole family moved to the United States . Around 1971, Michael's parents divorced, and his mother moved with him and his sister Karen to Los Angeles in 1972 , to live with a jazzman named Walter Urban Jr, whom she would soon marry. Flea got his start in Music very early. He first tried the drums, and at age nine started playing the trumpet. After only a couple of years he had become proficient enough to enter the Los Angeles Junior Philarmonic Orchestra, and he also played in his Junior High School's orchestra. Balzary confessed to VH1 's '' Behind The Music '', that he originally had no interest in Rock And Roll and sought to become a Jazz musician like his stepfather, but changed musical direction after being introduced to the music of KISS , Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin by future bandmate Hillel Slovak . He met bandmate Anthony Kiedis while at Fairfax High School , and started to play the bass around age 17, when he was recruited to play for ''Anthym'', a band formed by his Junior High school friends Hillel Slovak , Jack Irons and Alain Johannes , to replace their current bassist who they believed was substandard. In 1981, he left Anthym, searching for new musical experiences. He then joined Fear , an aggressive and wild band from the Los Angeles punk scene. In 1983, he, Kiedis, Slovak and Irons went on to form Red Hot Chili Peppers together. They got a record deal with EMI in 6 months, and Flea then left Fear to concentrate on the Chili Peppers. At the time he even turned down an offer by his longtime idol John Lydon / Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame to join Lydon's new band Public Image Ltd ., because he preferred to stay with his friends in the Peppers. Flea is widely considered to be among the finest Bassists in rock music. He still plays trumpet occasionally, for example, as part of a Horn Section on the second Jane's Addiction album, on Mike Watt 's ''Ball Hog or Tug Boat?'', on The Mars Volta 's sophomore release Frances The Mute , and with Nirvana on a performance of '' Smells Like Teen Spirit '' at Hollywood Rock '93, a music festival in Brazil. Most recently, he joined Incubus on "The Fourth Movement of the Odyssey" for the Halo 2 soundtrack. The songs "Subway To Venus", "Pretty Little Ditty", and "Taste the Pain" on the Chili Peppers album ''Mother's Milk'', and "Tear" on ''By the Way'' also feature Flea on trumpet, and lately he has been playing some trumpet during the Peppers live performances. Flea's style is influenced by Bootsy Collins , funk music and by the energy of early Punk Rock bands such as Black Flag . Bass Guitars: Studio, Videos and Live Flea recorded with a MusicMan StingRay bass guitar on the Red Hot Chili Pepper's first two albums; '' Red Hot Chili Peppers '' and '' Freaky Styley '', and appears playing it in the band's earliest videos ' True Men Don't Kill Coyotes ', ' Jungle Man ', and ' Catholic School Girls Rule '. This early StingRay of Flea's was adorned with various pink and green tape and paint, and he used it live for the band's earliest performances for the first two albums, adding more stickers over his own original pink and green additions towards the ''Freaky Styley'' era. An exception in this period was a Fender Precision Bass he used as a live backup, and ended up wielding in the band's 1985 Rockpalast show in Germany. For the recording of the band's 1987 '' The Uplift Mofo Party Plan '' album, Flea switched to using a black Spector NS bass with chrome hardware, dot inlays, J-J pickups and stickers of two reclining figures on the instrument's body horns, which he played in the video for ' Fight Like A Brave ' in addition to once more employing a StingRay for the video's day-glo paint/interior set shots. At this time Flea also performed outside of the recording studio with his Spector on tour supporting ''The Uplift Mofo Party Plan'', which is evident in the 1988 live recording of the band playing their Jimi Hendrix cover of 'Fire' in Finland in their infamous 'socks on cocks' dress. Though subtly different from the StingRay, the new sound the Spector brought was consolidated with Flea's significantly faster and more advanced Fingerstyle and Slapping techniques which reached their peak on '' Mother's Milk '', the band's 1989 follow up to ''The Uplift Mofo Party Plan''. Although Flea continued to record with a Spector NS on Mother's Milk, he switched his original in favour of a model featuring gold hardware, block inlays and a J-P pickup configuration, which he played in the video for ' Knock Me Down '. He also reintroduced a StingRay for certain parts of the recording sessions for ''Mother's Milk''. This is most evident on the track ' Show Me Your Soul ', which although ultimately not included on the finished album, resurfaced in 1990 on the soundtrack to the film '' Pretty Woman ''. This song was accompanied by it's own video in which Flea played a black StingRay featuring a black pickguard and maple fretboard and a sticker saying 'crunch' on it's upper body horn. This particular StingRay was the same as that earlier used in certain parts of the 'Fight Like A Brave' video. On tour for ''Mother's Milk'' Flea used both Spectors and his black StingRay, the latter being most evident in the band's Long Beach arena show, which is documented in the video release '' Psychedelic Sexfunk Live From Heaven ''. Of particular note in this period was a very colurful psychedelic bass Flea played in the videos for ' Higher Ground ' and ' Taste The Pain '. There is debate regarding the origin of this instrument, though due to the partially triangular shape of the headstock and the body shape, it has been speculated that it is some form of heavily customised Alembic . When the Red Hot Chili Peppers came to record their 1991 album '' Blood Sugar Sex Magik '', Flea opted for a complete change of instrument by recording most of the album using a blue Wal Mach II bass. This change of instrument coincided with a complete change of musical style from Flea by toning down his hyperactive slap-based funk. The only instrumental exceptions on the album are where he required an ultra-low sound on the tracks 'Funky Monks' and 'Righteous and the Wicked', for which he accordingly used a black StingRay5. Flea used this bass in the video for ' Under The Bridge ', and he used his StingRay4 in the ' Give It Away ' video. He can be glimpsed playing the Wal in the promo for ' Suck My Kiss ' though it can be seen more clearly in Gavin Bowden's '' Funky Monks '' film documenting the bands' recording of the album, certain offcuts of which comprise the 'Suck My Kiss' video. On the band's subsequent 1995 album '' One Hot Minute '' Flea again completely changed scenery by laying down his tracks with an Alembic Epic bass, although ' Aeroplane ' featured another return for the StingRay, and on Flea's bass and vocal solo 'Pea' he used a Sigma acoustic bass. Video-wise, there were two created for the single ' My Friends ', featuring Flea performing with a black MusicMan Sterling in the first and playing his Alembic in the second amidst footage of the band recording One Hot Minute. In the lavish video for 'Aeroplane' Flea plays a newer StingRay4, essentially the same as his older one, though with a rosewood fretboard instead of maple. On the tours for both ''One Hot Minute'' and it's predecessor ''Blood Sugar Sex Magik'' Flea used solely StingRays, citing that although his Wal and Alembic were each the right bass at the time for the studio, he could not play with them live. By 1997 Flea's signature 'Flea Bass' entered production from the company Modulus . This bass was his main instument for the recording of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's '' Californication '' in 1999 and the band's 2002 offering '' By The Way ''. On both albums, Flea used a vintage Fender Jazz Bass on certain tracks in addition to the 'Flea Bass', though the latter instrument was still predominantly used. Despite employing the Jazz Bass for some studio tracks and in the videos for ' Can't Stop ' and ' Californication ' (both of which were in fact recorded using the Flea Bass), Flea uses only Flea Basses on tour. Distinctively among his tour basses Flea has the personally customised "Punk-Bass", which he started appearing with around 2001 and which originally had a red white and blue paint job similar to the French national flag, but which has since been covered in stickers which feature the names of Flea's favourite punk bands such as the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, The Ramones, Fugazi, The Sex Pistols etc. This is his primary live instrument and featured prominently in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2003 Live At Slane Castle concert DVD and the video for ' Universally Speaking '. Recently Flea has appeared more often with his vintage white Jazz Bass, in Gallien-Krueger advertisements in BassPlayer magazine and particularly in the new ''Red Hot Chili Peppers'' video for ' Dani California ', in which he also wields a multitude of other basses as part of the video's rock 'n' roll through the ages theme. Solo Work Flea has also worked outside of the RHCP. In the early 80s he was the bassist for Fear . He filled in for Eric Avery during the reunion tour of alternative rock band Jane's Addiction in 1997, as well as played bass for The Mars Volta on 2003's De-Loused In The Comatorium and trumpet for 2005's Frances The Mute . He also played bass for Alanis Morissette on the acclaimed 'Jagged Little Pill' album, as well as guest appearances on countless albums by other artists. He has done some acting, having appeared in the movies '' The Big Lebowski '', '' My Own Private Idaho '', '' Suburbia '', '' Son In Law '', '' The Blue Iguana '', '' The Chase ( 1994 )'' (with RHCP bandmate Kiedis), '' Back To The Future Part II '' and '' Back To The Future Part III '' as 'Needles', headlining in '' Liar's Poker '' ( 1999 ), and providing the voice of the Feral Boy Donnie in the animated television series '' The Wild Thornberrys '', as well as a minor, yet memorable role in " Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas ", among others. Flea married Loesha Zeviar in 1986 . Their daughter, Clara, was born in 1988 . Flea and Loesha split up in 1990 and have joint custody of Clara but remain on friendly terms, with Loesha's name remaining tattoed on Flea's chest. He has also recently had a baby girl named Sunny Bebop Balzary with his new fiancee, Frankie Rayder . In 2001 Flea founded his own music school in Los Angeles called the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, in the trendy L.A. district of Silverlake. Flea also has a blog for NBA.com about his beloved Los Angeles Lakers . Link EXTERNAL LINKS Flea also plays a key role in the axis of justice organisation, along side Serj Tankian, Tom Merello |
|
|