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Flea (musician)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Flea | |
|---|---|
 Flea at Slane Castle
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Peter Balzary |
| Born | October 16, 1962 Burwood, Melbourne, Australia |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock, funk rock |
| Instrument(s) | Bass, trumpet |
| Years active | 1983 - Present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros., EMI |
| Associated acts |
Red Hot Chili Peppers Fear Jane's Addiction |
| Website | redhotchilipeppers.com |
Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962 in Melbourne, Australia), is an American bassist, trumpet player and frequent session musician. Balzary is best known under the stage name Flea and as the bassist for the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He fuses several styles, ranging from aggressive slap bass driven funk to a more subdued, melodic style. Other than his work with the Chili Peppers, Flea has collaborated with several artists, including Jane's Addiction and Alanis Morissette.
Flea first learned to play bass in high school after being taught to play by Hillel Slovak, who needed a new bassist for his band. Flea eventually joined, but left after a few years to join Fear, a well established punk band. Flea rejoined Slovak to form an intended one-off band along with fellow high school alumni Anthony Kiedis and Jack Irons. This band eventually evolved into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since the band's formation, the only remaining founding members are Flea and Kiedis, but the band has solidified it's current lineup and are currently one of the most successful bands in the world.
Contents |
Michael Balzary lived a relatively conventional childhood in Melbourne, Australia, until his father Mick, a customs officer, was posted to New York in March 1967. Mick Balzary relocated his entire family to New York, including wife Patricia, his daughter Karen, and 5-year-old Michael.
In 1971, only four years after arriving in the United States, Balzary's mother, Patricia, fell in love with jazz musician Walter Urban, Jr. and filed for divorce from Mick Balzary. Michael Balzary, his mother, sister, and soon-to-be-stepfather moved to Los Angeles in 1972.[citation needed]
Balzary developed a love for music at a very early age. He first played the drums, then he began the trumpet at age nine. Balzary displayed strong natural aptitude for the instrument and swiftly earned a place in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. Watching his stepfather playing with his bebop jazz band profoundly affected the eleven-year-old Balzary. His stepfather's musicianship inspired a lifelong love of jazz and the leading exponents of the genre, such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ornette Coleman. Balzary said that he had no original interest in rock, and that his initial ambition was to become a jazz musician like his stepfather.[1]
Balzary was an avid trumpeter and jazz fan when he began attending Fairfax High School in September 1976. On his first day at Fairfax, Balzary was "play-fighting" with fellow tenth-grade student Tony Shurr in the quadrangle, when Balzary's future bandmate, Anthony Kiedis, came to Shurr's defense. Despite the initial enmity between Balzary and Kiedis, the two swiftly became best friends. As their friendship grew, Balzary introduced Kiedis to the world of jazz.
Flea was the first of the band to get married, to Loesha Zeviar in 1988. He and Zeviar had one daughter together, Clara, who was born on September 16, 1988. Flea and Zeviar divorced in 1990. Flea eventually remarried, this time to model Frankie Rayder in 2005. They have one daughter together, Sonny Bebop, born 16 September 2005.
Recently, Flea's house has burnt down in the California wildfires.
Flea continued to improve his trumpet skills, taking the rank of first trumpet in the Fairfax school orchestra. Through Kiedis, Flea soon became friends with another Fairfax student and future bandmate, Hillel Slovak. Slovak introduced him to rock music, and he soon became attuned to artists such as Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Queen, The New York Dolls, and Jimi Hendrix. Spurred by his newfound interest in rock, Flea allowed Slovak to tutor him on bass guitar in 1978. In 1980, Todd Strassman, bassist for Slovak's band Anthym, saw Flea playing with his bass and his amp and quit the band. Flea then joined the band, who changed their name to "What Is This?".
While playing in What Is This?, Flea's bass skills attracted attention from outside the band. In 1983, Flea received an offer to become the new bass player for Fear, an aggressive punk band from Los Angeles. He accepted the offer, and played for a short period with both bands, but he eventually left What Is This?. Flea remained in Fear until 1984 but never performed on any studio recordings.
In 1983, Flea co-founded a one-off band with Kiedis, Slovak, and What Is This? drummer Jack Irons, called Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem. The group was formed to open for fellow L.A.-based performer Tony Allen. Their one performance went so well that the club owners asked them to come back the following week. The band changed their name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and began performing in local clubs. Flea left Fear and turned down an offer to play in the John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd., in order to concentrate on the Chili Peppers.
They were signed with EMI within 6 months. They released their eponymously titled debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1984. Flea disliked the albums sound, and would later say that "we just didn't get the groove of who we were all on the first record."[2] He felt that they're next album, Freaky Styley, was a major improvement. Their third album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, was a major stylistic breakthrought for the band, with Flea fully developping his slap bass style. None of these albums were commercially successful, Flea later said that he thought the music was to obscure to achieve mainstream acceptance.[2]
By 1988, the band fell apart due to drug use. Slovak died of a heroin overdose, causing Irons to leave. Flea didn't have a life threatening addiction, but did admit he had drug problems.[3] At a jam session at the home of temporary drummer D. H. Peligro, Flea encountered guitarist John Frusciante. Flea and Frusciante had instant musical chemistry, Flea later said that this may have been the first time he played the bass riff to "Nobody Weird Like Me".[4] Frusciante joined the band instantly, and with the addition of drummer Chad Smith, the Chili Peppers recorded Mother's Milk, the album that broke them through commercially.
On 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Flea's bass playing began to evolve. He declined to use his famous slap bass technique in favor of more mellow, melodic bass lines. Blood Sugar was also a major commercial breakthrough for the band, becoming a million selling sensation. Unfortunately, the band stumbled after Frusciante's departure. It took 4 years until the band released their next album, One Hot Mintue, which was even more of a stylistic departure. Flea is featured heavily on most of the tracks, including two bass solos on "Coffee Shop".
After the firing of guitarist Dave Navarro, Flea personally asked Frusciante to return. He accepted, and the group recorded Californication. Flea's playing was much less rooted in funk and featured more melodic playing. Their next album, By the Way, showed the band delving deeper into melodic influences. This caused Flea tension between Flea and Frusciante, with Flea feeling rejected when Frusciante would reject his basslines. Flea briefly considered leaving, but decided to stay, and by the time they recorded their most recent album, 2006's Stadium Arcadium, all tensions had subsided.[5]
Flea helped establish the non-profit Silverlake Conservatory of Music in 2001 and mentors young musicians in that program.
After the release of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' One Hot Minute album, Flea briefly pursued a solo career. While he never released an album, a few demos of his songs survive, like "You Got Stuck With Me" and "Fiberoptics". Additionally, his song "I've Been Down" was released on the original movie soundtrack for The Basketball Diaries.
In 1982, Flea was the bassist for Fear before choosing to stick with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He played bass on the hit 1989 single "Bust a Move" by Young MC. He played with Gibby & Andrew Weiss (Butthole Surfers) and Johnny Depp in 1995 in a band called P on the "Michael Stipe" 7". He played trumpet on Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking, and filled in for Eric Avery on bass during their reunion tour in 1997. Flea also has played on Porno for Pyros 1996 album Good God's Urge and played a few shows with them in 1997. He also plays bass on a song called "Down and Out in New York City" by Gov't Mule on their album The Deep End Vol. 1.
He 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 song "You Oughta Know", as well as guest appearances on countless albums by other artists. Flea has also played in support of the activist group Axis of Justice. He also played bass for Ziggy Marley on his 2003 album Dragonfly, on the songs "Rainbow in the Sky" and "Melancholy Mood." He is also featured on Joshua Redman's cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge" in the 2005 album Momentum. He also played mellotron and tambourine on the Chuck Dukowski Sextet's cover of The Velvet Underground's "Venus In Furs", which, along with the rest of that album, was recorded in Flea's home studio.
Flea's main basses have almost always been ones with active electronics.
Flea used in the early days various Musicman Cutlass basses to record the The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Freaky Styley albums. Cutlass basses mainly differ from Stingrays in their neck, which are Carbon Fiber necks made my Modulus, which shows Flea's preference for that type of neck going back to the mid-80's. He also used them on-stage for the following tours, until late 1986. His back-up basses at the time include a black Fender Precision Bass (Rockpalast 1985) and various black Musicman Stingrays.
For the record and the tour of The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Flea switched to a Spector bass, looking for a punchier and thicker tone. Different Spector models were used, combining Precision and / or Jazz pick-ups.
In the studios for Mother's Milk, Flea used again a Spector bass, but decided to return to Musicman basses for touring. The Musicman Stingray became his signature live bass up from 1990 to 1996, only changing once in a while for a Guild bass.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was recorded with a Wal Mach II, Stingray 5 string and One Hot Minute with an Alembic Epic.
From 1997 onwards, Modulus Guitars, after their collaboration with Dave Navarro for the Modulus "Dave" Strat guitar that he has been using on tour at that time, approached Flea with a new signature bass, the Modulus Flea Bass. It is largely based on the Musicman Stingray (body contour, pick-up position, controls) but features Seymour Duncan pick-up (back in 1997), a Bad Ass II bridge, a carbone neck and a 22 fret-fingerboard . That was his main bass for either any kind of studio or live duties between 1997 and 2004, often switching to an old Fender Precision Bass of Fender Jazz Bass.
For Stadium Arcadium, he used a '61 Fender Jazz bass. The Jazz Bass was initially used during the subsequent Stadium Arcadium tour, but after the short promotion tour, Flea decided that he wasn't cutting through enough, and went back to using his Modulus Signature.
Flea can be heard using several different effects pedals throughout his career (Boss FT-2 Dynamic Filter, Proco RAT, DOD FX25 Envelop Filter, Mutron III with a dying battery on Sir Psycho Sexy from the Blood Sugar album, Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls, Dunlop Cry Baby Bass 105Q on a B-side called How Strong, etc); current equipment is listed below.
Flea still plays trumpet occasionally, for example, as part of a horn section on the Jane's Addiction album Nothing's Shocking, on Mike Watt's Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, on The Mars Volta's second release Frances The Mute, and with Nirvana during a performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Hollywood Rock '93, a music festival in Brazil.
Most recently, he joined Incubus on "The Third 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, "Apache Rose Peacock" on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and "Tear" and "On Mercury" on By the Way also feature Flea on trumpet. Flea also plays trumpet in a couple of the songs on Stadium Arcadium, namely "Torture Me" and "Hump De Bump", as well as a couple of b-sides from the same album, "Mercy Mercy", a b-side of "Tell Me Baby" and "Funny Face", a b-side of "Snow ((Hey Oh))". The bassist will, on occasion, play trumpet during the Peppers' live performances, as demonstrated on the Live at Slane Castle DVD and the Live in Hyde Park double CD.
During his time in FEAR, Flea would sometimes use his trumpet live on stage when performing the song 'New Yorks Alright If You Like Saxophones' (in place of the saxophone played by previous bass-player Derf Scratch). Whilst Flea disappeared offstage to fetch his trumpet, frontman Lee Ving would tease the crowd with remarks such as "we got a deal on his saxophone" and, upon Fleas arrival with the trumpet, "now, for those of you who don't know shit about music; this is a saxophone"
- Further information: Red Hot Chili Peppers discography
- ^ VH1 Behind the Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2001.
- ^ a b Freaky Styley, 2003 re-issue. Liner notes
- ^ The Californication of John Frusciante
- ^ Mother's Milk 2003 reissue liner notes
- ^ Anthony Kiedis & Flea interview
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since January 2007 | 1962 births | Living people | Australian Americans | Australian rock bass guitarists | Australian male singers | Australian rock singers | Backing vocalists | Jane's Addiction members | What Is This? members | Red Hot Chili Peppers members | Australian film actors | Fear (band) members | Pigface members | Grammy Award winners