BECAUSE I CAN´T CAPTURE THE DEFINATIVE EXPLANATION OF THE UNIVERSE WITH ONE PERFECT SENTENCE, I WILL BEGIN WITH AN AWKWARD MENTION OF ONE PERSON WHO WAS AND IS TO ME, AN ESSENTIAL MEMBER OF ITS CONTENTS: HILLEL SLOVAK. HILLEL WAS THE OLDER BROTHER OF A TWO BROTHER ONE MOTHER HOUSEHOLD. HE LIVED JUST TWO BLOCKS FROM FAIRFAX HIGHSCHOOL WHICH IS WHERE WE MET. ONE DAY AFTER SCHOOL HE INVITED ME OVER FOR EGGSALAD SANDWICHES. ONE AFTERNOON WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR US TO KNOW THAT WE WOULD BE FRIENDS FOREVER, FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE, FOR EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE. HILLEL WAS A GUITAR PLAYING MAN AND UNLIKE ME, HAD A GUITAR PLAYING PLAN.
IT IS DELIGHTFULLY ABSURD HOW ONE MIGHT MAKE A LEFT INSTEAD OF A RIGHT TO END UP CROSSING PATHS WITH A STRANGER WHI WILL FOREVER CHANGE YOUR LIFE. MICHAEL PETER BALZARY CHANGED MY LIFE. WE MET OVER A FRIENDLY ALTERCATION DURING A LUNCHBREAK AT FAIRFAX. WE WERE FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. MIKE WAS MY FIRST MUSICAL FRIEND. HE PLAYED TRUMPET IN THE SCHOOL MARCHING BAND AND I DABBLED IN THE SCHOOLS THESPIAN ACTIVIES. WE WERE DRAWN TO EACH OTHER BY THE FORCES OF MISCHIEF AND LOVE AND WE BECAME VIRTUALLY INSEPARABLE. IN THE YEARS TO COME WE WOULD SHARE MORE THAN MY IMAGINATION COULD CONCEIVE. THE ADVENTURES OF PLEASURE AND PAIN WE SHARED MADE IT´S WAY DIRECTLY INTO THE MUSIC THAT WE WOULD ONE DAY PLAY.
AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE, 1977, I HAD NO CONCIOUSLY ACKNOWLEDGED ANY INTEREST IN PLAYING MUSIC. I WAS HOWEVER ENCOURAGED BY MY SEVENTH GRADE ENGLISH TEATCHER. MRS. VERNON, TO WRITE WORDS. THAT IS WHAT I DID. I WROTE FUNNY LITTLE POEMS, LOVE LETTERS TO MY GIRLFRIEND AND SPASTICALLY AMUSING COMPOSITIONS FOR MY SCHOOL.
MEANWHILE HILLEL AND JACK IRONS, WHO HAD BEEN FRIENDS FROM THE AGE OF TWELVE, BEGAN STUDYING MUSIC AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN. THEY TOOK THEIR FIRST MUSIC LESSONS IN THE SAME HOUSE AT THE SAME HOUR OF THE SAME DAY. YEARS LATER I WOULD FEEL BLESSED TO BE IN A BAND WITH THESE GIFTED AND DEDICATED MUSICIANS. FLEA WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE.
ANTHONY, HILLEL, AND I, ALSO KNOWN AS THE FACES, FIRE MAN, EARTH MAN, WIND MAN, POCO, FLACO, FUERTE, SWAN, CLEM PHLEGM, HUEY SPITOON, SLIM AND THE ISRAELI COWBOY LIVED UP ON WILTON AND FRANKLIN WITH A COUPLE OF FRENCHMEN OF DUBIOUS DISTINCTION NAMED FAB AND JOEL. THERE IN HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA WHERE I USED TO PRACTISE TRUMPET ON THE SAME ROOF WHICH THE LANDLADY JUMPED OFF TO HER DEATH AND WE SLIPPED IN AND OUT OF VARIOUS FASCINATING AND FRIGHTENING DIMENSIONS, WE FORMED TONY FLOW AND THE MIRACULOUSLY MAJESTIC MASTERS OF MAYHEM ( LATER TO BECOME THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS).
THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE WHEN FRIENDS HANG OUT AND TRULY LOVE EACH OTHER, COOL SHIT ENDS UP FLOWING DOWN THW RIVER. JACKIE WAS OVER WITH US ONE DAY AND WE STARTED SPEWING OUT SOME FUNKY JAM WHICH BECAME OUR FIRST SONG, OUT IN L.A. BECAUSE OUR FRIEND THE FUNKY DIVA GARY ALAN NEEDED AN OPENING ACT. SO WE GOT OUR CHOREOGRAPHY TOGETHER AND ROCKED THAT SHIT SHORTLY THEREAFTER AT THE RYTHYM LOUNGE AND WE ALL KNEW DEEP IN OUR ASSHOLES THAT THIS WAS THE REAL DEAL JAMBOBBOOGIE THAT HAD TO BE DEALT WITH.. NOW I WAS PLAYING BASS IN A PUNK ROCK BAND CALLED FAER AT THE TIME AND THE DRUMMER SPIT STIX KNEW A PLACE UP ON HOLLYWOOD AND WESTERN WHERE WE COULD RECORD CHEAP. HA, HA. ANTHONY HAD A JOB AT COMPUTER GRAPHICS PLACE WITH THESE METICULONALY ANAL RETENTIVE GAY GUYS WHO CRUISED SANTA MONICA BULEVARD FOR BOYS SO HE UPPED THE DOUGH AND WE WENT IN ONE DAY TO GET OUR SHIT ON TAPE. WE ALL FELT REALLY LUCKY TO BE IN A STUDIO. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL FEELING WHEN WE PLAYED THAT DAY, I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER LOOKING OVER AT HILLEL, THE MESSIAH, AND FEELING LIKE I WAS FLOATING. HILLEL, HILLEL, HILLEL, HILLEL, I LOVE HIM AND I MISS HIS FUNKY, ARTISTIC, CREATIVE ASS SO MUCH. HIS INTRO TO GREEN HEAVEN THIS TAPE TOUCHES MY DEEPEST PLACE. I WAS SO IN LOVE WITH ANTHONY´S WORDS THEN, THEY MADE THE REDT OF US LAUGH LIKE SHIT AND I USED TO PROUDLY RECITE GREEN HEAVEN TO MY MOTHER OVER THE PHONE. DIG JACKIES FUNKY DRUMMING IF YOU HAVE TO ASK YOU WILL NEVER KNOW. NOW BY THIS TIME THE FACES HAD LEFT THE FRENCHMEN AND MOVED OVER TO THE LAND OF LEE, WHERE THEY SOLD DIME BAGS IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE ( I ONCE RAN INTO H.R. THERE) AND THROW BOTTLES AND ROCKS AT US ON THE FIRST DAY WE MOVED IN BUT WE HAD OUR TAPE AND ANTHONY AND I WOULD PLAY IT FOR ANYBODY THAT WOULD LISTEN ( MOSTLY LITTLE KIDS AND BABYS, YA KNOW, BABY APPEAL). THERE WAS REALLY NOTHING ELSE LIKE THIS MUSIC AT THE TIME ( OR EVER FOR THAT MATTER, NOT TO STROKE MYSELF TOO MUCH). IT CAME OUT OF PURE LOVE, WHICH IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN THE WORLD. I´M SURE THIS DEMO TAPE IS THE BEST RECORDING I WAS EVER A PART OF.
THERE´S ALSO A SONG HAVE CALLED WHAT IT IS. ANTHONY AND I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT, WROTE IT, AND RECORDED IT IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING ON OUR BLASTER TO SHOW TO JACKIE AND HILLEL LATER THAT DAY. WE GAVE IT TO NINA HAGEN. ALI PA PA WAS THERE WHEN WE DID IT. OH... AND DON´T FORGET THAT THE WORDS YOU ALWAYS SING THE SAME WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN FRENCH BY OUR GAUDALOUPIAN PAL JOEL VIRGEL.
EDWARD HILLY´S IN YOUR PANTS.
LOVE,
FLEA
(Recorded Versions Guitar) 1995
Hal, Leonard Corporation