Smash hit

“Wanna watch The Simpsons?” John asks. He is already popping in the tape. The sun is beginning to set and we are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic somewhere on a freeway in Illinois. In a few hours, they will be on stage in front of 20,000 people in Chicago. The episode of The Simpsons begins and John, sitting, feet up, hugging his knees, is laughing out loud, with a freedom and intensity that is infectious.

John is a solitary person. He doesn’t go on holidays. He listens to Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner’s famous Two-Thousand-Year-Old Man comedy recording over and over and over while he is eating. When he’s not on tour, he’s trying to record as many of his own songs as he can. On the last break, between touring for Californication and writing By the Way, he released a solo record and did a solo tour. He feels that in the past few years he’s had a lot of catching up to do.

“I’ve worked twice as hard these past five years. Because when I was a drug addict and I wasn’t doing anything whatsoever — except lying in bed and taking drugs for about four years — it was the prime years of my life, 22 through 26, when most musicians are doing their best stuff. For me now, it’s a matter of making the best use of time. Not letting anything slip away.” Relationships, pop culture, modern movies, news and TV — all of it is a diversion from his music. “I’m very proud to be who I am, and I don’t have any interest in changing to accommodate somebody else’s needs. I’m a very cold person in that way. The ways that I am insecure only come up in a male-female relationship. Otherwise I feel very secure with who I am.”

The Tweeter Center in Chicago is an outdoor venue.

The chill of autumn is in the air. The dressing room has been replicated. It is a different space, but the same decor. Anthony begins making the set list and John roams the room with his guitar. Flea is excited, hooked on a new verse: “Don’t be naughty; go to the potty!” It’s 9.05pm, 10 minutes before the show, and the lights go down. The stage is smaller, but the electricity is just as palp-able. On stage, Flea’s bass is pure jubilation and Chad is whipped up in a testosterone frenzy. A bra is tossed onto the stage. Anthony picks it up and drapes it around his hips. Chad tosses a drumstick out into the crowd. John and Flea improvise the intro to Californication. The air is crisp and cool; hands are cold, breath is visible.

At the end of the show, the hallways backstage are filled with friends and relatives. The buffet is set out, with the lone pizza box nearby. Anthony’s mom is on hand, and Chad’s six-year-old son rolls on the floor, while Flea lies on his back, arms out, hands cupping his head. The Chili Peppers have been around for two decades, and they have been trav-elling for a long time. It is tedious at times, but it’s what they do, and they still like it. Tomorrow is another day and they will be moving on to Cleveland, Ohio; doing it again.

See clips from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ videos and hear them talk about their music on November’s The Month CD-Rom

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