Today I watched Rick Beato’s interview of Flea, the bassist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I have been big fans of both of them for many years (much longer for Flea). I learned quite a lot from the interview. I knew that Flea had started on trumpet, but I hadn’t realized how much he has been influenced by jazz. There were a lot of great moments in the interview. At some point, Flea shed a few tears when talking about how his stepdad was the bassist who influenced him the most.
Flea made a number of comments which I found profound, and I decided I wanted to write them down for myself to remember. Hopefully they provide some inspiration for others as well.
They discussed youth and the freedom that they had, and Flea made a comment which I found very insightful.
Kids, they want to be cool so much and they want the validation. The only way anyone is ever going to be cool is to not give a shit whether they’re cool or not. Do your thing. Do your freaky thing. Be respectful. Learn to love yourself. Do your thing … What people are going to respect is you being yourself.
Flea, in this interview
When talking about the process of making music and performing, Flea said:
I’ll be sitting there and notice a big drool coming down my chest, and I’ll notice I must be doing something good … And it’s in those moments where .. the great stuff doesn’t come from figuring and thinking and cerebral. Sure, you study knowledge, but you study it to let go of it, and you have it as a vehicle to let God come through.
Rick asked Flea about how the Chili Peppers create songs, and if he gets nervous when presenting a new song idea to the group.
Being in a band is a very vulnerable feeling. People deal with it in different ways. You can be overly arrogant and insensitive to protect yourself. You can be self sabotaging and insecure about it to the point of holding back to protect yourself. Ultimately the goal is to get to a place where you don’t need to do any of that … You just present it and be in the moment.