Collegiate Insider

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The Beatles and Stones had it. The Four Musketeers had it. The Lakers and Celtics have it. Synergy, chemistry. That indescribable bond and cameraderie between individuals that helps to make the whole larger than the sum of the parts. Magik.

In the midst of a nationwide tour in support of their brilliant new album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Collegiate INsider caught up with the RHCP's enigmatic frontman, Anthony Keidis, to discuss the album and producer Rick Rubin, New Orleans and Voodoo, the band's legendary chemistry and Magik.

A: I just played a show and I'm presently resting my bone marrow.

A: It was cool, but every time we play it's kind of like the Superbowl,

you know, and I feel sort of like Mark Rippenaster after a long game

for eight or nine weeks, and the idea of L.A. is homey to

CI: That's funny because I'm always trying to get out of here.

A: Well, I'm on the road going to town day to day, show to show,

folk to folk, and I can just sort of picture my Dr. John CDs

sitting next to my pool table, waiting for me to get home and just completely chill into my company.

CI: Speaking of Dr John, you have a song on the new album about

A: It's one of my favorite places, yes. There's magic in the air.

CI: I sensed that too. The first time I went there, I went to the

voodoo museum, and I spoke to the guide who was about 70 years old.

There was a certain comforting vibe in the room that I'll never forget.

CI: Pretty wild. I notice a lot of your songs seem to be about

A:Well, your perception about what our songs are about is

something that's very personal, and when I write them, it's obviously

very personal and coming from me, and the people interpret them as they

CI: On the Funky Monks video, Flea was playing a lot of steel drums and

metal objects and industrial-sounding things. Are you getting more into

A: It has nothing to do with industrialism, for one thing. That's

percussion, and it comes from everything from your dick to a

quarter thrown up against a mirror. Basically, we all play percussion,

it wasn't just Flea- it was Chad and Flea and myself all banging away

on drums and pieces of metal. We always play whatever needs to be

played for the record. On the record, John plays some wooden

vibraphones, Flea played lots of trumpet and a friend of mine played

multi-instrumental knuckleheads that can play all kinds of things.

CI: When you and Flea changed members around 3 years ago,

how did that affect the chemistry? Obviously you guys seem to be

a band that is really based on cameraderie, brotherhood and

getting the chemistry really happening; it must have been hard

A: The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a band has been blessed and stricken.

It's kind of the wild dichotomy of life, and you sort of have to

take the blessings with the strikings. Losing Hillel wasn't really

about losing a band member, it was about losing a life-long soulmate,

best friend. Flea and I found ourselves together after a couple of months

of completely delerious grief and we realized that it wasn't essential

for us, as living beings, to go on with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

We sort of received the gift of 2 new people in our lives. In the

beginning, we didn't know each other like we used to. It just became a

process of being married to four people at once..which being in a

band is often like. Just living with people and touring with them and

playing until you develop a sense of musical telepathy and a sense of

brotherhood and cameraderie. You know, over the years, we've

certainly solidified into a singular unit of musicians striving from the

same point of energy. That's just something that happens with time.

At least we found people that we felt we could lock with.

CI: In the video for Give It Away, there seems to be some sort

A: No, there was no effort to capture a pagan vibe, we just went

out to the desert, painted ourselves silver, and became more intelligent

towards silver paint under the sun in the desert. Kind of a cross

between Lost in Space and Bowie in his ultimate glam phase.

CI: Voodoo seems to play into some of your lyrics, is that just from

A: Well, voodoo is just another brand of magick and when I'm

painting a picture of New Orleans, obviously that's an element that

needs to be included. There are so many different denizens of voodoo,

some people probably execute voodoo activities without even knowing

what they are doing. But it's not like I'm a master witchdoctor.

A: It was a breeze. Rick turned out to be a very amiable person to

hang with, making us all feel very relaxed, comfortable and inspired.

He's also turned out to be a good friend of mine who I presently miss,

not having seen him for a while. He's very intelligent and very tuned in.

He's kind of a.. I don't know, a twisted master chess player of musical

coordination. He knows what works, and he sits there and he listens

and he doesn't blab unnecessarily at every opportunity, he just

kind of kicks back. He would come to our rehearsal and sometimes

he would make small but concise, poignant assertions about what needed

to be changed and sometimes he wouldn't say anything, he would just

take a nap. He also knows how to surround himself with very proficient

people such as engineers and things like this that end up making him look

good. That's one of his talents. That and his remarkable beard.

CI: Whe the band first formed, I had heard it was just for fun and

A: It was an accident. It was never intended to be what it (the band) became. My whole life

I grew up with these pople: Jack, Hillel, and Flea, and they were always playing music and I wasn't.

I was doing other non-sensical things like writing and dancing and romanticizing the world

at large, and I never had any intention of being in a band. Then one

day, a friend of ours asked us if we would open up a show with Jack,

Flea, and Hillel with me as the singer. And we said, 'Yeah, that sounds

like fun,' and I had written a poem, a rythmic lyric, and we all sat

down in the living room without instruments, and we said 'Okay,

let's play one song- we'll play a show with one song.' So we never

actually played it with instruments until we got to the gig. Then we

played that one song, and it was such a ridiculously emotionally potent

explosion of funk and fun, that the crowd went completely haywire,

and the club owner asked if we could come back next week with 2 songs.

And we said, 'Yeah, let's do this again next week.' And we never


	Magazine Interviews \| home SPIN April, 1996 \| John in Interview \| John in Guitar World Acoustic 2001 \| Anthony in Interview \| Rolling Stone '92 \| Anthony in Rolling Stone '94 \| Rolling Stone '95 \| Rolling Stone 2000 \| Collegiate Insider \| Flea & Dave in Guitar Player '95 \| Flea in MUSICIAN \| "Father Knows Best" by Flea \| John in The Observer \| Anthony in Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" \| Fresno Bee article \| KERRANG! July 11, '98 \| Chad in DRUM! \| UCLA Paper on Anthony \| Guitar World 2002 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Collegiate Insider magazine January 1992 The Beatles and Stones had it. The Four Musketeers had it. The Lakers and Celtics have it. Synergy, chemistry. That indescribable bond and cameraderie between individuals that helps to make the whole larger than the sum of the parts. Magik. In the midst of a nationwide tour in support of their brilliant new album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Collegiate INsider caught up with the RHCP's enigmatic frontman, Anthony Keidis, to discuss the album and producer Rick Rubin, New Orleans and Voodoo, the band's legendary chemistry and Magik. A: Hi, this is Anthony calling from St. Louis. CI: Hey, how ya doin' man? A: I just played a show and I'm presently resting my bone marrow. CI: How was it? A: It was cool, but every time we play it's kind of like the Superbowl, you know, and I feel sort of like Mark Rippenaster after a long game of being sacked 12 times. CI: Pretty beat up, huh? A: Yeah, I would say beat up. CI: I saw your video last night, it was really good. A: Which one is that? CI: Funky Monks. A: Oh, the home thing. CI: Yeah, it was really cool. A: Glad you liked it. Where are you? CI: I'm in Studio City. A: Studio City, what street? CI: Off Radford, near CBS? MTM Studios A: OH, you have to understand that I've been on the road for eight or nine weeks, and the idea of L.A. is homey to me now CI: Actually missing it, huh? A: Yeah. CI: That's funny because I'm always trying to get out of here. A: Well, I'm on the road going to town day to day, show to show, folk to folk, and I can just sort of picture my Dr. John CDs sitting next to my pool table, waiting for me to get home and just completely chill into my company. CI: Speaking of Dr John, you have a song on the new album about New Orleans. A: Apache Rose Peacock. CI: So is it really your favorite place to be? A: It's one of my favorite places, yes. There's magic in the air. CI: I sensed that too. The first time I went there, I went to the voodoo museum, and I spoke to the guide who was about 70 years old. There was a certain comforting vibe in the room that I'll never forget. A: Yeah, imagine what it was like in 1753. CI: Pretty wild. I notice a lot of your songs seem to be about spirituality and magic. What turned you on to it? A:Well, your perception about what our songs are about is something that's very personal, and when I write them, it's obviously very personal and coming from me, and the people interpret them as they will. CI: On the Funky Monks video, Flea was playing a lot of steel drums and metal objects and industrial-sounding things. Are you getting more into that or was it on the other records and harder to hear? A: It has nothing to do with industrialism, for one thing. That's percussion, and it comes from everything from your dick to a quarter thrown up against a mirror. Basically, we all play percussion, it wasn't just Flea- it was Chad and Flea and myself all banging away on drums and pieces of metal. We always play whatever needs to be played for the record. On the record, John plays some wooden vibraphones, Flea played lots of trumpet and a friend of mine played mouth harp on Give it Away. Flea, Chad, and John are all multi-instrumental knuckleheads that can play all kinds of things. CI: When you and Flea changed members around 3 years ago, how did that affect the chemistry? Obviously you guys seem to be a band that is really based on cameraderie, brotherhood and getting the chemistry really happening; it must have been hard to find the right guys. How did you go about doing that? A: The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a band has been blessed and stricken. It's kind of the wild dichotomy of life, and you sort of have to take the blessings with the strikings. Losing Hillel wasn't really about losing a band member, it was about losing a life-long soulmate, best friend. Flea and I found ourselves together after a couple of months of completely delerious grief and we realized that it wasn't essential for us, as living beings, to go on with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We sort of received the gift of 2 new people in our lives. In the beginning, we didn't know each other like we used to. It just became a process of being married to four people at once..which being in a band is often like. Just living with people and touring with them and playing until you develop a sense of musical telepathy and a sense of brotherhood and cameraderie. You know, over the years, we've certainly solidified into a singular unit of musicians striving from the same point of energy. That's just something that happens with time. At least we found people that we felt we could lock with. CI: In the video for Give It Away, there seems to be some sort of a pagan influence, what is that all about? A: (Lauging) Are you into pagans? CI: I don't know, I don't know much about it. A: No, there was no effort to capture a pagan vibe, we just went out to the desert, painted ourselves silver, and became more intelligent towards silver paint under the sun in the desert. Kind of a cross between Lost in Space and Bowie in his ultimate glam phase. CI: Voodoo seems to play into some of your lyrics, is that just from your experiences in New Orleans? A: Well, voodoo is just another brand of magick and when I'm painting a picture of New Orleans, obviously that's an element that needs to be included. There are so many different denizens of voodoo, some people probably execute voodoo activities without even knowing what they are doing. But it's not like I'm a master witchdoctor. CI: I didn't mean to insinuate that.. A: Maybe I am a master witchdoctor, I don't know. CI: How was it working with Rick Rubin? A: It was a breeze. Rick turned out to be a very amiable person to hang with, making us all feel very relaxed, comfortable and inspired. He's also turned out to be a good friend of mine who I presently miss, not having seen him for a while. He's very intelligent and very tuned in. He's kind of a.. I don't know, a twisted master chess player of musical coordination. He knows what works, and he sits there and he listens and he doesn't blab unnecessarily at every opportunity, he just kind of kicks back. He would come to our rehearsal and sometimes he would make small but concise, poignant assertions about what needed to be changed and sometimes he wouldn't say anything, he would just take a nap. He also knows how to surround himself with very proficient people such as engineers and things like this that end up making him look good. That's one of his talents. That and his remarkable beard. CI: Whe the band first formed, I had heard it was just for fun and not as a serious career. Is that true? A: It was an accident. It was never intended to be what it (the band) became. My whole life I grew up with these pople: Jack, Hillel, and Flea, and they were always playing music and I wasn't. I was doing other non-sensical things like writing and dancing and romanticizing the world at large, and I never had any intention of being in a band. Then one day, a friend of ours asked us if we would open up a show with Jack, Flea, and Hillel with me as the singer. And we said, 'Yeah, that sounds like fun,' and I had written a poem, a rythmic lyric, and we all sat down in the living room without instruments, and we said 'Okay, let's play one song- we'll play a show with one song.' So we never actually played it with instruments until we got to the gig. Then we played that one song, and it was such a ridiculously emotionally potent explosion of funk and fun, that the crowd went completely haywire, and the club owner asked if we could come back next week with 2 songs. And we said, 'Yeah, let's do this again next week.' And we never stopped flowin'.