In this piece
If you have seen the Red Hot Chili Peppers live, you know how it starts. Flea, Frusciante and Chad Smith play something without vocals that is on no record. Only then does the first song kick in. The band members have explained how this works in interviews. We quote them briefly, with source and date, and add our own reading.
John Frusciante: the jam as a thermometer
In December 2022 Richard Bienstock of Guitar Player interviewed Frusciante. The band was playing stadiums for 40,000 to 60,000 people a night at the time. Bienstock asked why a band of that size opens with an instrumental improvisation instead of a hit.
So by improvising right at the beginning, we get in touch with what the spirit of the moment is, and oftentimes that sets the tone for the rest of the show.
Just before that, Frusciante explains why: every crowd is different, every venue feels different, and the band itself is in a different mood every night. To the band, the jam is a reading. To a fan, it sounds like an intro.
The same goes for the solos. Frusciante says he feels creative in every one of them, whether it is a song they rarely play or one they play every night.
Chad Smith: signposts, and the rest is open
In 2012, during the I'm with You tour, Chad Smith spoke to Vintage Rock. The interview was mostly about his instrumental side project, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, until it turned to the Chili Peppers.
We definitely like to jam and like to improvise. The songs are different every night.
Smith adds that there are signposts the band has to hit. Beyond those, everything is open, with no agreement on how long a solo lasts. His one condition: everyone has to be a good listener.
Our reading: the drummer guards the signposts, and the rest of the band is free to wander around them.
Flea: talking by playing
Flea and Chad Smith have played together since 1988. On Rick Rubin's podcast Broken Record in 2022, Flea said the two of them hardly spend time together outside the band. On stage it is a different story.
We talk by playing, we talk by looking at each other and knowing when to lay back into a groove or knowing when to lean forward.
According to Flea, Smith can go anywhere, from a herd of elephants to quiet and beautiful. One look is enough to know which way it is going.
So at a concert, watch the eyes of the bassist and the drummer. That is where you see the agreement nobody says out loud.
Flea: every show like the last
In February 2023 the American programme 60 Minutes made a report on the band. Flea, Frusciante and Smith improvised for the cameras. Flea described how he walks on stage.
Every time I go on, it's like, I'm going to play this show like it's the last show I've ever played in my life.
In the same broadcast Kiedis said the physical side of performing means a lot to the band, and that they don't want to lose it.
What we take from it
As a tribute band we play the songs the way you know them. These interviews taught us that you cannot copy the Chili Peppers' jams: each one exists for a single night. What you can do is follow the same rules. In De Peppers, drummer Jan counts in the songs and decides when a jam has gone on long enough. Meet the four of us on the band page.
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Book De PeppersConclusion
The Chili Peppers jam to hear where they are that night. Frusciante calls it the spirit of the moment, Smith calls it listening, Flea calls it talking without words. The nights that came out of it are in the 10 best Red Hot Chili Peppers live moments. Why a night like that hits differently in a small room, our editors argue in why you should see a tribute band in a small venue.
Sources
- Guitar Player — A Lot of What I've Wound up Having to Say Has to Do With Vulnerability: John Frusciante Gives His Most Revealing Interview Yet (Richard Bienstock),
- Vintage Rock — The Chad Smith Interview (Shawn Perry; conducted in 2012, published online in 2018),
- MusicRadar — Flea on his relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith (Stuart Williams, from Broken Record with Rick Rubin),
- CBS 60 Minutes — Red Hot Chili Peppers: athletes on stage (Jon Wertheim),
De Peppers editorial team
Written by the editors at De Peppers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band from Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. Every fact is sourced at the bottom of the piece. Spotted a mistake? Email info@mia-automation.com and we will check it.
