Flea interview with Stern.de after Cologne Theatre Show

Flea spoke to German Website, Stern.de shortly after the Red Hot Chili Peppers played their Theatre show in Cologne, Germany on August 30th, 2011. Published September 4th, 2011.

Flea: “Yesterday we first played the whole album! That was totally exciting! Live, and the audience did not know the songs. At the beginning it went well and even at the end but in between I’ve hurt my arm …”

Wounded in the arm?

Flea: “I was so excited. I grabbed my bass so strong and I’ve played so hard that my arm is cramped. That happens sometimes.”

It is worth noting that you cramp after almost 30 years still.

Flea: “I’m really excited when we play. It is very, very important to me. Be entertainment, an entertainer, that’s a beautiful, sacred tradition that I respect very much. And I want the honor. I want to harness the power of the gods and bring the thunder. I want to bring people to the rock.”

So we have to imagine you as a god of thunder?

Flea: “I would have liked. (Laughs)”

Have you really never a hangover? How do you think of that?

Flea: “It’s all about energy. I do my best to let the divine energy flowing through me, to pour the whole thing.”

So you’re really spiritual, without being cynical?

Flea: “There is a spiritual path in my life, I follow a long time. This is an important part of who I am.”

What way is that?

Flea: “I’m not religious at all. But I believe in divine power, to something like a divine intelligence. I think there is something greater than my mortal body. The body will naturally get tired. But if I can lead the divine energy in the right direction, this energy is never tired of flowing. As long as I am your subordinate, it flows through me and makes people happy. Ensures that people feel less alone in the world.”

Since you’ve been doing this for so long: How to stay in the face of all the expectations the audience has to you, progressive and curious?

Flea: “Music is fun and exciting music is infinite, and there really always learn new things, ways in order to grow. It’s just incredibly interesting! The whole process fascinates me. What is possible, what can I do next? It inspires me every time And I just love the people! (Laughs) I want to give something back to people. This is a sure-fire, the more I open myself and try to learn about music, the more excited I am.”

You have opened a music school and finally even started to study music. How much theory tolerate pop music, anyway?

Flea: “I’ve only scratched surface, which, what I want to learn! I’ve never studied it all and was always rely on my very limited knowledge, my feelings and my intuition. To know more about me as a musician has really helped. I was only a year there, but it has given me the idea, and I’m much better understood. I have nuh faster, deeper relationship with music.”

But the Spirit of Rrd Hot Chili Peppers is not too rough and intuitive than anything else? Theory is not too much counter-productive?

Flea: “But it was theory! Even if we did not perhaps what the theory was accurate, and how we do it really. As we learned more about it when John [Frusciante] joined them. He knew a lot about the theory, he has seriously studied at university. For me it was a great inspiration.”

Speaking of learning: What have you learned from Chet Baker?

Flea: “When I joined the film “Let’s Get Lost,” it was, I was in the studio, as Chet Baker has played and recorded, and I’ve been watching him. They played beautiful, powerful, powerful music. But Chet Baker was so fragile and delicate, as he sang and how he has played the trumpet. He used as little physical energy and still have something powerful that created powerful. Without being loud or strain excessively physically …”

To cramp without the arm. That would be hard for you …

Flea: “This is the opposite of what I am! But sometimes I realize that I create the most powerful, when I am relaxing. The more I leave it to the music, the less I even try, funky, aggressive and tough, the more brutal it is. When I try to kontrillieren it, then I’ll strangle the energy.”

What have you learned from your mother?

Flea: “This is a difficult question. I did not have the closest relationship to her, even as a child. That’s why I’m looking elsewhere for this energy source well into my life. On the one hand, I have also learned the emotional independence, love to see me … But what I learned from my mother definitely is a thoughtful and decent human being.”

And what did you learn from Anthony Kiedis?

Flea: “A million things! But one thing I remember most, because it is very important: We were about 15 and have moved us to go out and meet girls. You know. I bought new clothes and thought that would be especially cool. Anthony I have always asked: “Hey, I do not look cool, or what?” And he said: “Yes, that looks pretty cool but it looks like something you would wear any but you’re a unique person you should look the way you are….” That’s pretty impressive to hear such a thing as a 15-year-old by another 15-year-olds. This has affected me. Not just clothes on, but in every kind of being who I really am, outside of what is considered normal.”

Could you be a musician without Anthony Kiedis?

Flea: “I think I would have definitely musicians. And I have also a rich musical life without him. But of course, our friendship is something magical, and he has had a huge influence on who I am as a musician. I could not imagine what life would be without him, or music.”

Source: http://wap.stern.de

Thanks to RHCP_ARE_GODS for the update and translation.