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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Peter Balzary |
| Also known as | Mike B the Flea |
| Born | (1962-10-16) 16 October 1962 Melbourne, Australia |
| Genres | Funk rock, alternative rock, funk metal, jazz, experimental rock, punk rock, jazz-funk, electronica, hardcore punk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, actor |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, vocals, trumpet, piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros. Records, EMI |
| Associated acts | Red Hot Chili Peppers, Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Rocket Juice & the Moon, What Is This?, Fear, Jane’s Addiction, the Mars Volta, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette |
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Notable instruments: Fender Jazz Bass |
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Michael Peter Balzary (born 16 October 1962), better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and actor best known as bassist and founding member of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Flea briefly appeared as the bassist for such bands as What Is This?, Fear and Jane’s Addiction. He has also performed with rock supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface, and Rocket Juice & the Moon. Flea has also collaborated with artists including The Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, and Young MC.
In 2009, Rolling Stone readers ranked Flea the 2nd best bassist of all time, behind only John Entwistle.[1] In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the other members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Flea has displayed a wide variety of techniques throughout the years, ranging from his initial use of slapping and popping to the more traditional methods he has employed since Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Greg Prato of Allmusic has noted, that “by combining funk-style bass with psychedelic, punk, and hard rock, Flea created an original playing style that has been copied numerous times”. Flea stated in an interview, that he was influenced greatly by Louis Armstrong.Flea has been considered one of the greatest bassists of all time, with Greg Tate of Rolling Stone saying “if there were a Most Valuable Bass Player award given out in rock, Flea could have laid claim to that bitch ten years running”.Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan recalls, that when he first saw the Chili Peppers in 1984, “Flea was playing so aggressively that he had worn a hole in his thumb and he was literally screaming in pain in-between songs because it hurt so bad. Someone kept coming out and pouring crazy glue into the hole.” Flea’s sound is also determined by what type of instrument he plays. Before Californication, he did not believe the actual bass held much significance: “what mattered was how you hit them [basses] and your emotional intent, and I still think that’s the bottom line.”Flea owns a 1961 Fender Jazz Bass, treasuring it for its “old wood sound”.
Regarded as one of the best rock bass players of all time, in 2009, Rolling Stone‘s readers ranked Flea the second-best bassist of all-time in their top ten poll, ranked behind only John Entwistle and ahead of Paul McCartney. In a 2010 poll, conducted on the BBC Two series I’m in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band!, Flea was named the bassist in the ultimate fantasy band alongside Freddie Mercury on vocals, Jimi Hendrix on guitar and John Bonham on drums.
Flea’s bass playing has changed considerably throughout the years. When he joined Fear, his technique centered largely on punk rock bass lines; however, he was to change this style when the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed. He began to incorporate a “slap” bass style that drew influence largely from Bootsy Collins. However, this technique caused Flea to receive attention from the music world and was often copied, and he, therefore, felt it necessary to completely remove slap-bass styles from his repertoire following Mother’s Milk (1989). Consequently, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) saw a notable shift in style as it featured less of his signature technique and more styles that focused on traditional and melodic roots. His intellectual beliefs on how to play the instrument were also altered: “I was trying to play simply on Blood Sugar Sex Magik because I had been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, ‘I’ve really got to chill out and play half as many notes’. When you play less, it’s more exciting—there’s more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good.”
During the writing and recording of One Hot Minute (1995), Flea integrated some use of slap-bass progressions, but continued to center his technique around the philosophy of “less is more” rather than complexity: “I can’t even think of anything I played that was complex [on the record]; even the slapping stuff is simple. It’s original-sounding, and I’m proud of that – but what I played was more a matter of aesthetic choice.” This led Flea to alter the way he wrote music by playing alone, instead of the jam sessions that would dictate how the band conceived songs: “[One Hot Minute] is the least jam-oriented record we’ve made. I mean, we definitely jammed on the ideas, but there’s only one groove on the whole album that came from a jam, ‘Deep Kick’. The rest of it came from my sitting down with a guitar or bass.”
Flea became interested in electronica during the Californication (1999) era and he attempted to emulate the same atmosphere given off by synthesizers into his bass playing: “I feel the most exciting music happening is electronica, without a doubt.” He ultimately decided against this, acknowledging that, aside from Frusciante, the band was not moving in the same direction.
In By the Way (2002), many of the bass-lines were entirely stripped of funk. Flea felt the chords Frusciante had written were not supportive of his typical technique; furthermore, he does not feel the musical direction of the record was specifically melodic, but instead “… a result of each one of us being who we are. The way we [the band] compose music is a very communal thing.”
Flea’s stepfather was in a bebop band that frequently jammed in his presence, so he soon became fascinated with the trumpet. Flea credits his continued interest in music to jazz performers like Jaco Pastorius, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie. After Kiedis introduced him to punk and Rock, Flea became infatuated with artists such as Black Flag, David Bowie, and Defunkt. Flea’s early influences before Blood Sugar Sex Magik were mainly funk artists. They would become a notable aspect of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ sound up to Mother’s Milk. Originally, Flea was given the impression by punk bands, that one should play as hard and fast as they possibly could, but ultimately rejected this philosophy during Blood Sugar Sex Magik: “I was so into being raw […] it was all bullshit.” On Californication and By the Way, Flea drew influence from electronica, gothic rock bands like the Cure, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees and new wave music rather than funk. Flea has also spoken highly of Neil Young; he wrote an article for Rolling Stone praising Young for the consistent authenticity in his artistry, among other things
Bass Stuff 