Flea has paid tribute to his late bandmate Hillel Slovak.
Slovak, an original member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, passed away from an accidental heroin overdose in Los Angeles in June 1988. He was aged just 26 at the time.
In a new interview with MOJO (as per Louder), Flea reflected on the loss of his friend and former bandmate.
“It was devastating,” he said. “Just unbelievable. When it happened I was so shocked I just fell on the floor, gasping for air.”
Flea continued: “When Anthony [Kiedis] and I met him, we were young. We were out hitch-hiking the street and we saw him and he had a car. He was fucking 16 and he had a car! A Datsun 510.
“He had a stereo in the car and he was smoking weed and listening to [Led] Zeppelin. He gave us a ride and I think he gave us some weed. He showed me Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck and then the Gang Of Four, all this stuff.
“I looked up to him. I was in love with him. He was a beautiful boy and troubled like all of us were, difficulties at home, difficulties everywhere.”
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Flea’s touching comments come ahead of a new Netflix documentary about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which pays close attention to Slovak.
The Ben Feldman-helmed film, titled The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, features input from RHCP members Anthony Kiedis and Flea and is scheduled to premiere on March 20th.
“At its heart, this is a deeply relatable story — about the friendships that shape our identities and the lasting power of the bonds forged in adolescence,” Feldman shared in a statement at the time.
“What’s less relatable, of course, is that here those friends went on to create one of the greatest rock bands in history. I’m profoundly grateful to the band and to Hillel’s family for their trust and generosity, and to Netflix for helping bring this story to the world stage.”
Following the doc’s announcement, however, RHCP released their own statement distancing themselves from the film.
“About a year ago, we were asked to be interviewed for a documentary about Hillel Slovak. He was a founding member of the group, a great guitarist, and friend. We agreed to be interviewed out of love and respect for Hillel and his memory,” the band stated in a social media post (as per Rolling Stone).
“However, this documentary is now being advertised as a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, which it is not. We had nothing to do with it creatively. We have yet to make a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary. The central subject of this current Netflix special is Hillel Slovak and we hope it sparks interest in his work.”
