A new Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary on Netflix is digging into the band’s wild early days, but it’s the use of artificial intelligence that’s really getting people talking.
The film, The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel, focuses on the massive influence of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak. In a controversial move, it uses an AI-generated voiceover of the late musician to read from his personal journals.
As reported by Rolling Stone, director Ben Feldman doesn’t hide the use of AI, including a notice early in the film that the audio was digitally reconstructed. Feldman stated he received the blessing of Slovak’s family to use the technology, believing it was “a critical way to make his [words] feel alive.”
The film charts the band’s chaotic rise, tracking how Slovak, Anthony Kiedis, and Michael “Flea” Balzary went from inseparable friends at a Los Angeles-area high school to navigating the gritty LA punk and rock scenes of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Through in-depth interviews with Kiedis and Flea, supplemented by Slovak’s own journal entries, the documentary paints a picture of the band’s origins before they became the stadium-fillers we know today.
Hillel Slovak was a crucial part of the band’s early sound, playing on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first three studio albums before his tragic death from an accidental heroin overdose in 1988 at the age of 26. His influence shaped the funk-rock foundation that the band would build their empire on.
While the film offers a deep dive into their history, the band previously made it clear that this is not an official Red Hot Chili Peppers project. In a statement released in January, they clarified they had “nothing to do with it creatively.”
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“We agreed to be interviewed out of love and respect for Hillel and his memory,” the band said. “The central subject of this current Netflix special is Hillel Slovak, and we hope it sparks interest in him and his work.”
The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel, is streaming on Netflix now.
