Flea Articles
Flea Giving Away Signed Bass Through Charity Sweepstakes
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has started a fundraising page on Crowdrise.com to raise money for his Silverlake Conservatory of Music. Silverlake is a non-profit that grants scholarships to low-income students, as well as gives them instruments and lessons. “A few years back, I had the opportunity to visit my old high school and...continue reading »
Summer NAMM Gear Watch: Fleabass Street Bass
The Fleabass line will be expanding with the coming of the Street Bass model, due to ship in late July. The Street Bass is an even more affordable version of the already available Touring Bass, which Flea himself is using to tour and write the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album with. The Street model...continue reading »
Red Hot Chili Peppers to Begin Work on New Album
According to drummer Chad Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers will begin recording a new album in July. This will be their 10th studio album, following 2006’s Stadium Arcadium. “We have a lot of material, probably about 20 songs,” Smith told MusicRadar.com. “Pre-production will take a few months, but I’d say by July we’ll be...continue reading »
Atoms For Peace tour dates announced, with Thom Yorke and Flea
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke has announced the name of his new supergroup, which includes Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and tour dates for the band. The group, Atoms for Peace, also includes Joey Waronker of R.E.M., Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. They have announced a 9-date tour,...continue reading »
Flea joins Nathaniel Ayers on new recording
Nathaniel Ayers, the musician who inspired the movie “The Soloist”, has recorded his first album. Ayers plays cello, piano, bass and trumpet on the release and is also joined by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, and two Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians, keyboardist Joanne Pearce Martin and violinist Robert Gupta. The CD, Putting on Ayers,...continue reading »
Coachella Festival line up announced
The massive line up for the three day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been announced, boasting over 120 performing artists. The headlining artists for each night are scheduled to be Jay-Z, Muse, and Gorillaz. Bass players will be happy to hear from the likes of Les Claypool, Them Crooked Vultures, Sly and the...continue reading »
Flea announced his own line of affordable basses at last year’s NAMM show, dubbed the Fleabass. The basses, designed by Flea, come in junior and full-scale configurations with colorful, high gloss finishes. The basses are a part of a broader goal for Flea. As we covered in November, Flea has his own non-profit music school,...continue reading »
Flea Plays National Anthem Before BCS Game
Flea performed the national anthem with Josh Groban at the Rose Bowl BCS National Championship football game a couple of days ago: Personally, we like the performance he did before the Lakers game better:continue reading »
David Pastorius: It’s not what you think
When your last name is Pastorius and you play the bass, it only stands to reason that people will draw some immediate conclusions. In the case of David Pastorius, they’d probably be wrong. David, the nephew of the late, great bassist Jaco Pastorius, may share the same last name and instrument of choice as his...continue reading »
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea (Michael Balzary) recently spoke with CNN about The Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a school he developed in 2001 with his childhood friend, Tree (Keith Barry). The non-profit school, located at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles, offers after-school lessons and focuses on the fundamentals of playing an instrument, rather than...continue reading »
