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20 Years after my first recording of them, touring through Europe in a small van...
I'm back with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Sometimes I still can't believe how big they've become.
For youngsters all over the world, I imagine they must be like what the Rolling Stones were to me.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers-circus has come to Goffertpark in Nijmegen...
...for a one-off performance, which has been sold out for months.
Along rows of trucks and through many securityguards, I make my way to the holy of holies;
The heavily guarded area behind the stage, where only bandmembers and their guests are allowed.
There's no filming allowed, apart from the room we're in, which is located next to the band's meditation-room.
Officially none of the members are doing interviews, but for us an exception was made.
We anxiously await the arrival of Flea, the bassplayer.
I was able to observe the Peppers very closely for many years.
From '87 to '94 I made about 8 movies and reports about them.
I felt a little like the band's personal cinematographer...
I could usually just call them if I felt like we should shoot more footage.
I filmed the sex...
... well, sex.
The struggle with drugs,
The Rock and Roll,
The first mansions with swimming pools,
The almost juvenile joy,
The hits,
but also the decay.
Guitarist John Frusciante, who suffered from an ***-addiction and was on the brink of death.
But it all started with that first European tour, 20 years ago.
Back then we could just walk in and out of the dressingroom with our camera.
This was the last tour in which they performed their notorious sock-act.
This always during the metalfunked out version of 'Fire' by Jimi Hendrix.
Because that's what they were at the time, the uncrowned kings of 'metalfunk', as people called it.
This is unreleased footage from the movie I shot about their first European tour.
All I really wanted to do was make a portrait of a fun, young band, and life on the road.
I, quite luckily, chose the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although I thought they had potential, it was impossible to foresee that these 'Hollywood Kids' would...
...someday be the most popular band in the world.
...But now, that's what they are.
So these days they travel on a private jet from sold-out stadium to sold-out stadium.
Their album 'Stadium Arcadium' was the best-selling rock album of 2006, and was showered in Grammy's.
And they absolutely deserved them, if you ask me.
The Chili Peppers are 4 real musicians, who never forgot about the joy of making music.
Furthermore, an incredibly well-rehearsed and tight band;
"As tight as a man's ***", as Flea once said.
...Who excel at writing amazing popsongs.
This movie is the Red Hot Chili Peppers Story, as I experienced it.
The amazing tale of a band that almost died many times, but always got back on their feet.
To eventually reach the absolute top.
Our story starts in Switzerland, 1988.
We're traveling with the Peppers for a week, and spend many hours with them in an old, English van.
Apart from Frontman Anthony and bassplayer Flea, the band consisted of drummer Jack Irons and guitarplayer Hillel Slovak.
In a hotelroom in Switzerland, I show them a tape of footage of some of their idols, like Bootsy Collins.
In a TV-studio in Brussels, the band is required to do a playback of their newest single, 'Fight Like A Brave'.
What I didn't know at the time was that Anthony and Hillel were both struggling with their addictions on this tour.
Anthony later described it in his book 'Scar Tissue'.
In those years, bassplayer Flea seemed like the most dedicated member of the band.
On one of the nights in a hotel, he openly discusses the concerns he has for the future of the band.
From this point on, Flea's my main contact.
Sold out
The 25th of june, 1988, a couple of months after recording the documentary, Hillel Slovak dies.
He overdosed on ***.
Drummer Jack Irons is so shaken up by the death of his friend he decides to quit the band.
For a while it seemed like the Peppers were splitting up...
...but in the summer of 1989 we're filming them again, playing Dam Square in Amsterdam.
The new drummer's name is Chad Smith, and the necessary innovation Flea mentioned earlier...
... comes in the form of an ex-fan of the band, 19 year-old John Frusciante.
Here you can see Anthony still directing John, but the student would soon become the master.
Frusciante is not only one hell of a guitarplayer, his head is also filled with something very valuable to the band: Ideas for songs.
This is John Frusciante in 2006.
He's now considered the creative force of the band, the man without whom the Peppers never would've gotten this big.
As we can also see in this interview, recorded last year (2006).
The band talks about Dani California, which received a Grammy for best rock song of 2006.
John Frusciante breathes music, he is music.
His inspiration comes from all sorts of music, the entire history of popmusic,
but as a teenager he had one hero: Jimi Hendrix.
In 1990 we visit the 20-year old John at home, doing a TV-special on Jimi Hendrix.
How unbelieveable, this afternoon we're certainly going to have a memorable show.
They are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they're about to play-
During the historic performance on February 14th 1990,...
...in the tiny VPRO radio-studio in Hilversum,...
...one can easily hear the Hendrix-influences in Frusciante's playing.
In 1990 I filmed the Red Hot Chili Peppers 3 times. It was an important time for them.
A period in which the Peppers will go from cultband to worldband.
When the Peppers, in the summer of '90, let out that they were looking for a new label,...
...4 huge labels started going for them.
Epic, ***, Geffen and Warner Brothers.
In a rehearsal-studio in West-Hollywood they're rehearsing for the album John mentioned,...
...which will be called 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik'.
It will be the band's definitive breakthrough.
Spring, 1991.
For the interview about the new CD, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, we've arranged for a little boat and a guitar.
This is just before one song of the album is about to make them the rockstars they always said they didn't want to be.
Hit or ***: Recent clips judged by VIPs.
Appearing tonight on Hit or ***: Singer Anthony Kiedis and bassplayer Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Their single 'Under The Bridge' is doing quite well in the Dutch charts,...
... and on the 11th of February they played to their first sold-out Ahoy (a dutch stadium).
Especially for Anthony and Flea, we set up a little studio in the catacombs of Ahoy, Rotterdam.
We view a couple of clips, amongst which a new Smashing Pumpkins-video.
2 Months after the Ahoy performance, in the middle of a Japanese tour, John Frusciante quits.
"Just tell them I've gone insane." he told the Peppers-manager.
The next day he had his suitcase packed, and he was on a flight back to LA, leaving the other bandmembers confused.
Here John and the Peppers in better times; John sings 'Tiny Dancer', a song by Elton John.
After Frusciante's departure, the Peppers are about to face some difficult times.
They experiment with various guitarists, and it takes almost 4 years for another album to come out.
One Hot Minute, which had no hits and was relatively mediocre following Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
The Peppers seem to have a lack of direction without Frusciante.
Meanwhile, the media hears nothing about John Frusciante. Rumour has it that he lives a secluded life somewhere in LA, struggling with a ***-addiction.
Through a mutual friend I managed to track him down in Venice, California. We're in the home of his girlfriend, Toni.
Years later the shocking footage we filmed here went across the globe,...
...seen in documentaries about the Peppers and eventually through the internet and Youtube.
The unbelievable has already happened at this point;
in 1997 John goes into rehab, thanks to the help of Flea and other friends,
...who are convinced that John won't survive his addiction if they don't act quickly.
Shortly after quitting drugs, the band asks John to return.
When the new album 'Californication' was released, and the band was back onstage, it was easy to see why.
The Peppers are, with John amongst them, back on top.
Right now it's 1 'o clock, the Peppers will perform at 9 I believe.
The gates will open at 2:30, and that will be total madness, everyone will run up and want to be near the stage.
Ofcourse I'll try that as well, I'll try to get me a spot in the middle.
If that's not possible, I'm going towards John. Always.
-What time did you get here?
- At about 7:45.
I'm 22.
- I'm 17.
It's a pretty old band to be a fan of when you're 17, right?
Yeah, people do say that. I don't think it's an isssue. They've been around the block,
but their music doesn't show age, they don't look old and they're still very enthusiastic. I've got no issues at all.
- No issues at all.. How about other people?
- Not really. My parents do think it's odd I'm a fan of these 'old people'...
- Is that what they tell you?
- Yes, but I don't really see it that way.
John is my favorite. I love them all, but John's special.
You can see that he lives for his music, and he's so honest, and that's beautiful.
He was completely messed up on drugs, but now look at how he's back;
He's alive, he's there, full of energy, that's amazing to see.
You almost start tearing up when you think about it. That he's still alive, it's fantastic.
You can see that he loves it, you can see that in his eyes. How he plays with the band, he just enjoys it.
Backstage in Nijmegen I ask John for an interview. At first he agrees, but soon thereafter he changes his mind.
I tell him all I really wanted to know is if he found a way to deal with his 'Rockstar-status', but he offered no reply.
He doesn't feel like talking about personal affairs anymore.
When they enter the stage, you just feel amazing. The music moves through you, and you just rock out.
It's the greatest feeling I know. I want to relive that as often as possible,...
...I try to go to as many shows as I can.
These live shows, no matter howmany times you go, every single time will be different.
The energy and all that, it's great.
When you're in an audience like that, do you secretly hope they spot you out there?
Well yeah, you do try to get their attention; Yelling,-
-Eyecontact. I always try to make eyecontact with John, hoping that he might see me.
-And then what?
Well, maybe he'll remember me, so that he can know me a little as well.
I know so much about him, and he knows nothing about me, and that's a little weird.
But when you go to see many shows, you get a little bit of hope that he might remember you if you're always up front.
During a song, we were on Flea's side, John comes over and he just kneeled down in front of me.
He was a couple of inches away, and I just had to grab that opportunity.
I tapped his knee, and he looked right into my eyes. I'll never forget that. He seemed very relaxed, but very deep.
He turned away and just continued playing. I just thought 'Woah, this is amazing'.
I completely lost it for a while, it was a great moment. The best moment of my life, really.