Red Hot Chili Peppers
The band was formed as a side project by four high school classmates; Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Flea, and Jack Irons. They first took up the name “Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem”, which doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Fortunately, soon after their first couple of gigs they changed it to “Red Hot Chili Peppers”.
Before picking up the bass, Flea was an accomplished jazz trumpet player. Influenced by his step-dad, who was a jazz musician himself, he took up the trumpet at an early age and was considered a child prodigy, performing several jazz gigs.
After meeting Hillel Slovak, who taught him how to play bass, Flea was introduced to many different genres of music. At that time his main influences were gritty ’70s punk bands and the groovy funk music of the ’60s and ’70s.