Flea
Born in Melbourne on October 16, 1962, Michael Peter Balzary — known professionally as Flea — co-founded the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the early 1980s, establishing himself from the outset as the band's bassist and one of its defining constants.
Flea attended Fairfax High School before later studying at the USC Thornton School of Music. His work spans alternative rock and reaches well beyond a single group: he has played alongside Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, Nirvana, Jane's Addiction, the Circle Jerks, the Mars Volta, and Young MC, among others. His membership in the supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface, and Rocket Juice & the Moon further reflects the range of his collaborative activity. In addition to bass guitar, he works as a trumpeter, pianist, singer, and composer, and his professional life extends into acting across film, television, and voice roles.
Within the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea holds a particular distinction: he is the only continuous member in the band's history, and alongside vocalist Anthony Kiedis, the only musician to appear on every album the group has released. That unbroken presence across the band's entire recorded catalog marks the most concrete measure of his sustained role in one of alternative rock's longest-running acts.
Quotes by Flea
LSD was good to me. Opening me up to another dimension, it helped me see what life was for, and the purpose of my yearnings... In a conscious way, it stripped away my fear of being criticized and freed me from the petty judgements I often doled out. Dissolving my ego, it magnified what was truly important, and unmasked those things that sapped my vital energy and distracted me from the path of divine beauty.
I was witnessing a nature so majestic that I felt whole. I melted away and became a part of it all. I felt insignificant, just another little component of all the nature around me. A little pea. Just love and kindness mattered... All my worries were put into perspective by the enormity of the natural world.
Born in 1962, ya always got something to do. The world is spinning like a top, don’t sop moving or you might fall off.
I realized that music was a force that brought people together and gave them power. People living outside society need a sound to believe in. A sound that cannot be opened or emulated by squares. It inspires the marginalized and the rebels. It gives a soundtrack to their walk that only they understand. It speaks for people who might not otherwise have a voice.
Such a fool was I. It’s a fool who’s seduced by that which feels good. Nothing but a simple fool.
While reading, all my confusion and hurt dissolved, and when I reentered reality, I was a little bit better of a person, a little more capable of learning from my missteps.
The trumpet, an incredible brass invention, is the king of instruments. This wild machine, its curved pipes, valves, and flowering bell. A puzzle of cold metal and grease, but when placed against the lips of a human being, and love is blown into it, it becomes warm and alive, a conduit for god, a spokesman for the divine.
Listen to me. Now is the time to be healthy. Treat your body and soul well. You can’t see the damage you do to yourself now, but when you get old you will suffer. Give yourself a chance to be in perfect health. Be an honest and kind person. It is the only thing.