Hillel Slovak was an “artist, musician, intellectual, and a boisterous and high-spirited joker,” Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea once said. It was he who founded the band. Who got Flea playing bass. Which John Frusciante emulated as a guitarist. Or as Flea once said: “Without him, the Chili Peppers would never have existed.”
Slovak was around fourteen when he formed his first gang with his slightly younger schoolmate and future Chilli Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The group went through multiple line-ups and countless name changes. Including Anthym, Chain Reaction and later finally: Red Hot Chili Peppers. When the two friends were still in high school, the then bassist Todd Strassman could no longer keep up musically. But Slovak and Irons were dying to do it with their new boyfriend Michael Balzary anyway. He never sat still, always had to keep moving. That’s why everyone called him Flea.
But Flea played trumpet, not bass. Just a small problem, as Irons recounts: “He was a great trumpet player, was in the school band and was a junior conductor. And since Alain and Hillel really wanted to work with him, they suggested that he learn bass.” Slovak then showed Flea how to play bass with the help of his guitar. Just a few weeks later, Flea completed the first live show with the band thanks to his musical talent. He later said of Slovak’s influence, “He made me learn bass and changed my life forever.”
“He had a sense of self and a calmness that was just captivating”
Where Flea was, Anthony Kiedis was not far either. The two were best friends and inseparable, with an almost brotherly intensity. Kiedis finally got to know Slovak through Flea. The future lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers recalls this first encounter in his autobiography: “After a few minutes that I had spent with Hillel, I felt that he was absolutely different from most of the people I spent time with. He knew a lot about music, he was a great performer and he had a sense of himself and a calmness about him that was just captivating.”
The two quickly became friends and soon Kiedis also became part of the band. But not as a singer at first, as one might expect. He was hired as a hype man, telling audiences warm-up jokes before shows. Only later did Flea and Slovak discover the potential of his voice and his poems, which were turned into lyrics. From this point on, the friends performed as the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“All I did was copy Hillel”
As the Red Hot Chili Peppers began touring more extensively and gaining notoriety, one fan in particular took a liking to them. The Chili Peppers were the absolute favorite band of the then 16-year-old John Frusciante. He was particularly taken with Slovak’s guitar playing, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepellin and Sly Stone. He tirelessly practiced all of the Chili Peppers’ songs on the guitar in order to become as good as his role model. “I tried to play like him. My friends said I had my own style, but all I did was copy Hillel,” says Frusciante.
When he met the band backstage after a concert in 1986, everyone involved quickly realized that it was just a personal fit. From that day on, a deep friendship developed between Frusciante and the Chili Peppers, despite the eight-year age difference. He also began to follow the band to numerous concerts.
At that time, however, the Red Hot Chili Peppers also had another constant companion who ultimately became Slovak’s undoing. Wherever the band went, drugs were never far away. Soon the band structure suffered and so did the music. In 1988 it was finally too much. Slovak died of a heroin overdose at the age of 26.
A heavy blow for the band, as Kiedis said: “Hillel’s death was a total shock. It took me years to get over that.” The other band members didn’t take it easy either. The group broke up and Irons left the band. “Flea and Anthony bothered this whole thing as much as I did,” says the drummer, “but they learned to live with it and find a way to keep going, which took a hell of a lot of effort.”
A newbeginning
Almost two years later, Kiedis and Flea wanted to revive the band. They hired their old friend Frusciante as the guitarist. Chad Smith took Iron’s place as drummer. The formation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which has now been reunited for a long time. Because almost fifteen years ago, Frusciante left the band to focus on his solo career. Now in April 2022 “Unlimited Love” will be the first record in the new old formation since then. A great moment. Not just for the fans, but also for the band, as singer Anthony Kiedis explains: “It was the most monumental change in our lives. And by God, I was ready for it.”
This year Slovak would celebrate his 60th birthday. Many years have passed since his death. But to this day, “Hillel Slovak’s energy has never really faded,” Anthony Kiedis toldNME“. “We still carry Hillel in our hearts, no matter if 30, 40, 50, 60 or even 100 years have passed”. After all, the Chili Peppers would never have existed without Slovak.