Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea admitted he and drummer Chad Smith pretty much only share a musical relationship. MusicRadar.com reported that despite being one of rock's most creative rhythm sections in any era, while chatting on Rick Rubin‘s Broken Record podcast, Flea shed light on how the two co-exist in the Chili Peppers: “My relationship with Chad is that we don't hang out outside of the band. Never have. I've probably been to his house once, it's like this different thing. It's just this very grounded, rhythmic thing, there's no bulls*** about it. Not that the others (relationships within the band) have bulls*** about it either, but, we get down, we look at each other, and that's how we talk. Very rarely do we speak about emotional things, about spiritual things, even things that trouble us or things we aspire to. It's just, we get down and f***ing hammer out some grooves (laughs).”
He went on to explain, “We talk by playing, we talk by looking at each other and knowing when to lay back into a groove or knowing when to lean forward, and knowing when to sit right in the middle, or knowing when he should lay back and I should lean forward or vice versa. . . That is a beautiful conversation that Chad and I share, and I'm so grateful for that. That's the way that we are, and that's what it is, that's awesome.”
Chad Smith told us a while back that it's rare for members of the Chili Peppers to write new music without each other: “We always got ideas bouncing, but until the four of us get in a room together, y'know, that's when we really see how it takes shape. And for the most part when we all get together, that's when it really starts — get into a groove of jamming and writing.”
