Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the perfect marriage

This article was published in issue n.24/2016 Vanity Fair and we re-propose it today to retrace the changes Vanity has undergone in the last 20 years. Here are all the articles we are republishing

He sees me with a worried face, and immediately: «I’m fine, it was just a bad intestinal flu». We are in Malibu, in a villa on the ocean that looks like a set, and Anthony Kiedis is sitting in an armchair in the huge bedroom, after a brief hospital stay which forced him to cancel two concerts.

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He speaks slowly in a low voice while sipping green tea (“it’s good for the throat, unlike cheese which is terrible for us singers”). She is preparing to face the promotion and the tour (in Italy in October) of The Getawaythe new Red Hot Chili Peppers album to be released on June 17, 5 years after the last one I’m with You. Anticipated by the single Dark Necessities, the disc has a new producer, Danger Mouse, who takes the place of the historic Rick Rubin, to whom the Red Hot Chili Peppers owe most of their successes. “We’ll keep going until we feel current and not a repeat of ourselves,” Kiedis says, taking another gulp of tea. The other novelty, for a few years now, concerns Anthony’s private life: 53 years old and never married, a passion for young models, in 2007 he had his first child, Everly Bear. The mother’s name is Heather Christie: she and Anthony broke up when the child was three years old. After her came the Australian Helena Vestergaard, but it ended with her too. The new one seems to be called Wanessa Milhomem, a 22-year-old Brazilian. Despite this feminine whirlwind, Anthony is a single father. “Everly lives with me. Mom sees him regularly, but it’s me who shares his daily life, I take him to school, I make him do his homework».

How did it go with the new producer?
“It was tiring. When we asked Brian (real name of Danger Mouse, ed) to produce us we already had 20 songs ready which were good for us, but he didn’t like them. It was a shock: when you work on a song for a long time, you get attached, you lose lucidity and you no longer understand if it works. However, Brian wanted something different, so we said to ourselves: if we work with him, we have to follow him. We relied on his method which consists in composing new music every day in the studio ».

What song was he fond of?
“One for the death of Robin Williams, which isn’t on the record. Robin was special, his energy was contagious, when he left I felt real pain. She had psychological problems, but hid her suffering. She held on until the pain was unbearable, and then she walked away. de with a worried face, and immediately I do not blame him. I just forgive him.”

In the record, the end of a love is sung.
“In almost every piece. While writing the record I had dark moments, I had to overcome the end of the relationship of two years with Helena, who I loved very much and with whom I would be all my life. The story didn’t work anymore, and I didn’t understand how it was possible that, even though we loved someone so much, we couldn’t be happy together. I still don’t understand it now.”

When he suffers, is an artist more inspired?
«When the story ended I thought: I wasted two years of my life. Then a friend pointed out to me that without it I would not have composed these songs: something good came out of it».

But if he loved her so much, why didn’t he marry her?
«I don’t know, for me the piece of paper doesn’t have much value. I was certainly very attached to her.”

Instead, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers he’s been going on for more than 30 years: isn’t being in a band a bit like being married?
«Yes, Flea and I have been married for 35 years. But we don’t live together, everyone has their own space, we don’t spend 24 hours a day under the same roof. Maybe the secret is there: get married, but each to their own home. In reality, I don’t even know how we can last, by reconciling our personalities and our selfishness. Sometimes we fight and scream, sometimes we hug. What is never lacking is mutual respect».

How has being a father changed you?
“Being with Everly is the thing I want most in the world. I’ve never loved anyone like him. Just watching him while he sleeps makes me happy. I feed him, I make him feel safe, but the love that comes back to me is a thousand times greater.”

Sometimes being the children of a celebrity isn’t easy. Do you ever think about this aspect?
“My son tells me: ‘Dad, you are famous. The kids at school talk about you.” So I explain to him that dad does a job and that fame is nothing: I’m first and foremost a musician, not a rock star. I explain to him that he too has to figure out what he likes and work hard. I try not to spoil him too much.’

And when, growing up, will be intrigued by alcohol and drugs?
“That scares me. I just hope that if he wants to experiment, he will do it with situations and substances that don’t hurt too much».

Will she tell him about her past addiction?
“Certain. I hope that seeing me as clean as I am now you understand what the right thing is».

Now that he’s a father, do you think about his own, as a father? “My father is the person who has influenced me the most, for better or for worse. I learned a lot from his mistakes. For example, I don’t want my child to grow up fast. I did it all too soon: I smoked at 11, had sex at 14, took drugs at 16. Instead, I would like my son to remain a child for as long as possible”.

In 2012 you entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an honor that often falls to bands that are no longer active: was he happy or did he feel “old”?
«It was a special moment, my thoughts went to those who are no longer with us, above all Hillel Slovak (guitarist, died of heroin in 1988, ed.). I think it was important to honor them. For the rest, we still have a lot to give and I want the world to know it.”

Sex, rock and roll drugs. When is there today in his life of all this?
«Rock everyday, multiple times a day»

Sex?
«Less than before now I only do it as a lover. As a boy I experimented, but now it’s different. As for drugs, my only vice is surfing. I no longer use substances, the big waves are the ones that give me adrenaline».

She is 53 years old but doesn’t look it. How many do you hear?
«It depends on the moments, there are days when I feel 100. But when I go surfing for me it’s like I have 20».