Kiedis is a vivid, central figure throughout the memoir, and you get the sense that, even decades on, Flea is still trying to reckon with the power of their relationship. “The way I bonded with my friends had always been intense,” Flea writes. Kiedis is a vivid, central figure throughout the memoir, and you get the sense that, even decades on, Flea is still trying to reckon with the power of their relationship. Some of them still slipped through - the opening passage about him crying, overwhelmed by music in Ethiopia, is a little trite - but there are also genuinely heartbreaking passages, such as when he writes about the drug addiction and death of original RHCP guitarist Hillel Slovak, and his volatile relationship with frontman Anthony Kiedis. He didn’t use a ghostwriter, and he was led through the project by renowned editor David Ritz, who helped reel in some of Flea’s more outlandish imaginative wanderings. Writing about the Chilli Peppers would be…it would only be my perspective about, you know, what happened when we made the records and the tune of that piece, and this emotional moment and this traumatic moment and this exciting triumphant moment.įlea’s writing, like the man himself, is compelling - he’s tender and vulnerable at many points, constantly examining his younger self’s motives and actions. “But then as I started writing, I realised I didn’t want to. “I originally I thought I would only write about the band because I thought it would be arrogant to write about my own personal story,” he says. What Flea instead offers is an intimate and eye-opening examination of his childhood, from his early years in Australia, to moving to New York and his parents’ split, to finally landing in Hollywood and becoming consumed in its street punk culture. In fact, if you’re hoping for any Red Hot Chili Peppers antics, you’ll come away wanting - the book ends shortly after the band forms. 2 of Anthony Kiedis’ drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll-soaked memoir Scar Tissue, you’ll be disappointed. If you come to Acid For The Children hoping for a Vol.

Flea scar tissue