Flea

And he was prone to these wild fits of violence where something would set him off and he would just like start destroying the house, smashing all the windows, breaking everything.

Everyone like begging him to stop, you know, kids being terrified.

We would run out in the street.

And it grew violent, and his violence extended to us, even though he never hit me or beat me.

But it got bad with my mother and with my sister.

He did.

Of course.

It was a lot to deal with as a kid.

But it all shaped me.

And it's all a part of who I am.

And at the same time, and this could not be understated, is that when I saw my stepfather played music, and I didn't really understand it at the time, even though I understood it in a way that's been a part of me my whole life, is that when I saw him play the bass, he played with such aggressiveness and with such intensity that

that I would see him get into this sort of animal state, beyond thought, like this primal, just attacking this instrument, one with it, sweating, breathing, grunting, playing this instrument, like completely gone in the music.

And I knew that he was using all that pain and anger and fear and anxiety

that had made him act like he did, using it in a really healthy way and turning it into something beautiful, transmuting all this pain and anger into something beautiful, this like metamorphosis, this alchemy, which is music's greatest gift for him and for all of us who have enjoyed so much music that is made by people expressing their pain and fear and hope in sound.

when we recorded the track, when I played the trumpet for the track Willow Weep for me, I remember feeling a great deal of sadness.

And when I played that song, I remember feeling that, like, let me please, you know, let me let go of this and express it into something beautiful.

But I don't, you know, it's always a thing with me.

Like, I mean, for the Chili Peppers shows for the last 45 years, it's like,

I can't tell you how many zillions of time I get in and I'm like attacking my instrument and letting the rhythm throw me around like a rag doll on the stage that I'm hoping for healing and hoping for letting go of pain and anger and fear.

Yeah, that was the thing.