20 years of being a Chili Peppers fan

20 years of being a Chili Peppers fan: the most significant dates

On June 28, 2002 I became a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. A lot of funny shit happened through all those years & I would like to share my fan diary with you

In the morning of June 28, 2002, my cousin was in a car crash. He was driving his Toyota Corolla and, trying to avoid a collision with an "Izh" car that had suddenly appeared on the road, flew into a ditch and rolled over. He escaped with two broken ribs. In the evening of the same day, we went to visit "the victim", who, however, rather cheerfully prepared us a dinner and actively moved. At some point, I went to a large room to watch TV and turned on MTV, which first showed the premiere of A-Ha's "Lifelines" and Jamiroquai's "Corner of the Earth" music videos, after which the "Best Soundtracks" program began, hosted by Anthony Kiedis and Flea. That evening I found out about the band "Alice in Chains", that Rufus Wainwright had recorded a cover of "Across the Universe", but the main shock of the evening was watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Love Rollercoaster" video. I note that for the first time I saw this clip back in 1999, when the group came to Moscow to perform on the Red Square, but at that time the song and video had no effect on me, I was completely carried away by The Beatles and was not interested in modern music at all. From the summer of 1999 to the spring of 2002 I constantly saw Red Hot Chili Peppers' music videos on MTV, my friends listened to the album "Californication" 24/7, but all this was not interesting to me. Things have changed when I went to Finland for the New Year's holidays in January 2002 - in a few days I saw on MTV three clips from "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" era - "Under the Bridge", "Give It Away", "Suck My Kiss" ". At that time, I was listening to Hendrix and Zappa, growing long hair and expanding the horizons of music knowledge - and here it is, a combo - super diverse songs, a vocalist with waist-length hair, a guitar that sounds like Hendrix - how cool it was! However, it took me another six months to get carried away by the band's music. And now, on TV "Love Rollercoaster", and I understand that I urgently need to go and buy their albums before 1999. The only question is: which one? In September 2002, walking around the market "Gorbushkin Dvor", I looked for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", but it was nowhere to be found. As a result, one seller took out a Bulgarian bootleg CD from under the counter with the words: "This is a sought-after album, therefore it is rare." So I got The Red Hot Chili Peppers CD in my music library. I can’t say that I was completely delighted with all the songs on the album, but I just fell in love with some tracks. In the meantime, my father bought me a little book about Red Hot Chili Peppers in Russian - it was a funny pamphlet with lots of grammatical and factual errors, however, for a couple of months it was my main source of information about the band.

So here are the most striking and important events of 20 years of my passion for the band.

October 26, 2002 - the purchase of the mentioned book in a Moscow bookstore. I gave it to my friend to read, studied it from a front cover to a back cover and generally drew maximum information from it. In 2016-2018 it will be signed by: Flea, Chad Smith, Josh Klinghoffer, Anthony Kiedis, DeWayne "Blackbird" McKnight.

February 8, 2003 - purchase of "Freaky Styley" CD. Of all the band's discography, this album was the one I wanted to hear the most. Probably no other Red Hot Chili Peppers' records has given me SO much pleasure. Sometimes I wish I could hear this album like I've never heard it before. The first listenings of "Freaky Styley" were very special.

April 19, 2003 - purchase of "The Red Hot Chili Peppers" CD. Probably the band's second biggest album for me. Listening to it, I literally bathed in every sound and once again became convinced that the passion for the work of this group is becoming more and more serious. On the same day I've heard "Subway to Venus" for the first time, and it became an anthem of youthful recklessness, thirst for spring-summer adventures and sperm toxicity for me.

May 10, 2003 - I hosted a 2-hour radio show about the story of The Red Hot Chili Peppers at "Echo Moskvy" (currently banned because of war) radio station late at night. I didn't have much knowledge about the band then, but my enthusiasm was great. The most unexpected songs were broadcasted on the air.

June 19, 2003 - purchase of the remastered re-release of "Freaky Styley" and preparing for university exams in the summer at the village, listening to the magical sounds of "Millionaires Against Hunger".

October 2003 - I spent my whole first ever student salary for "Freaky Styley" vinyl record. That was the first Chili Peppers' vinyl record in my collection and I was so proud of it.

November 2003 - I went to a university, started going to the local internet room, and discovered Rhcpfrance web-site, being extremely happy about it. At that time, for me it was the coolest source of information and materials on the group.

June 2004 - Red Hot Chili Peppers influenced my personal life - I started dating a female administrator of a Russian site about the group :) The relationship was not very long, but I will always remember how she let me listen on the cell phone in a terrible quality "Leverage of Space" even before its official release, and how for the New 2005 year 2005 she gave me "Inside of Emptiness" as a gift.

November 2004 - wishing to share rare audio and video with other fans around the world, I created my own website - Rhrsandse.narod.ru (Red Hot Rare Songs & Something Else), where I tried to upload everything I found, while strictly systematizing. Sometimes I uploaded absolute nonsense there, but I believed that the nonsense was real. Until the spring of 2007, the site was constantly updated.

March 2005 - I discovered the wonderful world of eMule and started downloading a huge amount of rare & old Red Hot Chili Peppers videos. At some stage, I was just insane.

December 2005 - I opened the site Stadium-arcadium.narod.ru, where I posted all the news and audio related to the forthcoming new album. It was an interesting time, somewhere in the web archives, it still remains.

March 2007 - bought my first Chili Peppers t-shirt in Tallinn.

April 2007 - planned to go to see the show in Poland or Serbia, but my father denied to borrow me money for a trip.

December 2011 - the first Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts in Russia in 13 years are announced. Venues - St. Petersburg and Moscow. On the same day, of course, I ran to the ticket office for tickets.

July 19, 2012 - the first trip to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, St. Petersburg, the Petrovsky stadium. 10 years of waiting, what a great anniversary gift! But during "Monarchy of Roses" the hard mosh began - I have never been so scared at concerts.

July 20, 2012 - while waiting (unsuccessfully) for the band near the hotel, I met my future best friend - Andrey Kupin, who has been the guitarist of my band for 5 years now.

July 21, 2012 - the first personal meeting with a band member (Chad Smith), the second trip to a concert, Moscow, Luzhniki. I was standing quite far from the stage and I can't say that I enjoyed it immensely. Anthony was annoyed that evening.

October 2013 - after a long break, I returned to the active phase of fanaticism. Due to 5 years of "hibernation", I, alas, missed the opportunity to get into the book "Fandemonium", which I bitterly regret for all those years.

January 2014 - Our first conversation with former Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist Jack Sherman. This was followed by 6 years of close and exciting communication.

July 9, 2016 - the third trip to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Opening Arena", Moscow.

August 30, 2016 - first meeting with Anthony and Flea, Budapest. That same day, I found out that Kiedis doesn't sign autographs and doesn't like meeting fans at all. Flea signed autographs for fans after returning from soundcheck and answered a few questions about the band. That evening I met Chad for the second time.

September 1, 2016 - Fourth Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, Papp Laszlo Arena, Budapest. First row. For the first time I've heard songs from Hillel Slovak era ("Me & My Friends"), for the first time David Mushegain gave me a set list. On the night of the same day I met Flea and Josh after the concert. Flea took a group photo with us (very blurry), Josh willingly signed autographs.

September 2, 2016 - Red Hot Chili Peppers 5th concert, Papp Laszlo Arena, Budapest.

October 2016 - Purchasing "Freaky Styley" vinyl record owned by former club promoter Art Boerke. The record was signed in 1986 by Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Cliff Martinez and Hillel Slovak. That was the first Hillel Slovak's autograph in my collection.

October 16, 2016 - we played a big concert in honor of Flea's birthday. I performed with my band a set of exceptionally rare and old band songs including "Millionaires Against Hunger", "Out In L.A.", "Jungle Man" etc.

February 25, 2017 - my first lecture about Red Hot Chili Peppers. The topic of the lecture was the story of "Freaky Styley". Duration - 2 hours with lots of rare photos and videos.

July 26, 2017 - meeting with Henrik Lewandowski (a fan who has been to more than 150 RHCP concerts) and other super active RHCP fans in Riga.

July 27, 2017 - sixth Red Hot Chili Peppers, Riga, first row - exactly in the center. Hearing "Mommy Where's Daddy" live which made me so excited.

July 28, 2017 - meeting with Chad and Josh. I did a mini-interview with Chad, asking him some questions about the band's unreleased and rare records. At some point, Chad began to ask me some questions about the band :) Then - a whole evening with Josh - a joint trip to the Vapiano restaurant, a sudden visit to the Hard Rock Cafe, where Chad performed the song "Stone Cold Bush" with a local Blackeyed Blonde cover band, then - walk with Josh and two friends around Helsinki until 2 am.

July 29, 2017 - another meeting with Chad, at the Kamp Hotel gym. Chad first said "Don't Hurt Yourself" when he saw me lifting the barbell. And then he came up and offered to ask more questions about the history of the group. I decided not to disturb Chad, he hugged me in gratitude and we wished each other good luck.
Seventh concert of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Helsinki. View from the stage. Anthony Kiedis finally signed my old book from 2002.

February 2018 - I interviewed Jack Sherman specifically for my Red Hot Chili Peppers debut album lecture. Jack always recalled with tension the period of his participation in the band, so the agreement was to remember the best things about the recording of the album. And he did it! At the same time, Jack complained to me that he was still offended that Flea and Anthony mocked him by pouring yogurt during performances. I told Jack how the same jokes were made with Slovak, Frusciante and Smith - they were poured with both juice and ketchup. This information surprised Jack and made him feeling more comfortable.

June 28, 2018 - going to the concert of George Clinton and Funkadelic in Amsterdam. Meeting and chatting with George Clinton, Benny Cowan (played trumpet on the "Freaky Styley" album) and ex-RHCP guitarist "Blackbyrd" McKnight.

September 29, 2018 - a big lecture in honor of the 27th anniversary of "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". My last lecture on Red Hot Chili Peppers for today.

November 17, 2018 - going to a concert by Maceo Parker (Funkadelic saxophonist, who played on "Freaky Styley"). During the concert, right from the stage, Maceo signed my vinyl "Freaky Styley", signed in 1986 by all the "peppers" and in June 2018 by Clinton and Cowan.

April 2020 - I was approached with an offer to review the translation of Flea's autobiography "Acid for the Children". I agreed. As I checked, I began to make changes, additions, translate untranslated parts, refine. As a result, in addition to the editing and translation work, I wrote an additional part and an intro. Unfortunately, part of my translation was replaced back with a not entirely correct translation, but a considerable part of the work done was included in the book.

May 2020 - last conversation with Jack Sherman. I told him about the translation of the book, he was delighted, wished me luck and added: "I hope you will be adequately paid for this work!". We never chatted anymore...

July 12, 2020 - the next day after my 33th birthday Arik Marshall sent me a friendly note with an autograph as a birthday gift.

August 22, 2020 - late at night, sitting on the train St. Petersburg - Moscow, I learned from my Hungarian friend Miki Kiraly about the death of Jack Sherman. No comments....

October 2020 - mail correspondence with Cliff Martinez. Cliff signed me some records and mailed them.

December 2020 - Communication with Dave Navarro about the unreleased second album with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Dave gave me a signed copy of Jane's Addiction - "Ritual de lo Habitual" as a Christmas gift.

June 13, 2022 - saw John for the first time. Met up with Chad and Flea in Budapest. I have written a lot about this lately. Let me just say that the dialogue with Flea is the best gift for the 20th anniversary of my passion for the band.

June 14, 2022 - another meeting with Chad in Budapest. Chad offered to buy me & my wife some food or drink in a cafe, but we decided not to waste the artist's money :)

June 15, 2022 - 8th Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, Budapest, second row, right in front of John. My only concert for today of the most popular line-up of the group.

P.S.: when in 2002 I became interested in the work of Red Hot Chili Peppers, I had a fear that, as a typical teenager, I would "get sick" with this interest for a couple of months and abandon listening to the band. Since I have always devoted many years to all of my hobbies - collecting vintage books, magazines and postcards, 1:43 scale model cars, the history of The Beatles, I really did not want the Red Hot Chili Peppers to become a "short teenage hobby". I wish I knew in 2002 how far things would go)

Thanks to all involved! This is an amazing journey. In these 20 years, I've never really got to talk to Anthony and I've never got to talk to John. At the same time, enough has happened over the years to remember the whole story as one big adventure.