Can't Stop: Flea Responds To Red Hot Chili Peppers Retirement Rumours
19 July 2017, 11:27 | Updated: 19 July 2017, 18:30
Watch the bassist give his reaction following Chad Smith's comments last week.
Flea has squashed rumours that Red Hot Chili Peppers could retire from touring in the future.
Watch his response via TMZ here:
The Can't Stop bassist - who is one of the band's founding members - played down the rumours as just "silly talk".
“I don’t know if you know it, but that’s just silly talk,” the 54-year-old rocker told TMZ.
“We never really look past the immediate future, but we’re on tour right now, we’re rocking out, we feel in the spirit, letting the music move us.
He added: “To be honest, since we first started this band 35 years ago, I’ve never ever known what’s next or round the corner or anything. I think the power of the band lies in that – just staying in the moment and the energy that’s moving.”
Flea - whose real name is Michael Balzary - responded after speculation was sparked by his bandmate Chad Smith, who revealed wasn't sure how long the band could continue touring.
As reported by Blabbermouth,in an interview with SiriusXM,the Dark Necessities drummer revealed: "We were riding in a van after a gig and Flea was like, 'How much longer do you think we should ... How do you think we should end this?'
"I was, like, 'I don't know!' I want to make records, I still love making records, but the touring part... I don't know if we can continue."
"I mean, three of us are 54 years old -- Anthony, me and Flea. Josh [Klinghoffer, guitarist] is 38 or 39, so he's a young man. But I don't know if we can continue to do the long tours -- the year, year and a half we normally do."
Meanwhile, at the beginning of this month RHCP reunited with their original drummer, Jack Irons, to pay tribute to the late Hillel Slovak who died 29 years ago to the day.
Addressing the crowd, Flea explained: "Actually another founding member of our band Hillel Slovak died this day 29 years ago, and his spirit will always live on.
"Before we play this next song, if you want to give him just a moment of silence, that would be really beautiful".
Hillel Slovak, who formed the band with Anthony Kiedis and Flea at school, tragically died from a heroin overdose on 25 June 1988.
Watch the moment they performed the Jimi Hendrix track - which features on their Mother's Milk album - courtesy of Chili Peppers Worldhere:
