For me it’s the high-water mark of American culture – not so much contemporary jazz, which has become kind of academic, but the jazz from the ’20s on through the ’70s. – Flea
I played trumpet in the school bands. I learned things I liked to play on my trumpet, but I didn’t learn why this note goes with this note and why it produces that sound. Or how to create tension in the composition. – Flea
The Silverlake Conservatory is a nonprofit music school in Los Angeles where we teach music, mostly to kids, but to people of all ages – people who are old, people with beards, all kinds of people. – Flea
I’ve always kind of been an in-the-moment kind of person. I don’t think that far in advance or have any idea what’s around the next corner. – Flea
You teach your kids about your beliefs and tell them what you think is right and the conclusions that you’ve come to from living in the world, and then they can make their own decisions. – Flea
Turning 50 is a little bit of a ‘taking stock’ moment. I feel probably a little dumber. I don’t think I’m as sharp as I was when I was younger, but I’m definitely wiser and less likely to make gigantic blunders of an intellectual, spiritual, emotional or physical type. – Flea
I went to school and studied music for a year at USC, which unlocked a bunch of doors for me in terms of my relationship to music. – Flea
When I got with Nina Greenberg, I had been running for a few months already without a trainer. But then she gave me a program and guided me through my runs, showing me how to take care of myself and letting me know I should ice my legs and stretch – stuff I hadn’t been doing. – Flea
Outside of a couple of times I ran without eating right or being too tired, I always feel great after I run. – Flea
I was on a path that could’ve really led to disaster, and the one thing for me that really kept me focused and gave me something to believe in and a sense of self-worth and a discipline was music. – Flea
When I was in school, you could pick any instrument you want, and they’d teach you how to play it. That changed my life. I loved playing music in school, and it sent me on my path as a musician. – Flea
I feel like if we’re not running, we’re basically disrespecting our bodies. When you’re running, you’re really using your body for what it’s meant to do. – Flea
Music is made up out of these building blocks. Studying how these blocks go together and what they consist of and the math of how it works – it’s all the same stuff; it’s just different aesthetics that we’re talking about. – Flea
I was raised to think that rock was music for ignorant people who didn’t think for themselves. – Flea
When I was a kid, and it was time to go to college, I thought, ‘College is for people who don’t have the street smarts to make it on their own – get in a band, get in a van, and get rockin’. – Flea
We must improvise, and we must experiment, and we must do things that might go wrong, and everything we bring – the people and the equipment – must serve us in that goal. – Flea
Lucky enough, through the public school system, I had been able to have some music education, and that gave me something to focus on, and discipline – like a family to feel part of. There was a healthy family. – Flea
About 13-14 years ago, I went back to my alma mater, Fairfax High School, and ran into the music teacher. She invited me to come speak to the kids about the viability of a music career. When I went into the room where I used to play every day in a big orchestra, they had nothing! – Flea
Music is like the genius of humankind, universal… People who have never really taken the time to get into music, their lives are a lot smaller. Kids deserve the richness and dimension of it in their lives. – Flea
I wanted to play in a band, and I wanted to do music for a living, and that’s what I dedicated my life to. – Flea
Steven Adler and I played football in the street when we were 12. I remember rehearsing in my bedroom with my first band, and some kid climbed over the fence of my backyard and peeked his head in the window to see who was rocking. It was Slash. – Flea
I’m a performer and have managed to get my performing into the mainstream consciousness of the world, I guess. – Flea
Music gave me something that was not only good for me – it gave me something to work on, something to be proud of and something that I really loved and have a love for – but also music was good for other people because you put joy into the world. – Flea
A big part of my life is music education because it changed my life – but arts, academics and athletics should all be equally treated in the school. – Flea
When I was growing up, in L.A., I went to these schools, Fairfax High School, Bancroft Junior High School, and they had great music departments. I always played in the orchestra, the jazz band, the marching band. – Flea
