Do you think Chad Smith, drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, is ever confused with Will Ferrell?

1980-82: Red Hot Chili Peppers formation[edit]

 

Slovak (right) with Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmates Anthony Kiedis (middle) and Flea (top left) in 1987.

Slovak, Kiedis, and Flea began to create their own music after finding inspiration in a punk-funk fusion band called Defunkt.^[11] The three formed a band with former Anthym-drummer Jack Irons called Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. The band had only one song, entitled "Out in L.A.", and was formed for the purpose of playing the song once.^[12] The song was based on a guitar riff that Slovak wrote while "jamming" with Irons, and was not meant to become a real song until Kiedis decided to rap over the music.^[13] Following the group's first show at The Rhythm Lounge, the owner of the bar asked them to return, but with two songs instead of one. After several more shows, and the addition of several songs to their repertoire, the band's name was changed to Red Hot Chili Peppers.^[14]

After the band started to gain popularity amongst the L.A. club scene, Kiedis began writing more lyrics. The lyrics would eventually become songs such as "Green Heaven" and "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes", and the band's concert repertoire quickly grew to nine songs as a result of months of playing local nightclubs and bars.^[15] Over the course of the next six months, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played many shows in L.A. clubs and became something of an underground hit. Slovak, Kiedis, and Flea moved into a small house in a high-crime area in Hollywood where they collaborated musically and continued their drug addictions.^[16] The threesome traveled to New York City to perform more shows and to "spread Chili Pepperdom".^[17] Shortly after the trip, Slovak moved out of the group's shared house to live with his girlfriend.^[18]