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| The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Our Brother, Hillel. |
On Friday, we had the opportunity to interview James Slovak, Hillel Slovak’s brother, and help fixing Hillel’s Marshall amplifier, in Los Angeles CA, through our friend Gabe Maska. The interview revelead details about the Netflix documentary “The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel” and also the whereabouts of Hillel’s rig. We hope you like it:
Hi, James! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. The documentary is for sure an update on Hillel’s image. There are so many new details and things people got to know. To start, we wanted to ask you: What’s the feeling seeing your brother being so loved and witnessing his legacy alive after almost 40 years?
"Well, I've been keeping his legacy alive since the day he died, and I've been trying on the internet and, whatever, when I was back in the day and all the way till today, and I did a book called ‘Behind the Sun’, I published it in 2000, called ‘Behind the Sun: the Diary and Art of Hillel Slovak’, trying to show people that he wasn't just a guitarist. I was just trying to show he was deep, he was sensitive, he was caring, he was romantic, he was an artist, and also that he wasn't just a guitarist, so I did that. It has his diary and artwork in there, and also a bunch of written stuff."
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| James Slovak and Hillel's Marshall. |
How's the process on putting the documentary together, and how was it like to go back in time getting the images, the quotes, and all the stories?
"Okay, well, the documentary was interesting because it took seven months just to get Anthony, Flea, me, the director and the producer, to meet at the Soho House on Sunset Blvd. because they're on tour, and then when they were back on tour, they were busy, or this happened, and Flea had a flood in his house in Beverly Hills, and then Anthony was out of the country, and it just was back and forth, back and forth, like every couple days, sweating it, freaking out, and then finally they're like: I can do it this day, I can do it this day. I finally coordinated it. We went and met, and like Flea was like: ‘hey, it can't be a Chili Pepper documetary’, and I said: ‘dude, I promise, it's all going to be about Hillel, and that's Itu’ It's about Hillel, and how he created it, and started in the early years, and seeing the pictures and stuff, like we had an archivalist, and I saw like at least like four videos, and maybe like 20 pictures, photos that I've never seen before, which is really cool."
"Okay, well, the documentary was interesting because it took seven months just to get Anthony, Flea, me, the director and the producer, to meet at the Soho House on Sunset Blvd. because they're on tour, and then when they were back on tour, they were busy, or this happened, and Flea had a flood in his house in Beverly Hills, and then Anthony was out of the country, and it just was back and forth, back and forth, like every couple days, sweating it, freaking out, and then finally they're like: I can do it this day, I can do it this day. I finally coordinated it. We went and met, and like Flea was like: ‘hey, it can't be a Chili Pepper documetary’, and I said: ‘dude, I promise, it's all going to be about Hillel, and that's Itu’ It's about Hillel, and how he created it, and started in the early years, and seeing the pictures and stuff, like we had an archivalist, and I saw like at least like four videos, and maybe like 20 pictures, photos that I've never seen before, which is really cool."
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| Netflix. |
Are there any unpublished demo recordings from Anthem, What Is This, or the Chili Peppers, and if so, will it be released someday?
"There's a song that's in the documentary, they talk about it, it's called 'Flow', they play it for a second, I think, and that's the song that was from What Is This, that never got released. I don't think they're going to release it, but you know, it's interesting, since this movie came out, you know, I almost feel like calling the record company and saying: listen, I know you stopped making albums for What Is This 20 years ago, or whatever, but I think as a movie, and so many people are like now, they're like really interested in What Is This, and they're like want, they're like searching for it online, used copies and stuff, I think they should re-release it, and also with the song 'Flow'."
"There's a song that's in the documentary, they talk about it, it's called 'Flow', they play it for a second, I think, and that's the song that was from What Is This, that never got released. I don't think they're going to release it, but you know, it's interesting, since this movie came out, you know, I almost feel like calling the record company and saying: listen, I know you stopped making albums for What Is This 20 years ago, or whatever, but I think as a movie, and so many people are like now, they're like really interested in What Is This, and they're like want, they're like searching for it online, used copies and stuff, I think they should re-release it, and also with the song 'Flow'."
We can’t miss the opportunity to ask about Hillel’s gear. Could you tell us information about his gear and their whereabouts: starting with his Fender Stratocaster.
"Yeah, you know, when my brother died, I was pretty devastated, and when Jews die, you know, I think like it has to be done, the funeral in like three days, which is weird, because it doesn't even get, I can't even let people know, but there were so many people at the funeral anyway, but, my mind wasn't right, and at the time, I thought: “you know what, I'm going to bury him, and put his Strat in the coffin”, you know, because I thought at the time, it was the right thing to do, but I was young and dumb, because you know, you realize as you get older, it doesn't go with you, you know, it's ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and you're soul goes somewhere else, and you don't take the guitar with you, so literally I regret that, and as far as his pedals, he only had four effects, and when I came after my brother died, I went to this place, where I guess they had the equipment and stuff, I got his Marshall amp, his head, and both of his guitars, but they never gave me his pedals or anything, and I'm curious, I'm pretty sure, like when John joined the band, they're like: ‘here, here's Hillel's pedals’ and I don't care, it doesn't matter if I never got it from them, but they had it, they never gave it to me, because they probably thought, what, what do you need with pedals, because at the time, they didn't even know they're gonna have a band again."
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| Hillel's T-shirt limited to 300 units on www.neverforgotten.shop. |
What happened to the red wine Gibson Les Paul?
"Unfortunately, I had a house that I bought, which was an amazing house, right by Fairfax High, on Orange Grove, and it had those louver windows, which are the easiest for anybody to break into a house, you just pull down the metal tabs, slide the glass pieces, pull them out, five of them, and then you crawl in the house, so one day, I came home, my brother's Gibson was stolen."
If the gear is still in the family, would you mind sharing pictures, so the fans can see it?
"We'll have some photos of the amp, for sure, to send you guys, yeah, we just fixed it today. Shout out to Bruno for helping us fix Hillel's Marshall amp today, that just happened."
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| Hillel's Marshall. Model 1986, 50W Bass Head from 1974 and the Marshall cabinet, also from 1974, equiped with Rola Celestion's G12H. |
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| Serial number S/A 1401F. |
With the success of your movie, do you plan another run of your sought-after book, “Behind the Sun”?
"I'm not gonna do another run of “Behind the Sun”, but I am gonna another book, and it's gonna be about so much stuff that I talked about, that ended up on the, you know, cutting room floor, for the movie, you know. They wanted Anthony and Flea to tell the story, instead of me, which is fine, but I have literally so much to tell, and also, it's probably gonna be a tell-all book, because it's gonna tell everything, and then things you don't know, and a lot of dirt, and stuff you don't know about the band, that they did to me, and my family, so everybody's gonna hear the whole story."
To finish, for us being both Hillel and Frusciante fans, we wanted to mention that it was really emotional hearing John’s words about how he started sounding original and fitting into the band after deciding to play completely like Hillel, almost giving your brother the credits to the band’s global success on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. It was a full circle moment in the movie, creating a connection to Hillel’s words at the very beginning: “I guess you have to kinda play like me, then you can definitely be the guitar for the Peppers”. Perfect ending!
James, once again, thank you for the opportunity to answer our questions and congratulations on the amazing work on your movie!
"Thank you very much, I'm very proud, I'm also proud of my merch site, I designed the designs, it took me six months, they're really amazing designs, and 50% off right now, on my merch, it's www.neverforgotten.shop, not com, neverforgotten.shop, and he will post it on his link as well, thank you!"
"Thank you very much, I'm very proud, I'm also proud of my merch site, I designed the designs, it took me six months, they're really amazing designs, and 50% off right now, on my merch, it's www.neverforgotten.shop, not com, neverforgotten.shop, and he will post it on his link as well, thank you!"
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| www.neverforgotten.shop |
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Once again, JFeffects would like to thank James Slovak and Gabe Mask!
Once again, JFeffects would like to thank James Slovak and Gabe Mask!
Interview by:
- Raphael Romanelli A. de Oliveira
- Bruno Portugal
- Raphael Romanelli A. de Oliveira
- Bruno Portugal
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