After sparking controversy when punters noticed the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ instruments weren’t actually plugged in at their Super Bowl half-time performance yesterday, the group’s bassist, Flea, has released a full statement explaining the miming debacle.
After initially tweeting that the band had “no choice” in the matter, in a new statement on the RHCP website, Flea said that “The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it,” recounting various tales of the band’s indignance at being asked to mime in the past.
Despite this, the bassist states the NFL told the band they could provide live vocals when joining pop king Bruno Mars on stage, but that the guitar, bass and drums must all be prerecorded as they couldn’t risk anything going wrong with the sound.
“So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it,” he said, “but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it.”
The band recorded a version of Give It Away “that was very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years” and chose not to plug in their instruments as there was no need to.
“Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance.”
The statement goes on to express the band’s gratitude to the NFL and Bruno Mars for the experience. Flea said he’d have no problem doing the same again.
The Chili Peppers are just the latest in a string of Super Bowl half-time controversies, with previous “mishaps” including rapper M.I.A’s bird flip and Janet Jackson‘s infamous 2004 wardrobe malfunction.
Watch: Bruno Mars & Red Hot Chili Peppers Superbowl Half-Time Show
http://youtu.be/rxNwrNLLyjM
(Via News Feeds)
