Deep Kick (partially found unreleased Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary film; 1995)

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One hot minute album cover.jpg

The album (when still in production) that influenced the creation of the documentary.

Status: Partially Found


Deep Kick is an unreleased documentary by the American rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers. The documentary chronicled the recording sessions of their sixth studio album One Hot Minute and its supporting tour. The group had done something similar with the documentary Funky Monks (released in 1991), which was filmed during the recording of their previous album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

History

In 1995, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their follow up to their 1991 breakthrough Blood Sugar Sex Magik titled One Hot Minute. The album featured guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction to replace long-time guitarist, John Fruscante, who was uncomfortable with the band's newfound fame at the time.[1] As they had done with the documentary Funky Monks, which was filmed during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik recording sessions, the band decided to produce another documentary about the recording sessions with interview clips from the band members. One key difference, from Funky Monks being that the documentary would also feature several fantasy sequences. These would highlight each member of the group, much like the Led Zeppelin did in their concert film The Song Remains The Same.

Directed by Gavin Bowden, filming took place during the sessions for One Hot Minute between 1994 and 1995, and continued over the course of the tour in support of the album. The album was a long and troubled production for singer Anthony Kiedis who slipped back into drug use after five years of sobriety. The material on the album also reflected the darker mood of this period in the bands career. The subsequent tour, was also plagued with problems including Kiedis injuring himself on stage and friction between Navarro and the rest of the band.

Current release status and surfaced clips

Plans to release the documentary were abandoned. In 1998 Dave Navarro left the group due to his drug use and musical differences and original guitarist John Frusciante rejoined.

To date, the documentary has never seen an official release or been seen in full. Part of this could be attributed to the lukewarm critical reception to One Hot Minute and the departure of Navarro. It is also rumored that since the footage captured a rarely seen darker side of the band (the arguments between members, Kiedis clearly being high on drugs at some points, the general negative atmosphere of the recording process), the band wanted to distance themselves from the project.

Since the departure of Navarro, the band rarely plays songs from the One Hot Minute album live and have appeared to distance themselves from that period. Drummer Chad Smith was asked by fans during a February 2014 online interview about the band's reasons for not performing the songs, and he responded by saying "We don't really feel that connected to that record anymore. No special reason, not to say we'd never play those songs, but we don't feel that emotionally connected to that music right now."[2]

It is unknown how complete the Deep Kick project was at the time the project was abandoned or if any feature length cut (rough or final) was ever completed.[3][4]

Footage available

An unknown amount of footage was officially used for the music video of the One Hot Minute song "My Friends" in 1995. During the release of One Hot Minute, footage from Deep Kick has appeared as B-roll during interviews and other promotional television programs featuring the group[5].

In 2013, a couple of clips surfaced on YouTube featuring the black and white footage. The clips showed Antony Kiedis fantasy segment (portraying a preacher for the Church of Sunlight Energy) and a montage of footage from a photoshoot with the Velvet Underground song "Waiting for the Man" playing over it. The uploader was the Chili Peppers' fan club channel, RHCPnews, and the two clips were all the band were willing to leak online at the time.

In early 2021, several minutes of the documentary were uploaded by the film's editor, Nabil Mehchi, as part of a showreel on the Murex Films website.[5]

To date, the footage that has surfaced is sourced from a standard definition videotape master. The status of a complete cut of the documentary or the original film reels (required for a digital scan for modern release standards) are unknown.

Gallery

One of two clips released via the YouTube channel RHCPnews in 2013. This clip features the Velvet Underground song "Waiting for my Man" played over a montage of footage from a photoshoot.

One of two clips released via the YouTube channel RHCPnews in 2013. This clip contains footage from the Anthony Kiedis' fantasy segment where he portrays a preacher for the Church of Sunlight Energy.

Compilation of known footage from the documentary including the footage released in 2021 from Murex Film's showreel. The Murex footage includes live footage of the Red Hot Chili Peppers with shots of them in a coach and a car. Flea conducting a group of children during the sessions for "Aeroplane", an interview with Flea (heavily bearded) talking about his elephant tattoo and his daughter. It also features Chad bouncing his child on his lap while sitting at a drum set and footage of Henk Schiffmacher tattooing a dagger on Anthony at his tattoo studio in Amsterdam.

"My Friends" music video. Featuring footage from the "One Hot Minute" sessions

External Links

Murex Films - Showreel of clips from Deep Kick

References