Max Elfimov is a busy man. Fresh off his archival work for the Hillel doc (see my interview with him here) he’s just finished the first round of an English translation for his book Red Hot Chili Peppers: Freaks with a Cause - the EMI years, which came out in his native Russian a few years back.

I’ve read an early version of the book, and it’s a goldmine for anyone interested in the formative first few years of the band - from the first show, all the way up to the point that the songs for Blood Sugar Sex Magik are being written. It goes over each album, each song, how each album was released and the artwork and music videos for all of them. You can read from cover to cover or dip in and out, and each page is full of facts.

Here’s an interview with Max where he talks a little about the book, and the circumstances around his writing of it.

Beyond that, an excerpt from the book itself, which details the writing and recording of “Me and My Friends.”

Enjoy. I’ll be sure to send through more info when the book has a release date.

Explain a little about the book for everyone.

Hello, Hamish!

The book will be a detailed account of the band's first four EMI albums, as well as the major cultural aspects of the band's early years (1982–1990), including different release versions, the making of music videos, cover artwork, and tattoos.

Each track from every album is also covered individually, with information on who wrote it, when and where it was recorded, the personnel involved, how many versions have surfaced, how it was written, when it was performed live, and when the band stopped playing it.

It's not really a biography; it's more of an encyclopedic reference work. Because of that, some information is intentionally repeated between the album-history sections and the track-by-track entries.

What led you to write it now?

Despite the large number of books written about the band, it is ironic how little attention has been paid to their actual cultural story. The 1980s are usually portrayed in The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ narrative as a period of endless parties, affairs, and drug-fuelled adventures. Scar Tissue is filled with darker stories, while the band’s creative process is only touched upon briefly. An Oral/Visual History contains some wonderful moments, but it still provides very few details about the creation of the band's first albums.

I believe many fans have never fully appreciated those early records simply because so little information about them has been available. What do casual fans typically know? That the debut album was overproduced by Andy Gill, and that Anthony Kiedis and Flea were unhappy when Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons left the band at that point. That Freaky Styley was too avant-garde and barely reflected the band's true live sound. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan has often been praised by the band themselves, which is why more fans are familiar with it.

After the release of the Netflix documentary Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel, more fans began exploring the band's early work, which is fantastic. Hopefully, after reading a detailed book about those first records, even more people will become interested in that era.

My own book was released a year ago in my native country, and it is now almost sold out. Many Chili Peppers fans have approached me at various events, asking me to sign their copies—which felt absolutely surreal. I never imagined that anyone would want my signature. They often tell me that they had never paid much attention to the band's first records, but after reading these stories, the 1980s era became their favorite period of the band's history.

James Slovak, Hillel’s younger brother and the main creative force behind the documentary, announced after its release that he would be writing his own book about the band. I do not expect it to focus heavily on the creation of the songs and albums, so when I learned about his plans, I felt that I should release my own book internationally, expand it, and add new material.

When I first published the book locally, I was essentially an unknown author, and readers were taking a chance on it. However, after the documentary—on which I worked as an archival researcher—I am no longer quite such an unknown figure within this community.

Since most books about The Red Hot Chili Peppers devote relatively little attention to the band's remarkable creative side, I sincerely hope my book can fill that gap and find its audience. Those four guys — regardless of the line-up — helped shape an entirely new sound in the 1980s. They were anti-glam, anti-pop, and created something unique, powerful, and enduring. Their story deserves a book that explores how that sound was developed and how those songs were actually created.

As of 2026, there is still no comprehensive book available worldwide that examines this subject in detail, with the exception of your excellent book, which focuses primarily on the band's very first year.

How’d you write it?

That’s a really long story.

My first attempt to write this book happened almost twenty years ago, back in 2007. I wrote around one hundred pages but eventually decided to stop because I was still young and unable to build a proper structure. Thank God I did. Back then I had far less information than I do now.

I have always been the kind of person who wants to learn everything about the subjects that interest me. A funny fact is that the Chili Peppers are not even my favorite band. I love them, of course, but The Beatles have always been number one for me.

I started researching The Beatles and writing articles for fan magazines, and when I was fifteen I was invited to become one of the hosts of a radio show called The Beatles Hour on Echo of Moscow radio. That was in 2002. I was very young, but many listeners enjoyed the show and encouraged me to write a book. However, so many excellent books about The Beatles had already been written that I felt I would have little of value to add.

Later I became a huge fan of the Belarusian band Lyapis Trubetskoy and began researching their history as well. At one point, the band's leader, Sergey Mikhalok, was actually annoyed with me because I kept posting historical materials and digging up rare archival content while he was trying to establish a new, heavier direction for the band. Years later, however, he called me to apologize and even asked for my help with their archives.

That was when a publisher approached me about writing a book on Lyapis Trubetskoy. At the time, Mikhalok was avoiding the press and was not on good terms with many of his former bandmates. Ironically, I was one of the few people who maintained good relationships with both him and the rest of the band. He even agreed to give me an interview for the book.

Unfortunately, the publisher eventually cancelled the project because of the political situation in the country. That remains one of my greatest disappointments, especially because Ruslan Vladyko — the band's co-founder, a brilliant guitarist, and a wonderful storyteller — was later killed. He had wanted that book to happen so badly.

The mortality of the people who witnessed history became one of the reasons I finally decided to write my own book. Around that time, I was dealing with some health issues myself and found myself thinking about mortality. I realized that if I died tomorrow, twenty years of research would disappear with me, and that seemed like a terrible waste.

Around the same period, a publisher asked me to review a work-in-progress translation of Flea's memoir Acid for the Children. I was originally supposed to verify names, locations, and factual details. Instead, I found myself shocked by how clumsy and awkward the translation was. Night after night after finishing my regular job, I sat rewriting large sections of the manuscript to make it readable. Two weeks and very little sleep later, the work was finished. I was still not completely satisfied with the result, but it was significantly better than what I had originally received.

Soon afterward, you, Hamish, announced the release of Out in L.A., which came as a real shock. Your incredible research—and, honestly, I still believe that you and Leni are the best historians in the entire Chili Peppers community—and your dedication to such an underexplored period of the band's history inspired me to pursue my own project.

When your book was released, I bought it immediately. The only other book I can remember anticipating with that level of excitement was The Beatles Anthology. I thoroughly enjoyed Out in L.A., and when I finished it, I found myself thinking that a sequel covering the following years would be a great idea.

So, in early 2024, I began writing during my spare time.

My wife and friends laughed at me at first, but once they saw the working manuscript, they were impressed.

Initially, I wrote the foundation of the book from memory and from knowledge accumulated over many years of research. I also had the benefit of a lengthy interview with Jack Sherman. Back in 2018, I interviewed him while preparing a series of library lectures about the Chili Peppers. I had a similar conversation with Arik Marshall, who shared several fascinating stories.

Jack was still deeply hurt by some aspects of his history with the band, but we ended up having a wonderful conversation. At the end he told me, "Thank you. I don't enjoy thinking about my past with the Peppers very much, but this interview brought back some great memories."

After that, I started adding details from archival interviews, magazine articles, and contemporary sources. I reached out to people who had worked with the band and asked them about specific events. Some never responded, while others were surprisingly enthusiastic.

One of my main goals was to tell compelling stories without focusing on the darker and more sensational aspects of the band's history. Nevertheless, some interviewees shared stories that were genuinely disturbing—stories I never wanted to include in the book. Fortunately, most people provided fascinating insights and colorful details that enriched the narrative.

Many participants could not remember exact dates, but they often remembered major world events, specific venues, or circumstances surrounding particular concerts. Those details frequently helped establish accurate timelines.

I also spent countless hours listening to archival recordings from various line-ups. That process led to the discovery of several interesting facts about the origins of certain songs.

In many ways, I imagine this is similar to how Mark Lewisohn conducted the research for his early Beatles books. His work has always been a major inspiration to me and a powerful example of how a devoted fan can become an important contributor to a band's official history. At the same time, Lewisohn's independence may have ultimately cost him his position within the Beatles' official archival circle, which I find rather unfortunate.

One principle guided me throughout this project: I wanted the people I was writing about—or their families—to feel comfortable with the book. I showed portions of the manuscript to Andy Gill's widow, Catherine, and to Jack Sherman's son, Robin, because I wanted to know that they felt respected and fairly represented.

When your goal is to be a fly on the wall, respect for your subjects is essential.

I am sure there are still facts in the book that could benefit from further verification. But even the people who were there do not remember everything. More than forty years have passed. As Alain Johannes once told me, it is incredibly difficult to reconstruct every detail because it was a loud, exciting, and chaotic period in which events happened very quickly.

I owe enormous thanks to Jack Sherman, Alain Johannes, FabulosFab, Drew Carolan, Michael Beinhorn, Otis Link, Graeme Whifler, Catherine Mayer, Robin Sherman, Bill Frenzer, Gary Allen, Kristen Vigard, Norwood Fisher, Ivy Ney, and many others for their invaluable help.

I wish I had been able to speak with Lindy Goetz and the members of the band themselves in order to clarify a few remaining details. But Lindy is now a retired seventy-eight-year-old man, and the band members are global superstars.

And finally, Hamish, thank you for all your help.

But I would be lying if I said that all of this research was fun.

When I began digging into the band's history in 2003–2004, I was often ridiculed by other fans. Their attitude was usually something like: "Who are you? Were you there? No? Then stop pretending you know anything. We already have Scar Tissue—that's all we need."

Whenever I spoke about my love for Hillel Slovak and Jack Sherman eras, I was often met with surprisingly aggressive reactions. People would say things like: "You're a fucking hipster. You're a poser. We know you only got into the band because of Californication. Nobody genuinely prefers those early records to the band's greatest albums."

To me, that attitude was deeply frustrating. At one point I became involved in such a long and unpleasant conflict within the fan community that I seriously considered walking away from it altogether. I remember thinking, "To hell with this. Fans can be incredibly narrow-minded, and maybe this fandom simply isn't a place where curiosity is welcome."

Yet I kept going.

What always amused me was that many of the people dismissing the first albums as worthless—and insisting that John Frusciante was the band's only real guitarist and that only his records mattered—never seemed to realize that John himself has always spoken with great respect and admiration for those early records. He has always seemed remarkably open-minded, generous, and anti-bullying.

People can be strange.

Fortunately, none of that ever stopped me from continuing my research.

What’s your favourite piece of info that you uncovered?

The churches featured in the “Catholic School Girls Rule” video were a fascinating challenge to track down. Since there is very little information available about this music video, I put a lot of effort into researching it and eventually decided to identify the filming locations as well. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

The tiny yellow church was by far the hardest one to find. I spent countless hours searching for it with absolutely no success. Just when I was about to give up, I noticed a photo of it in the Web Archive. Eventually, I found a website where the church had actually been listed for sale! There was a detailed description, plenty of photos, and it looked like someone had already bought it because the listing had been moved to the archive.

I was also happy to learn who played the crazy farmer in the “Coyotes” video. But the greatest discovery was finding the actor himself, who shared some very interesting details about the making of the music video.

Another rewarding part of the research was finding solid evidence to support my long-held theories. For decades, I had my own ideas about certain dates and events, and discovering old newspaper clippings that confirmed what had really happened—and when—made me genuinely happy. My intuition had been right all along.

And yes, thank you once again for your enormous help with some of those clippings.

It was real detective work, and I enjoyed every minute of the process.

What was the most difficult piece of info to uncover? (either for the book itself or in your entire life as a RHCP fan)

The story of “Walkin’ On Down the Road” was another fascinating one, especially since there is very little information available about it. I was genuinely shocked to discover that the opening lines of “Dani California” had already appeared in an early version of “Walkin’ On Down the Road”. Moments like that make you realize that all those long hours spent listening to old live recordings can uncover some truly interesting facts.

Another special moment was finding their interview at the MTV studio in December 1984. It was not listed anywhere among the known video recordings. I first noticed a one-second fragment of it in the 1998 MTV Biorhythm documentary, posted a screenshot, and then... some people helped me track down the full interview!

Is there anything left to uncover?

Everything from the Sherman/Martinez era. I love that lineup — it was unique and remains highly underrated. Their Columbus 1984 show is still my favorite RHCP live recording. I remember getting goosebumps when I listened to it for the very first time 20 years ago.

The 2003 reissue of the debut album included only the 1983 demos with Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons, so for a long time I was convinced that nothing from the Sherman/Martinez era had survived apart from the album itself and a handful of live recordings.

But recently I discovered that a full studio version of “Sex Rap” actually exists and was removed from the debut album at the very last moment. I also learned that “Human Satellite” was not just an unfinished idea but a fully completed song, and that recordings of their 1984 demos and rehearsals have survived as well.

That made me incredibly happy, even though I'm not sure I'll ever get the chance to hear all of it.

What’s your favourite song and concert from the EMI era?

As for the songs, a lot of! “Buckle Down,” “Jungle Man,” “Millionaires Against Hunger,” and “Show Me Your Soul” are among my favorite Chili Peppers tracks of all time, not just from the EMI era.

When it comes to live shows, the Columbus 1984 performance stands above the rest. As I already mentioned, it remains my favorite RHCP live recording. Anthony’s vocals were absolutely wild back then — before George Clinton advised him to sing/rap more carefully to protect his vocal cords. Jack Sherman’s guitar work is phenomenal.

And then there’s Cliff Martinez. His drumming is on an astonishing level, which is why he ranks among my three favorite drummers alongside Ginger Baker and Ian Paice. The sound quality of the recording is also remarkably good.

Whenever people say that the Sherman/Martinez lineup was shit, I point them to the Columbus show. More often than not, they are genuinely shocked by how good it actually was.

For something a little different, what's your moment/song from the WB era?

I love “Melancholy Mechanics”, I love “If You Have to Ask”, and I love most of the material from Blood Sugar Sex Magik and One Hot Minute. There is also one particular song that was never officially released but helped me through the darkest period of my life — “Circle of the Noose.”

Although it was never officially released, it surfaced in 2016. At that time, my mother was already ill, and I was living with the fear that I might lose her soon. Listening to this song gave me a great deal of comfort and support.

When she passed away in November 2022, I listened to it constantly, and it truly helped me heal. There is something in its sound that gives me a profound sense that, while we are all mortal, there is something greater and stronger than us — something that exists beyond all of us. No other song has ever given me that feeling.

What's next for you?

I don’t really know. It’s hard to say. First of all, I need to find a publisher. I don’t want to do a cheap self-release, because I believe the book is good enough to be published in its full glory, with all the photos that were kindly provided by fans who attended shows in the 1980s, as well as by some of the people I interviewed for the book. If it ends up being published internationally, that would really bring everything full circle.

Local fans often ask me to write a book about the 1991–1998 period, since they know I’m not really an expert on the band’s history after Lindy left. I actually started working on it, but I’ve put it on hold for now. It would be a very difficult project, mainly because there are fewer people available to interview. By that stage of their career, the Chili Peppers were mostly working with well-known figures who aren’t exactly accessible to people like me. Still, who knows? If my first book does well internationally, maybe I’ll eventually write it.

I’ve also thought about writing a book focused on the band’s early tours from 1983 to 1990. There are certainly plenty of interesting stories, facts, and details to uncover there. But I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to do it. I’ll be turning 40 next year, I have a full-time job, and I’m pretty sure—and certainly hope—that I’ll become a father within the next few years. Naturally, that will leave me with less time for projects like this.

With the EMI book, I feel that I’ve already preserved the most important parts of the research I’ve done over the years. If I ever retire completely from fandom, this book will remain the best result of my work. I still maintain my photo and video archive, and I expect I’ll continue doing that, since previously unknown vintage photos keep surfacing from time to time.

I really hope you won’t retire from the fandom, though! And I hope the band will finally recognize your incredible work, because your 1983 book is, in my opinion, the best book ever written about the band. I absolutely love Acid for the Children, but it only has one chapter that’s actually about the band.

Life is unpredictable. Today marks ten years since the peak moment of my fan life: Paul McCartney took me and my mom on stage during a concert. It happened on her birthday. I made a huge sign about it, Paul noticed it, and invited us up. Neither of us ever expected something like that to happen. My mom spent most of her life in the USSR, listening to The Beatles on tenth-generation reel-to-reel copies. Moments like that seem impossible until they happen.

So, what comes next? I honestly don’t know. Hopefully my health issues will finally leave me alone. Right now, I’m writing this while dealing with an annoying back pain that I’ve been suffering from for quite a while now, haha.

Me & My Friends

Written by: Anthony Kiedis, Michael Balzary, Hillel Slovak, Cliff Martinez, Jack Irons
Recording Location: Capitol Studios, May 4 – June 9, 1987
Personnel: Anthony Kiedis – vocals; Michael Balzary – bass, backing vocals; Hillel Slovak – guitar, backing vocals; Jack Irons – drums; Michael Beinhorn – backing vocals; David Kenoli – backing vocals; Norwood Fisher – backing vocals; Angelo Moore – backing vocals

One of the most well-known songs on the album was written gradually by the band. In early 1986, The Red Hot Chili Peppers had two rough song sketches: one featuring a catchy, repetitive melody, and another built around a somewhat awkward, monotonous guitar riff with no real chorus. Both drafts were recorded in April 1986 under the direction of producer Keith Levene.

At some point, the band decided to merge the two compositions, as the memorable first idea worked perfectly as a chorus, while the monotonous second one fit well as the verses. Anthony wrote the lyrics while driving home from San Francisco with his friend Joe Walters, presumably in the summer of 1986. Kiedis composed an ode to his friends in the spirit of “Out in L.A.,” but far more detailed, mentioning Bob Forrest, Hillel Slovak, and Jack Irons.

The early version of the song did not include the words “Me & My Friends” in the chorus, consisting instead of an instrumental section. However, the verses contained a reference to Flea that was later removed:

“I need him bad & I hope he needs me,
A friend in whom I truly believe,
You can take Jesus & I’ll take The Flea.”

This version was recorded as a demo in August–September 1986, shortly after Jack Irons rejoined the band. The track marked the reunion of the original Red Hot Chili Peppers lineup.

The live debut of the song took place in St. Louis on November 24, 1986. Before performing it, Anthony announced it as the best song the band had ever written. By that time, the track had already taken on its final, recognizable form: the tempo had increased, the chorus was in place, and the lines referencing Flea had been removed.

During an interview with the Canadian TV channel MuchMusic on December 3, 1986, Anthony and Flea performed part of the final verse of “Me & My Friends” (“Jackie’s eyes are closed…”) when asked about Jack Irons’s return to the band.

Soon afterward, the band and producer Michael Beinhorn began work in earnest on their third album. In February 1987, another demo of the song was recorded, this time very close to the final album version. The definitive version was recorded in May 1987 with contributions from Norwood Fisher, Angelo Moore, David Kenoli, and Michael Beinhorn, all of whom sang the choral backing vocals in the choruses.

The album version of the song included an extended outro that the band had performed live from November 1986 through the spring of 1987. However, shortly after completing the album, RHCP dropped this “leftover” ending and began concluding the song with the chorus alone.

“Me & My Friends” became the longest-lasting and most consistently performed song in the band’s live repertoire. From early 1987 until the end of 2003, it was played at nearly every concert and rarely dropped from the setlists. The only two years in which The Red Hot Chili Peppers did not perform the song live were 2004—when the band focused on material from their Warner Bros. Records catalog to promote the Greatest Hits compilation—and 2005, when they began experimenting with brand-new, unreleased material.

In 2006, “Me & My Friends” made a strong return to the setlist, but beginning in 2007, its live appearances gradually became less frequent with each passing year. As of 2024, it remains the only song from the band’s EMI era that is still performed live on occasion, albeit very rarely: during the Unlimited Love tour, it was played only 13 times.

Due to the frequent changes in the band’s guitar lineup, Anthony Kiedis had to modify the introductory shout before the solo each time a new guitarist joined. These variations included:

• “Slim Boy, take it!” (for Hillel Slovak) 

• “BlackByrd, take it!” (for DeWayne McKnight) 

• “Johnny, gotta take it!” (for John Frusciante) 

• “Arik, take it!” (for Arik Marshall) 

• “Dave, gotta take it!” (for Dave Navarro) 

• “Josh, now take it!” (for Josh Klinghoffer) 

While drummers D.H. Peligro and Chad Smith performed the song at a significantly faster tempo than the studio version between 1988 and 1990, Smith returned to the original tempo and groove in 1991.

The guitar parts proved more challenging to replicate. John Frusciante initially simplified the song considerably, and during the solo he would often play only one or two notes, drawing roaring, highly expressive sounds from his guitar. It was not until 1998–1999 that Frusciante began to approach Hillel Slovak’s original version more closely. Even then, up until 2006, he continued to favor intense “guitar screams” over a more traditional solo.

On August 29, 1992, during one of the Lollapalooza shows, guitarist Arik Marshall inserted a brief excerpt from Purple Haze into his solo during “Me & My Friends.” Although Marshall soon returned to his customary rapid-fire improvisations, the band liked the idea. Beginning on October 16, 1995, during the European leg of the One Hot Minute tour, Dave Navarro began incorporating the “Purple Haze” fragment into the solo section on an occasional basis—roughly every other performance. Prior to the Rotterdam show, Navarro had performed only improvised solos in the song.

On August 10, 1994, during a semi-private concert at Club Lingerie, one of the original studio contributors to “Me & My Friends,” Angelo Moore, joined The Red Hot Chili Peppers onstage to perform the song. At that show, instead of ending the song with its usual outro, the band suddenly sang, “Ooooh shit!”. This marked the first time fans heard a preview of what would later become the song One Big Mob. “Me & My Friends” continued to be performed in this form through the final shows of 1994.

In 1992, the German bootleg What the Funk featured a demo version of the song recorded in August–September 1986, including the original lyrics referencing Flea. The same collection also included an early instrumental version, dated April 1986, containing only the verse section. On that recording, a chaotic guitar part can be heard in the left channel, likely unrelated to the original take. Many years later, this track surfaced online in a clean version without the “solo” overdub.

In February 2003, an official reissue of The Uplift Mofo Party Plan included, as a bonus track, the early instrumental version of “Me & My Friends” featuring the “chorus” section. This recording, produced by Keith Levene, was also dated April 1986.

In early 2018, a later instrumental demo of “Me & My Friends,” recorded in February 1987, surfaced online.

The live version of “Me & My Friends” recorded in Irvine on March 19, 1988, was included on the VHS release Red Hot Skate Rock. The performance from July 16, 2000, appeared on the DVD Off the Map, while the June 4, 1999 version was featured on the Around the World single. Another notable recording, captured on October 16, 1995, in Rotterdam on Flea’s 33rd birthday, was included on the Aeroplane single.

According to Chad Smith, “Me & My Friends” is one of Eddie Vedder’s favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers songs.