GIVEAWAY: Rock 'n' roll summer of reading

Acid for the Children, by Flea

Rock 'n' roll summer of reading, by Sarah Daniell

Flea is one of the greatest bass players in rock 'n' roll, but once he was a street rat and, before that, when he was really small, he lived in a basement for a time.

In Acid For the Children, Flea recalls the day his dad left to live in Australia, and the new guy - Wild Walt - moved into their lives. "Walter was up and down a lot but fun when he was in a good mood."

Flea's memoir is achingly honest, soul-bearing, and relatable. He is a vulnerable, but often very funny, lost boy growing up in California and eventually finding a home in music and a community among artists and co-founding Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It is the only book - apart from required reading at school - my son has been able to finish since he was 11. He used to devour books. Then, from about Year 9, books suddenly had zero cache. It broke my heart. Till Acid For the Children: a wild, funny, unflinching, tender origin story of a rock 'n' roll superstar.

What's most striking of all are not the radical adventures, the lines, the girls, the noise and the chaos - which, granted, make for exhilarating, fun reading - but it's how gentle and accountable Flea is. He interrogates himself. He wears it all, his lived experience, and he wears it well. He did not express it quite like this, but what I believe my son, 15 at the time, connected with was that voice of an authentic famous dude owning his s***.

The journey to rock 'n' roll fame, via dazzling shenanigans, is rich territory to mine and there's another memoir, from self-described "knucklehead" Anthony Kiedis. He and Flea were close friends, complex personalities. Both books traverse, in singular voices, their coming-of-rage experiences.

Scar Tissue, by Anthony Kiedis

Scar Tissue is an account of the junkie member of California's Chili Peppers. It was anointed Book of the Year by NME and, like Flea's memoir, is an international bestseller.

In the summer of 2023 we will all emerge from the basement of our pandemic to finally enjoy a suite of international gigs. Among the lineup is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They'll perform two massive stadium shows in early 2023 with Post Malone.

The band performs at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on January 21 before heading South to Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium on January 26.

GIVEAWAY
To celebrate summer, the return of international gigs and summer reads, Canvas has two copies of Acid For The Children, by Flea and two copies of Scar Tissue, by Anthony Kiedis - published by Hachette Aotearoa - to give away to two lucky readers. To be in to win one copy of each, enter, visit nzherald.co.nz/win
Entries close October 31.