Flea paid tribute to Gang of Four’s Andy Gill — the influential guitarist who also produced the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ debut album — following news of the post-punk pioneer’s death Saturday.
“Andy Gill, one of my favorite guitar players of all time has left us. Go listen to the Gang of Four album Entertainment! right now. Turn that shit up loud and rock the fuck out. Dance. Think,” Flea wrote on Instagram.
“Thats a record that changed my life forever, and was massively influential on my development as a musician, and showed me what a rock band could be. There is nothing else like it. It cut a fucking hole right the thick LA smog that I wanted to jump through.”
Gill, who produced all of Gang of Four’s records, was recruited by Red Hot Chili Peppers to produce the band’s 1984 self-titled debut album, although the band was admittedly dissatisfied with the finished product.
Flea continued, “I am shocked. Andy was one of my heroes, a man who inspired the shit out of Hillel [Slovak], Anthony [Kiedis] and I as youngsters; I was thrilled beyond belief when he agreed to produce our first album. May his beautiful soul be in bliss with the divine, I love you Andy.”
Following the departure of RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and return of John Frusciante, Flea revealed that one of the first new projects he and Frusciante were working on together was a track for Gill-curated Gang of Four tribute album.
“After not being in touch for many years, Andy and I had spoken recently, and communicated a lot of over the last several months about a Gang Of Four tribute album he was putting together,” Flea wrote. “Myself, John Frusciante, and the youth choir from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music just finished recording a track for it, and sent in to Andy on Monday.”
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Gill died Saturday at a London hospital following a short respiratory illness. He was 64.
