Being a Pepper

Anthony Kiedis retraces life on and offstage.

As the frontman for the high-energy L.A. funk/punk band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis, 41, has lived hard, and he carries the scars. The band's long, successful run (seven platinum albums to date) has included some outrageous stage antics, such as performing only in socks (and not on their feet.) In his just-out memoir, Scar Tissue, the singer-songwriter reveals how he lived a troubled childhood in Grand Rapids, Mich., with his mother until he was 11, then moved in with his dad, who he says was a drug dealer to the stars in 1970s Los Angeles. We recently spoke with Kiedis:

Why write your autobiography now, when-in theory-you have decades more to live?
"In theory." (Laughs) I wasn't writing it with the idea of dying in the next couple of years. Friends told me I should put these stories, about the artistic and cultural aspects of living through the '70s and the '80s, in a book.

Your music isn't as dark as your personal struggles.
There is a general tone of enthusiasm for life and being in a state of hyper-enjoyment for everything. Our music definitely has a pervertedly positive slant to almost everything, even an absolute joy for sadness.

Tell us about your scars.
I wasn't really talking abut physical scars. Scar tissue is a collective of experience, things that mark your life as you go along. It is more the internal scars of your heart, mind, and spirit. Like when you look into somebody's perfectly weathered face and see the story of a life.

Talk to us about our culture of celebrity. Do you think a person can be overexposed?
I think it's a sad excuse for considering something interesting based on pure celebrity. When people do great work, then it makes sense to me.

If you weren't a musician, what would you be doing?
I'd probably be unemployed, and maybe a very marginally successful criminal of sorts. I was never very good at anything in the workforce.

We have to ask: Do you like red hot chili peppers?
It's OK as a vegetable. We didn't name ourselves after the vegetable. We named ourselves after the American tradition of calling bands "red hot". We never had any affiliation at all with the plant.

Was it hard to write about your struggles, with drugs especially?
I have asked my mother specifically not to read it. It could cause her anguish.

Next you'll be telling us about your Rhodesian ridgeback dog...
Buster! He is the greatest roommate in the world. He gives me as much or more happiness than anyone.