Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea surprises fans with trailer for Harley Flanagan documentary

Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea has surprised fans with a trailer for a brand-new documentary project about Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan.

Flea took to Instagram on Thursday (November 14) to share footage of the secret project, which still remains shrouded in mystery. At present, it’s currently unclear if the documentary will be a film or TV series.

The footage opens with Flanagan narrating: “I feel like I’ve been angry for almost 50 years. I’m only starting to realise now that this is not really who I am.

Appearing in the project himself, Flea then adds: “Here’s this wild story of lots of violence and creativity and confusion and chaos.”

Other hardcore punk musicians who appear in the trailer include Henry Rollins and Darryl Jenifer. You can watch the clip below.

While further details about the documentary are currently scarce, the subject of the project appears to be Flanagan’s turbulent childhood, how he took to drumming from an early age, and the struggles with violence he’s faced throughout his life.

Flanagan began his musical career at age 11 in 1978, drumming for the New York punk band the Stimulators alongside his aunt Denise Mercedes. In the early 1980s, he became a prominent figure in the developing New York hardcore music, helping to found the Cro-Mags in 1981 and Murphy’s Law in 1982.

In other Flea news, the bassist previously shared that he believes Paul McCartney of The Beatles to be the greatest bass player of all time.

In August, the musician appeared as a guest on Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson’s podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, and spoke of his admiration for McCartney. Flea – real name Michael Peter Balzary – shared that Macca is an incredible musician and opened up about what made him special.

“I think Paul’s the greatest rock bass player. He’s just great. I mean, there are so many guys that are great in different ways, but Paul’s bass playing is so lyrical and melodic, and it’s just so beautiful. One of the things I’ve heard is that he put the bass on after. A band like mine, the bass sometimes the song starts with bass lines, so coming first, or the music comes first,” the musician told Danson and Harrelson.

He added: “Whereas I think Paul and John and George, when they wrote songs and Paul would do the bass. And after multi-tracking came in, at the beginning of them, they just went and played live and would do it after, like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’, the melody is already there. So then he’s doing, like a counter melody, so the bass is like a melody as opposed to just rhythm, and that’s amazing. He’s amazing.”