Turd Town Tour

Turd Town Tour
Promotional poster for the tour
Tour by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Start date	September 1988
End date	December 31, 1988
Red Hot Chili Peppers tour chronology
The Uplift Mofo Party Tour (1987-88) Turd Town Tour (1988) Mother's Milk Tour (1989-90)

From left to right: Flea, John Frusciante, D.H. Peligro, and Anthony Kiedis.

The Turd Town Tour was a short three and a half month long concert tour by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The tour, which the band considered to be a disaster, was named by the band members who insisted that they play off-the-beaten-path venues in small cow towns.

Shortly following the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak in June 1988, drummer Jack Irons felt too overcome with grief and his own personal issues to continue with the band. Both Slovak and Irons help form the group in 1983 and both were on their second tenures with the band at the time. The two remaining founding members, singer, Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea decided in honor of Slovak they would again attempt to carry on with the band.

Slovak was replaced by former Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist, DeWayne McKnight while Irons was replaced by former Dead Kennedys drummer, D.H. Peligro. Kiedis briefly went to rehab for thirty days after the lineup was formed and while in rehab minus Kiedis they recorded one song with Flea on lead vocals titled "Blues for Meister" which would later appear on the band's Out In L.A. album. The band attempted to tour with the lineup however after three shows, McKnight was fired due to chemistry issues. His replacement was 18-year-old guitar prodigy, John Frusciante who was already a huge fan of the band and Slovak was one of his idols was introduced to Kiedis and Flea by Peligro. With Frusciante on board, performing his first official show on September 17, 1988. With the band feeling at full strength once again they decided to tour and began work writiing and rehearsing for the next album although in late November, Peligiro too would end up being fired due to his own drug and alcohol problems. Peligro was replaced through auditions in late November 1988 by drummer, Chad Smith, who played a few dates in December to finish out the tour. Early in the following year, Smith, Frusciante, Kiedis and Flea would begin recording their next album, Mother's Milk, which at the time would launch the band to their biggest success. Frusciante remained with the band for another four years before quitting and later re-joining 1998 while Smith has been with them ever since this tour.

The tour was also notable for one of the band's opening acts, No Doubt who years later would go on to become one of the biggest bands in the world^{[citation needed]} and at the time were touring for the first time with the lineup they would later find success with.

Songs performed

Tour overview

The tour saw the band leaning heavily on their first three albums although after the firing of McKnight and with Frusciante and Peligro on board the band began to write music for their next album, Mother's Milk and three songs from that record, " Punk Rock Classic", "Stone Cold Bush" and Taste the Pain" made their live debuts on the tour along with instrumental jam which eventually became "Subway to Venus". Shortly into the tour and the writing for the album, Peligro was fired as well (he did get writing credits on the album). Peligro's replacement, Chad Smith finished the remainder of the tour and has been with the band ever since.

Opening acts

• Box Car Kids
• Butthole Surfers
• Cellophane Ceiling
• Gherkin Raucous
• No Doubt
• Sidekick
• Slack
• T.S.O.L.
• Warlock Pinchers
• X-tremes

Personnel

• Flea - bass, backing vocals
• John Frusciante - guitar, backing vocals (first show October 5, 1988)
• Anthony Kiedis - lead vocals
• DeWayne McKnight - guitar, backing vocals (fired in September after first three shows)
• D.H. Peligro - drums (fired in November 1988)
• Chad Smith - drums (joined late November 1988)

References

External links

• Red Hot Chili Peppers website
• The Side: Red Hot Chili Peppers Touring History