The Red Hot Chili Peppers say they have no regrets about miming during their Super Bowl performance.
The band played at the half-time show with Bruno Mars.
Watchers noticed that their guitars were not plugged in, and bassist Flea says the NFL left “no room for argument” on the matter.
“We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell,” he said on a note on the band’s website.
“I am grateful to the NFL for having us. And I am grateful to Bruno, who is a super talented young man for inviting us to be a part of his gig. I would do it all the same way again.”
According to Flea, the NFL were worried about sound problems and time limitations in setting up for the show.
Although the Chili Peppers don’t like faking performances, they felt they had no choice.
“When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded,” he said.
“I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.”
