"The Drummer". The former Chili Peppers drummer D.H. Peligro died at the age of 63 on October 28, 2022. Style The music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has been characterized as funk rock, alternative rock, funk metal and rap rock, with influences from hard, psychedelic and punk rock. Regarding their genre, Flea stated in a 2006 Guitar World interview, "For all the styles that have come and gone through-out our career, we never really aligned ourselves with any of them; we were never part of any movement. At one time, people put us together in a category with Fishbone and Faith No More, but we were always different from those bands, and they were always different from us." The band's influences include Parliament-Funkadelic, Defunkt, Jimi Hendrix, the Misfits, Black Sabbath, Metallica, James Brown, Gang of Four, Bob Marley, Big Boys, Bad Brains, Sly and the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, Deep Purple, the Beach Boys, Black Flag, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Fugazi, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Santana, Elvis Costello, the Stooges, the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Devo, and Miles Davis. Kiedis provided multiple vocal styles. His primary approach up to Blood Sugar Sex Magik was spoken verse and rapping, which he complemented with traditional vocals. This helped the band to maintain a consistent style. As the group matured, notably with Californication (1999), they reduced the number of rapped verses. By the Way (2002) contained only two songs with a rap-driven verse and melodic chorus. Kiedis's more recent style was developed through ongoing coaching. Original guitarist Slovak's style was based in blues and funk. Slovak was primarily influenced by hard-rock artists such as Hendrix, Kiss and Led Zeppelin, while his playing method was based on improvisation common in funk. He was noted for an aggressive playing style; he would often play with such force, that his fingers would "come apart". Kiedis observed that his playing evolved during his time away from the group in What Is This?, when Slovak adopted a more fluid style featuring "sultry" elements compared to his earlier hard-rock techniques. On The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), Slovak experimented with genres outside of traditional funk music including reggae and speed metal. His guitar riffs would often serve as the basis of the group's songs, with the other members writing their parts to complement his guitar work. His melodic riff featured