“INVADA records proudly present the Drive OST on vinyl exclusively available on pre-order now, in three colours – black (180g), pink and picture disc, beautifully housed in a gatefold sleeve using images from the motion picture” – Invada Records.





Good friend, and Invada label manager Redg Weeks, caught up with Cliff Martinez in this exclusive interview…

Which bands/musicians did you grow up listening to? How much of an impact did they have on your career?
I grew up listening to artists like, THE BEATLES, LED ZEPPLIN, MILES DAVIS, DAVE BRUBECK, BLACK SABBATH and CAPTAIN BEEFHEART. FM radio in the Midwest (where I grew up) during the 70′s was very eclectic and adventurous, at least where rock and jazz were concerned. I got a lot of exposure to new music by way of radio. When I moved to Los Angeles in the late 70′s I fell in love with the punk rock music scene and that was the beginning of my professional career in music.

As a drummer you played in some influential bands (i.e. The Weirdos, Lydia Lunch, The Dickies) can you tell me how it all started? What was it like living in LA during the punk scene in the late 70s?
I was in love with the LA punk rock scene in the late 70′s and early 80′s and that scene was all about passionate, over-the-top musical expression with a minimum of training and musical knowledge. It was all very democratic; anyone with a guitar that knew three chords was allowed to participate as long as you were able to express something with conviction and intensity. I had long since become bored with the pretentiousness of the progressive rock of the late 70′s and I found this new, primitive musical expression appealing.

You’re famously known as an early member of RHCP – how did this come about?
Flea and I were scholars/enthusiasts of LA’s local punk rock scene. It was a very tiny scene in some respects and Flea and I kept bumping into one another. We played together a couple times and I shared a rehearsal space with the Chili Peppers and my own band, Two Balls and a Bat. When the Chili Peppers lost their original drummer, Flea asked me to join the band….

Have you always been a keen film enthusiast or did this evolve as your career started to change?
I first became interested in film scoring because of my fascination with electronic music technology in the late 80′s. I started out in the music business as a rock and roll drummer and then I fell in love with sequencers, samplers and drum machines. All the gizmos of that period got me thinking about creating music in a completely different way. And rather than trying to write songs for radio, I thought that the way that computers were influencing music creation better lent itself to film and television….

Read the rest of the interview here.