Today we’re celebrating the release of Return Of The Dream Canteen, the new studio album by American rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Formed in Los Angeles in 1983, the bands thirty-nine-year career has produced an eclectic, genre-bending range of music spanning thirteen studio albums, two live albums, twelve compilation albums, eleven video albums, five extended plays, sixty-five singles, and fifty-two music videos.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers enjoy a global fanbase, having sold over 120 million albums worldwide, and continue to tour all corners of the earth. This provides a foundation for a Chili Peppers-inspired Metaverse experience, or even a fully-fledged Chili Peppers-inspired Metaverse, or “Chiliverse”. Technology isn’t new to the band. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ official YouTube channel has over seven million subscribers, and the group's most watched video on YouTube, for the band’s 2000 single Californication, has racked up over 950 million views.
The fact that the Chili's most watched video is Californication provides some insight into the band’s fanbase and potential level of desire for a Chili Peppers-inspired Metaworld. The video for Californication plays out in a virtual open world that sees each member of the band members navigating various Californian environs, including a virtual representation of San Francisco. The video concludes when the world is ravaged by an earthquake and the bands avatars are replaced by their real-world counterparts. Earlier this year, Spanish game developer Miquel Camps Orteza created a video game based on the Californication music video, underlying people’s enthusiasm for exploring the Chili Peppers’ universe.
So, what might a Chili Peppers-inspired Metaworld look like? Here at themetabite.com we imagine a riotous, psychedelic smörgåsbord of a world sprinkled with equal parts hedonism and depravity. Circled by a miniature Jupiter and Mars, the names of the two discs comprising their 2006 double album Stadium Arcadium, and borrowing from themes from their thirteen albums to date, the surface of this Metaworld will include a number of zones where visitors can socialise with like-minded fans, interact with the band, explore areas inspired by the band’s music, compete in competitions, and buy exclusive band merchandise and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Zones, including band members home states of California, Michigan and New York, would include settings associated with key milestones in the band’s career, from early live gigs in Los Angeles, band member and bass player Flea’s makeshift garage, the setting for the creation of 1999’s album Californication, and the four-bedroom mansion owned by music producer Rick Rubin in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles, which acted as base of operation for both 1991 breakthrough album Blood Sugar Sex Magik and double-album Stadium Arcadium. Los Angeles features heavily in both the Chilli’s music and music videos. The music video for the band’s 2002 single By the Way featured a Kiedis being kidnapped by a cab driver with a subsequent high-speed chase by bandmates Frusciante and Flea through the streets of Los Angeles.
Fan experiences would form a large part of the Chiliverse. Visitors would be able to sign up to band member masterclasses, with a band avatars taking you step-by-step through their thirty-nine-year back catalogue. A guitar masterclass with John Frusciante? Yes please! Join the bn onstage at Slane Caste? Hell yeah! Band members could also use this new platform to expand their charitable endeavours. The Silverlake Conservatory of Music, established by Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea and an American musician and multi-instrumentalist Keith Barry in 2001, supports music education by providing affordable or free lessons and instruments. The Silverlake Metaverse of Music could exponentially scale impact across the world.
Return Of The Dream Canteen is a double album with 17 songs. The full album track listing is:
1. Tippa My Tongue
2. Peace and Love
3. Reach Out
4. Eddie
5. Fake as Fu@k
6. Bella
7. Roulette
8. My Cigarette
9. Afterlife
10. Shoot Me a Smile
11. Handful
12. The Drummer
13. Bag of Grins
14. La La La La La La La La
15. Copperbelly
16. Carry Me Home
17. In the Snow
Miquel Camps Ortez
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