About The UK's Funky Monks
Red Hot Chili Peppers Experience formed in Oxfordshire, UK in April 2015. The band consists of vocalist Matty Smith as Anthony Kiedis, guitarist Jordan Hallett as John Frusciante, bassist Werner de Jong as Flea, and drummer Rick Nash as Chad Smith. We are all fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, providing an accurate replication of the band’s unique sound and performance.
Like all bands, we started out in pubs, but then we graduated to dedicated music venues and moved on to festivals with audiences in the many 1,000s, playing across the country as well as abroad, with highlights at rugby stadiums in Bahrain and Dubai.
As the UK's Funky Monks, we have done more than 120 gigs. We aspire to be the funkiest and most entertaining Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute you'll ever see in the UK, performing with maximum energy and accuracy. We play from a catalogue of over 50 songs, covering the full 40-year lifespan of the band from the 1980s to the 2020s, including hits like “Under The Bridge”, “Give It Away”, “Californication”, “By The Way” and “Dani California”.
We guarantee an entertaining show every time, bringing you the original Red Hot Chili Peppers audio and visual experience, a Red Hot Chili Peppers experience you don't want to miss.
Band Members
Anthony Kiedis (Matty Smith) - Lead Vocals
In the band since the very beginning, Matty has grown into a sensational frontman and singer, not just of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Experience, but also of other bands like “The Sinners Lounge” and the now defunct “Who Stoned Who?”. Matty sounds and looks like Anthony Kiedis, but without the moustache.
Rocking out of Fleet in Surrey, he is a man of many talents, most of which involve the chance of breaking bones and causing mischief making him a vocalist to be feared and respected! From motorbikes to freerunning and even a bit of martial arts and pumping iron, there’s not a lot that he won’t try.
Never without a big smile and a passion for whatever he takes on you can expect plenty of energy and quality sound from his voice where he’s most at home, out in front getting the crowd on their feet and feeling the music!
Listen to an interview with Matty on BBC Radio Kent.
John Frusciante (Jordan Hallett) - Guitars and Backing Vocals
Jordan's origins lie in Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. He joined the band in September 2015, replacing Phil, determined to take the band to the next level.
You could argue that Jordan knows the Red Hot Chili Peppers back catalogue better than Hillel Slovak, John Frusciante, Dave Navarro and Josh Klinghoffer combined.
Jordan has an impressive musical background, which is evident with his other project, San Raquel. With his sublime skills, he redefined the band and took everything to the next level, making us all sound so much better and closer to the original.
He not only plays electric and acoustic guitars, but he is also responsible for replicating those famous backing vocals by John Frusciante.
Flea (Werner de Jong) - Bass
Werner is of Dutch heritage and one of the co-founders of Red Hot Chili Peppers Experience, based in Wallingford in Oxfordshire. He likes very few things more than being on stage, playing one of his beloved bass guitars. Unsurprisingly, he is hugely influenced and inspired by Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea.
He is often asked to turn down his sound levels, which is normally a request much more familiar to guitarists.
Werner plays Music Man StingRay (similar to what Flea used during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik era), Fender Jazz Plus, Warwick Streamer LX Jazzman, Yamaha TRBX305 5 String and Yamaha RBX270J bass guitars with Ernie Ball Regular Slinky strings, through a Gallien Krueger backline (1001RB-ii head, Neo212 and 115RBH cabs, very similar to Flea's setup).
Werner started playing classical piano and electronic organ at the age of 6. After a break from classical music, he switched to rock and the electric guitar in his twenties, quickly followed by a transition to bass guitar. The rest, so they say, is history...
For more details, see his profile on Equipboard.
Chad Smith (Rick Nash) - Drums
Rick hails from Bicester in Oxfordshire. He joined the band in the second half of 2016, replacing original drummer AJ. He has since become our awesome, reliable, rock-solid brother-in-arms, meticulously laying down those brilliant Chad Smith grooves.
Rick is an awesome professional drummer and drum teacher, who can switch to any drum style from Jazz, Reggae, Funk and Rock in a beat.
Rick performs with a number of bands in and around Oxfordshire, such as The Mighty Redox, Phyal, Charms Against the Evil Eye, Torn Like Colours and Fork Boy.
Past Members
AJ Ashton - Drums and Backing Vocals
AJ is the original Red Hot Chili Peppers Experience drummer and backing vocalist. Unfortunately he was forced to give up his seat in order to recover from back surgery after a serious snowboarding accident. Rick stepped in for him late 2016. As a luthier, he was the go-to person in the band for repairs to all stringed instruments.
AJ is a multi-instrumentalist, with a striking resemblance of Chad Smith as long as he wears his baseball cap backwards.
Phil Hall - Guitars
Co-founder of Red Hot Chili Peppers Experience, and former lead guitarist. Phil left the band in September 2015 to start a new project, the now disbanded Rolling Stones tribute Who Stoned Who?.
Notable Performances
All four current members are musicians who grew up listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and have the ability to deliver the explosive performance that everyone expects from an authentic RHCP show, which were in evidence especially during the following performances:
- Headliners at Poole Harbour Festival in July 2022
- Headliners at Upton House Food & Drinks Festival in August 2021
- Headliners at Trib Fest in Bahrain in October 2019
- Headliners at Chalgrove Live Music Festival 2018
- Supporting the UK's #1 tribute to the Who, Who's Who, at Music At The Northcourt
- Sub-headliners at Brackley Beer Festival
- Co-headliners at Crank Up The Volume
- Headliners at BrightFest 2018 and 2019
You can listen on SoundCloud to our professional sound recordings, made at Woodworm Studios in Barford St. Michael, Oxfordshire and produced by owner and engineer Stuart Jones.
