Los Angeles, Mar 6 (IANS): Rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea says the group were "against the hair-metal scene" in Hollywood.

The 'Californication' hitmakers rose up through the Hollywood music scene in the mid-1980s where they focused on the art punk underground, and bassist Flea shared there was a lot of "petty bulls*** at that time", reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He told Classic Rock magazine: "We were definitely against the hair-metal scene. We were like, 'F*** them. We're the underground, art-rock, get-weird east side guys; those guys are just rehashing Aerosmith and KISS'. In retrospect it was all petty bulls***. A lot of those bands were f****** great. Guns N' Roses was a great band."

There were also some similarities between Red Hot Chili Peppers - completed by drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante - and their rivals on the Sunset Strip.

Frontman Anthony Kiedis said: "We were a party band, but you have to bring something to the party. Flea was instrumental in saying, 'We have to be good, we have to write some new s***, we have to have osmething to move these people'.

"We always came fully loaded."

Meanwhile, Flea admitted there was a level of "arrogance" in their early years as they saw themselves as genuine rock stars.

He added: "We were going hard and being wild."

Kiedis explained how the band - whose 12th studio album 'Unlimited Love' will release on April 1 - didn't have ambitious beyond the underground scene at that pont.

"It didn't dawn on us that there was something other than selling out clubs and making people happy and being original."