Anthony Kiedis believes the Red Hot Chili Peppers "controlled" Los Angeles for a period.
The rock band formed in 1983 and have undergone a number of line-up changes. The group now comprises of singer Anthony, bassist Flea, Chad Smith on drums and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
They are promoting their tenth record I'm With You at the moment and Anthony still has trouble accepting how popular they are.
"You know, we never thought about being in a rock'n'roll band forever," he said. "We only ever wanted to play one night. Then all the craziness happened. We really did control LA for some time – it was like our own private monarchy."
Flea is equally as excited about the new record. He's happy as now the band has a fanbase and nothing to prove so they can take their time when it comes to song writing.
He's also keen to point out that just because they are financially comfortable, the group still see being in a band as a job.
"Creativity waxes and wanes," Flea told British newspaper The Guardian. "We're very lucky. We've made bunches of f**king money. We could be sat on the beach eating burritos, but even when we're p**sed off with each other we sit in a room and work. Igor Stravinsky sat at his piano every f**king day. Some days it was rubbish and his wife was chewing his ear off – but he stuck at it. The same thing goes for Nick Cave, the greatest living songwriter. He goes to work! Every day. And that's what we do."