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Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Rock star offers support to Scots brothers rowing across Pacific
Michael Balzary – better known by his stage name, Flea – is the bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers, and is the latest celebrity to back Scottish brothers Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan Maclean. On Sunday, the brothers marked 100 days of their non-stop, unsupported row from Peru to Australia in a bid to raise money for clean water projects in Madagascar. The entire trip will be around 9,000 miles, and the Macleans are expected to complete their challenge within the next 20-30 days. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has spoken to the brothers (Jane Barlow/PA) Celebrities including actor Mark Wahlberg, rugby star Blair Kinghorn, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly and actor and comedian Greg Hemphill have also backed the brothers. Ahead of the 100-day mark, Flea spoke with the brothers via a podcast, where they bonded over the challenge and revealed how living with your brothers or bandmates can lead to difficulties. Flea, who was born in Melbourne, Australia, said: 'For us … (the Chili Peppers) we were together and touring for 10 years before we started becoming a really popular band and really making money. 'Without those 10 years, if that would have happened in the beginning, we would have fallen apart right away. 'I think it's really rare … Like, if you hear about a young artist that puts out their first record and they're a big success — very, very rarely do they continue on having a career that works. Something about just paying your dues. 'Like you already rode across the Atlantic (the brothers completed this voyage in 2019). But I'm sure before you did that, you did a million little trips where you learned how to do it. Learned what it is to be stuck on a boat with each other for months. 'There's days when we f***ing hate each other. And that's when it's really hard. When you can live together and everyone's getting along, it's this magical thing — you're this travelling entity and it's all love.' The brothers row in two-hour shifts 24 hours a day against high waves and often stormy weather (Maclean Brothers/PA) The brothers' 28ft (8.5m) carbon fibre boat, Rose Emily, is named in memory of their late sister. It has no engine and no sail and the brothers are powering their way across the ocean in two-hour shifts. They left Peru in March on a mission to reach Australia and raise £1 million for clean water projects. While speaking with Flea, Lachlan spoke of how he was washed overboard during a violent storm. Lachlan, who turned 27 while rowing the Pacific, said he was 'lucky' to be attached to his boat by a safety line during 40mph (64kmh) winds and 6m (20ft) waves last week. He was dragged along behind the craft before his brother Ewan, 33, was able to help him to scramble back on board. Flea also spoke about what drives him to keep performing after more than four decades with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He said: 'There's definitely times when I'm running on fumes and I've got nothing. We've been doing this for 43 years or something. And you know, our performance is really physical. I try to stay in the best shape I can. But for me, emotionally, the whole thing is, I'm doing this to be of service. 'I like money as much as the next person, but like a long time ago, I could have retired. I could be eating papayas, taking bong hits on the beach somewhere, you know? 'It's a job to bring joy to people through music. And when I stay in that mindset … because there are so many nights where I'm sitting in a hotel room and it's like, 'I don't wanna get up'. 'I don't wanna go face 50,000 people in the stadium and play a concert. But it's time to go. And it's like, OK, it's not about me. I feel like shit, I'm tired, I got the flu, whatever's going on with me — I'm heartbroken, my wife left me, whatever's going on — but it's like, I have to let go of my life completely and do it. 'Be there for the people. Be there for my bandmates. And be there to honour the tradition of music.' Flea appeared on the Maclean brothers' podcast, Dinner with the Macleans (Maclean brothers/PA) Jamie commented: 'We've got a beautiful sunrise, we're sipping coffees out of baby beakers, and we're chatting to Flea. Doesn't get much better.' They also swapped food stories, as the Macleans shared tales of freeze-dried meals prepped in Jamie's old school kitchen, while Flea reflected on years of bad roadside burgers. 'For years and years, we toured in a van, sitting up all through the night, driving through the night for like six months on end,' he said. 'You kind of start feeling like a caged animal, just eating shitty food … roadside truck stop food, whatever you can get. 'You always pull into town after a show, you're starving and there's just nothing to eat … but now we have it good. We eat like kings.' The podcast, Dinner with the Macleans, is available on Spotify, and YouTube. The brothers have raised around £218,000 so far. To donate, click here.
Western Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Rock star offers support to Scots brothers rowing across Pacific
Michael Balzary – better known by his stage name, Flea – is the bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers, and is the latest celebrity to back Scottish brothers Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan Maclean. On Sunday, the brothers marked 100 days of their non-stop, unsupported row from Peru to Australia in a bid to raise money for clean water projects in Madagascar. The entire trip will be around 9,000 miles, and the Macleans are expected to complete their challenge within the next 20-30 days. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has spoken to the brothers (Jane Barlow/PA) Celebrities including actor Mark Wahlberg, rugby star Blair Kinghorn, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly and actor and comedian Greg Hemphill have also backed the brothers. Ahead of the 100-day mark, Flea spoke with the brothers via a podcast, where they bonded over the challenge and revealed how living with your brothers or bandmates can lead to difficulties. Flea, who was born in Melbourne, Australia, said: 'For us … (the Chili Peppers) we were together and touring for 10 years before we started becoming a really popular band and really making money. 'Without those 10 years, if that would have happened in the beginning, we would have fallen apart right away. 'I think it's really rare … Like, if you hear about a young artist that puts out their first record and they're a big success — very, very rarely do they continue on having a career that works. Something about just paying your dues. 'Like you already rode across the Atlantic (the brothers completed this voyage in 2019). But I'm sure before you did that, you did a million little trips where you learned how to do it. Learned what it is to be stuck on a boat with each other for months. 'There's days when we f***ing hate each other. And that's when it's really hard. When you can live together and everyone's getting along, it's this magical thing — you're this travelling entity and it's all love.' The brothers row in two-hour shifts 24 hours a day against high waves and often stormy weather (Maclean Brothers/PA) The brothers' 28ft (8.5m) carbon fibre boat, Rose Emily, is named in memory of their late sister. It has no engine and no sail and the brothers are powering their way across the ocean in two-hour shifts. They left Peru in March on a mission to reach Australia and raise £1 million for clean water projects. While speaking with Flea, Lachlan spoke of how he was washed overboard during a violent storm. Lachlan, who turned 27 while rowing the Pacific, said he was 'lucky' to be attached to his boat by a safety line during 40mph (64kmh) winds and 6m (20ft) waves last week. He was dragged along behind the craft before his brother Ewan, 33, was able to help him to scramble back on board. Flea also spoke about what drives him to keep performing after more than four decades with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He said: 'There's definitely times when I'm running on fumes and I've got nothing. We've been doing this for 43 years or something. And you know, our performance is really physical. I try to stay in the best shape I can. But for me, emotionally, the whole thing is, I'm doing this to be of service. 'I like money as much as the next person, but like a long time ago, I could have retired. I could be eating papayas, taking bong hits on the beach somewhere, you know? 'It's a job to bring joy to people through music. And when I stay in that mindset … because there are so many nights where I'm sitting in a hotel room and it's like, 'I don't wanna get up'. 'I don't wanna go face 50,000 people in the stadium and play a concert. But it's time to go. And it's like, OK, it's not about me. I feel like shit, I'm tired, I got the flu, whatever's going on with me — I'm heartbroken, my wife left me, whatever's going on — but it's like, I have to let go of my life completely and do it. 'Be there for the people. Be there for my bandmates. And be there to honour the tradition of music.' Flea appeared on the Maclean brothers' podcast, Dinner with the Macleans (Maclean brothers/PA) Jamie commented: 'We've got a beautiful sunrise, we're sipping coffees out of baby beakers, and we're chatting to Flea. Doesn't get much better.' They also swapped food stories, as the Macleans shared tales of freeze-dried meals prepped in Jamie's old school kitchen, while Flea reflected on years of bad roadside burgers. 'For years and years, we toured in a van, sitting up all through the night, driving through the night for like six months on end,' he said. 'You kind of start feeling like a caged animal, just eating shitty food … roadside truck stop food, whatever you can get. 'You always pull into town after a show, you're starving and there's just nothing to eat … but now we have it good. We eat like kings.' The podcast, Dinner with the Macleans, is available on Spotify, and YouTube. The brothers have raised around £218,000 so far. To donate, click here.
The Irish Sun
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Lorraine Kelly's ‘curry night' with Pacific Ocean rowers – 6000 miles out to sea
THE heroic Maclean brothers hosted two celebrity dinner guests this week - as they continue to row across the Pacific Ocean. Ewan, 33, Jamie, 32, and Lachlan, 28, have passed Day 80 of their record breaking voyage from Peru to their final destination in Australia. 5 The Maclean Brothers are aiming for the record books. 5 The rowers had their freeze dried meal at the same time as their dinner date Lorraine. 5 Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg has now video called the Scots twice. 5 Greg Hemphill had a host of questions for the rowers. But Lorraine Kelly and Still Game's Greg Hemphill both joined the lads as virtual dinner dates to help boost their morale. ITV host Lorraine tucked into a freeze dried ruby chicken curry with the lads who were over 10,000miles away from her London base. Initially she described their food as looking 'disgusting' but was soon won over saying it tasted 'really nice'. While Greg, 55, who played Craiglang's Victor McDade, wanted to know what the Macleans have to drink , asking: 'Have you had any alcohol on board?' Jamie replied: 'We've got a couple of cans of beer . We had one of them already. But I think there would be cause for a mutiny if the chocolate runs out.' Greg then confessed that he would like to join them for a leg of their trip. He told them: 'I'm an old man of the sea. I have my day skipper licence . 'I think I must have been an old sailor in the past and would have joined the navy for sure. Most read in Celebrity 'But what you are doing is above and beyond all that.' The siblings are aiming to become the fastest to row the 9,000 mile route completely unsupported. Trolls attack Lorraine over 'disgraceful' way she broke Kim Woodburn's death on live TV They've already managed to row over 6,000 miles but have been hit by storms along the way and been followed by a man-eating hammerhead shark. Despite that, the Maclean's told Lorraine, 65, that they still have to take a dip in the ocean. Lachlan says: 'It's not a leisure swim, but we have to clean the bottom of the boat. 'It's amazing how quickly you get kind of barnacles and little muscles on the bottom of the hull . 'So we have to jump in and kind of scrape down, because they really slow the boat down.' And as they near the Australian coast they reveal the sharks will get bigger as they enter waters patrolled by great whites. Ewan says: 'We've seen a bunch of sharks already. I think they're mostly reef sharks which aren't that big although we actually saw a hammerhead the other day. I think once we get closer to Australia we will have to be really careful as we will still need to get in the water every five days to clean the hull. 'So I think once we get beyond New Zealand on that final stretch to Australia there will be great whites in those waters.' But keen fisherman Greg also wanted to know what kind of fish the lads had been catching to eat. Jamie explained: 'For the first half of the journey there were flying fish everywhere. 'They're like pigeons of the sea. They're pests. Some of them are quite big, about the size of a mackerel. 'They travel at some speed and the perfect height to take out a rower's head then just fly on. 'But the little ones end up just throwing themselves on deck. You wake up in the morning, and it looks like there's been some sort of massacre and they've already started to smell.' However Lorraine wanted to know if the brothers themselves had started to smell as they're cooped up today night and day on the 30ft vessel called the Rose Emily. She asked: 'Are you all really smelly and horrible? Or can you wash?' Ewan replied: 'Well, I think to each other we smell okay, but the reality would be to anyone on the outside, it's probably pretty dreadful. 'But we do have to be quite strict. Mainly from a salt perspective as the sea spray corrodes your skin and can quite quickly cause salt sores and blisters. 'So on that basis you either have to rinse it off with fresh water baby wipe before going to bed.' We revealed last month how Mark Wahlberg, 54, had also had a video call with the Scots brothers saying he wanted to make a movie about their "badass" record bid. And Greg wanted to know how they had got in touch with the Hollywood A-lister. Lachlan says: 'It was very surreal as we didn't have any kind of link to him. He reached via one of his people. Apparently he was just taken by the story. Read more on the Irish Sun 'But we've actually spoken to him twice now. He seems quite interested in what's going on. He's Just a lovely guy.' *The Maclean Brothers are attempting to raise £1million for clean water projects. For more information visit 5 Lorraine Kelly shared a freeze dried meal that the rowers are eating on their voyage.
Scottish Sun
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Lorraine Kelly's ‘curry night' with Pacific Ocean rowers – 6000 miles out to sea
'We've got a couple of cans of beer. We had one of them already. But I think there would be cause for a mutiny if the chocolate runs out' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE heroic Maclean brothers hosted two celebrity dinner guests this week - as they continue to row across the Pacific Ocean. Ewan, 33, Jamie, 32, and Lachlan, 28, have passed Day 80 of their record breaking voyage from Peru to their final destination in Australia. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 The Maclean Brothers are aiming for the record books. 5 The rowers had their freeze dried meal at the same time as their dinner date Lorraine. 5 Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg has now video called the Scots twice. 5 Greg Hemphill had a host of questions for the rowers. But Lorraine Kelly and Still Game's Greg Hemphill both joined the lads as virtual dinner dates to help boost their morale. ITV host Lorraine tucked into a freeze dried ruby chicken curry with the lads who were over 10,000miles away from her London base. Initially she described their food as looking 'disgusting' but was soon won over saying it tasted 'really nice'. While Greg, 55, who played Craiglang's Victor McDade, wanted to know what the Macleans have to drink, asking: 'Have you had any alcohol on board?' Jamie replied: 'We've got a couple of cans of beer. We had one of them already. But I think there would be cause for a mutiny if the chocolate runs out.' Greg then confessed that he would like to join them for a leg of their trip. He told them: 'I'm an old man of the sea. I have my day skipper licence. 'I think I must have been an old sailor in the past and would have joined the navy for sure. 'But what you are doing is above and beyond all that.' The siblings are aiming to become the fastest to row the 9,000 mile route completely unsupported. Trolls attack Lorraine over 'disgraceful' way she broke Kim Woodburn's death on live TV They've already managed to row over 6,000 miles but have been hit by storms along the way and been followed by a man-eating hammerhead shark. Despite that, the Maclean's told Lorraine, 65, that they still have to take a dip in the ocean. Lachlan says: 'It's not a leisure swim, but we have to clean the bottom of the boat. 'It's amazing how quickly you get kind of barnacles and little muscles on the bottom of the hull. 'So we have to jump in and kind of scrape down, because they really slow the boat down.' And as they near the Australian coast they reveal the sharks will get bigger as they enter waters patrolled by great whites. Ewan says: 'We've seen a bunch of sharks already. I think they're mostly reef sharks which aren't that big although we actually saw a hammerhead the other day. I think once we get closer to Australia we will have to be really careful as we will still need to get in the water every five days to clean the hull. 'So I think once we get beyond New Zealand on that final stretch to Australia there will be great whites in those waters.' But keen fisherman Greg also wanted to know what kind of fish the lads had been catching to eat. Jamie explained: 'For the first half of the journey there were flying fish everywhere. 'They're like pigeons of the sea. They're pests. Some of them are quite big, about the size of a mackerel. 'They travel at some speed and the perfect height to take out a rower's head then just fly on. 'But the little ones end up just throwing themselves on deck. You wake up in the morning, and it looks like there's been some sort of massacre and they've already started to smell.' However Lorraine wanted to know if the brothers themselves had started to smell as they're cooped up today night and day on the 30ft vessel called the Rose Emily. She asked: 'Are you all really smelly and horrible? Or can you wash?' Ewan replied: 'Well, I think to each other we smell okay, but the reality would be to anyone on the outside, it's probably pretty dreadful. 'But we do have to be quite strict. Mainly from a salt perspective as the sea spray corrodes your skin and can quite quickly cause salt sores and blisters. 'So on that basis you either have to rinse it off with fresh water baby wipe before going to bed.' We revealed last month how Mark Wahlberg, 54, had also had a video call with the Scots brothers saying he wanted to make a movie about their "badass" record bid. And Greg wanted to know how they had got in touch with the Hollywood A-lister. Lachlan says: 'It was very surreal as we didn't have any kind of link to him. He reached via one of his people. Apparently he was just taken by the story. 'But we've actually spoken to him twice now. He seems quite interested in what's going on. He's Just a lovely guy.' *The Maclean Brothers are attempting to raise £1million for clean water projects. For more information visit
