There was a time when members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers greeted any mention of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with laughter, derision or both. The upstart L.A. punk-funk-rock band wasn’t much of a favorite of the music critics and other tastemakers who make up the hall’s nominating committee.

We caught up with bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary to get the band’s reaction to news that the Chili Peppers will be part of the 2012 class of inductees along with Guns N’ Roses, the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro and the Small Faces.

Q. Congratulations — how are you reacting to the news?

A. It’s very emotional, and I’m not sure where the emotions are coming from. It makes me reflective about our career — all the things we’ve been through, the love we’ve shared and how we’ve stuck to this thing. I feel choked up.

Q. Are you surprised to be inducted in your first year of eligibility?

A. I can never claim to understand how any of that works. … Nick Cave — he isn’t in, is he? He’s the greatest songwriter on Earth in the rock world, besides Neil Young, as far as I’m concerned. But I’m really grateful for it.

Q. What does the rock hall of fame mean to you?

A. It’s always been easy for me to pooh-pooh these awards — the (rock) hall of fame too. But I inducted Metallica a couple of years ago, and it was really a beautiful thing to see as all these people were being inducted. It made me love it.

Q. What are your thoughts about getting into the hall in the same year with Guns N’ Roses? You both were slugging it out on the L.A. club scene in the ‘80s when you were getting started.

A. When I was a little kid in my very first band with Hillel (Slovak, the Peppers’ first lead guitarist) and Jack (Irons, the original drummer) and we were rehearsing in my bedroom, this kid who lived about a block away came climbing over the fence and sneaking in to my backyard. It was Slash. He lived one block away, but our bands came from very different scenes. We were more from the underground punk world. At the time, it was worlds apart.

Q. What’s the view looking ahead?

A. We’re going through this rebirth and there’s a whole new excitement. We’ve been on tour for a few months, and these shows are feeling a lot like how it felt in the beginning, when we had all these new vistas in front of us.