Rubin was talking on the Chris Jericho podcast and he has confirmed what we already assumed since both Flea and Chad have posted photos from his studio. Rubin is working on the new RHCP album. Here is the transcript of the relevant parts:

Transcript

CJ: When you worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, how do you corral them? I know you’ve worked with them for so many years. What was your role? I know they are obviously very artistic and very free in their jams and their song writing. Where did you fit in?

RR: It still is. We’re finishing the new album right now.

CJ: Ah, you’re working on the new record with them?

RR: Frusciante is back in the band.

CJ: I know that…

RR: And it’s unbelievable.

CJ: Chad is one of the best people on the planet. Just great… and one of the best drummers in the world and you know as you use them all the time

RR: Absolutely. I went to the first rehearsal that I was invited to after John re-joined the band and it made me cry. It was so thrilling seeing that group of people back together coz they just made such great music for such a long time together. It just hit me in an emotional way.
So with the Peppers we just talk about songs. They have really good habits in that they write lots of songs. It is something I’d say we probably developed together from the beginning; this idea of overwriting. You know, if there’s going to be twelve songs on an album, they might write fifty, they might write a hundred to find those twelve. And they we just talk, they play for me in rehearsal. We talk about song strengths, weaknesses, how to make them better, where they work, where they don’t and then we try new stuff. I don’t necessarily have the way to fix them, I just say what I think. I notice where the weaknesses are and just say, “This part going into that part doesn’t sound so good. Is there a better way to do it?” And then they come up with a better way.

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The interviewer chats and mentions some albums ending with Stadium Arcadium.

RR: I hope you like the new stuff. If think if you like Stadium you might like this

CJ: Frusciante to me is like Adrian Smith in Iron Maiden or Phil Rudd in AC/DC, without that integral part, people might not realise but Frusciante is the Chili Peppers. Hopefully everything is cool coz they brought him back a third time and that rarely happens in rock ‘n’ roll.

RR:  And I would say that’s the combination. It’s when Flea and John play together something magic happens. When Chad plays with Flea and John, something magic happens. When Anthony sings based on what those guys play, it sounds like the Chili Peppers. And there are some flavours where it happens on the new album and it’s like, “Oh my God! Nobody else sounds like that. So quintessentially Chili Peppers…

You can hear the podcast here: Episode link