More Music Interview from Canada
Clips from this interview have been around previously, but the whole interview hasn’t been online before. John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis are interviewed in front of a live audience both inside and outside the studio. They answer questions from the audience or others sent in by viewers. They also take pizza orders and pizza is delivered to the studio which is then shared.
Enjoy!
Last night, RHCP’s John Frusciante and Flea hosted a two hour show on Dublab. They were selecting and playing tracks which influenced them in their youth, and while it was mostly music, there was some chat and reminiscing in-between with a couple of Chili Pepper anecdotes thrown in.
Longer version with some songs although it’s not the full thing:
Shorter version of just the chat:
Flea was interviewed for ” The Trap Set with Joe Wong.” It is mostly personal stuff, taking about memories, reading/authors, Acid For The Children, etc. There is limited mention of the Red Hot Chili Peppers but he talks about them writing and working with John (about 52 minutes in).
You can hear the interview here: The Trap Set with Joe Wong: Flea
RHCP’s Chad Smith has been interviewed by Jacksonville.com. The interview mostly talks about his drum art, but there is a brief mention of RHCP:
“He was on his way to band practice with funk-rock legends the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who recently started working on a new album.
“It’s too early to know what the album’s gonna be yet,” Smith said. “We just started everything.”
But one thing’s set: the band lineup. After a decade apart, the band’s founding guitarist Jon Frusciante re-joined the group at the end of last year.
“We’re seeing how everyone’s vibing, taking it easy,” Smith said of the adjustment. “We’re familiar with Jon but it’s been ten years. It’s been pretty easy, pretty seamless.”
[The article says Jon]
Note: This was a total surprise yesterday and I posted as things came in. Doing a ‘proper’ format post now with updated information, but please refer to original post for video links as there’s no point adding them twice.
Date: Saturday 8th February, 2020
Location: Private residence; Green Acres Estate, Beverly Hills, California.
Reason: This was a memorial concert to Andrew Buckley who died suddenly at the beginning of January. His father, Ron Buckley, was honoured at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Benefit in November last year.
Notes:
The first live performance featuring the return of John Frusciante following Josh Klinghoffer’s enforced exit.
Chad Smith did not play with the band with drums being played by Jane’s Addiction drummer, Stephen Perkins, instead.
Thelonius Monster and others played the event. Jane’s Addiction also played and Frusciante joined them on stage for a few seconds.
Since Jane’s Addiction were there, ex-RHCP guitarist, Dave Navarro, was obviously present and he was photographed with members of RHCP.
Set List:
Give It Away by RHCP
I Wanna Be Your Dog cover (original by Iggy Pop and The Scrooges)
Not Great Men cover (original by the Gang of Four).
Thanks to Jason and Sister Witch for information and everyone else who sent me links.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers with their old/new line up with John Frusciante on guitar, but minus Chad Smith on drums, have taken part in a celebration of the life of Andrew Burkle.
“My nature is to get up and go, but there’s a weight that’s keeping me here because it’s the last time it’ll be just the four of us and I just want to sit here for a minute.”
Former RHCP guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, was interviewed a couple of days ago and the interview was posted online on the Rolling Stone website earlier today (US time/yesterday here).
The interview covers the day Josh was kicked out of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in detail. Heartbreaking quotes reveal the stunned shock of what unfurled, without warning, that day, and how Josh himself felt. The article also covers how other members of the band reacted. As suspected, Josh was fired on the plotting and instigation of Flea who had been meeting John and jamming with him in secret for months before. Chad is described as being very upset at the meeting that took place at Flea’s house. (Josh received a text from Chad before he’d even made it home after the meeting). Anthony is described as being subdued and looking upset.
It was less than an hour after it happened and at the time I thought, “Wow, that is crazy.” Flea put it up there; it was very clearly his composition. I was totally surprised. “
Josh was given no time to process the bombshell decision, or notify his family and friends, as the announcement that he’d “parted ways” with the band was posted online just an hour after he was told. He was not forewarned. Josh attributes the wording of the announcement to Flea [it was originally posted on RHCP’s Instagram account, but then Flea posted it on his social media accounts and for a while he was the only band member doing so]. Josh goes on to liken the actual design (white lettering on a black background), to a funeral announcement.
The interview also contains a lot of detail about the friendship between John Frusciante and Josh and how if faded out when Klinghoffer joined RHCP. Josh explains that he tried to reach out to John in October last year, as he knew they would meet a weeks later at Flea’s wedding, but that attempt does not appear to have been successful.
Do you think they’ll just scrap whatever was written?
All of it.How does that make you feel?
Sad.
Again, Josh confirms that a lot of material had been written for the new RHCP record and that he expects it to be effectively trashed now. He also talks about issues with working with Rick Rubin and how he would have liked his third album with the band to have sounded.
You can read the full, in-depth, interview on Rolling Stone.
Many thanks to Jenn 🙂
Catch up…
Josh was interviewed by Marc Maron a few days after the news broke that he was no longer in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. However, the interview was only aired last week. The interview is over an hour long and in-depth talking about the split in part, but mostly about Josh’s musical career before, during and after RHCP. For the most part, Josh sounds happy and upbeat (especially when he was talking about his experiences of playing throughout the years), although there are some emotional moments (and it was hard listening in a number of places).
Summary of RHCP relevant information:
Josh was fired from the band. [The sources were accurate].
There was no reason given e.g. musical differences. It was purely because John Frusciante requested to come back.
The actual firing was a bombshell to Josh, as well as fans, as he had no idea that members of the band were working with Frusciante in secret. Josh did know that Frusciante was around (he spoke to him briefly at Flea’s wedding in October and he knew that JF had met up with Anthony Kiedis), and that he had started playing the guitar again, so comments that he’s not surprised, but he was still shocked when he was fired. He talks about this wave of love for the band hitting him.
It was at the instigation of Flea initially.
RHCP together with Josh had recorded a lot of material; over a year’s worth. Josh expects this won’t be used.
John apparently was surprised that the band carried on without him after he left as he expected them to stop because he had.
Josh talks about the process of joining RHCP and the events leading up to it.
Quotes:
Note: I’ve tried to make these as accurate as possible; I’ve concentrated on the relevant parts only.
(From the opening section of the interview)
Marc Maron: Did you know it was happening?
Josh Klinghoffer: No, Not at all. Complete shock, but not a surprise I guess
(From the last 15 minutes of the interview; again relevant sections only)
Josh Klinghoffer: If this change, you know John coming back and you know me leaving, had happened five years ago, half my time in, it probably would have destroyed me because it would have confirmed all the things that my mind used to tell me. That I suck, that I’m worthless, you know all those things, but, now I’ve done two… We were over a year into writing another a third, another album, so I’ve done a lot of writing with them.
Marc Maron: So there’s work that’s done that hasn’t been recorded yet?
Josh Klinghoffer: Yes, that’s just going to go away, I guess…
Marc Maron: So they liked writing with you so obviously you guys were doing stuff.
Josh Klinghoffer: Yeah, yeah… It’s a funny thing. I think it was all positive. It comes down to the history. It’s a funny position to be in, to be the person that… It’s absolutely John’s place to be in that band. So that’s why I’m happy for him, I’m happy that he’s back with them…
Marc Maron: So you think the intent is to do a new record with John?
Josh Klinghoffer: Yeah, I think that’s the thing… John and Flea specifically had a musical language and connection that as made when John was 17, 18. Flea, I don’t even think he was 30 yet. Hillel had just died… I’ll never be able to contend with the history that he and John had.
[Talks about the B-side album, I’m Beside You, which was his idea. Says the band were open to him and trusting of his ideas]
Josh Klinghoffer: Like I said if this had happened five years ago… but double that time. Ten years, two tours, almost three albums of writing, I’m really proud of what I did with them and I feel like we did create something and we did… and I feel like I brought something to the whole [band and touring] and I’m really proud of that.
Marc Maron: Five years ago you would have fallen into yourself?
[Josh agrees. Josh talks about having lunch with Flea a couple of days later]
Josh Klinghoffer: They all sat down with me. It was really sweet. I rode my bike over coz Flea’s living really close to me at the moment. They just said, ‘We’ll get right to it. We’ve decided to ask John to come back to the band.’ And I just sat there quiet for a second and I said, ‘I’m not surprised.’ And the only thing I could think to say was, ‘I wish I could have done something with you guys, musically or creatively, that would have made this an absolute impossibility.’ … But that’s next to impossible.
[Josh said he knew John had reached out to Anthony recently and had started playing guitar again as he hasn’t for a long time. Mentions John was at Flea’s wedding in October.]
Marc Maron: I’m gad you’re OK with it.
Josh Klinghoffer: I’ll have little moments… [quotes John and says how great it is to make music with friends]. When I was 10 or 11 all I wanted to be in a band playing with friends and I still want to do that.
You can hear the full interview here: WTF Interview with Josh Klinghoffer by Marc Maron
Josh News Update:
It’s not relevant for me to post Josh news here unless connected with RHCP in someway (which this interview clearly is), but as I am commenting I’ll add this in case people don’t know. Josh is to support Pearl Jam on the US leg of their upcoming tour with his Pluralone project.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith has spoken to Rolling Stone about his latest collection of art work, The Art of Chad Smith, currently on display at the Russell Collection Fine Art gallery in Austin, Texas, USA.
Smith talks about how the art, “… is a fun, new way to express myself.” The interview also talks about the process of creating the art and mentions it’s his second such project (Parallax was released in 2016).
Obviously, the interviewer broached the RHCP topic of the moment and asked about the recent change in line-up of the band with Josh Klinghoffer being replaced by John Frusciante. His reply was, “I was given strict orders for this interview: ‘DON’T TALK ABOUT THE BAND,’”and he just confirms that the band are working now with John; they will be concentrating on making a new record and that their only other commitments are the festivals that have been booked during the summer. Smith refused to be drawn into further comment and was clearly sticking to the official line on this.
You can read the full interview here: Rolling Stone: Chad Smith Talks About New Art Exhibition.
Adding this an announcement for anyone who doesn’t know the latest band news, and also to summarise the events now we’ve had time to process shock announcement.
Last weekend, a post appeared on the official band Instagram thanking Josh for his contribution over the last 10 years and saying he was no longer the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It also stated that John Frusciante was returning to the band.
Initially, people thought the account had been hacked and that this announcement was a hoax as it was so sudden and unexpected. To add to the confusion, it didn’t appear on the band’s other social media accounts at the same time, including the official website (it was posted there the following day- UK time at least).
Flea posted the same announcement on his personal Instagram and Twitter accounts shortly afterwards, but many people still weren’t sure it was genuine until James Slovak* publicly confirmed it was. Chad posted the same announcement a few hours later. (* Hillel’s brother. James, I believe, works for QPrime, RHCP’s management team, and that’s the most likely reason he knew the post was genuine).
No details are given on the announcement and it merely states the band is “parting ways” with Josh. No mention is even given of Josh leaving to pursue his solo career which would have been the logical explanation given the recent release of his Pluralone CD.
As for details, the same account is circulating from numerous sources and that is John requested to rejoin the band and since that was agreed, there was no longer a position for Josh. If true, whether Josh left of his own accord, or was asked to leave, isn’t known. The only definite is that John was photographed with Flea in the summer (July) so they have been back in contact recently.
How long John has actually been back in the band again isn’t known. It might be starting with the announcement, or they might have been together for a while, or he might have been working with just one band member initially and it led from there.
As for the forthcoming expected RHCP album, Flea recently stated during one of his promotional interviews for his memoir, ‘Acid For The Children,’ that an album will be released next year in 2020. There have been various mentions that the band are working on an album. The most recent comment about the actual process was, ironically now, from Josh at the Ohana Festival a couple of months ago (29th September), stating work was slow due to family commitments of the other band members. It certainly sounded like he was part of the process then and people at that point assumed he was as there was no reason to think otherwise. Some fans are now speculating that work has already begun with John, but there is currently no actual evidence for this.
An interview with Josh is due to be aired on 5th January so maybe more details about his departure will be made public then. No member of the band has commented publicly at the time of writing this. Flea has tweeted a few things about loving Josh and about his solo work, but nothing about the reasons for his departure.
As for Josh, for those of you concerned about him, I’ve had word back saying he is fine and I know a couple of other fan pages have had the same message too.
The Announcement:
The Red Hot Chili Peppers announce that we are parting ways with our guitarist of the past ten years, Josh Klinghoffer. Josh is a beautiful musician who we respect and love. We are deeply grateful for our time with him, and the countless gifts he shared with us.
We also announce, with great excitement and full hearts, that John Frusciante is rejoining our group.
Thank you.
