With three years behind him since he was let go from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Josh Klinghoffer has some thoughts on the music the band has made in his wake. Speaking with the Brazilian podcast 5 Notas recently (via Exclaim), the guitarist argued that Chili Peppers were “doing cooler music” when he was still a member of the band.
Klinghoffer performed on two Red Hot Chili Peppers albums following John Frusciante’s 2009 departure: 2011’s I’m With You and 2016’s The Getaway. Frusciante rejoined in late 2019 to perform on the band’s next two albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen, both of which were released in 2022. “I don’t think I finished [listening to] the second one,” Klinghoffer said. “I was trying to cram it in once before leaving on a plane, and I got as far as maybe the ninth song, and I don’t think I listened to the rest.” (To be fair, Dream Canteen is a whopping 17 songs, so we can’t entirely fault him for that.)
Klinghoffer went on, briefly alluding to unreleased music he was working on with the Peppers before he was fired: “It’s tough [listening to their new music], only because I honestly think we were doing cooler music… I never want to sound negative about anyone doing music — but I was shocked when I heard their new record.”
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On a more positive note, Klinghoffer doesn’t seem to hold too much of a grudge against Frusciante. Though he admits the two don’t keep in touch as well as they used to, they did put out a collaborative album in 2004 called A Sphere in the Heart of Silence, and Klinghoffer seems open to going back down memory lane. “I feel like it would be fun to play some of those songs again, or play them live — we never played them live,” he said. “We don’t talk much these days. But I’ve always maintained that I still have an enormous love for him. He’s one of my favorite musicians; one of my favorite writers. I’m not against the idea.”
Watch Klinghoffer’s full interview below; his comments about reuniting with Frusciante begin around the 32-minute mark, and he weighs in on new RHCP music right after.
Klinghoffer reunited with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith to perform on Iggy Pop’s star-studded new album Every Loser. Ironically enough, he also spent some time on tour earlier this year with Jane’s Addiction filling in for another former Peppers guitarist, Dave Navarro, while the latter was experiencing symptoms of long COVID.
Check out Consequence’s recent cover story on Red Hot Chili Peppers, where Anthony Kiedis and Flea discuss the band’s reunion with guitarist John Frusciante, the making of Unlimited Love, their world tour, and more.