Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer has shared his thoughts about the Red Hot Chili Peppers rarely playing songs from the albums he appeared on.
Klinghoffer joined the Peppers in 2011, replacing John Frusciante, who took over on guitar in 1988 following the death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak. Frusciante appeared on many of their hit albums, including 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 1999’s Californication.
Klinghoffer was with the group until 2019, when Frusciante returned, and appeared on 2011’s I’m With You and 2016’s The Getaway. In an interview with Guitar World, he was asked whether it bothered him that those albums are “ignored by the band.”
“Not really,” he replied. “It’s a funny thing. I guess it’s particular to the way John views the band when he’s not in it, and it makes sense to me. They have enough music that they don’t need to look to some of the other records.”
“I guess it’s just something unique to that band, you know? Having such a revolving door there, and such a strong presence in John,” he added. “He’s kind of the preeminent guitar player, you know? He’s the one who made the work with them where they experienced their global fame.”
Frusciante acknowledged that there seems to be “a little bit of a slight disrespect to the records that aren’t the John records. Once John’s back in the picture, it’s like the other records don’t exist.”
“That’s the only weird thing to me, because those records were important at the time, you know?” he said. “They were important enough to go and play them around the world.”
Klinghoffer’s solo project, Pluralone, will release the new album A Drop in the Ocean on June 12.
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