The late Nirvana member Kurt Cobain has certainly made a great influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The has been occupied with a lot of work ever since the iconic guitarist John Frusciante made his return in 2019. They started collaborating with legendary producer Rick Rubin once more and the band produced enough material over the last years resulting in two albums released in 2022.
“Unlimited Love” saw the light of day in April, gathering acclaim from critics, but producing a polarizing response by the fanbase, who were expecting some flashier guitar work by Frusciante, who mostly sits back and contributes to the mellow textures that dominate the record.
John Frusciante reveals how Kurt Cobain inspired the band to pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen
Now, the band is back with “Return of the Dream Canteen”, with songs written in the same sessions as for the previous album, clocking in at an impressive 75 minutes.
The funky “Tippa My Tongue” was released as the lead single, but attention was quickly drawn to the follow-up “Eddie”, a touching tribute to the late Van Halen guitarist where Frusciante was allowed to let loose on the instrument.
In a new interview with Guitar World, the musician revealed the inspirations behind his guitar work on the track:
“I really love guitar players like Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen for the way that they could make the instrument explode through hand and whammy bar techniques. But I also really like the way people like Greg Ginn or Kurt Cobain play without it being so much about technique – although there are all kinds of unconventional techniques in there – the focus is definitely a more visceral thing.”
“Eventually, by the time we were recording, my concept was to find a bridge between those two conceptions of the instrument: that idea of making it explode with the electricity of the human energy that comes through the strings.”
