Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer discussed his new Record Store Day release with Chad Smith, featuring covers of the T. Rex classics “Jeepster” and “Monolith.” Klinghoffer revealed that the songs were originally recorded for a T. Rex tribute album, that is reported to feature Foo Fighters and U2. He said after recording the songs, they never heard back about the tribute album.
Klinghoffer told The Jewish Journal, “I believe it started with Zak Starkey asking Chad to be a part of a T. Rex tribute record he was putting together. We did the songs in a couple of days and sent them along. I think about a year went by and we never heard about that tribute coming together, so we figured we’d throw them out ourselves, with the gracious help of ORG!”
He added, “They were recorded over a two-day period. ‘Jeepster’ was the initial focus but ‘Monolith’ has always been my favorite T. Rex song, so my idea was to end ‘Jeepster’ by doing the ‘Monolith’ count-off. Chad had Laker tickets the day we tracked, but I got him to lay down a take or two of drums and did the rest the next day. It was a lot of fun.”
Variety reported in October 2018:
The legacy of Marc Bolan and T. Rex will be celebrated in extravagant fashion next year, when BMG will release a tribute album — for which U2, Foo Fighters, Elton John and others are recording tracks — and documentary honoring the singer. Veteran producer Hal Willner (Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Laurie Anderson, “Saturday Night Live”) is helming the set.
The project is a companion to a T. Rex documentary coming from the company’s film division, which CEO Hartwig Masuch spoke with Variety about early this year.
Other performers slated for the set include Joan Jett, Nick Cave, Perry Farrell, Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, Kesha and Borns. A source tells Variety that U2 have recorded T. Rex’s biggest hit, 1971’s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” for the set.
