Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer recently discussed how he came to join the band as a touring member on the Stadium Arcadium tour in 2007. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments from WTF with Marc Maron. Josh Klinghoffer also confirmed why John Frusciante quit playing guitar.
“Gnarls Barkley, maybe through a label, they start opening for the Chili Peppers in the Stadium Arcadium period. This is great for me because I’m friends with them, so I’m in there. How did that happen? There was a cancelation due to the snow storm, so there was a makeup show on one of the legs, and Gnarls decided at the last minute not to go down to Mexico.
But because I’m friends with the Chili Peppers, I’m like, ‘You guys are crazy, Mexico City is the greatest place to play. F**k you guys, I’m going to go with them.’ So I go, and I hadn’t seen John in awhile, because I had been on tour, so we hung out, it was fun.”
SuperHeroSong posted on Reddit, “In the podcast Josh states that he dropped out of High School at age 15 around 1995 and practically just stayed in his room playing guitar all the time. He started playing with Bob Forrest when he was 17 in 1997 and the Bicycle Thief record was released in 1999. The guitar playing in that record is very sophisticated, it amazes me how talented Josh became at such a young age. It’s crazy how he and Bob met at just the right time and how that eventually led to Josh joining RHCP. A lot of similarities between John and Josh.”
Precision2578 responded, “I’d venture to say that Josh is the best pure musician that the Chili Peppers have ever had. Plays guitar, bass, drums, keys, synth, sax, percussion, xylophone, and sings like an angel.” A Red Hot Chili Peppers icon recently revealed if Josh Klinghoffer was ‘worthless.’
