Josh Klinghoffer was dismissed from Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2019 as John Frusciante returned to the group. He’s since been involved in various other projects, performing with Pearl Jam, contributing to Eddie Vedder’s solo album and releasing material under the name Pluralone.
Klinghoffer recently stated that his relationship with John Frusciante has been “nonexistent” for the past decade or so. He then went on to claim that the other guitarist “had a hard time” believing that the Red Hot Chili Peppers “could even consider going on without him.”
The relationship between Josh Klinghoffer and John Frusciante goes back to the late ’90s when Frusciante came to record a solo for The Bicycle Thief album Klinghoffer was also working on. In a 2011 interview with Guitar World magazine, Klinghoffer recalled how they started becoming friends “around ’99” as they would spend time at Frusciante’s place listening to music.
Josh Klinghoffer opens up on his relationship with John Frusciante
The two musicians have been a part of large number of collaborations in the early ’00s. and Klinghoffer would be featured on six of Frusciante’s solo albums (the last one being 2009’s “The Empyrean”), while the duo jointly released the LP “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence” in 2004.
Klinghoffer recently recalled his early relationship with Frusciante during a recent appearance on the Tuna on Toast With Stryker podcast, Klinghoffer said:
“I spent a lot of time being friends with John when we were younger. He’s a very dedicated artist and musician. And we spent a lot of time together. And we made records together.”
When asked if his relationship with Frusciante was “in flux right now”, Klinghoffer replied: “I wouldn’t say it’s in flux; it’s pretty non-existent…It’s been that way for 10 years.”
Klinghoffer said that Frusciante knew he’d be replaced by Klinghoffer should he decide to leave the band, which he eventually did:
“He knew. There was talk about it before I joined. Because Flea had asked me, there was lots of discussion about it in the summer of that year [2009], but because of people traveling and just being on sort of summer holiday, we didn’t actually make sounds together until October.
“So, from July to October, I was in contact with John and he was in contact with them. And he was having a hard time with that fact that they could even consider going on without him.”
Pearl Jam recruited Klingoffer as their live touring member. The band launched their 2022 tour in San Diego on May 3 marking their first live performance of the year. Band frontman Eddie Vedder began the concert with a solo performance of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart,” and then introduced the show’s opener, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who played with his solo band Pluralone before joining Pearl Jam for the rest of the evening. (Klinghoffer will perform with the band for the entirety of the tour.)