Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer claimed that the band’s longtime producer Rick Rubin did a ‘horrible job’ producing the band’s 2011 album I’m With You, and that he wanted him gone for the followup The Getaway. John Frusciante emailing Josh Klinghoffer was just revealed.
A fan asked Klinghoffer in a new AMA, “Hi Josh,
Hope you’re doing well in these very strange times. First of all, I just wanted to say I’m loving the two albums – the quieter and more introspective feel of TBOWY and the edginess of IDFW.. Obscene, Save, The Night Won’t Scare Me and The Report are all just.. wow. You’re an incredible artist and I’m super excited about what the future holds for this project and others you may entertain now that you have more creative freedom. I was very lucky to meet you and Eric G once and jokingly remarked how Dot Hacker never play live shows. I hope to see a Pluralone live show (and perhaps even a DH reunion?? Please!) at some point when the world is more normal again.
A couple of questions from me:
You write beautiful lyrics, and I really like your use of word play. Do you have any favorite lyricists, and has anyone’s style in particular inspired you to grow as a songwriter?
Really cool to see you do songs in Italian and Portuguese – how did the idea come about and do you speak any other languages?
I always think of your musical style as being very delicately textured, with multiple layers woven in subtly and organically. You also see this in your work with the Chilis – exploring new instruments and arrangements and bringing in Danger Mouse was a huge breath of fresh air for the band! Have you considered producing your own music or other people’s? Thank you and take care!”
Klinghoffer responded, “Thank you. Writing lyrics and communication through words is the final frontier for me, apart from I suppose properly studying music theory. There are lots of lyricists I love. I’ll refrain from trying to list them so I can continue to pinch from them. No, I hear what someone does with words and then listen to how I feel, and try to recreate that dynamic.
I don’t, sadly. I hate that about myself. I can imitate well and do accents and impressions, so memorizing sounds is easier for me than it may be for others. I hope I did okay at it. I just love those songs and often when I listen to music, the English I’m hearing may as well be a forgone language because I rarely focus on the words. That always comes later for me.
I do produce my own music, I suppose you can say. The term ‘produce’ is tricky. Everyone does it differently. I do it for myself but refrain from giving myself that particular credit. I actually have a funny relationship with “producers.’ I didn’t bring Danger Mouse in, we’re friends, but it wasn’t my idea. It was only my idea NOT to work with Rick again because I thought he did a horrible job at ‘producing’ I’m With You. But then again, what is ‘producing’? There are other people who did way more to ‘produce’ I’m With You than Rick.” Rick Rubin appeared to react to John Frusciante replacing Josh Klinghoffer last year.
