Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis On Why Replacing John Frusciante Was A ‘Crapshoot’

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Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis discussed Josh Klinghoffer replacing John Frusciante in a new Q interview.

“We actually toured with [Josh Klinghoffer] on Stadium Arcadium, because he was our backup guitar player for some of the tour. John [Frusciante] wanted an extra guitar for rhythm parts and things like that, so we had a taste of Josh in the Stadium era.”

When asked about having to replace Frusciante, Kiedis said he knew it was a challenge.

“It’s always a crapshoot.”

He added, “It’s always a roll of the dice. It could go good, it could go bad, you don’t know, but we knew that Josh was a wildly dedicated musician, both writing and studio, and touring. His life is given to music, more than anybody I know pretty much. He was a relatively safe bet for us, we were not necessarily a safe bet for him. When we offered Josh the job, he’s like, ‘Is it okay if I think about this for a week?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you should think about it for a week.'”

“I was pleasantly surprised, it made him seem smarter to me, because if he said yes without thinking it through, maybe his motifs would have been shady. But for him to think, is this really what I want to dedicate my life to, I wanted to make sure he was into it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyunsRl6aQ