Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer performing just a few days before his firing became public has surfaced on YouTube. Klinghoffer was playing a small show in mid-December with The Bicycle Thief, his project with Bob Forrest. The performance took place live at the Alo House in Silverlake.
RHCP1616 posted on Reddit about John Frusciante replacing Josh Klinghoffer, “I’ve seen a lot of people saying that they think Josh possibly wanted out, so John was called in to replace him.
I’ve also seen a lot of people saying they think Josh was ‘kicked out’ and treated poorly. First off: I highly doubt that John’s return is in any part due to Josh wanting out. As if John would only be invited back into the group in the event that Josh Klinghoffer decided to split. Do you really think that if the band heard John wanted to rejoin, they would be like, ‘nah, we’re cool…?’
I recall Flea saying in a Fuse interview in 2011 that he thought the band was finished when John quit the second time, and that he couldn’t imagine carrying on with anyone else. I also recall a 2016 interview with AK, where when asked about John, he replied simply, “I miss him.” Let’s be real, Josh was simply playing second fiddle to John, keeping his seat warm in the event of his return. Which, seemed impossible, but ultimately, as time has shown, turned out to be the case.
Now this is not to say that Josh didn’t solidify his position in the band, or do anything noteworthy during his tenure.
He made two albums with them, and pretty good albums at that, but those albums, as with One Hot Minute, likely saw a lot more creative input from the other band members, in John’s absence. Trust me, I’m not trying to slag Josh, and I’m not Fanboying out on John…. But anyone who truly understands the essence of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from the very beginning, understands the importance of John Frusciante. He is arguably more influential to the group than the bands founding guitarist, Hillel Slovak.
Now compare Josh Klinghoffer’s contributions to the group to that of the aforementioned. He was a decent stand in for John, but really didn’t make too many waves during his time with the band (besides The Longest Wave that is). He was convincing enough to sound like John, but ultimately just made a lot of noise. There is a reason he was always so low in the mix. One thing I did always appreciate about Josh however, was that he seemed to tease and get the band to incorporate a lot of material that was didn’t hear otherwise. A trend that I hope continues. All in all, I’m saying that John is back, because John decided that he was ready to come back. And the band welcomed him with open arms.” Josh Klinghoffer calling out rude John Frusciante fans was just revealed.
