Red Hot Chili Peppers members Flea and Josh Klinghoffer recently discussed John Frusciante’s exit from the band on Matt Pinfield’s podcast.
Flea recalled, “The band was kind of going through a rough phase after we had done the Stadium Arcadium tour. John ended up leaving the band, it was a hard time. I just felt the need to get away from it, and work on music in a different way, and I decided to go to USC for a year and study music academically.”
Josh Klinghoffer said, “The thing that was the strangest for me was stepping into the guitar player role of that band that was filled by John Frusciante and Hillel Slovak, and other people. There’s a couple more, a long line of wonderful players and writers. Being someone that was added to that list is a lot to do, there’s a lot to live up to, and there’s a lot to bring. I’m kind of always trying to find the balance between being respectful to the music that existed before you, and trying not to repeat what’s been done before, and bringing your own creativity to everything to do.”
