A ton has happened in the long and storied history of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While the band has (mostly) stayed the same with exceptions here and there, one thing has always been at a constant change and that is the name of the guitarist.
A quick dive into the history of the band shows that the only two original members of the band are Anthony Keidis and Flea. Respectively, they make up the vocal and bass section of the band. The original drummer, Jack Irons left the band and was filled in by the inclusion of multiple drummers until the official percussion section was taken up by Chad Smith.
The guitarists in the band have been plenty ranging from the unfortunate passing of Hillel Slovak to having Dave Navarro on board for the strings. Between all of the guitarists that the band had gone through, John Frusciante has been a favorite of many and for good reason. Sadly, John has been in and out of the band due to personal reasons on and off again. Since 2019, John has been with the band, but not without some turmoil previous to that year.
In a recent interview with Bob Forrest, he described speaking with Anthony Keidis about John Frusciante and how he (Bob) felt that John would eventually come back to the band for good (pre-2019).
Bob said to Anthony: “It’s gonna happen. We’re family. He’s like a little brother to us. There’s no way that he’ll be gone for too long.”
“So, then it happened and it happened however it happened. I think everyone felt good about it. At first it was shocking – I was angry. I didn’t think they should have done it (firing Josh Klinghoffer who replaced John Frusciante) around Christmas time.”
Bob stated that Anthony said: “What do you mean? Wait until when?”
Bob said to Anthony: “I don’t know, but around Christmas? This is f***ed up!”
