Red Hot Chili Peppers on reuniting with John Frusciante: “That was the most monumental change in our lives”

After returning with new single Black Summer and news of their upcoming 12th album Unlimited Love last Friday, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have revealed in a new interview how they came to reunite with guitarist John Frusciante.

The six-stringer is back in the RHCP fold for the first time since 2006’s massive Stadium Arcadium album, with frontman Anthony Kiedis revealing that John's return "was the most monumental change in our lives". In fact, in the run-up to getting him back, the Chilis had found initial album writing sessions pre-John "meandering", with things "going slowly and without a real definitive drive to it". Then, they realised what they needed to make it all click.

"…both Flea and I had a zeitgeist of a feeling inside of ourselves independently which was: ‘It would be really nice to involve John somehow in this process,'" the singer recalls to NME. "It had been a long time and he was making himself known in our circles again after having been in his very own circle.”

John himself says that he felt rejoining the band "might be in the air", but was hesitant at first. “Flea had put the idea [of rejoining] in my head,” the guitarist says, “and I was sitting there with the guitar thinking that I hadn’t written any rock music in so long. Could I still do that?”

Now, though, with Unlimited Love in the bag, John enthuses that, “We feel fresh, like a new band. I put a lot less of my ego [into it] than I had previously and I think that was true with everybody. It wasn’t so much a competition thing as really wanting to give a part of ourselves to one another [and] being excited to listen to what the others were bringing in…

“This time it felt very much like people who care about each other and are genuinely excited for everybody else to be the best that they can be.”

Unlimited Love is due out on April 1.

Catch RHCP live at the following dates this year:

June

4 Seville, Spain – Estadio La Cartuja De Sevilla=
7 Barcelona, Spain – Estadi Olimpic=
10 Nijmegen, Netherlands – Goffertpark=
15 Budapest, Hungary — Puskas Stadium=
18 Firenze, Italy – Firenze Rocks (festival date)
22 Manchester, UK – Emirates Old Trafford=
25 London, UK – London Stadium~
29 Dublin, Ireland – Marlay Park~

July

1 Glasgow, UK – Bellahouston Park~
3 Leuven, Belgium – Rock Werchter (festival date)
5 Cologne, Germany – RheinEnergieStadium=
8 Paris, France – Stade de France~
12 Hamburg, Germany – Volksparkstadion=
23 Denver, CO – Empower Field at Mile High*
27 San Diego, CA – Petco Park*
29 Santa Clara, CA – Levi’s Stadium+
31 Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium+

August

3 Seattle, WA – T‑Mobile Park^
6 Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium^^
10 Atlanta, GA – Truist Park^
12 Nashville, TN – Nissan Stadium^
14 Detroit, MI – Comerica Park^
17 E. Rutherford, NJ – Metlife Stadium^
19 Chicago, IL – Soldier Field^
21 Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre^
30 Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium^

September

1 Charlotte, NC – Bank of America Stadium^
3 Philadelphia, PA – Citizens Bank Park^
8 Washington, DC – Nationals Park^
10 Boston, MA – Fenway Park# (on sale date TBA)
15 Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium^
18 Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field^

=with special guests A$AP Rocky and Thundercat
~with special guests Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals and Thundercat
*with special guests HAIM and Thundercat
+with special guests Beck and Thundercat
^with special guests The Strokes and Thundercat
^^with special guests The Strokes and King Princess
# with special guests St. Vincent and Thundercat

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