Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album with John Frusciante “Nearly Done”

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are close to wrapping up their new album, with the return of guitarist John Frusciante, drummer Chad Smith has revealed.

Although he avoided giving details of the 2016 follow-up The Getaway – their second and final LP with Josh Klinghoffer, who had served as Frusciante for a decade – Smith said it was being followed in conjunction with producer Rick Rubin and that its release would be tied to their upcoming tour dates.

“We get along very well,” he said. Rolling stone in a new interview. “John has been back for a while now, so it just feels natural. … We are really listening to each other in a new way. … He’s so dedicated. He’s so into it. He works so hard. We all work hard, but he’s there with all the overdubs and magic that he brings.

The group found that having to postpone a series of festival dates actually worked in their favor, Smith noted. “We could just get by and write, and that’s what we did. It was kind of a blessing, because we want to release new music and play new songs. It’s gonna be great when we finally get out next year and have a record to play, and a bunch of other stuff, obviously.

He went on to insist that neither member was thinking of trying to compare the new music to the material they had composed during Frusciante’s previous visit. “You can’t really say, ‘Oh, damn it, I hope this is as good as …’. Then you start to have preconceived ideas about what you want to write, ”he argued. “Look, John hasn’t been in our band for 10 years. It’s a long time. So of course it will sound different, but it will sound like the four of us because we have this special chemistry together. It sounds like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it’s different and new… we’re proud of it and it has to start there. If other people like it, so much the better. If people compare it to this or [say] it doesn’t look like that, we have no control over it. But, yes, we are all very happy with the record.