John Frusciante returns to RHCP

[Len Cnut]

44 minutes ago, The Holographic Universe said:

U2 are a band of brothers. They have been a band since they were 17. I honestly didn’t anticipate John returning to the band. Did you?

Nah, not at all, took for granted that he was gone. 

[EvanG]

14 hours ago, The Holographic Universe said:

I honestly didn’t anticipate John returning to the band. Did you?

I did... he did it before so you could expect it to happen again. And he already told a fan years ago that he may go back one day.

14 hours ago, Nicklord said:

In RHCP only Flea and Anthony are real brothers. John and Flea used too but we'll see how it'll go now

I believe John and Flea always remained friends, even the first time he left they stayed in touch. Two years ago they were seen together at a boxing match too, so it seems they always remained close whether John was in the band or not.

[MidnightToker]

On 1/23/2020 at 9:26 AM, Nicklord said:

Josh did a podcast with Marc Maron a few weeks after he got fired. Got released today. Starts around 18:40

http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1091-josh-klinghoffer

If you don't want to listen. About this topic he said: 

John approached Flea and Anthony and they started hanging out again (Especially with Flea). 
The day they asked John to come back, they told Josh he's out and put it on social media.
No hard feelings from each side. Flea and Josh went on a dinner together a few days after that where Flea told him that it was really hard as it was the first time someone got fired without any issues with members.
If it happened 5 years ago he'd be mad and miserable as that would mean he wasn't good enough but the fact they kept him for 2 albums and worked on 3rd means it's not him. It's just that the chemistry and history with John is really strong and he isn't mad at them.

Good interview. What surprised me is that John stopped talking to Josh when he joined RHCP. Since they had worked together before, I figured Josh basically joined with John's blessing. But John was apparently mad that the band continued at all without him. 

[rocknroll41]

Posted this on the RHCP reddit today and wanted to add it here too:

Read the new Josh interview for Rolling Stone that just dropped. Josh seems nice and I feel sorry for him. That being said, it sounds to me like this split was eventually gonna happen one way or another. He makes it pretty clear here that he was unhappy with the production environment both times, the second time of which was with a friend of his as the producer, for that matter. Furthermore, he confirmed here that all the stuff he was writing with them recently would now be scrapped in wake of his firing. I don’t feel like that would be the case unless something with their writing dynamic went seriously south this time around. I get the feeling that the rest of the band wasn’t all that happy with whatever was being written recently, or else they wouldn’t have asked John to come back (then again, maybe it was John who first asked if he could come back, or at least heavily hint to them that that’s what he wanted). The biggest thing that sticks out to me tho is Josh saying he wanted the next record to sound like Uplift Mofo. As cool as that may seem, you gotta remember that the rest of the band are all in their late 50s now. I seriously doubt that that’s the sound they have in mind, at this stage in their lives. Maybe I’m just making excuses to make myself feel better about the way Josh was axed, but I’m starting to get the feeling that there’s more to the story than Josh’s side of it.

Edited February 1, 2020 by rocknroll41

[rocknroll41]

Update: Josh, Flea, and Anthony were all at a basketball game together the other day, so Josh is still on good terms with the band (he was also at the Kobe tribute with Flea). I have a feeling we’ll still see him as a guest on stage with the band in future (like in 2007).

[EvanG]

Nice. I enjoyed the Rolling Stone interview and I admire Josh's perspective and the way he handled it. Very mature. 

[rocknroll41]

Just got tickets to the Boston show!

[rocknroll41]

RHCP played a surprise show today (first show with John in 13 years).

They all look and sound great!

EDIT: John also played onstage at this same show with Jane’s Addiction, alongside Dave Navarro. There’s also a pic of Anthony and Dave hugging off-stage. Nice to see all of these guys finally getting along.

 

Edited February 13 by rocknroll41

[EvanG]

Where's Josh?!

[rocknroll41]

17 minutes ago, EvanG said:

Where's Josh?!

They fired him. Creative differences, it seems. He’ll be opening up for Pearl Jam as a solo artist now.

Josh is still friends with RHCP tho. He was at the Kobe tribute with Flea, and was also at a Lakers game the other day with Flea and Anthony. He says he’s opening to working with the band in some capacity or another again someday.

Edited February 9, 2020 by rocknroll41

[EvanG]

12 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

They fired him. Creative differences, it seems. He’ll be opening up for Pearl Jam as a solo artist now.

Josh is still friends with RHCP tho. He was at the Kobe tribute with Flea, and was also at a Lakers game the other day with Flea and Anthony. He says he’s opening to working with the band in some capacity or another again someday.

I know... I was sorta being funny...

And because even Navarro and Forrest were there.

Someone posted this on reddit, referring to Josh watching Dave and John play together;

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by EvanG

[Towelie]

Some rock bands age better than others. RHCP look kinda tragic these days.

[EvanG]

I wonder how long before John gets bored of playing Give It Away, Scar Tissue, Dani California, Californication, etc., again each night once they start touring.

[vloors]

 

[rocknroll41]

1 hour ago, EvanG said:

I wonder how long before John gets bored of playing Give It Away, Scar Tissue, Dani California, Californication, etc., again each night once they start touring.

At least now they’ll have Josh on standby for the next time John quits.

1 hour ago, Towelie said:

Some rock bands age better than others. RHCP look kinda tragic these days.

Really? Cause compared to GnR, I’d say RHCP has been doing great.

[Towelie]

3 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

At least now they’ll have Josh on standby for the next time John quits.

Really? Cause compared to GnR, I’d say RHCP has been doing great.

I dunno man. I appreciate that they're still creative and actually make new music, but the whole frat-boy stage antics from Kiedis look really tragic now he's in his mid-fifties.

[EvanG]

1 hour ago, rocknroll41 said:

At least now they’ll have Josh on standby for the next time John quits.

I think it's game over if John quits again.

[rocknroll41]

15 minutes ago, EvanG said:

I think it's game over if John quits again.

Nah, I don’t think so. If anything, they’ll ride it out for a few more years as a nostalgia act playing their hits at festivals just to make a few extra bucks at the last minute. Who knows, tho? Maybe GnR has just conditioned me into thinking that every band wants to be a nostalgia act once they get old enough.

[EvanG]

8 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

Nah, I don’t think so. If anything, they’ll ride it out for a few more years as a nostalgia act playing their hits at festivals just to make a few extra bucks at the last minute. Who knows, tho? Maybe GnR has just conditioned me into thinking that every band wants to be a nostalgia act once they get old enough.

Without John? I don't know... I can't imagine them going at it with another guitarist knowing they will never have the chemistry that they have with John. 

Josh was the perfect guy for them, in every possible way, and it still wasn't good enough. 

They're already a nostalgic act, doing the greatest hits setlist each show, but how can they not be, they've been around for 4 decades and they have so many hits.

I can see John getting bored with that again sooner or later because he's the type of artist who wants to reinvent himself constantly. But we'll see. He went through an expensive divorce, maybe he needs the money.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by EvanG

[rocknroll41]

6 minutes ago, EvanG said:

Without John? I don't know... I can't imagine them going at it with another guitarist knowing they will never have the chemistry that they have with John. 

Josh was the perfect guy for them, in every possible way, and it still wasn't good enough. 

They're already a nostalgic act, doing the greatest hits setlist each show, but how can they not be, they've been around for 4 decades and they have so many hits.

I can see John getting bored with that again sooner or later because he's the type of artist who wants to reinvent himself constantly. But we'll see. He went through an expensive divorce, maybe he needs the money.

 

I don’t really consider them a nostalgia act cause they still put out new music on a regular basis and their most recent studio album had a song which went on to become part of the general public’s canon of essential RHCP tunes (that being Dark Necessities). If they’re a nostalgia act, then GnR might as well be considered a toy commercial or something by comparison.

[EvanG]

4 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

I don’t really consider them a nostalgia act cause they still put out new music on a regular basis and their most recent studio album had a song which went on to become part of the general public’s canon of essential RHCP tunes (that being Dark Necessities). If they’re a nostalgia act, then GnR might as well be considered a toy commercial or something by comparison.

I agree, they aren't as bad as some bands out there (GnR), at least they still play new songs too, but they're no Pearl Jam, Dylan or Springsteen either who change it up a lot more and don't focus on the hits that much.

Edited February 9, 2020 by EvanG

[rocknroll41]

4 minutes ago, EvanG said:

I agree, they aren't as bad as some bands out there (GnR), at least they still play new songs too, but they're no Pearl Jam, Dylan or Springsteen either who change it up a lot more and don't focus on the hits that much.

Yeah, I see what you mean. When RHCP came back with John the first time in 1998, they started off their first full-length show by playing three new songs right off the bat (I Like Dirt, Bunker Hill, and Scar Tissue), and that was long before any of those songs were recorded, so nobody knew what they were. You could feel this “hunger” that they had in that era. And while I’m excited for future RHCP music, I doubt they’ll ever do that again, where they change up their whole setlist just to showcase some new tunes right from the start. They’re at a point in their career now where Can’t Stop will still be the opener, By the Way will still be the first closer, Give It Away will still be the end of the encore, etc. A lot of their 1999-2006 stuff has become “expected” amongst the general public now. At the very least, tho, they still throw in an old rarity here and there!

[EvanG]

1 minute ago, rocknroll41 said:

Yeah, I see what you mean. When RHCP came back with John the first time in 1998, they started off their first full-length show by playing three new songs right off the bat (I Like Dirt, Bunker Hill, and Scar Tissue), and that was long before any of those songs were recorded, so nobody knew what they were. You could feel this “hunger” that they had in that era. And while I’m excited for future RHCP music, I doubt they’ll ever do that again, where they change up their whole setlist just to showcase some new tunes right from the start. They’re at a point in their career now where Can’t Stop will still be the opener, By the Way will still be the first closer, Give It Away will still be the end of the encore, etc. A lot of their 1999-2006 stuff has become “expected” amongst the general public now. At the very least, tho, they still throw in an old rarity here and there!

True... but that was also very much because of Josh... he was the fan who wanted to play deep cuts and all that. A couple of months ago they played Sikamikanico (I believe for the first time ever), most people don't even know that song, and they played it because it was Josh's birthday and he wanted to play it. He was pushing them to play songs from back in the day and I wouldn't be surprised if they also played Aeroplane because of him.

I like all these songs but I could honestly go without hearing Can't Stop, Scar Tissue, By The Way, Dani California, Give It Away and Snow if I should ever go see them live because those songs are so overplayed, but you know that those songs will be played at almost every gig.

[rocknroll41]

6 minutes ago, EvanG said:

True... but that was also very much because of Josh... he was the fan who wanted to play deep cuts and all that. A couple of months ago they played Sikamikanico (I believe for the first time ever), most people don't even know that song, and they played it because it was Josh's birthday and he wanted to play it. He was pushing them to play songs from back in the day and I wouldn't be surprised if they also played Aeroplane because of him.

I like all these songs but I could honestly go without hearing Can't Stop, Scar Tissue, By The Way, Dani California, Give It Away and Snow if I should ever go see them live because those songs are so overplayed, but you know that those songs will be played at almost every gig.

Yeah that was at Rock in Rio 2019 when they played Sikamikanico. Josh would also tease riffs from their 80s stuff during solos throughout his ten years in the band, and yeah I also vaguely recall hearing that it was him who got them to do Aeroplane. I’m doubtful that John will push for deep cuts like that. If anything, maybe we’ll get more deep cuts from HIS era of the band again. There’s a bunch of Stadium Arcadium stuff that still hasn’t ever been played live. Perfect opportunity right there!

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it sounds like part of the creative rift that started to form between Josh and the band had to do with Josh wanting to try to get them to write more stuff that sounded like their 80s material, which makes sense, given his apparent love for the deep cuts. However, as I also said earlier, I don’t think it would make sense for the band to write new stuff like that at the age they’re at now. My guess is that new stuff will sound close to Californication, as John said how he purposefully wrote “slow, easy” guitar riffs for that album to accommodate for the fact that he was pretty rusty at that time (which I’m sure he is again now).

[EvanG]

1 minute ago, rocknroll41 said:

Yeah that was at Rock in Rio 2019 when they played Sikamikanico. Josh would also tease riffs from their 80s stuff during solos throughout his ten years in the band, and yeah I also vaguely recall hearing that it was him who got them to do Aeroplane. I’m doubtful that John will push for deep cuts like that. If anything, maybe we’ll get more deep cuts from HIS era of the band again. There’s a bunch of Stadium Arcadium stuff that still hasn’t ever been played live. Perfect opportunity right there!

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it sounds like part of the creative rift that started to form between Josh and the band had to do with Josh wanting to try to get them to write more stuff that sounded like their 80s material, which makes sense, given his apparent love for the deep cuts. However, as I also said earlier, I don’t think it would make sense for the band to write new stuff like that at the age they’re at now. My guess is that new stuff will sound close to Californication, as John said how he purposefully wrote “slow, easy” guitar riffs for that album to accommodate for the fact that he was pretty rusty at that time (which I’m sure he is again now).

I always thought Flea was the real funk guy and that he wanted to do the funk thing but that John was pushing more towards the melodic stuff (he wasn't really coming from a funk place anyway before he joined the band). Flea has said he wanted to quit the band after By The Way because John was kinda taking over the band creatively speaking, but then they got back on the same page and Stadium Arcadium was more funky again, at least compared to By The Way.

But perhaps you're right and Flea was also moving towards a more melodic/pop direction. I think they need John because of that ''musical language'' that he and Flea have created together, and they simply need his songwriting qualities, because he's probably a better songwriter than Flea and Josh. And as Anthony has said many times, he has never found someone he could write with as easily as with John. But I hope they will also still play some songs off the last two records with Josh.