Red Hot Chili Peppers, who play Dublin's Marlay Park next summer, say they are nearly finished work on their new and 12th album - their first with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, drummer Chad Smith said the LA band is "getting along great", and that they are "really listening to each other in a new way".
After a ten-year absence from the group, Frusciante re-joined in 2019, replacing his replacement Josh Klinghoffer.
"John’s been back for a while now," Smith said, "So it feels completely natural. He’s so into it. He’s working so hard. We’re all working hard, but he’s in there with all the overdubs and the magic that he brings."
Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers at the age of 18 after the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak and appeared on their album Mother's Milk in 1989 but couldn’t handle the wild success of the band’s breakthrough album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991, and quit in 1992.
After living as a recluse and battling drug addiction, in 1998 he completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the band and appeared on the albums Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006), all of which were huge commercial successes.
He left the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2009 to focus on solo work, and rejoined in 2019. He has released 12 solo albums, including last year’s Maya.
RHCP released their most recent album, The Getaway, in 2016.
Smith added that the veteran group aren't trying to live up to the success of any of their previous albums. "All of our records are just real good snapshots of where we’re at [at] that time," he said. "You can’t really go, 'Oh, gee, I hope it’s as good as…’ Then you’re starting to have preconceived notions about what you want to write.
"Look, John hasn’t been in our group in ten years. That’s a long time. So of course it’s going to sound different, but it’s gonna sound like the four of us because we do have this special chemistry together.
"It sounds like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it’s different and new, and to me that’s great… We really like it and we’re proud of it and it has to start there."
Smith didn’t reveal a release date or title for the new album, Smith but said it would be released before the band undertake next year’s global tour.
The band will be supported by The Strokes, HAIM, St. Vincent and more on the tour.
