.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Get Busy

Rockers finishing new album in L.A.

June 10, 2005 12:00 AM ET

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are finishing up their new record in Los Angeles. The band, at work with longtime producer Rick Rubin, are recording final vocal tracks.

"There's heavier stuff than the band's ever done, and there's also a lot of beautiful, soaring melodies," says guitarist John Frusciante, who cites "Only 18" as his favorite track. "I feel like everybody's taking their instrument to a new level."

The follow-up to 2002's By the Way has been a long time in the making, as the Chili Peppers -- Frusciante, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and singer Anthony Kiedis -- wrote and rehearsed for seven months before entering the studio.

"We worked really hard and focused in," Flea says. "I'm very in love with this record."

"There are also a lot of fucked-up aspects to it," Frusciante adds. "All kinds of flaws and dirt that I like to hear on records."

Flea and Frusciante took time away from recording to perform at a benefit for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music on Wednesday night. The Chili Peppers will take the stage together -- along with Weezer -- in Las Vegas on July 2nd to celebrate the city's 100th anniversary.

And, according to Flea, fans may have an extra incentive to head to Sin City: "We'll probably play some new stuff."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »