Josh Klinghoffer was the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019 (but starting as a session musician in 2007), yet his name seems to have almost disappeared from the band's history.
Klinghoffer joined RHCP as a replacement for John Frusciante, who had decided to leave the band, contributing to two unreleased albums: I'm With You (2011) e The Gateway (2016). Despite his long militancy with the group, that decade is part of an almost forgotten history of the band, as the guitarist himself told in an interview with Guitar World.
“There's little respect for albums that don't feature John Frusciante,” Klinghoffer admitted. «When John came back, those records stopped existing. That's the only strange thing, because those works were important in their time. Important enough to be published and played around the world.” The reference is not only to the two where it is present, but also to One Hot Minutewhich instead features Dave Navarro on guitar. «They have their own style, their own formula. I think this is very important to most Chili Peppers fans; in short, this is precisely what distinguishes the Chili Peppers.” But he states: «It's strange to be banned from their catalog and their live shows».
Klinghoffer, however, has an explanation: «I think it's just a unique characteristic of that band, you know? The continuous rotation of members and the strong presence of John. He's kind of the lead guitarist, you know? He is the one who made their worldwide success possible.”
The guitarist then returned to an old comment of his that had angered RCHP fans, namely that the records he played on with the band are better than their latest releases: «In South America I made some observations that people didn't like, but I don't think I said anything scandalous. I just said that I thought what I was working on with them was cooler!”
Klinghoffer was never publicly critical of the band, even after his dismissal in favor of Frusciante. Shortly after being removed, in fact, he explained in an interview that he was “shocked, but not surprised” by the decision: “It's the right place for John. That's why I'm happy for him, I'm happy that he's back with them.” Adding: “The only thing I said to the others was, 'I wish I could have done something with you, musically or creatively, that would have made this absolutely impossible.'”
