Frusciante features on new Duran Duran tracks

Former Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is working with Duran Duran on their new album, the 80s pop icons confirmed.

The well-travelled axeman – who has also been a member of The Mars Volta and this year formed supergroup Kimono Kult with Omar Rodriguez Lopez – is adding guitar to tracks on the upcoming Duran Duran record from his home in California.

Simon Le Bon and co released a statement confirming Frusciante’s involvement after rumours began circulating that he was on board, although it seems he won’t be a part of the touring line-up.

The statement, attributed to “Simon, John, Nick and Roger,” reads: “We were holding this exciting news because we were hoping to give you full details when we announced, but as word has leaked out, catching us rather off guard, we wanted to confirm… yes it’s true, the extraordinarily talented John Frusciante has indeed been doing some work from his home base in California on our new album.

“The tracks have been going back and forth via the internet, and we are thrilled with the results. We are all such big fans of John’s work and are honoured to have him adding his magic to the record! There are no current plans for John to tour with us, but his guitars sound incredible on the tracks.”

There is, as yet, no release date or confirmed title for Duran Duran’s 14th album.

Frusciante had two spells with the Chilli Peppers and both recorded and toured with Rodriguez Lopez’ The Mars Volta. He has also released a host of solo albums and has experimented with electronic music. Kimono Kult, who released debut album Hiding In The Light this year, also features Bosnian Rainbows singer Teri Gender Bender, Frusciante’s wife Nicole Turley, Dante White and Laena Geronimo.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.