Red Hot Chili Peppers bring back guitarist John Frusciante

Chad Smith, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis and Flea in 2007
Chad Smith, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis and Flea in 2007 (Image credit: L. Cohen/WireImage - Getty)

Red Hot Chili Peppers (opens in new tab) have announced that guitarist John Frusciante is back in the lineup, replacing Josh Klinghoffer who has been with the band for the last decade.

It’ll be Frusciante’s third stint with the Chili Peppers, with the musician initially brought into the group in 1988 to replace Hillel Slovak who died earlier that year.

The group say in a statement: “The Red Hot Chili Peppers announce that we are parting ways with our guitarist of the past 10 years Josh Klinghoffer.

“Josh is a beautiful musician who we respect and love. We are deeply grateful for our time with him, and the countless gifts he shared with us.

“We also announce, with great excitement and full hearts, that John Frusciante is rejoining our group.”

Frusciante played on the Chili Peppers’ breakthrough albums Mother’s Milk in 1989 and 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik but was uncomfortable with being thrust into the spotlight due to the band’s ever-growing success and walked away. 

He returned to the fold in 1999 for Californication and also played on By The Way and Stadium Arcadium, before departing again in 2009 to be replaced by Klinghoffer, who performed on the albums I’m With You and The Getaway.

Frusciante will be with Red Hot Chili Peppers for their run of 2020 festival shows in the US and Europe (opens in new tab).

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A photo posted by on on Dec 15, 2019 at 12:28pm PST

Scott Munro
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Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.