John Frusciante not attending Peppers' Hall of Fame induction
NME says the band will be inducted along with the Faces/Small Faces, Guns N' Roses and Beastie Boys at a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 14 and drummer Chad Smith has revealed that although most of the band's former members will be attending, Frusciante will not.
Frusciante left
the group before the recording of new album I'm
With You began and was replaced by former Warpaint man Josh Klinghoffer. He
has since pursued a variety of solo projects.
Speaking to Billboard about Frusciante and the band's induction, Smith said of the band's former guitarist: "He didn't feel comfortable coming, which we totally respect. We asked him.
He said: 'I'm just not really comfortable with that, but good luck and thanks for inviting me.' It was all good. He's the kind of guy, I think, that once he's finished with something he's just on to the next phase of his life. The Chili Peppers are not really on his radar right now.''
The drummer did confirm though that the band's former members Jack Irons and Cliff Martinez will perform at the ceremony with them.
Smith also revealed that the band have been using their time-off before their summer tour dates to write new material, saying: "We just rehearsed and came up with some ideas and new song ideas and stuff and played together for two weeks, and it was really fun."
Asked if this meant people could expect work to begin on the follow-up to 2011's I'm With You soon, Smith added: "Normally in Chili Peppers world we never really had this much of a kind of break in a tour.
“Before, if we had a month off, we would never get together and write song ideas; we always wrote songs when it was time for an album cycle. But everyone just wanted to play."