Why Josh Klinghoffer Didn’t Like Working With Rick Rubin

Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer implied in a current interview that his work with the band would have been lots higher had prolific producer Rick Rubin (Black Sabbath, Beastie Boys) not been a part of the method.

Talking to VinylWriterMusic, Klinghoffer seemed again on his time with the Chili Peppers as “incredibly conflicted.” Although he saved his harshest criticism for Rubin, Klinghoffer says each of the albums he recorded with the Peppers have been marred by working with their respective producers.

“I’m incredibly conflicted about my output with that band because I feel like, in both circumstances, producers got in the way of us truly making great music or a great record,” the guitarist explained from the interview published last week (Aug. 24.) “I like almost all of the songs that we wrote together, but seldom did we capture them in the best way.”

Klinghoffer was with the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a decade, spanning the recording of 2011’s I’m With You and 2016’s The Getaway. Klinghoffer snark-ily blasts Rubin, who helmed I’m With You. “I really feel Rick Rubin was far more a hindrance than a assist,” the rocker noted. “He informed me as soon as, ‘I just want to help the songs be the best they can be.’ I ought to’ve mentioned, ‘Well, then get your driver to come and get you.’”

Klinghoffer added that producer Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz) was chosen as The Getaway’s producer because “I didn’t want to work with Rick again,” but that the resulting record had left him similarly unhappy. “I never felt like it was easy to fight for what I wanted on that record, so that record wound up being a bunch of songs I enjoyed, but I wasn’t happy with the way it sounded.”

Klinghoffer appears to be in a a lot better house in his present gig, being in Pearl Jam’s touring band and likewise opening for them on the street. He notes that one among his challenges along with his present job is “fac(ing) a constant risk of smiling too much. [Laughs]. I sometimes allow my 12-year-old self to run away with my face.”

Just just a few months in the past, Klinghoffer solid a darkish shadow on the way forward for rock music typically, saying that “(rock) is basically over, or soon to be over… There was a real cresting of what rock ‘n’ roll did to culture and how it spoke to power and I think THAT has been taken from us. As sad as it is, we just have to find something else or rock musicians have to get smarter, I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been vocal about their rekindled bro-mance with returning guitarist John Frusciante. Both drummer Chad Smith and singer Anthony Kiedis have gushed about their “musical telepathy” and “chemistry” with Frusciante, who was re-hired after Klinghoffer was pushed out in 2019.