Rumors began circulating a few days ago that guitarist John Frusciante had quit Red Hot Chili Peppers, and now Frusciante has taken to his blog to confirm his departure from the Grammy-winning group.
In his post, Frusciante reveals that he had quit the group more than a year ago. "There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding," he writes. "They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways."
His statement certainly goes out of its way to indicate that there's still a lot of mutual respect and love between him and the rest of the Chili Peppers. And he also appreciates how integral he was to the band's makeup in fans' minds as well. "I understand and value that my work with [the band] means a lot to many people," he writes, "but I have to follow my interests. For me, art has never been something done out of a sense of duty. It is something I do because it is really fun, exciting, and interesting."
Frusciante also mentions a desire to make "a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer," so it's assumed that he'll keep recording solo albums. He's been very prolific in this department -- he's put out 10 solo discs in the last 15 years, and six since 2004 -- so we might expect more such efforts in the near future. In the meantime, the rest of the Chili Peppers will continue to work on their new record, presumably with replacement guitarist Josh Klinghoffer taking over for Frusciante.
Follow Rock Music on Twitter
Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images.
Comments