Chili Peppers Are Back!

The Peppers are back. After a long hiatus since their double album Stadium Arcadium (2006), the acclaimed Red Hot Chili Peppers have made their name known once again with a new album, new guitarist, and a whole new look. Rather than having a topless woman on the cover like Mother's Milk (1989), or a psychedelically painted sheep like By The Way (2002), the new album titled I'm With You has a very simple cover– a photo of a fly perched on a pink pill against a white background. And lost are the days of Anthony Kiedis’ sacred long hair, or the short, faux blonde cut he donned during the Californication (1999) era. This time, self-proclaimed AK is experimenting with a big, droopy mustache and emo-boy black hair brushed to the side.
The new album was released in the United States on the 29th of August in 2011. Despite AK’s new look and the slight increase in crow's feet and grey hairs, it’s the same Red Hot Chili Peppers. This year, however, John Frusciante has been replaced by new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Having to adapt to a new guitarist is not something unknown to the Peppers – they go through guitarists like Hogwarts through Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Trying to find (and keep) a guitarist, as there is a new one with every album, has been a constant battle for the Peppers – but this is why every one of their albums has its own unique sound.
The first of the albums, Mother's Milk, features sound that is intense, funky, and thrashing. The words are? lyrical and are practically rapped by AK, and the guitarist was Hillel Slovak until he overdosed and died. One Hot Minute (1995) is a completely new sound that is never duplicated, featuring crying babies and the harsh, raw guitar of Dave Navarro. However, during the Californication and By The Way eras, John Frusciante offers his high-pitched background vocals and wailing guitar riffs.
The world welcomed I'm With You and Klinghoffer with open arms this summer. Although Klinghoffer resembles a young Frusciante, he doesn’t mimic his wailing guitar riffs. Klinghoffer’s sound is fresh and uplifting, and isn’t the focal point of the music. The sound hovers in the background and mingles nicely with the vocals, bass and percussion.
Klinghoffer’s isn't the only new Chili Peppers sound that's encroaching our eardrums and hearts. The track “Even You, Brutus,” incorporates the use of a piano, which is an unusual move for this band. Anthony made a real change with “Brendan’s Death Song” as well – there are no Red Hot Chili Peppers songs that sound like it. AK's voice is almost unrecognizable. There's no rhyming or fast-paced bridges, to which one can safely assume that Anthony is spinning around, jumping, and hooting into the microphone until it's over. “Brendan's Death Song” is quite a break in the album from the usual songs one can dance to and is sung in a beautiful, serious way that offers a real and poignant message to listeners. The lyrics, “I'm almost there, I'm almost dead...” leave a curious question lingering: Who is Brendan?
The song titles from I'm With You have a familiar sound to them, to the point where one can just picture Anthony, Flea, Josh, and Chad lounging on brown leather furniture, brainstorming song names. “Look Around” has a bridge that involves Anthony making noises that could perhaps be confused with those of a caveman, similar to “By The Way” (By The Way). The song title “Meet Me At The Corner” brings to mind, “Coffee Shop,” (One Hot Minute) because of the lyrics, “Meet me at the coffee shop/ We could dance like Iggy Pop.”
Any Red Hot Chili Peppers song wouldn't be complete without a bridge of thrashing bass solos and nonsensical shouts from Anthony in the background, and I'm With You keeps that tradition. Although it's clear the boys “riding wild on a paisley dragon through the Hollywood hills” have long ago grown into men, these fresh new songs remind their listeners to “dance, dance, dance, dance.”