Former Red Hot Chili Peppers and current Pearl Jam guitarist Josh Klinghoffer recently talked about playing with two iconic bands in an interview with Spin. The guitarist feels lucky for having the opportunity to be in these two successful bands of rock and roll.
Klinghoffer had joined RHCP in 2007, replacing their original guitarist John Frusciante. The guitarist was with them for 12 years until the band decided to hire Frusciante. The musician was disappointed by the departure, but he knew it was best for the band’s original members to reunite.
It was a bittersweet moment for Klinghoffer to leave due to Frusciante’s reunion. However, it wasn’t the ending of his career with massively successful bands as Pearl Jam later announced that they are taking the guitarist to tour with them on their ‘Earthlings’ tour. Shortly after leaving RHCP, Klinghoffer joined Pearl Jam, and he seems to be having a great time there.
Recently, he opened up about being in two iconic bands respectively. In his current tour, he revealed that Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder spoke about how RHCP’s Chad Smith would support Pearl Jam from the very beginning ‘like a big brother.’ He said that even though he is not in RHCP anymore, he is still friends with every member and is happy to see that they’re releasing new music. He stated that the two bands are like one big family.
Here are Klinghoffer’s words about RHCP and Pearl Jam:
“On the Earthlings tour, Ed would say on stage how Chad was there bringing Pearl Jam along at the very beginning, like a big brother. Andrew always says to me, I f*cking can’t believe it! You’ve been in the Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam! I’m grateful every day. I used to talk about it with Chris Warren, who is Chad’s drum tech in the Chili Peppers. He even tried out for the band before Chad joined when he was a young, 18-year-old drummer. He and I would say it’s such a crazy whirlwind, the Chili Peppers.
We grabbed onto it and got pulled. I’m not in the band anymore, but I’m still friends with everybody. I can’t escape the fact that they’re putting out a record, and they’re back in the consciousness. It’s forever a part of my life. With Pearl Jam, it’s the same thing. They had their own thing going in Seattle, but when they collided with Jack and then the Chili Peppers, it became one big family.”
While many musicians have bad blood after leaving or getting fired from their bands, it is like a breath of fresh air to see a friendship between two rock and roll bands. Pearl Jam recently finished a US tour and is getting ready for another tour that will commence in summer, extending to Europe.
