Rick Rubin Shares His First Reaction To New Red Hot Chili Peppers Album

Producer Rick Rubin revealed his first reaction when he heard Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album during an interview with Chris Jericho.

Rick Rubin is a record producer who is also the former co-president of Columbia Records. Aside from popularizing hip-hop music, he is also known for producing many successful heavy metal, alternative rock, and country records. In fact, MTV described Rubin as the most important producer of the last 20 years in 2007.

Probably Rubin’s most successful efforts as a producer were with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He recorded six studio albums with the band between 1991 and 2011, starting with their fifth album ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik.’ These six albums featured twelve No. 1 singles on the Billboard charts and brought the band many awards.

However, in 2014, after 24 years of working with Rubin, the band announced they would start working with another producer. In late 2019, John Frusciante rejoined RHCP after the band parted ways with their guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Following the news, the band announced that they would record a new album with Frusciante in January 2020. However, their plans were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This month, Rick Rubin confirmed that he is producing the new RHCP album, which is near completion. Speaking with Chris Jericho during the podcast Talk Is Jericho, Rubin talked about RHCP’s upcoming album and revealed his first reaction to it. He said they are almost done, and Frusciante’s return has been unbelievable. The producer then recalled their first rehearsal and said that seeing them back together made him cry.

Rick Rubin told Talk Is Jericho that:

“We’re finishing their new album right now actually. Frusciante’s back in the band and it’s unbelievable. I went to the first rehearsal, that I was invited to after John rejoined the band and it made me cry. It was so thrilling to see that group of people back together because they made such great music for so long together, and it really hit me in an emotional way.”

You can listen to the part where Rick Rubin talked about the new RHCP record below.