just making it feel good that's that's my job you know not too much fancy stuff make it feel good
make you feel good what a job i'm here to make it feel good yeah that's my job it really is
welcome to absolute radio in a virtual sense i always ask people on on zoom
where they are right now um by the looks of it you are
i mean this is classic classic background to your zoom call i mean look at it's full of books
a lovely sturdy bookcase this is a green screen because you know drummers don't really read
this just to make me look smart
you're in malibu is this is this your house yes sir are you based at home at the moment
you're not you're not going out and doing too much as of yet i mean that's obviously
going to change when the album comes out we do a little press in new york at the end of the week
uh tv show or something and some stuff and then and then we come back to hollywood and
then we'll be here until we come over and start in spain i think june 2nd hopefully
if all is safe and fun and what you never quite know these days do you so new album unlimited love
comes out on april the 1st it's your 12th studio album at this point i mean obviously it's a it's a
special process making an album but has it become normalized because it is your 12th album or is it
still a really really special experience for you no they're they're all special i mean it's such a
uh yeah it's so lucky to be able to make music and and make records i mean we're grateful for
that opportunity and people still want to hear what the chili peppers are doing you know so
we're we're we're so lucky and you know it was a tough time the last couple years for everybody as
we all know and so we were fortunate to for us to be able to just the four guys just get in a room
and make music and and for however long nobody knew so that's what we did we just we just did
what we normally do then we just get in a room and who's got an idea or a riff or let's just jam and
see what comes what we can come up with and we did that for about eight or nine months you know
and then went in and and recorded all these songs so it was it was a fortunate silver lining for us
ever since i was a kid it's all i ever want to do is make records you know i mean wow it's it's
a it's a it's a real you know luxury and it's a real honor to be able to express yourself in an
artistic way in a creative way and and then put it out to the world you know for people like me
they've never made an album does it did it match up to your expectations making a record i mean you
say there you were young kind of dreaming of doing that when you're actually in the studio or when
you're with the band does that magic happen or is that does that only exist in like hollywood films
it is magical it really is i mean
um my dog is gonna bark because she's looking at me right now like why are you not letting
me in give me that one what's that go and let her in bring her on come on jimmy go
all right all right all right sorry about that come here oh no let's what's up what's what's the
dog yeah oh look oh wow what's her name junie she's the biggest family we've got three dogs
and she's the she's the mama and the grandma we get three generation she is so cute
yeah she's a good dog yeah little kooky but good we have dogs in our family and
i'm and we don't have one at the moment so i'm missing them so every time i see a dog
and i get three boys and and it's great so yeah but to go back to your question yeah um
i mean they're all different you know and you're you're at a different point in your life and
a different point as a musician and as band and as an artist so you know the canvas is
kind of blank and and then it's what what do you paint on it and so that's for us that's
exciting and and um unknown but when we go um certainly working with rick rubin the way that
we work we do a little pre-production beforehand and we we've kind of got all of most of our songs
pretty well sussed out and so it's really the way that we play in the studio it's just the
four of us on the floor and we're just trying to capture a magical performance of something that we
feel is going to stand the test of time and that we all love getting that lightning in a bottle is
and it doesn't always happen but uh we're pretty prepared when we go in and this time we were for
sure things change a little bit when you get in the studio and and and you know you're always
trying to do little tweaks to make the song better and help the arrangements and whatnot it's mostly
once you just get the sounds going it's just it's literally capturing the performance because
that's what to me a band like ours that can translate and that's what the human
aspect of it that connects with people that's the challenge to try to capture the essence of
the song as best as you can and you know it's one time i mean obviously we'll play him a few
times but it's one performance that is going to be there so sometimes that can be like ah
is that the one i don't know you know that's normal i mean because we care this is important
to us we take it all very seriously and want it to be as great as it can be you've got to have
that kind of that almost like worry that this it's got to be this shot you've got
to get it right this time to have that kind of performance yeah you know i don't know if it's
a worry but it's it's a challenge and and when you do it it's it's amazing and exciting and
um we're up for it you know and and so we've been doing it a while we're pretty good at it
just making it feel good that's that's my job you know not too much fancy stuff make it feel good
make it feel good what a job i'm here to make it feel good yeah that's my job it really is
you mentioned uh rick rubin obviously getting back together with you on on this record um
what what's his job as as producer is he there to kind of like marshal things is he there to sort
of do the the admin stuff is is he there to like help out what what's his actual job as producer
rick is a very special individual we've known rick for over 30 years and i mean he he's such a music
fan he just loves music loves all kinds of music as i'm sure if you looked at his catalog of what
he's produced and what he's been involved with we trust him um and we have similar tastes you
know he helps us make our songs better it's he's not a musician per se and he's not a an engineer
type producer but he's he's he's a big picture guy he really um helps us because we can get so
involved and emotionally attached to the song that we've been writing for long and and trying
to make him the best we can and then we go to the next step is have him come in
and he's never heard him he doesn't know who wrote them or when or how and he just has this objective
uh take on it and it's really helpful for us because we can we need some guardrails you
know sometimes we can go off and you can find the the unique essence of a particular piece of music
and and and highlight that and and make that special maybe that we would miss but he's um
you know he's calm and and he's uh uh very smart and and he's funny and he's easy going he's um
he's just you know it's just someone that that again that we trust his ideas and his musical
uh thoughts and he just really helps us basically he really helps us make our song better
yeah he sounds like some sort of that's good yeah yeah you you bring the fun he makes it
everything better songs better i think that's what any good producer should be able to do
um what's the actual writing process like i mean because you're all listed as songwriters do you
sort of say i've got this beat or does someone come in with a riff or is it much more kind of
like we'll just get together and play and see what happens all of that it doesn't happen one way we
don't have a a one person that comes in with their finished demo from home and play and learn
the drum beat and all that stuff john will come in with with uh you know some some riffs or a couple
of parts or one part depends on the song uh flea i've got this bass line when you think of this
or this piano thing or sometimes we'll just jam and i'll come up with a drum beat and we'll
and it'll it'll build from that so yeah it's it's all those different ways and i think that that
is one of the reasons why we have a unique sound is that everyone's contribution and personality on
their instruments is is wanted and needed we often make suggestions about other guys parts and what
you know what if you did this or how about play a song play it like that something maybe
you wouldn't have thought of initially it's really rewarding as a musician and certainly as a drummer
plays a non-melodic instrument in in rock and roll um to have that outlet and and and we all
you know the egos go out the door and we try every every idea but if you think it's not going to
work sometimes that leads to something else and it's just all part of our creative process it's
definitely a very communal band sound and band creative uh relationship and process it's nice
because you hear some bands like where someone's just rolling like the band with an iron fist
and there's they're like the tyrant of the band over time just isn't good yeah no we don't we
we don't have that no we never have we've always we've always been very democratic and and you know
there's compromise involved when it's that way you know we don't have the pete townsend guy that just
writes all the music and does everything and then everyone's very important part of part of the band
you know that everybody's voice is is heard and needs to be heard and and again that's why i think
that we sound the way that we do i'm very proud of that i think you can tell as well in the songs i
mean every part kind of sounds different but works together it's very as you say it's very much like
personality lead in everyone's instrument a lot of big personalities going on here
i like my bands have a bit of personality though um yeah i think it's important