Red Hot Chili Peppers - They're With Us
BY BURAK ŞAHİN (IR/III)
burak_s@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Saying that dying never seemed like a good idea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have returned with a new record after five years away from the studio.
"I'm With You" is their 10th studio album and the first recording with guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. After the departure of John Frusciante, ex-Warpaint guitarist Klinghoffer joined the band and played during the Stadium Arcadium tour. His presence is definitely felt when you listen to the new album. Although the band members had said that Frusciante was irreplaceable, it turned out that Josh Klinghoffer has also done a good job. He even came up with the album's title. While the band was trying to figure out a name for the album that would be different from any of the song titles, Klinghoffer wrote "I'm with you" on a piece of paper. They decided to use it as the title.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded 14 songs for their new album, and according to the band's drummer, Flea, its theme is life and death. "I'm With You" was released on August 22, and got good reviews in a number of magazines. The sound of the album is half alternative and half disco rock. You can find yourself dancing while listening to "Did I Let You Know," or tightening up during "Brandan's Death Song."
RHCP released the first single from the album, "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie," due to an accidental leak, but one of the album's most brilliant songs is "Brandan's Death Song." This track means a lot to the band members, because Brandan Mullen, a guy who came to Hollywood in the mid-1970s to expand punk rock, did so much to help the Red Hot Chili Peppers get gigs and record songs in their early years. Mullen died in 2009, and this song was written for him: "Nights are long but the years are short when you are alive."
Some fans of the band have complained that "I'm With You" doesn't include anything about sex or California, the RHCP's main subjects, but the band did make the album's first music video on a rooftop in Los Angeles, and there are lyrics in "Did I Let You Know" like "I'd like to get inside your mass production." So, the main subjects are still there, and the band is also pleased with what they've produced. They think that compared to their other records, this album shows the wisdom they have now that they're older.
Fortunately, they're still funny and nasty. Anthony Kiedis declared in an interview with Q Magazine that he wanted to die in the back seat of a car with Kim Kardashian. He also said that he's a "crier," admitting that he cried twice while watching the Justin Bieber movie "Never Say Never." He said that he cried for the girls who were crying for Bieber, and he wanted to world to know that.
Yes, they're changing, but "I'm With You" is a good rebirth for them, with their new guitarist. Maybe all of the songs on the album won't be classics like the ones on their last album, but they've still recorded some worthwhile tracks with impressive lyrics. One last thing--their tour could include Turkey next year. Hopefully, we'll be able to hear them in a live performance in 2012.