Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Not Splitting'

Red Hot Chili Peppers have downplayed rumours that they are splitting up, insisting that they need a break.

The "Californication" group last year announced a year-long hiatus but have now decided to extend it by a further six months.

Speaking to Q magazine, drummer Chad Smith said: "We're not playing right now, but we played a lot before. It was time to take a little break and live your life."

Smith is currently recording with new "supergroup" Chickenfoot, made up of Joe Satriani and Van Halen's Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony.

The four-piece, who release their self-titled LP on June 8, will perform at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on June 25 and at a number of summer festivals.

Meanwhile, Chili Peppers bassist Flea has signed up to study music at a California university.

Thanks for the report to Digitalspy.co.uk.

Comments

[Alex101]

I'm glad to hear that they're not splitting up.

[Hultan]

Yeah, me too

[SuicidalFreak]

Me three. Break-ups suck.

[Hultan]

I'm glad though that RHCP does what they want and if they don't wanna make music, they won't, instead of doing it for money.

[tenacioust04]

i'm glad that they are taking a break, they need it

[Farether]

yeah, I'll hope that they come out this break with a lot of new ideas (H)

[dvd_dq]

I'm glad to hear Flea is studying music =D.
He's prob taking music theory and lessons.. He's gonna be even more technical

[FightinIrishPJ]

flea in school? oh my....

[mattme]

Man, imagine having Flea in your music class. Everyone in awe, teacher doesn't know what say. Everybody bribing to get him as their assignment partner, but then you're going to feel inadequate.

[spug2guitarist]

hope they come back with a great album

[Glennjoe]

tenacioust04 wrote:

i'm glad that they are taking a break, they need it

theyve been taking a break for nearly two years,

[ashtray.girl]

yeah!!!

[MethenyRules]

good! i've been shitting my pants since i heard about chickenfoot. i love john's solo stuff and im guna love chickenfoot so everything is good, but i wouldnt take it well if i thought there was no more frusciante/flea magic coming!

[KenMasters]

this band's never gonna give up.
just one of the bands that deserve to exist for ever.
they suffered Hillel's death, Jack's quit and Dave Navarro as a bandmate and didn't split up, that's a sign they'll never do so

[BassFishin]

Glennjoe wrote:

tenacioust04 wrote:

i'm glad that they are taking a break, they need it
theyve been taking a break for nearly two years,

and they've been playing for over 20! They should be allowed to take as much time as they want.

Just as long as they eventually come back

[Andragon]

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!

[jetfuel495]

Andragon wrote:

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!

This all the way. It'd be great if they got back to their roots. Their newer material is still amazing, but sometimes I gotta get my groove on.

[josbroek]

Meanwhile, Chili Peppers bassist Flea has signed up to study music at a California university.
is this a joke?

[M4RK()]

theyre the awesumest band evah, so im glad theyre not gonna split. SIR PHYCHO SEXY RULES

[M4RK()]

PSYCHO...my bad

[JAL2K]

Andragon wrote:

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!

Yeah it would be cool to here some stuff like that but i doubt it would happen they've all evolved in music so they'll probably take their stadium arcadium sound to a new level or something like that but it would be cool to hear some funky riffs going on again
=]=]
Peace

[darthbuttchin]

I hope that during their break they will realise that they really don't need to release another double album like Stadium Arcadium.

That album was piss poor for the most part.

[m0o]

josbroek wrote:

Meanwhile, Chili Peppers bassist Flea has signed up to study music at a California university.
is this a joke?

dude whats the big deal?

[i_am_metalhead]

Maybe I'm out of the loop or something but I never heard a single rumor of them breaking up - last I heard they were just taking a much needed (and well deserved) break.

[Claypool5667]

Ive been coming on this website everyday waiting for this news! The Chili Peppers are the reason I am a musician and the reason I play bass today. I think there one of the rare groups that doe smore than just make music. Im extremly excited to hear about this!

[acesorcerer17]

flea actually signed up to teach. the class you ask? Funkology 101.

[Adamtbh]

i_am_metalhead wrote:

Maybe I'm out of the loop or something but I never heard a single rumor of them breaking up - last I heard they were just taking a much needed (and well deserved) break.

frusciante more or less stopped the interview when he was asked about it. He said something along the lines of:
you can keep the tape on and ill tell you the official report or i can tell you the unofficial one if its off. but the official plan is that there are no plans.

[danielrobbyshor]

sorry is that chickenfoot or rhcp releasing an LP in June?

[A Rolling Stone]

This is a relief!

[jeffswampthing]

hahahaha
just imagine having flea in ur class

he'd be the shit

[FireBirdKing]

FightinIrishPJ wrote:

flea in school? oh my....

YEAH I wanna be in that class lol

[DemonicTurtle66]

RHCP kick too much ass to split up

[ChucklesMginty]

Awesome
And nice one Flea, it could add a lot to the band.

[UtBDan]

mattme wrote:

Man, imagine having Flea in your music class. Everyone in awe, teacher doesn't know what say. Everybody bribing to get him as their assignment partner, but then you're going to feel inadequate.

you obviously don't go to music school.

everything RHCP does is nothing close to impressive in what he'll be learning in Music Theory I.

[wiggyisgreat]

Anything new? :haha:

Seriously, the rumours about them splitting up had no structure or even the smallest amount of evidence, in my mind they were never splitting up anyway.

They deserve a break and a half.

Checked.

[P5ych0_Killer]

UtBDan wrote:

you obviously don't go to music school.

everything RHCP does is nothing close to impressive in what he'll be learning in Music Theory I.

..and you obviously don't know the Peppers.

And whoever said he would be taking 'Theory' classes??!
Theory I would be pretty retarded for possibly the best bass player ever to be enrolled in.

Their whole deal is creating their "own" musical theory. Read 'Scar Tissue'. And stop making dumb comments.

[Icarus Lives]

Yay Chilis!

[staleyfan34]

im glad to see they arent gonna break up but to be honest i like the chili peppers of the late 80s and early 90s best. i didnt think stadium arcadium was very good

[mergapoot]

staleyfan34 wrote:

im glad to see they arent gonna break up but to be honest i like the chili peppers of the late 80s and early 90s best. i didnt think stadium arcadium was very good

Yeah i think the same, hopefully after their 'break' they might bring back some of their more hardcore funk influences

[JohnnyChimpo241]

danielrobbyshor wrote:

sorry is that chickenfoot or rhcp releasing an LP in June?

its chickenfoot. rhcp are still on hiatus

[Rimfrost]

that made my day, good to hear that they might return. Just hopes this means that frusciante will make another album soon, wouldn´t mind if he spewed em out as in 2004

[Cobalt Blue]

P5ych0_Killer wrote:

UtBDan wrote:

you obviously don't go to music school.

everything RHCP does is nothing close to impressive in what he'll be learning in Music Theory I.

..and you obviously don't know the Peppers.

And whoever said he would be taking 'Theory' classes??!
Theory I would be pretty retarded for possibly the best bass player ever to be enrolled in.

Their whole deal is creating their "own" musical theory. Read 'Scar Tissue'. And stop making dumb comments.

Agree'd I hate when people say something isn't something isn't musically impressive. If it sounds good shut up and enjoy. If you go by pure technical musical talent then most rock drummers suck because they're not keeping perfect time all the time.

[Rimfrost]

mattme wrote:
but then you're going to feel inadequate.

Who knows, he might suck at music theory :P

[Jacx]

Thank God they arent splitting. Think its cool fleas going to study music, maybe it will help in his next project. Maybe it wont, oh well no harm done with him goin. And idk maybe Anthony Finally found the right girl for himself. In Scar Tissue never heard about it ending with a girl for him. And if you listen to Stadium Arcadium Album, he makes a lot of marriage references. Well Either way, glad there not splitting.

[Spak20217]

jetfuel495 wrote:

Andragon wrote:

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!
This all the way. It'd be great if they got back to their roots. Their newer material is still amazing, but sometimes I gotta get my groove on.

exactly what i was thinkin

[Cutlass_253]

Chad Smith said: "It was time to take a little break and live your life."

Smith is currently recording with new "supergroup" Chickenfoot.

Does that not make any sense to anyone else? It seems like Chad is just kind of spitting out a very rehearsed excuse, and still wants to play.

Maybe its just me.

[jrcsgtpeppers]

I don't know where you guys are getting any of this. This article sucked!!! No one even said that they arent splitting up. Al it said is an old chad smith comment.

Wtf is the californication group? This article sucks and gave no information. That title has no evidence behind it.

[JHuffy]

jrcsgtpeppers wrote:

I don't know where you guys are getting any of this. This article sucked!!! No one even said that they arent splitting up. Al it said is an old chad smith comment.

Wtf is the californication group? This article sucks and gave no information. That title has no evidence behind it.

This is what I was thinking. This article had no relevance whatsoever. This same exact thing has been said many times. Chad said something similar to this a few months ago, and John put it down in an interview. Besides, Chad is in Chickenfoot now too.

[acoustielectric]

BB King's been playing since the 50s at least.

[Cutlass_253]

acoustielectric wrote:

BB King's been playing since the 50s at least.

Huh?

[IggyMorrison]

Cutlass_253 wrote:

Chad Smith said: "It was time to take a little break and live your life."

Smith is currently recording with new "supergroup" Chickenfoot.

Does that not make any sense to anyone else? It seems like Chad is just kind of spitting out a very rehearsed excuse, and still wants to play.

Maybe its just me.

Maybe they wanted to take a break from each other and RHCP in general and wanted to experiment making music with other people. If you know anything about Chad you'll know that Chickenfoot is probably the closest time he's ever been to being in the hard-rock Zeppelinesque band of his dreams. Anyway I'm SO GLAD they're not splitting up! These guys are the reason I was inspired to play guitar back in the day.

[Somnambulance]

Not really excited about Chickenfoot. I'd much, much, much rather have more RHCP. At least, John'll probably do some more solo stuff, which his last was awesome.

[Yeti60]

After creating Stadium Arcadium they deserve a lengthy relaxing break. I hope Chickenfoot does well, I've heard some of their stuff. That was interesting about Flea going to study music. That would be one awesome class.

This is my favorite band so I'm glad to hear they won't be splitting up... although I never really thought that they were going to.

[joshman]

They never said they were splitting. All they said was they were taking time off and then everyone starting squawking that they were breaking up.

[MrGuitarGuy01]

Thank God, I would love to see another album.

[|Guitarhead|]

Hultan wrote:

I'm glad though that RHCP does what they want and if they don't wanna make music, they won't, instead of doing it for money.

I definately agree with that

[TDKshorty]

I wonder what John is going to say to this

[tai1221]

Flea is going to usc.

[pwnagegnome]

woohoot

[jod23]

i love the red chili peppers!!! awesome band

[slaptasticdave]

As far as I know Flea is studying trumpet at USC, not bass.

[Kartman]

Thank God... I love those guys.

[b_flo]

These guys also have families...and not just them, but also their road crew. I know a bunch of roadies who can only see their kids at the gig when they're in town for that one show. So this doesn't just affect the band, but the rest of their crew. Being that RHCP is big, some of the crew members might be on retainer.

[cazzzza]

Thank F*** i would loose all hope if these guys split up!

[ccmetz2020]

P5ych0_Killer wrote:

Theory I would be pretty retarded for possibly the best bass player ever to be enrolled in.

Okay there's a little bit of exaggeration in there. He isn't close to being the best bass player ever. He's pretty good and he is the bassist that inspired me to play bass in the first place, but he doesn't compare to players like victor wooten and marcus miller.

[GIBSONroks6167]

JAL2K wrote:

Andragon wrote:

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!

Yeah it would be cool to here some stuff like that but i doubt it would happen they've all evolved in music so they'll probably take their stadium arcadium sound to a new level or something like that but it would be cool to hear some funky riffs going on again
=]=]
Peace

SA got pretty funky at spots...thats the best part about them is that they mesh all these styles together seamlessly

[Badmotorfever]

wiggyisgreat wrote:

Anything new? :haha:

Seriously, the rumours about them splitting up had no structure or even the smallest amount of evidence, in my mind they were never splitting up anyway.

They deserve a break and a half.

Well, they kind of do in the fact Wikipedia says John suggested they have "no plans" for albums or tours, Chad has a project that is touring this year and John has a new solo record out, plus Flea is in school and Anthony is raising his child.

Thats pretty much enough evidence to suggest they may "break", split or just continue the hiatus.

This article is pretty uninformative, it talks more about Chickenfoot than RHCP.

[courtkid1012]

I'm pumped for Chickenfoot!

[guitarhero999]

ccmetz2020 wrote:

P5ych0_Killer wrote:

Theory I would be pretty retarded for possibly the best bass player ever to be enrolled in.

Okay there's a little bit of exaggeration in there. He isn't close to being the best bass player ever. He's pretty good and he is the bassist that inspired me to play bass in the first place, but he doesn't compare to players like victor wooten and marcus miller.

ughh.... I hate people like you (or at least that talk like you)...

Music isn't a competition, don't treat it like one..

[Jasonbts]

damn. flea's about to become even more amazin. in an interview he said he knew no music theory, and he was amazing then. i can only imagine him with more theory. damn...

[xophrax]

Ahh i was so excited they were splitting up
And Blink is getting back together?
Damnit. (No pun intended.)

[rhcp01]

yay. when they went on hiatus i thought i'd never get to see them live. now i can

[maiden666pwns]

me-happy know!!!!

[maiden666pwns]

now not know (shit my spelling sucks)

[Bernier51]

It's good they're taking a break but im glad they're not splitting up

[thedarkblues06]

Oh yeah, and the classes teacher is Victor Wooten, and they are going to be studying theory behind Jaco Pastorius's playing, and Flea's gonna be like, "Yo I like me some Stanley Clarke too..." And Wooten's going to be like, "He's next semester in Bass 984".

[Metallicaloveu]

Good because they are one of the best bands in the whole universe.

[soysaucedstrat]

Cutlass_253 wrote:

Chad Smith said: "It was time to take a little break and live your life."

Smith is currently recording with new "supergroup" Chickenfoot.

Does that not make any sense to anyone else? It seems like Chad is just kind of spitting out a very rehearsed excuse, and still wants to play.

Maybe its just me.

this actually makes some sense. side project. except satch said that this wont even be a project.

[namegoeshere]

Flea in school would be filled with the most unimaginable things!

[flame_mc]

World tour sometime soon !!! please! I'm sooo glad that they aren't splitting

[98Timberwolf]

I want to move to California so I can be in that class! Anyway it's good to know they won't split up.

[=w=eeze]

Never thought they would split, they love playing music together too much to split

[=w=eeze]

98Timberwolf wrote:

I want to move to California so I can be in that class! Anyway it's good to know they won't split up.

I live in Cali, LA area. Too bad I'm still in high school

[Trudogger]

xophrax wrote:

Ahh i was so excited they were splitting up
And Blink is getting back together?
Damnit. (No pun intended.)

GTFO

Bands can make whatever music they please without having to worry about haters like you.

This is very good news!

[thbeekk]

The Chilis effectively split up when Frusciante quit in '92.

[IggyMorrison]

xophrax wrote:

Ahh i was so excited they were splitting up
And Blink is getting back together?
Damnit. (No pun intended.)

Just the fact that you are putting Blink 182 in the same league as RHCP pretty much guarantees no one's gonna take you seriously

[DontFightTheFoo]

Hah, I wanna hear more trumpet from Flea.

[RockAddict311]

They've been overdue for having a well deserved break ;p

[ctp93]

Very good news. I've got to see RHCP live before I die.

[Second Bass]

Flea > Chuck Norris
And that says a lot...

[Kylianvb]

Thank god. Can't really imagine Flea taking music-classes though.. Ah well.

[Filip413]

Flea once said himself that he knows nothing about music theory, although i question that since he can play the trumpet quite well. Either way music is quite a broad field and studying music could mean anything from theory to recording/producing to social theory so we don't know for sure what he is in for.

[83Hardtail]

Too bad they're staying together. I was hoping we'd be free from another crappy album filled with songs about California.

[rhcp4]

:M:
awesome!

[Code-E]

Thats a good ass article right there.
Short, accurtate, concise and too the point.

And its good news!!

[deshatsu]

Professor Chuck Norris is the only power in human form that can teach Flea anything about music.

[Soadfan8]

good

[scarfacesuit]

deshatsu wrote:

Professor Chuck Norris is the only power in human form that can teach Flea anything about music.

Just because Professor Norris can strangle you with a cordless phone, doesn't mean he knows a damn thing about music.

Interesting that Flea's studying music though. I guess he didn't know theory this whole time... who knew? haha

[EpsilonJSTC]

Ooh, Flea's gonna be even better? I can't wait to hear the new stuff they come up with.

[Somnambulance]

DontFightTheFoo wrote:

Hah, I wanna hear more trumpet from Flea.

Check out Incubus' track "The Odyssey" from the Halo 2 soundtrack then.

[JPScralatchtica]

YES!

[cooljew]

I can't believe what i'm reading on here about people not liking stadium arcadium... sure it took me a little longer to get into it... but since its release i've come to love it just as much if not more then any of there others. Especially In Michigan should've been a single

Checked

[fridafrusciante]

without rhcp, no life!

[LimeGig]

Yes! Awesome

[Restlesscow]

M4RK() wrote:

theyre the awesumest band evah, so im glad theyre not gonna split. SIR PHYCHO SEXY RULES

Yeeeaaah! Now thats a song!
These guys deserve a break so good for them. Can't wait for them to start up again tho

[isildurs_bane]

Unless they get back to their funk roots, I don't care if they break up. da funk is why i listen to the peps. Anyone can write pretty melodic pop rock.

[AndyBlyth]

im glad there not splitting up they have been around for 26 years and ill be really sad to see them go

[HeathenChemist]

Firstly, these guys are the reason I picked up guitar!!! And I love them to bits!!

Although I think if they were to break up, it'd be alright. They've released good albums consistantly since Blood Sugar (One Hot Minute is questionable though..) and for a band like them to have so many great songs, albums, and such a following there's not much more they can achieve you know? I'd rather a break up over a crap new album anyday...

Unless it meant another tour!!!

[str84ever]

Oh god.. the comments here make me sick

"love u rhcp 4eva!!

[atl1192]

crap! i thought they left forever

[3 days grace14]

Alex101 wrote:

I'm glad to hear that they're not splitting up.

my thoughts exactly

[Mr. Tomnus]

has anyone seen the new fleabass. man he is one productive cat.

[jamespallant]

When they come back fro the "break" I hop they do a South American tour. Nobody tours Brazil and they're my fav band.

[SG-Burchett]

RHCP RULE!!!. fact. wish they would release another album like californication (i mean genre/style/sound)-that is one of my all time favourite albums

[sfaune92]

JAL2K wrote:

Andragon wrote:

Flea's gonna steal all the chicks at that Uni haha
RHCP, more funk, please!

Yeah it would be cool to here some stuff like that but i doubt it would happen they've all evolved in music so they'll probably take their stadium arcadium sound to a new level or something like that but it would be cool to hear some funky riffs going on again
=]=]
Peace

IMO, that album was loaded with funk.
I'm more a fan of Californication, Snow and Dani California style Chili Peppers, but the funkier stuffi s awesome too.