Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced their 12th studio album, Unlimited Love. The follow-up to 2016’s The Getaway marks the band’s first new album with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium. It’s also their first with longtime producer Rick Rubin since 2011. Unlimited Love arrives April 1.
“Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could,” the band said in a statement about the LP. “Our antennae attuned to the divine cosmos, we were just so damn grateful for the opportunity to be in a room together, and, once again, try to get better. Days, weeks and months spent listening to each other, composing, jamming freely, and arranging the fruit of those jams with great care and purpose. The sounds, rhythms, vibrations, words and melodies had us enrapt.”
The band give a taste of their new music with first LP single, “Black Summer.” The Deborah Chow-directed video for the song captures the band’s Zen outlook, with the bandmates performing mostly separately in front of serene and surreal locations — a forest, an ice-tipped ocean, outer space and an upside-down desert scene. The clip culminates with the Chili Peppers meeting up on a stage flanked by multiple setting suns.
“It’s been a long time since I made a new friend/Waiting on another black summer to end,” Anthony Kiedis sings on the chorus.
“We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect, and bring people together. Each of the songs on our new album Unlimited Love, is a facet of us, reflecting our view of the universe,” the group added. “This is our life’s mission. We work, focus, and prepare, so that when the biggest wave comes, we are ready to ride it. The ocean has gifted us a mighty wave and this record is the ride that is the sum of our lives. Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy it. Rock out motherfuckers!”
Frusciante expounded on the group’s process while culling the album. “When we got together to start writing material, we began by playing old songs by people like Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, The Kinks, The New York Dolls, Richard Barrett and others,” he said in a statement. “Ever so gradually, we started bringing in new ideas, and turning jams into songs, and after a couple of months the new stuff was all we were playing. The feeling of effortless fun we had when we were playing songs by other people, stayed with us the whole time we were writing. For me, this record represents our love for, and faith in each other.”
The band will hit the road this summer in support of Unlimited Love, with its North American leg kicking off in Denver, Colorado on July 23 at Empower Field at Mile High. It wraps at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Sept. 18.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Chad Smith discussed their upcoming trek — the band’s first U.S. stadium tour — calling it “kind of scary,” but also exciting. We’ve written some of our best songs with these four guys, and we do have something special,” he said. “It will be really exciting, and I see us not taking that for granted at all. As you get a little bit older, you appreciate it more. It’ll be a real joyful thing.”
Unlimited Love Tracklist
1. “Black Summer”
2. “Here Ever After”
3. “Aquatic Mouth Dance”
4. “Not the One”
5. “Poster Child”
6. “The Great Apes”
7. “It’s Only Natural”
8. “She’s a Lover”
9. “These Are the Ways”
10. “Whatchu Thinkin’”
11. “Bastards of Light”
12. “White Braids & Pillow Chair”
13. “One Way Traffic”
14. “Veronica”
15. “Let ‘Em Cry”
16. “The Heavy Wing”
17. “Tangelo”
From Rolling Stone US
