Red Hot Chili Peppers: Taking a Break

May 24, 2008 by Chazders

The punk-funk kings, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have decided that it’s time for a break, and not just from touring. The band announced recently that they have decided to temporarily disband the group for a minimum of one year in order to focus on their individual lives according to singer Anthony Kiedis.

Kiedis, who recently became a father to his first child, went on to explain that the band felt that it would be a good idea to take at least a year off to recover from their exhausting schedule.

“We’re disbanded for the moment,” Kiedis said. “We took a very long time to make the ‘Stadium Arcadium’ record (released in 2006). It was a grueling, long haul and it followed two other very long hauls, ‘Californication’ (1999) and ‘By the Way’ (2002). So we didn’t really stop until the tour ended last year. We were all emotionally and mentally zapped at the end of that run. The discussion was, ‘Let’s not do anything Red Hot Chili Peppers-related for a minimum of one year, and just live and breathe and eat and learn new things.’”

The break will not only help the band recharge mentally and emotionally, but will also give bassist Flea and guitarist John Frusciante a chance to work on their individual side projects.

At a time when fans are beginning to feel that the Peppers “need a bit of breathing space and they might come back with better material and smaller egos”, the break may be a welcome opportunity to get back some of the energy from their earlier days.

Hopefully the band won’t stay on a permanent hiatus. Of course, a 10 year ‘reunion tour’ would be a sure-fire way to get fans on board…

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