Red Hot Chili Peppers Pay Tribute to Taylor Hawkins and Kurt Cobain on the Howard Stern Show
Rock music titans, Red Hot Chili Peppers sat down with Howard Stern to discuss music, life, and their new album, Unlimited Love. During the two-hour-long interview, group members told stories and paid tribute to Foo Fighters’ fallen drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Anthony Kiedis also talked about his relationship with Kurt Cobain.
Drummer Chad Smith pays tribute to friend Taylor Hawkins
During a performance on the Howard Stern Show, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith banged a bass drum that read “Taylor” in tribute to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recently died at 50. Smith told Stern, “I loved Taylor. He was one of my best friends. We’re still shocked and so saddened by his passing.”
He explained the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters had grown close, touring together in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. “He loved life, you know. He was a real beacon full of positive energy. I’m going to miss him so much.”
Smith was so close to Hawkins that he asked him to be his son, Beckett’s godfather. Smith recalled the conversation, “He goes … ‘Yeah, what do I got to do?’” Smith shared with a laugh. “I go, ‘Not really anything.’ He goes, ‘Great; I can do that.’”
Anthony Keidis says Kurt Cobain made him nervous, but he was ‘a beautiful dude, and he left us with a ton of unbelievable music and energy’
In 1991 Red Hot Chili Pepper’s album, Blood Sugar Sex Magic went multiplatinum. The group headlined multiple tours, including one with Nirvana and Pearl Jam opening for them.
When Stern asked how lead singer Anthony Kiedis got along with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, Kiedis shared, “I was usually pretty nervous whenever I was hanging around with him just because I was in awe,” Kiedis said.
He explained that Cobain was shy, “But Flea and I had some nice moments with him at some MTV show where we snuck away backstage and just sat with him while he was getting ready to play, and that was a nice experience.”
“He was loose and warm and inviting and relaxed,” Kiedis shared, adding, “He was a beautiful dude, and he left us with a ton of unbelievable music and energy.”
John Frusciante is back on a Red Hot Chili Peppers album for the first time in 16 years
After a long hiatus, guitarist John Frusciante returned to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The guitarist has a roller-coaster history with the group. He’s left and rejoined multiple times. Frusciante initially replaced founding guitarist Hillel Slovak after his death in 1988. He quit the band in 1992, rejoined in 1998, left again in 2009, and reunited with the band once more in 2019.
He last appeared on their hit album Stadium Arcadium. When asked why he returned this time, Frusciante said, “It’s a certain amount of soul searching that I’d done. It seemed like I had changed and grown enough as a person to where it felt like it would be a beautiful thing to have another chance to do it right.”
For their part, the group members were happy to have him back. Kiedis shared, “He’s our brother. He’s our family. I think just being around him and seeing how much he pours into what he does is infections, it’s contagious, it’s inspiring.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers world tour kicks off on Jun. 4 in Seville, Spain, with support acts Thunder Cat and Beck. Other opening acts will join throughout the tour including The Strokes, HAIM, Anderson.Paak, Nas, and A$AP Rocky.
