Frusciante To Skip Chili Pepper Hall Of Fame Party

The former guitarist won't be there to be inducted

Published 7th Mar 2012

Fruciante was a member of the band for their most commercial successful periods prior to quitting nearly two years ago but he won't be turning up for their Hall Of Fame induction in Cleveland in April, says drummer Chad Smith.

"He didn't feel comfortable coming, which we totally respect," Smith told Billboard.com. "We asked him... He said, 'I'm just not really comfortable with that, but good luck and thanks for inviting me.' It was all good. He's the kind of guy, I think, that once he's finished with something he's just on to the next phase of his life. The Chili Peppers are not really on his radar right now."

Meanwhile, the current line-up of the band recently got together during an enforced break in their tour schedule (frontman Anthony Kiedis had to undergo foot surgery) to start writing their next album.

"Normally in Chili Peppers world we never really had this much of a kind of break in a tour," says Smith. "Before, if we had a month off, we would never get together and write song ideas; we always wrote songs when it was time for an album cycle. But everyone just wanted to play. It was great; I came to town, 'Hey guys, I'm gonna be here for two weeks. You want to get together and play?' and everyone was like, 'Yeah! Let's play!' So that bodes well for the future."

However, don't expect any new music before the end of 2013 as the band are on the road for most of that time.

(Billboard.com)