An Interview with Josh Klinghoffer

Header image courtesy of Getty Images/Wiki Commons

By Andrew Daly
[email protected]

Unfairly discarded, Josh Klinghoffer has landed on his feet to make the most exciting music of his career.

For Klinghoffer, the guitar is less a device for exhibitionism and more an apparatus for individuality.

Gifted with an innate ability to serve the song, perhaps no guitarist over the last decade has impacted music while avoiding the contrived diatribes and pitfalls of many contemporaries.

Many fans will remember Klinghoffer’s ascent as he filled the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar vacancy in the wake of John Frusciante’s 2009 departure. Others will recall his two records with the veteran funk-rock outfit; I’m With You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), which I will wager are two of the band’s most refined and least derivative.

But at the crux of it all, the real feather in Klinghoffer’s cap may well be that he kept a meandering band creatively afloat for a decade. An ever-astute professional, simply put, when Klinghoffer was needed most, he answered the bell. And while his initial rise may have been with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for Klinghoffer, the story doesn’t end there.

Going forward, his reputation as a creative guitar wunderkind will be staked on his own achievements. And why shouldn’t they be?

Since 2019, Klinghoffer has been busy with To Be One With You (2019), I Don’t Feel Well (2020), and This Is The Show (2022) being released under his Pluralone moniker, and Neon Arrow b/w Rewire (2021) also coming out through his band, Dot Hacker.

In the wake of what could only be described as a jarring event, Klinghoffer has remained steadfast in his determination to create his art, and he’s been busy to boot.

In 2022, Klinghoffer guested on Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s latest solo affair, Earthling. In addition, after three years of conversations, Klinghoffer has finally joined Peal Jam on the road as a supplementary member, further demonstrating his chops, depth, and musicality.

Klinghoffer’s musical road hasn’t always been easy to navigate. Still, in the present, the guitarist seems to be keeping it simple, staying in the moment and not committing to the idea that his role with Pearl Jam is permanent:

“I certainly hope so,” said Klinghoffer. “I will say with confidence that I am their friend, so an expanded role musically would just be a bonus. The fact that I can call these guys my friends is really all I can ask for. As far as what that role looks like, I make a good cup of tea. [Laughs]. What’s next for me is more music and more growth. And getting to a point where I don’t feel like it’s necessary to include that snarky remark about, you know, what’s his name.”

On a break from the road, Klinghoffer recently joined me to run through three years of hectic activity, life changes, and the future of his ever-shifting musical career.

Andrew:
You’ve been out on tour with Pearl Jam. What’s the latest from the road?

Josh:
Well, I’m answering these from home, so there’s nothing much to report at the moment. I’m a week out from returning back to the role of opening act as well as a member of the Pearl Jam live band. All I can say, I suppose, is that from where I stand, it appears to me that the Pearl Jam guys are playing really well together and having a great time doing it. There is something about how long this tour took to actualize and the fact that everyone is still being rather cautious of the virus; it’s made for a closer and less distracted relationship between the band. I think that’s coming across onstage. I think the audience sees and feels it too.

Andrew:
Having seen some of the world’s grandest stages as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, what are the most significant differences on the road with Pearl Jam?

Josh:
Well, my role is rather different. It’s more similar to my role in the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in 2007. I can really see the difference in how bands communicate with each other onstage, being in vastly different positions. They’re all amazing things to experience.

Andrew:
As a touring member of Pearl Jam, what challenges do you face?

Josh:
I face a constant risk of smiling too much. [Laughs]. I sometimes allow my 12-year-old self to run away with my face. The challenges these days are more just little things like doing my part of a song that doesn’t get played very often. Sometimes, for me, it’s really more about muscle memory, and we’ll do a song once a tour, and I always feel like I can do my bit just a little better. But that’s nothing. Sometimes it feels not so much like a challenge, but an obstacle, how little I can see Matt Cameron when I’m playing a drum part with him, but again… minor issues.

Andrew:
In supplementing Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, how do you find your place amongst the many musical voices you share the stage with? How do you view your role?

Josh:
Well, my role extends beyond the stage. I love supporting these musicians because I love them as people and have since well before I knew them personally. It’s easy to find a place in music you enjoy playing when the people who made it are open to and trust you to fill the space that needs filling. The confidence they have in me is incredibly gracious and heartwarming.

Andrew:
Can one assume you found your way onto the road with Pearl Jam through your work with Eddie Vedder on his latest record, Earthling? Walk me through your initial conversations in joining Eddie and, subsequently, Pearl Jam’s roadshow.

Josh:
No, one cannot assume that. My conversation with Eddie about joining Pearl Jam on their (at the time) next tour was a year and a half before the Earthlings landed or were in existence. The timing of my leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam deciding they needed an extra voice and set of hands on the tour for the Gigaton record could not have been more perfect. Eddie and I spoke about it on his birthday in 2019, eight days after my dismissal from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Andrew:
Regarding Earthling, what approach did you come in with compared to your work with RHCP and Pluralone?

Josh:
Everything one does, every situation, every song, or every record is different and requires sensitivity to see that. I try to approach everything with a certain amount of care and hopefully add what’s needed to make it better, or let’s say, take it to another level. Making the Earthling record with just Eddie, Chad [Smith], and of course, Andrew [Watt] felt like friends excited about making music together. There was a genuine camaraderie and almost childlike joy and enthusiasm during those sessions. That’s definitely something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Andrew:
Your latest Pluralone release, This Is the Show, is a stout follow-up to I Don’t Feel Well. In your estimation, what’s the evolution from record to record?

Josh:
I Don’t Feel Well was a surprise. Suddenly, I had this ocean for open time to create. It was really just me alone writing, planning, plotting, recording, and making it come to fruition. But This Is The Show was a collaboration with Clint Walsh, where he produced the songs I wrote. He was really driving the ship for most of that record, and it felt great to trust someone with those songs. Clint and I have known each other a long time, and it was great to find ourselves in this wonderful partnership after so long. It was a reconnecting on a personal and creative level. I loved it.

Andrew:
The inspiration and freedom expressed through the music of Pluralone are apparent to me as a listener and objective observer of your body of work. Through your artist’s lens, what does this project allow you to express as an artist that Dot Hacker and Red Hot Chili Peppers perhaps did not?

Josh:
I’d say Dot Hacker did allow me to express what I do in Pluralone, certainly more than the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Expressing myself lyrically is, I suppose, a way of being “myself,” being a person or committing to a position or a series of possible positions simply by the fact that you’re dining them with words. My singing and writing have become more clear over the years, so maybe the fact that now it’s just me, I want the words and position to be a little clear, even if it’s a vacillating position. The Red Hot Chili Peppers was a context that was established before I got there, and the longer I’m away from that band, the more shocking it is that I was able to do as much as I did in that band.

Andrew:
I understand that many of these tracks were initially composed as tracks for Dot Hacker, but that ultimately did not come to be. What led to the change in direction?

Josh:
For This Is The Show specifically, after we did Divination remotely with Clint producing, I felt that there was no reason we shouldn’t just carry on. I guess that was more difficult of a task than I thought. Clint and I seemed to have the easiest time collaborating at this stage, which, again, was a bit remote and still during the pandemic. So yes, the songs were written with the idea of those four people recording them, but along the way, it became just two of us.

Andrew:
You held back the tracks “How Many More” and “Teetering.” What was the reasoning, and when will we hear them?

Josh:
I like 10-song albums. I also like the continuity of all the Pluralone records having 10, like The Smiths. I had released three 7″ singles per album and had hoped to do that with this recent one, but as of now, that hasn’t happened. I thought Clint was gonna be working on those while I was on tour. Ask him how they’re coming along. As for “How Many More,” it’s very basic, almost embarrassingly simple. I was hoping he’d bring it to life in the same wonderful way he did with all the songs on the album. I can say the same for “Teetering” as well. It’s kind of a rambling “Working Class Hero” after a bump-type song. There’s another called “Mika.” You have to ask Clint when we’ll hear them.

Josh:
I make a good cup of tea. [Laughs].

Andrew:
Once you wrap with Pearl Jam, are you hitting the road in support of This Is the Show?

Josh:
I don’t know. Do people like me even hit the road anymore? I have very few fans. I don’t even know what hitting the road looks like for me. I’d love to someday, but it’d have to be special. I don’t know if I care enough to go fight for attention in a bar. I’d rather be reading in bed.

Andrew:
I’m on record stating I’m With You is one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ best records. What are your takeaways reflecting on your two albums with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I’m With You, and The Getaway?

Josh:
I feel like this could be a long answer. Perhaps we can do a sit-down tell-all someday. I’m serious; someday, that’d be fun. At this point, however, I might be a little too close to leaving to look back without a heavily biased and potentially warped opinion. I’m incredibly conflicted about my output with that band because I feel like, in both circumstances, producers got in the way of us truly making great music or a great record. I like almost all of the songs that we wrote together, but seldom did we capture them in the best way. I will say that in the case of I’m With You, I feel Rick Rubin was way more a hindrance than a help. He told me once, “I just want to help the songs be the best they can be.” I should’ve said, “Well, then get your driver to come and get you.”

– Andrew Daly (@vwmusicrocks) is the Editor-in-Chief for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at [email protected]