Beinhorn worked closely with the band in the early stages of their careers. He first worked with them on their 1987 LP ‘The Uplift Mofo Party Plan’ and in 1989 for studio album, ‘Mother’s Milk’.
In a recent session of AMA on the grunge subreddit, Beinhorn received a series of questions from fans asking about his time with the band.
Discussing their track 'Knock Me Down' from the album 'Mother's Milk', a fan asked: “Why did John sing in that song? I know originally it was him and Anthony singing lead vocals, but Knock Me Down being a requiem for Hillel, why not only Anthony, the deceased’s best friend?”
Beinhorn revealed to the fan that the reason was "because the song was melodic and Anthony was/is tone-deaf (ie- he can’t hear pitch).”
He continued: “At any rate, John essentially wrote the song, including the melody, so it wasn’t entirely inappropriate for him to song it (plus he somewhat idolized Hillel).”
The producer admitted that he never discovered what the band thought of this track, however he did mention that Kiedis "freaked out" when he played him the tracks with the finished guitar on them for the first time. He revealed: “I think the band kind of disowned the record because of this.”
In other news, the band last released material back in 2022 after welcoming back guitarist John Frusciante in 2019. Kiedis stated in an interview with NME at the time that the band were set on creating something new. “I really didn’t want to tell the same old story that we’ve been hearing for the last 50 years in rock music,” he explained. “I liked reaching out in 10,000 directions and seeing what was out there. We weren’t limiting ourselves but trying to tap into something that is honest and emotional," he said.
“The biggest event, honestly, was John returning to the band. That was the most monumental change in our lives. And God was I down for anything and everything," he continued.
Just last week, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, announced his debut solo album which features Nick Cave and Thom Yorke. Flea has so far released two tunes, 'A Plea' and 'Traffic Lights' with his debut album set to be released on the 27th of March 2026. Read more on Nova here.
