John Frusciante on why he was "hesitant" to rejoin Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers are gearing up to release Unlimited Love — their 12th studio album and first with John Frusciante since 2006's Stadium Arcadium — on April 1, and singer Anthony Kiedis recently spoke to NME about how it felt to reunite with the guitarist after a decade-long hiatus, saying it "was the most monumental change in our lives."

He explained that writing without Frusciante felt "meandering," with things "going slowly and without a real definitive drive to it." That's when RHCP knew it was time to get him back in the picture.

"…both Flea and I had a zeitgeist of a feeling inside of ourselves independently which was: ‘It would be really nice to involve John somehow in this process,'" Kiedis recalled. "It had been a long time and he was making himself known in our circles again after having been in his very own circle.”

However, when they approached Frusciante he was a little "hesitant" to rejoin his old band. “Flea had put the idea in my head,” the guitarist said, “and I was sitting there with the guitar thinking that I hadn’t written any rock music in so long. Could I still do that?”

Clearly, he still can, as evidenced by Unlimited Love's lead single, "Black Summer."

“We feel fresh, like a new band," Frusciante continued. "I put a lot less of my ego [into it] than I had previously and I think that was true with everybody. It wasn’t so much a competition thing as really wanting to give a part of ourselves to one another [and] being excited to listen to what the others were bringing in…"

“This time it felt very much like people who care about each other and are genuinely excited for everybody else to be the best that they can be,” he added.