Red Hot Chili Peppers on Next Album: ‘We’re Gearing Up to Start Writing Again’

It's been a little while since Red Hot Chili Peppers released their 10th studio album, 'I'm With You.' It's not unusual for the band to let a little time pass between records, but in a new interview, RHCP drummer Chad Smith says the act is "gearing up to start writing again."

Since putting out the game-changing 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' in 1991, each full-length album from Red Hot Chili Peppers has been released roughly four years after the previous one, with exception to 'I'm With You,' which came out over five years after the 2006 full-length 'Stadium Arcadium.' 'I'm With You' hit the shelves in August 2011, so the studio hibernation of RHCP sounds like it will soon come to an end.

"We're gearing up to start writing again," Smith tells Billboard. "We've always got ideas bouncing, but until the four of us get in the room together, that's when you see how it really takes shape. We're just starting out now, just getting together. We're gonna take a little different approach to the writing process, but for the most part when we all get together, that's when it really starts. It'll be fun to get into a groove of jamming and writing and all be in one place again. We're all looking forward to that."

Red Hot Chili Peppers will also inject a much-needed element of rock to this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show, which was originally supposed to revolve strictly around pop star Bruno Mars. After Smith told the a news outlet that RHCP would play Led Zeppelin's 'Dazed and Confused' at the Super Bowl, he brushed off the statement as a joke. However, it's very true that Bruno Mars personally selected Red Hot Chili Peppers for a Super Bowl cameo spot, claiming he was a "big fan" of the funk-laced rock band.

More importantly, Smith assures fans that RHCP will not appear scantily clad during Halftime, despite past celebrated antics involving tube socks and nude festival performances. "I'm sure they're familiar with some of our antics, so maybe they'll add a few more seconds on their delay or something," Smith says. "It's a little cold to be out there, scantily clad. Maybe a nipple might slip -- you never know. Is that acceptable? If they see Anthony's nipple, do you think they're gonna cut away quickly to Diana Ross in the crowd or something?"

Be sure to catch Red Hot Chili Peppers at this Sunday's Super Bowl Halftime Show (Feb. 2). And of course, stay tuned for more on RHCP's next album as news breaks.