The Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to pack out the Sunderland Stadium of Light on June 24. Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer talk about what it’s like being the elder statesmen of rock

Your new album has a bit of space jazz about it, doesn’t it?

Anthony: Space Jazz - that was so Spinal Tap! Jazz Space I can handle. Yeah, I like that!

Flea: I love that! I love jazz guys like George Duke and Stanley Clarke. I take that as a huge compliment.

Our music has a lot of subtleties and a lot of different elements.

Under repeated listens you’ll get new things all the time and that makes me happy.

Things that are beautiful don’t have one reason for existing, they have lots of reasons.

Anthony: Flea grew up in a household where his stepfather was a jazz bass player. He introduced Flea to the idea of improvisation.

So we have a hardcore American jazz element to us, even our name suggests that.

That side of us is expressed on this record. Anything goes with our band. You can bring in heavy metal, jazz, disco, industrial – we can find a place for anybody. Anything works. Everything’s us.

Can you remember the first time you felt moved by music?

Flea: I can remember the first time I ever thought of playing music. I was walking down the street. I was maybe six or seven.

There was an alley and there were these older kids with trash can lids and brooms and they were pretending they had a band while they mimed to this hidden radio. And I thought they were doing it and it seemed like the most amazing magic. And I still feel like that. It’s amazing to me now.

Does tapping into your creativity get harder or easier as you get older?

Flea: It depends where you are in your life. It waxes and wanes. It’s a difficult lesson for artists – especially young artists – but there are times when you don’t necessarily feel inspired. On this record I felt incredibly inspired the entire time. You have to get in and do it. There are great moments of creativity that are like falling in love, they’re erotic and free-falling, but sometimes it’s not fun. It’s work.

Anthony: It’s like surfing, when there are no waves you have to get out there and paddle and be strong and ready when the big waves comes. Sometimes you don’t feel the cosmic thing, but you have to keep your chops good so you’re ready to ride. Take it like a job. That’s why it’s hard for bands to maintain and stay relevant over many years because sometime it’s not fun, especially if you’re successful.

Flea: We’re very lucky. We’ve made bunches of money – we don’t need to think about that.

We could be sitting on the beach eating burritos and hanging out, but we sit in a room and work on stuff. We do it every day.

How has new guitarist Josh changed things for you?

Anthony: He influenced the hell out of everything on this record; he influences my vocals too. He has tipped the chemistry. He’s changed all of us, but, at the same time, there’s an obvious thread from who we have been and who I have been. He’s challenged my brain. He’s made me grow a bit.

Flea: Chemistry is so important for us. We had nearly a year uninterrupted to get to know Josh and we wrote a load of new music and him being in the band has had a huge effect on us all. John was a phenomenal musician, and Josh is great in his own right in a very different way. He’s subtle and sublime and looks at things in fresh way.

Josh – is it hard for you to step into such a big machine?

Josh: Doing this stuff is the newest thing for me. I’ve known the guys for a decade and it has been a personal blessing. At the core it’s just four people playing together. If I think about the hugeness of it, it triggers anxiety.

I walked into a tiny room with instruments and amps and guys.

There was no record company or management company.

What makes a really good record?

Anthony: It’s not the best songs or music, it’s what sits well together, what displays a wide range of emotion. You have to think how you can touch people.

Rick Rubin says a longer record is not necessarily a better record.

As a creative person, you can operate at the speed of light or sludge along.

Flea: When you’re making music you can’t think what anyone else is thinking. You have to make your organs dance in your body – the speed of the cosmos is the divine energy that flows through us as we create.

Chad: That’s where I am. I am perfect. I have achieved that.

Your first gig was meant to be a one-off, yet you’re still here nearly 40 years later – can you imagine another ten, 20, 30 years?

Anthony: It’s still one night only – that’s what it feels like.That’s why it happened. We never thought about being a rock and roll band. We only wanted to play one night, that’s how we keep it alive.

Flea: You know, I try not to think about another 30 years. The thing is, I met Antony when I was 15.

We hit it off straight away. We saw this guy driving down the street who was in our geometry class at school and he pulled over.

He gave us a ride in his Datsun B210 and we started hitting it off.

He played guitar and had a band and he was the one who told me to play bass. That was Hillel – our original guitarist.