Chad Smith says Red Hot Chili Peppers are almost done with their new album and that it will be out before next year’s stadium tour.

Smith tells Rolling Stone that the return of John Frusciante has brought some changes. “John hasn’t been in our group in 10 years, that’s a long time. So of course it’s going to sound different, but it’s gonna sound like the four of us because we do have this special chemistry together. It sounds like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it’s different and new, and to me that’s great.”

Smith also admits he was wary of booking a full North American stadium next year. “It’s kind of scary. We’ve played stadiums in Europe before. Live Nation was really confident that we could do it, and we’d never done it.” He adds, “I know there’s gonna be people, even Chili Peppers fans, that have never seen this lineup. We’ve written some of our best songs with these four guys, and we do have something special. It will be really exciting, and I see us not taking that for granted at all.”