Red Hot Chili Peppers have dropped a new song, “Nerve Flip”, that was previously released as a Japan-only bonus track on the band’s new album, Unlimited Love.
The song has a sludgy mid-tempo groove built around John Frusciante‘s heavily distorted guitar, and the lyrics, sung by vocalist Anthony Kiedis, are predictably obscure yet evocative. “Got high on pink flamingos / Santo will take a charge / A list of long Domingos (Ah, ah, ah, ah) / Come kiss that circuit breaker / An image to enlarge / Let’s celebrate the quaker,” he sings before reaching the song’s chorus: “Slow down the rivers of time in your mind / It’s just a nerve flip to switch when it’s time for the grind.”
With a heavy half-time groove from drummer Chad Smith and an uncharacteristically reserved bassline from Flea, “Nerve Flip” sounds more like ’90s grunge than the band’s usual California funk-rock. Listen to the track in the player below.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Nerve Flip”
Unlimited Love is Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first new music with John Frusciante in 16 years. The band recently launched a SiriusXM station, Whole Lotta Red Hot (Channel 315), and played on Jimmy Kimel Live! and The Tonight Show simultaneously to celebrate the album’s release.
Flea also recently made his entrance into the Star Wars canon, portraying a bounty hunter in two episodes of the Disney+ miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.