Red Hot Chili Peppers announce return

Red Hot Chili Peppers will make their return to music after a two-year hiatus by writing new material in October.

Despite recent rumours that the band had split for good, drummer Chad Smith confirmed that the group are about to end their break by beginning work on a new album.

"That's the plan (to return in October)," he told Billboard. "It'll be two years in September, so now we're ready. You can't force people to play when they don't want to play or aren't ready to play or whatever - not in our band, anyway."

The bandmember also said that the California rockers hadn't set any specific plans for the new recording sessions, although he is expecting them to pick up where they left off fairly quickly.

Though the band are yet to select a producer for the new record, Smith added that they will likely start on the LP with "a lot of improvising and jamming, and songs will come out of that. That's what we usually do. I don't know why it would be different".

Red Hot Chili Peppers's last album release was 2006's Stadium Arcadium.