After coming of an extreamelly successful tour and switching record labels the band were ready for their next album. The group requested for Rick Rubin to be the producer for the new album.

The band embarked on the gruelling six-month process of recording a new album, consisting of long periods of rehearsal, songwriting, and the incubating of ideas.

The writing process for the new album was far more productive than it had been during the creation of its predecessor, with Kiedis saying that "[every day] now, there was new music for me to lyricize"

Rubin was dissatisfied with the regular conditions of a recording studio and suggested that the band move into the Hollywood mansion which once belonged to the famus magician Harry Hoodini, as he believed that recording the music there would enhance the bands creativity.