Posted by Emily Exton on 11/14/2011 at 2:45 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: Monarchy Of Roses, red hot chili peppers

The Red Hot Chili Pepper continue their push for 2011 relevancy with “Monarchy of Roses,” the follow-up video to “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie,” and another creation from the mind of Mark Klasfeld, this time with much heavier themes of regret, sex and aging, rather than the feel-good performance-heavy RHCP clips of yore. The clip trades the carefree vibe of a Venice Beach rooftop for ample blank spaces where illustrations based on the work of Raymond Pettibon—who’s done work for bands like Black Flag, Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth—can fill up the screen. Frontman Anthony Kiedis floats around stray sketches, accompanied by random, haunting thoughts like “Do you still want me?” and a likeness to someone’s mother, as well as personal mantras (“Sex is everywhere all the time and you can’t escape”) as the video’s titular roses fill the screen. Along with Kiedis’ new facial hair, which has grown significantly since the last video, Flea’s glasses (!) and new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer help to carve out a new space for RHCP, perhaps bringing them one step closer to Justin Bieber in the process.