upon returning home, slovak isolated himself from the rest of his bandmates, and struggled to resist the drug without the mutual support provided by his friends, kiedis in particular. a few weeks after the band returned from the tour, the members attempted to get in contact with slovak, but were unable to find him for several days. slovak was found dead by police in his hollywood apartment on june 27, 1988. during his autopsy, authorities determined that he had died on june 25, 1988 due to a heroin overdose. irons subsequently left the group, saying that he did not want to be part of a group where his friends were dying. kiedis and flea debated whether they should continue making music, but ultimately decided to move ahead, hoping to continue what slovak "helped build". dewayne mcknight replaced slovak but was quickly fired from the band after three shows while irons' replacement, d.h. peligro would last long enough to play some shows with eighteen-year-old guitarist john frusciante, who was a fan of the group and idolized slovak. peligro was replaced in november 1988 after the group held a lengthy open auditions and eventually chose drummer chad smith.