Me and My Friends, a collection of photographs taken by Todd Wollstencroft during tours and recording sessions from 1989’s Mother’s Milk through 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, brings the viewer through the band’s on- and off-stage turmoil and musical transcendence of the drama. The text Wollstencroft wrote to accompany the photos includes a few illuminating anecdotes, but its conversational tone is seemingly unedited and verges on unreadable.

Luckily, the Chili Peppers have been such a fascinating band to watch that the photos themselves can be pieced together into their own narrative. Before-show focus is delicately shot in black and white, showing guitarist John Frusciante stretching and lead singer Anthony Kiedis writing a set list in front of an intricately patterned tapestry in natural light. Onstage, it is pure, intense energy — and of course, naked guys wearing socks or nothing at all (You will see more of Flea than you ever wanted to).

You have to be a Chili Peppers fan to find the book engaging. Many of the photos could stand alone artistically, but it’s knowing what was happening behind the scenes that adds to flipping through this coffee-table book. Though the band has existed since 1983, because it chronologically follows them only since ‘89, it’s a well-timed testament to the John Frusciante Chili Peppers, who recently left the band for the second time.

From the long hair of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to Dave Navarro’s mid-nineties stint as guitarist, to Californication’s Mohawks, the book provides a cohesive portrait of the band that you can’t see by clicking through photos online. Don’t read the text, but its size, price and new status as a time capsule of a band past its prime make it a worthy fan purchase.