John Fru interviews

miss_psycho_sweet · Posted: 14/01/2007 20:22 Post subject: John Fru interviews

vpro '94 - interviu creat de o televiziune olandeza in 1994, in urma
lansarii albumului Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-shirt. Nu va uitati daca sunteti slabi de inger (John e stoned). Horrible quality.

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QsvQUqo1Lk
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVRRD8R_KCQ
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RT49Ul21zg
part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ycnAtqKpRg
part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AI-Eu_9Srw

"An afternoon with John Frusciante", interviu conceput de Nacho Recio in iulie 2001

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnMphi-ZXmE
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smUSW-tj38c
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvzgW8-yrNM

"2Rock Interview" interviu concretizat de televiziunea germana Viva zwei (cred), tot in 2001.

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OkO8HRoxnY
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGfgiV2u4c8
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxNT62pryU
part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvaiazSSjQ
part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyfQBJ0hCoE
part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22j9rcL_suY
_________________
me and my me and my me and my me and my me and my friends

miss_psycho_sweet · Posted: 22/02/2007 17:15 Post subject:

John despre Jimi Hendrix; interviu din 1990

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5ZQfI7oKnY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5ZQfI7oKnY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
_________________
me and my me and my me and my me and my me and my friends

miss_psycho_sweet · Posted: 18/03/2007 13:38 Post subject:

Un interviu din 2003 luat de o fana, Barbara/ Young Kentucky Girl (de pe OHG Forums)

B: ...(we must have been talking about films before) have you seen happiness?
John (trying to clip his microphone): what am I doing wrong? ...no I haven't seen happiness... is it ok if the microphone is inside, you think?...
Geli: yeah...
B: Is it?
JF: I don't know...I think it should be like this (he clips it to his shirt) even though it doesn't look right.
B: I'm going to fix it...
B: So you haven't seen happiness, that's a very strong and sad movie.
So, how are you, are you very tired?

JF: I'm tired. I've been working really hard for the last couple of years. I haven't really taken any breaks...I can't remember...I guess the last time I wasn't really doing anything was a few months before we started writing BTW and then I went on a solo tour for my solo record and then the day I got home we started writing BTW and I've been working all through that and the second I had a spare moment I started recording my solo record and I did that during all my breaks
B: But you're doing one solo album right now, aren't you?
JF: Well, I finished the one that I was working on and that's coming out in September and now if I do recordings is not for an album, it's just to record my songs because I wanna have all my songs recorded, it's my goal to have all my songs recorded, you know, 'cos I have a lot of songs, they're just in notebooks until I can record them in a studio and I just feel like it's my responsibility as a song writer to record everything that's good that I write, so.
Geli: What do you mean by that though, so people won't be able to buy that stuff?
JF: For me at the moment that part is secondary because there's already an album that people can buy but what's more important for me is just that I know that with my life that I've done the best that I can do that I know I've used my time well. To have a bunch of songs and then to sit around and not record them to me just seems like not doing your function as a person, so people buying it will take care of itself , but me recording it is something that I have to do to in order to make anything happen, so... I was gonna go record a few songs in DC tomorrow but I changed my mind at the minute, I'm gonna do it another time because I feel all the time now the way I usually feel at the end of the day after recording for 12 or 14 hours, that's how I feel now when I wake up, so I'm gonna give myself a couple of weeks of just sitting around my house I think it'll do me some good and then I don't have to take a break for another couple of years.
B: What makes you happy most in life?
JF: What makes me happy?.. hmm...well, Anthony makes me happy, Flea makes me happy, my friends all make me happy and I'm happy when Chad is beating the hell out of his drums while we're on stage, I'm happy listening to the Incredible String Band, and I'm happy listening to Fairport Convention. Led Zeppelin makes me happy, music, and Godard movies.
B: Dark movies?
JF: Godard movies, Jean Luc Godard movies.
B: Oh, have you seen Breathless?
JF: Yeah
B: How did you like that?
JF: It's great
B: Which one is your favorite?
JF: I think... band of outsiders! Band of outsiders, I personally like any of the B&W ones though.
B: I love Breathless that's my favorite
JF: I like Anna Karina a lot, she's not in breathless, so I prefer the ones that she's in.

B: You spend a lot of time studying music don't you?
JF: You mean when I was a kid?
B: No, all the time, all I hear from you is that you've been listening to African music, South American music, you know, music from everywhere...
JF: Yeah I'm always trying to find out about new music, from my stand point I think the Earth is a really incredible place, the amount of music that there is, is amazing you know, you can go your whole life obsessing on music and still be finding out about new stuff when you're 60 years old , 70 years old, it seems like there is an infinite amount of music here right now and to me any planet that gets it together to make that much beautiful stuff for your senses and for your ears and stuff is really doing a good job. A lot of people complain about the planet and complain about things but I don't think you'd get that much beautiful things if there wasn't an ugliness on the other side of it. I think anything that's ugly in the world has to be there to make as much beautiful things as there is in the world, that seems really obvious to me and I feel really grateful to be living this life, it's a good planet.
B: Do you believe in God?
JF: I believe in the lack of such questions, I don't think there's any reason for... for me in my life I have no place for any sort of image of God. I appreciate that other people do, and for them I'm glad that their God is there for them but for me is like when I drive through the country I look out the window of the bus and I see all these houses and I know that every single house is the centre of the universe for the people who live there, they think that house is being the center of the world and for them it is the center of the world but at the same time it doesn't mean that everybody else's houses are also the center of the world, it's a bunch of things at once and to me that's what God is, it's one thing for one person, it's another thing for another person, and another thing for another person times the whole world. Everybody in the world who has the need to have a God to believe in or to be faithful to or whatever their reasons are, I personally don't have a place for it in my life, so lucky me.
B: What do you think it's the most beautiful place you've been to?
JF: The most beautiful place I've been to?
B: Can you mention one?
JF: It's hard to say, as far as nature goes I've been to really beautiful places like Costa Rica and Big Sur, California, Australia, I've seen really beautiful nature places like that but I like to see like just nice architecture, nice shades of buildings and stuff, I like walking down the street in Vienna, I have good memories of being in Vienna, Austria.
B: I've heard so many things about Vienna but I've never been there
JF: It's a nice place, (grinning wonderfully and continuously) it's the kind of place you can poză just stopping everything, getting yourself a little apartment, smoking hash all the time, living cafe life
(we just laughed)
B: How about London? We lived there for some time, how do you like London.
JF: I like London. It's a nice place, so much music that I love comes from London or from England, I really like it there just because of that alone it makes me think it's a great place.
Geli: You're going to England next right? Where are you going in England?
JF: V Festival
Geli: Where is that?
JF: It's a couple hours away from London.
Last time I was in London I had a good time because I got to record with one of my heroes, Brian Eno.
B: who?
JF: Brian Eno
B: Ohhhh Brian Eno, he's the U2 producer, isn't he?
JF (grinning) : That's what he's known for now but that's not what I think when I meet him
We both laugh
B: You don't like U2?
JF: I li... U2 is fine but for me my image of Brian Eno goes back to when I was like 11 years old before he ever... before U2 existed.
B: But most of his work now is based on U2?
JF: No, he makes his living from U2, but he does work on other than U2 solo records, collaborations with people, museum installations, the way I think of him is the producer of the three best Talking Heads albums, he was in the band Roxy Music, and he's made tons of incredible solo records and he produced Ultravox and he's just always been a really inventive person, he's always been inspirational to me, and for me he's made some of the most ground breaking records that have ever been made so it's always nice when you can hear those.
B: What do you listen to lately?
JF: I listen to different things for different reasons and different times, I mean, if it's a nice sunny day and I'm gonna drive to the grocery store or something I like to put on the album Slade Alive!, the live album by the group Slade which I think is one of the most powerful live albums that anybody ever did, there's something about driving in the daytime on a sunny day that really makes me feel great, but if it's night time and I'm just relaxing I could put on an album by this guy called John Hassel which is also something that was a collaboration with Brian Eno called "Dream theory in Malaya", that's a good album for mellowing out and relaxing, letting your brain go wherever it might. But I have a huge record collection, I listen to different things for different reasons
B: I’m sorry about the expression but when I see you on stage I feel like you’re having orgasms when you play your guitar and I think it is amazing how you keep on studying and studying music.

JF: Yeah well I guess at a certain point I practiced guitar so much when I was a kid, at a certain point I feel like to practice and to get better became something that was effortless, it didn’t feel like something that was a job or it didn’t feel like something that was a chore ever since I first started getting better at learning songs and stuff, practicing is as flowing of a thing as I guess sex is supposed to be you know, for me, I get more of those kind of feelings from playing guitar than I do in real life, like, at a certain point I became so united with the guitar that I feel like that’s… me and my relationship with music that’s the kind of trupesc activity that I can really enjoy, you know. In real life there’s so much other stuff attached, it doesn’t even come close to how it is when playing music, so I guess that’s why it looks like that because that is what it is in a lot of ways.

B: How do you picture yourself ten years from now?
JF: Ten years from now?
B: ok, five
JF(smiling beautifully): Ten’s ok , I’m fine with ten.
B: Ok maybe that’s too far away because I don’t even see myself then.
JF: I can’t say though, like I don’t really have any answer for that . Some times I have images of myself but it’s really hard to say, I know what I’m gonna be doing tomorrow and I know what I’m gonna be doing the day after that, even that is kind of a stretch, but it’s too hard to say as far as… ‘cause you’re always wrong anyways when you say stuff like that , I notice whenever I tell people what my plans are for August…
B: Yeah, tomorrow you were flying to DC and now you’re not.
JF: Yeah, yesterday I would have told you I was going to DC and now I’m not, so it seems like the degree towards that is just even more so when you’re talking about five years from now or ten years from now, I really can’t say and I’m not a person who has goals either, you know , I have projects, you know, right now I know I wanna record all these songs that I’ve written up till now and all the ones that I really like, I really wanna do that, I really wanna put together a studio so I can not have to pay for studio time and studios and I can have my own place, that’s a project that I have before me, but I have no idea and I wouldn’t want to put any kind of demand on ten years from now, I’m not one of those people who says “I wanna have this amount of money in this time” …
B: I was more wondering if you saw yourself still making music and do what you’re doing now
JF: It’s very hard for me to fotografie being alive without making music, it’s hard for me to imagine enjoying life without making music, anything’s possible but it seems very unlikely to me and I just hope that as I get older I can get music that’s suitable for whatever period of my life it is, like, if I’m 60 years old I wanna be making music that’s much more abstract and I don’t want to be one of these guys, you know, trying to pretend like they’re 20 when they’re 60, you know what I mean, I don’t want to go for some time with a false image of myself , I wanna be making music that’s more abstract and that’s not pop music, I don’t see myself making pop music at 60 unless I’m a producer or something, even then it’s hard to imagine .For me the idea of slowing down it’s kind of… and I know that happens to people when they get older.
B: I know that you’ve been jamming together with the guys from the Mars Volta, there seems to be a great chemistry there. I heard you were hanging out together in Stockholm.
JF: Yeah well, they’re my friends , in the last year or so I became really good friends with Omar the guitarist of the Mars Volta, we have those moments together that only two guys with guitars can understand, you know, where we’re up till 5 or 6 in the morning talking and playing our guitars together and stuff and we’ve developed a closeness that’s based around that so, he sometimes comes on stage with us and I went up on stage with them in New York at the last show that they did with Jeremy who died. I’m very sad about Jeremy dying, he was a great artist to me, his role in the band was a feminine role and then every instrument and Cedric’s vocals were going through him and he was playing more a feminine role and the band… he did it from out in the audience and nobody was looking at him, they look at the stage and himself was looking at the stage and it was kind of a thankless job in a way but some people do well in not having to be in the spotlight anyways but I’m sad about him being dead but I’m glad that they’re gonna go on playing and stuff. But it was fun we got to do two tours with them when Jeremy was alive and that was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to seeing Omar when I get home. He wants to show me this movie…
B: Which movie?
JF: El popo, is that what it’s called?
B: El popo?
JF: Topo, el topo!
B: Ah, El topo. He wants to show you that?
JF: Yeah
B: Why?
JF(grinning): He loves it, he thinks it’s great.
B: Have you seen any other Mexican films?
JF: Yeah, I’m a big fan of Luis Buñuel, so I’ve seen all his Mexican movies that he made.
B: He’s Spanish though
JF: Yeah he’s Spanish but he made movies in Mexico for a long time, he didn’t make many movies in Spain and he made a few in France but mostly he made movies in Mexico and I like those movies a lot.
B: which ones?
JF: I’ve seen Nazarin,
He tries to remember the name of another of his films…
JF: I’m spacing out, I can’t remember…
B: Have you seen the one he did with Dali?
JF: Un chien Andalou? Andalutian dog ?
B: Did you like it?
JF: I think it’s great, yeah.
B : I really enjoyed that movie.
JF: (still trying to remember)… I like that movie a lot, I have a poster in my house, but I must be tired, I can’t believe I’m spacing out on the name…
B: you don’t remember.
JF: It’s just, I’m very tired, I’m drawing a blank and the camera isn’t making it easier.
B: You don’t like cameras?
JF: No, when you’re stuck though, and you’re having a blank and you know that everybody is watching and you look like an asshole ‘cause you mention the director and you can’t name his movies, right?
We laugh
B: It’s really hot now. Are you warm?
JF: I’m ok… (smiling beautifully) Susana, El Bruto.
B: huh?
JF: I’m just naming Buñuel movies.
I laugh
How do you feel when you go on stage and all these people are just going wild?
Good, it feels good. I used to really separate myself from the audience, you know, I used to like, to turn my back and face my amplifier or face Chad and just closed my eyes get into my head. I still do those thing but for me what’s become more important than that is the connection and the exchange with the audience, you know, playing for the audience, trying to let them know that I’m trying to send some good feelings and some love in their direction and stuff, and they’re reciprocating, the feelings that I get from them are very important to me, you know. When I first joined the band it seemed that it was very much a matter of impressing the audience and I was 18 years old and I was thinking more in terms of impressing the audience which is really a dead end because technically nobody really wants to watch somebody who’s trying to prove something to them or…the best kind of state of mind you can be in as a performer is to not really care what anybody thinks of you , you know, and to do what’s best for yourself, so then I had the period of only playing for myself and nobody else and I would say I learnt a lot during that period but you can’t really go on doing that for that long because it gets boring because when you’re the only person that you’re playing for, you become similar to a tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear it, your playing doesn’t actually exist in the world the way that music… it’s almost like your music is half empty at that point and I felt myself getting more and more emptied out by only playing to myself and that was when I quit the band, after that, that was my solution to that .And since I joined again, fans have been so nice with sort of accepting me back, making me feel like there’s a place for me in the world and make me feel like people care about me and that’s inspired me to gradually feel more and more like they’re as much of a part of the music as we are, you know, and when I go out and when I hear the noise they make or when I see the smile on their faces it makes me feel so happy inside and I just wanna give every bit of energy I have inside me to them. It really has become an important part of my life to have that exchange with an audience, of really giving myself to them and really getting what they give back to me, you know, so yeah, it’s a good feeling.

miss_psycho_sweet · Posted: 10/04/2007 11:08 Post subject:

Interviuri din 2004:

2004 Guitar World Interview

If John Frusciante is Mad, many people would do well to emulate his madness. Yes some of his best friends live in other dimensions. But at a time when so many “Normal” humans live in stress, John is cheerful and at peace with the world.

GW: How did the songs from Shadows Collide come into being?

JF: Most of them were composed while I was writing BTW. At this time I was living in a hotel in Hollywood. I was going in a few different directions, trying to program different music as I was trying to learn more about synthesizers, and even writing sad songs that ended up being in Brown Bunny.

But songs started to take shape as the SCWP album all had an open ended, human quality. They also seemed like songs that sound good with real drums playing in them. I just started seeing how conceptually the album would go. Originally I was going to have more electronic drum elements. But I felt that it would dilute from the song element.

GW: So All the songs (except the electronic ones) were written on an Acoustic Guitar?

JF: Yeah, most of them were, at that point in time I was ver interested in learning about chords and chord theories. And it much better practice on an acoustic guitar because of the harmonics, which is much deeper on an acoustic, opposed to an electric- the way the chords resonate together. Amazing things happen on the acoustic guitar, sometimes you find chords where you can actually hear notes your not even playing, because the combination of harmonics ends up resulting in an additional note. You can hum that note. You can point out that note to other people and they can hear it too.

GW: What Guitar did you use?

JF: I have some Martins 0-15’s which are really small guitars from the late 40’s and early 50’s

GW: The album in general seems to be tingled with a sense of regret. There’s even a song called Regret.

JF: You’re wrong. I don’t regret anything, I’ve ever done in my life, and to me that song is funny.

GW: Its hard to know what your intent is, since the sole lyrical content is “I regret my past. Stay alone”

JF: I realize that it gives it that impression. It makes me regret putting it on the record! But really I’m very happy to be who I am and very proud of who I am. I hope that, that message comes through on the record more then any other. I really try to put a positive message across. I just like to play games with words I try to put together ideas that contradict one another. And to me the statement “I Regret my past” Is in itself a contradiction. Because all you are is what you have been up to this point.

GW: The album is also filled with ruminations on time and nature

JF: I’ve given a lot of thought to that sort of thing. I’ve seen time mix itself up quite a bit. I have seen films of things inside my head before they actually happened, or did things that happened a long time ago. So I don’t believe in the linear appearance of time. That’s just how it’s laid out for us in this world. But people in another dimension see it all as one simultaneous thing.

GW: After Time, God and death are the two other words that pop up most frequently in your lyrics

JF:I put in there because it’s a big image. I don’t have any religious beliefs, and I’m not interested in that subject matter. I like using big imagery and screwing with big ideas. To me, my lyrics are funny. Like in Carvel about ‘sending a dummy to god’ it’s just a joke like sending a dummy instead of yourself. As far as death goes it’s one of the things I do love to write about. It’s just my excitement of the thought of dying. It’s just a part of my joy, intertwined with my love of being alive.

GW:I think that that’s a state of mind many people aspire to but few achieve. There’s usually fear

JF: Yeah, but see, I don’t have that fear, it just seem fun to me

GW: When a song comes to you, is it clear that it will be your song or a chili pepper song?

JF: If I get an idea that is just an interesting guitar part and I have no Vocal then it is a Chili Pepper song. But if I start singing a melody then that song is for me. I don’t write lyrics for the chili peppers I only write for my solo stuff. And writing lyrics is something I’ve been doing since I was 11 years old. Some times I’ll discover new chord and write a song for myself with that chord and then I think, “ God, I should write a chili pepper song with that chord” But it would used in a completely different way.

GW: There’s always a clear line, a different sensibility; that distinguishes your stuff with Chili Pepper stuff.

JF: That’s because I was the producer of my album. For the Chili Peppers all of our ideas get compromised. I might record a ton of different sounds and things for a song but Rick Rubin always going to favour lead vocals in the mix. But my album which was much more my concept-which is that the over dubs, rather then lead vocals, should be the focal point of the mix. A lot of the time, that’s what holds my interest when I’m listening to a record – little sounds coming in and out. That’s why I was so disappointed in BTW. I felt It had too much of just one dynamic all the way through. Just vocals being the focal points of the mix isn’t enough.

GW: What’s up with the Chili Peppers right now?

JF: We’re taking a break in the summertime we’ll finish the album we started while on tour. We have 15 songs, we’ll probably write 15 more and then we’ll see what we are gonna do.

GW: Can you give us a hint of what it might be like?

JF: These days I am big on things being raw and on celebrating on flaws. The stuff we’ve recorded sounds very much like a band. I’m trying not to draw so much attention to myself this time. I’m trying to get back into really emphasizing on space rather then filling it with things.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daily Mirror Interview March 05 2004 Back From The Dead

Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante's comeback from the abyss of heroin addiction is one of the most remarkable in recent rock history. In 1996, the guitarist was living in the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. The pin-up looks he had when he joined the group were gone, his teeth had fallen out, the places where his fingernails used to be were blackened with blood, and his flesh was covered in scabs, scars, burns and wounds.

But somehow he made his way back, not just to health, but to a new peak of creativity. It was Frusciante’s' song writing that helped make his Chili Pepper comeback albums - the 20million selling Californication and By The Way - the most successful of the bands' career.

"Why did I get into heroin?", he smiles while lounging in a London hotel suite named after acting legend John Gielgud. "Because it was fun, I guess. It wasn't actually my favourite drug. I preferred cocaine to begin with. But you know what? No matter how bad it got during that period - and it certainly did get tough - I never thought I wasn't going to make it back. The way I look at it now, it's an experience I had to go through to get where i am today."

"I've never really been worried that it was all going to end horribly. Right from when I was very young I have had a series of premonitions that everything would turn out alright."

This summer, Frusciante, who is 34 today, and the rest of the Chili Peppers will play a series of massive gigs around the UK where they will assert their turbocharged funk rock mastery. But the guitarist is currently in town without his Pepper pals - Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Chad Smith - to promote an impressive new solo album, Shadows Collide With People. Since he rediscovered his creative strength, it seems there is no end to Frusciante’s' output. Unlike earlier solo outings, two of which he admits were made to get money to feed his heroin habit, the new record is a finished work presenting familiar Chili Pepper elements and an added adventurous edge.

But the drug free Frusciante is still an eccentric figure. With his thick-rimmed glasses, a woollen hat and a shirt collar poking out of his V-neck jumper, he looks more like a studious maths buff that one of the coolest rock musicians on the planet.
"I am studying mathematics," he admits, but it's not so he can calculate his substantial royalties. "I got really interested in how my synthesiser works and that led me to a maths course so that I can understand the way the technology has been put together."
The son of a classical concert pianist, Frusciante said he realised that he was going to be a musician, specifically a guitarist, from a very early age.

"I knew how my life was going to go," he insists. "I knew I would play guitar, join a successful band and then make solo albums."

Doesn't the band ever worry that the lure of solo fame will mean they will lose you?

"You'd have to ask them about that," John replies. "But I see no problem in combining my stuff with working with the band. I love the process of making music with other people and I see no end to the Chili Peppers."
Frusciante kicked his drug habit not just to save his health but also because of the damage that it was doing to his music.

"When you are in a state of normality most of the time and you take drugs occasionally, there's no doubt that can be interesting and make a positive difference to your music," he says. "But when a drugged-out state becomes normal it has no positive effect on the music."
His withdrawal from heroin was done without signing up to LA's rehab industry.

"I don't consider myself in recovery," John says. "I'm not a member of NA or any group like that. That's fine for other people."

He'll never regain his youthful glow but he looks remarkably well considering his past, partly thanks to a new set of implanted teeth.

"It was a painful thing to have done," John admits, "but it was worth it. I had to have it done because of the looks I was getting. It was very upsetting to see peoples' faces so I had to do something about it. The great thing is, I don't have any worries about visiting the dentist."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Austin Chronicle Interview 26th November 2004

John Frusciante is pure music. On a hazy, Southern California summer morning on the Sunset Strip, in a hotel conference room, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist vibrates at unknown frequencies, his wiry frame fidgeting to the verge of short circuit at this non-music-making meet. The first question about his universe is all it takes to flip Frusciante's switch. Dead eyes blaze, and even with a mouthful of replacement teeth, words pour out like electric current. Past drug abuse has aged the 34-year-old L.A. dweller another decade, but passion is the fountain of youth.

Actually, Frusciante is weary and admits as much. Two nights ago he played in San Francisco, and last night, he and constant collaborator Josh Klinghoffer trio-ed up with krautrock monarch Michael Rother of Neu! Two guitars, no vocal mics, and Klinghoffer's drum kit equal 70 attentive minutes of metronomic, sometimes dancey guitarchitecture in one full room of the Knitting Factory complex. When Frusciante's bandmate Flea materializes stageside, the room lurches to the left to get a better look. A single, two-minute encore, "Ghost Riders in the Sky," sends everyone home with smiles.

Following the international success of the Chili Peppers' By the Way, documented on last year's mesmerizing Live at Slane Castle DVD and on this summer's 2-CD, import-only Live in Hyde Park, Frusciante uses his downtime to execute another ambitious campaign: Six Albums in Six Months (see sidebar). Which doesn't even include March's major label solo swan song, Shadows Collide With People. It does, however, encompass a frank, often-metaphysical discussion on life and music, which to Frusciante are, of course, synonymous.

Austin Chronicle: How did you hook up with Michael Rother?

John Frusciante: I was going around doing interviews and people would ask me, "Who's your favorite guitarist?" and I'd say, "Michael Rother." This is around the time we were touring for Californication or when we were writing By the Way. I started mentioning it in the press a lot. Eventually, some German interviewer offered to put together an interview with me and Michael. And he did. ...

I'm really honored to be able to introduce Michael's music to people. I think the music he made on his solo records is really beautiful music. Michael's solo records don't have the same wildness that Neu! had, but they have such beautiful melodies, such beautiful chords, such graceful simplicity. I really appreciate that.

At the time of By the Way, I was really influenced by that. Now, I'm in a completely different place musically, so I feel I was doing it out of respect for Michael. Now I like things to be more jagged, and screwed up.

AC: You mentioned By the Way. There's Beach Boys tones on that album, Pet Sounds. Was that Rick Rubin, the band? I hear it in your solo albums, though not as pronounced.

JF: The solo record coming out in November [A Sphere in the Heart of Silence] has a lot of harmonies. More harmonies than By the Way. When we made By the Way, I'd never recorded harmonies in a studio by my own will. Rick had forced me to do backing vocals for Californication, which at the time I wasn't into. It wasn't until Guy Picciotto of Fugazi was so complimentary about my harmonies that it made me think, "Oh, wow – harmonies. Great!" [Laughs] Before that, I was like, "Harmonies suck."

When we made By the Way, Anthony [Kiedis] and I discussed me doing a ton of harmonies all over the album. We were gonna make my voice be an equal element to the music as the guitar, bass, or anything else. This is something that Anthony was and is still very in favor of. I wasn't actually listening to the Beach Boys until the last couple of songs that I did. It was toward the very end of the album that I went into an obsessive period about the Beach Boys. While I was making the record, it was more the Beatles, Erasure, Queen.

AC: How much credit does Rick Rubin deserve for the overall sound of By the Way?

JF: Rick is so incorporated into what we do in the band that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what he does, but he definitely infiltrates. I mean he's as much a part of the record as any of us. It's just in a more ethereal, kind of feminine way. You can't say, "Oh, there's Rick." Brian Eno produced records where you can tell he treated the guitar, so you know it's an Eno-produced record. There's nothing like that with Rick, but he's all over the record just in terms of his ideas. The fact that the record is as concise as it is has a lot to do with Rick.

AC: Ethereal is a good word. You don't hear many "mainstream" rock albums that have that quality.

JF: I think a big reason for that is that a lot of elements on By the Way are mixed very soft. I did all kinds of little synthesizer things that are barely audible. A lot of the time my guitar is barely audible. The mix is definitely done in a really subtle way. When you have a lot of things that are just barely at the level of audibility, you tend to feel them more than hear them, and that creates a sort of ethereal quality.

When I made my first solo record after By the Way – Shadows Collide With People – that whole album had been conceptualized while making By the Way. I wrote the songs at the same time I wrote the songs on By the Way. The demos were made while we were writing By the Way. When we actually recorded [Shadows], it was built into the songs that there was going to be a lot of harmonies, but I didn't want to overdo it, because on By the Way I had done so many. ...

On The Will to Death, I thought it would be a good idea to make a record with very little backing vocals, because we'd done it so much on Shadows. I always have to have a new idea for each album. For The Will to Death, the idea was to have very little backing vocals. There's a lot of other huge differences. In every way, I wanted the opposite of Shadows.

AC: Where does your music come from? Some musicians say they're simply channeling it.

JF: Since I was 4 I've had deep feelings for music. By the time I was 7, I started becoming obsessed about the groups I liked. By the time I was 10, 11, music was the only thing that made life meaningful to me. My excitement about music is what led me to play the guitar in the first place – as well as feelings of pain inside me that I didn't know where to direct.

Once I found music as a place to put that energy, I became a much more relaxed person, because I was starting to get aggravated at the age I started playing guitar, when I was, like, 12. I was getting very frustrated and angry, and once I started being able to learn punk songs and bash on my guitar, I became the peaceful person that I'm supposed to be.

It also must come from painful things from when I was a kid, but in general, that stuff takes place on a subconscious level. The most obvious place that it seems to come from is just because I sit around listening to music all the time. It's the most important thing to me. If I'm on tour, I have my headphones on all the time. I'm always playing music. When we go backstage, I go immediately to the CD player, I put on music. I have music going on all the time. Then once I have a chance to sit still and write, ideas start coming to me for songs. It's usually inspired by something that I'm listening to.

At the same time, philosophically, I've definitely been made aware throughout my life – especially during the five years that I wasn't a part of the human race – that the actual human being itself is not responsible for the ... generator of the music. Music is generated by another realm that's not ...

I could talk about it. It gets on a more intellectual level.

Basically, it's a realm of thought, where thoughts actually create life-forms. If you imagine that every thought in your head, every thought anybody's ever thought didn't just disappear. Every thought left somebody's head and went out into some faraway place in outer space. Every thought that's ever been thought exists there.

Some doctor explained to me that thoughts send out thought waves into the atmosphere, and I realized there's a realm of thought, and those thoughts end up creating life-forms and personalities within the realm of thought. Our thoughts are connected to that place and we learn from that place and that place learns from us. Every thought anybody's ever thought is there, so all knowledge is there. The characters there exist completely with all the knowledge the human race has ever had to offer in all history, but they can't do anything with that knowledge, because they're not people. They don't exist in a place of time.

It's a realm of thought. There's no time there. They can't actually write a song, or write a book, or paint a painting or anything, because they're just thoughts. They have personalities and life-forms just like we do, and they have the ability to communicate with us on a conscious level, whereas we communicate with them, but we do it all subconsciously. We don't realize it's happening.

AC: What's your relationship to death?

JF: [Long pause] Well, it's something that I don't see as being separate from life. ...

Whenever there's any kind of fear of failure, or fear of not being successful, or fear of not being good, those are all just different versions of fear of death. All those things are fear of death. I think the difference between my life before I took my five years away from doing anything and after is that I was scared of so many things before, never realizing that at the heart of it was just a stupid fear of death.

Luckily I had a lot of supernatural experiences that made me see clearly what was going on with death. That it was something that was with me all the time, not something that was going to happen to me someday. The spirits in the place where people's consciousness continues after they're dead are helping me all the time. They're with me all the time.

Now, this time around, I'm playing music with no fear of any kind. Yeah, it comes up every now and then because I'm human, but I have enough experience and knowledge to understand that at the root of it I'm all right because I'm not afraid of dying. It gives me the ability to continue, to always be clear about my purpose here, to always be clear about just who I am, to always be able to face myself. Fear gets in your way of being able to really face yourself, be honest to yourself about who you are.

AC: On your first two solo LPs, Niandra LaDes & Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and Smile From the Streets You Hold (1997), a certain amount of fear is palpable, because by To Record Only Water for 10 Days (2001), so is a joy that hadn't been there previously. Is that fair to say?

JF: Yeah. Those first two albums, Smile and Niandra LaDes, a lot of the music was done during a time that I was very happy, but I still wasn't very clear. I didn't know what was going on. I almost felt like I was making music by mistake or something, because I wasn't clear with myself. I didn't have a healthy, interactive relationship with death at that time, so I was being taken advantage of and freaked out a lot. A lot of voices in my head that I was very confused by – a lot of confusion. ...

After a while, in general – except for an exceptional few people – you end up running out of steam. You need to take the initiative. You can't just let your subconscious be your ruler. You have to take the bulls by the horns with your conscious mind. You have to make decisions. You have to take control. You have to leave yourself open to what the subconscious has to offer, because that's where a lot of the great ideas are, but if you don't know how to take charge, the subconscious isn't enough. It's just going to get more and more disparate. That's what happened to me at that time.

When I ran out of steam, I made the decision that I was just going to paint, and I was going to stop doing music for a while. I actually made the decision that I was going to stop playing music forever. That's when I released my first solo album. It had been recorded mostly when I was in the Chili Peppers and just after I quit the Chili Peppers. At the time that I recorded it, I didn't think I was going to release it, and then I decided to release it. Then the second album came out; it was just leftover stuff from that period, with maybe five exceptions.

Then I had a whole five-year period where I was focusing on painting, and drawing, and reading about artists – giving myself a kind of art history education.

AC: You didn't play during those five years?

JF: No, I didn't play. The couple attempts I did make at live performances and making recordings failed, because it's not enough to just be John Frusciante, or to be anybody – to be Jimi Hendrix. You have to work hard. You can't just expect that because of who you are that's enough to make music.

I had no spirits on my side when I tried making music in '96. I had none of the energy that's inside of me that pushes me to do what I do. I had none of the technique, I had none of the discipline, I had none of the focus. There's no reason why me, who not having played music because I was smoking crack and stuff, there's no reason I should be able to record music. Once I actually stopped taking the drugs I was taking and started living a very simple sort of life ...

I had this tiny little guest house I lived in. I had just enough room for my records and very little else. I just sat there practicing all the time.

After six months I felt like I was good enough to be making little demo recordings and stuff. I had joined the Chili Peppers. If it wasn't for joining the Chili Peppers I would have never put that amount of time into practicing. The only reason that I make music now is because Flea and Anthony had the belief in me that they had when I rejoined the band.

Because I'd play with other people around that time, like Perry Farrell, but he couldn't see it as the future. He had no belief in me. He just knew what I was at one time, and what I was now, which was significantly less than what I had been. Whereas Flea and Anthony saw what I could be. They had a vision. I don't even know that they knew what I could be. To them, they just thought I was great right then. They just thought the sound of us playing together is the greatest thing in the world. It's just a chemistry that's there. I don't think they were thinking, "Oh, in five months he'll be good." They were thinking, "This is the greatest thing in the world right now."

The feeling that that gave me, to actually have these people believe in me ... because nobody believed in me. I could see it in the way people would look at me. I was a loser. Flea and Anthony, to them, I was a winner. Playing with them every day inspired me. I was just playing along with records every day. I started as if I hadn't played guitar before. It was like I had lived another life, and I was starting life again, only I had the ability to learn everything about how to do and how not to do things from this past life. I really was starting from a fresh point. From point A again.

When I was 18, there was a point A. When I joined the Chili Peppers I had the ability to do anything. I had total freedom to do anything. I misused that freedom. I didn't do things right. For the first couple of years, I really fucked off and wasn't disciplined at all. Didn't focus on music at all. So by the time I was 20 and I wasn't actually focusing on music, I was totally off balance.

This time, I was starting from a fresh place. Whether I was a failure, or whether I was a loser, I believed in myself and I knew the right way to do things. I'd thought about things enough. I'd spent enough time regretting things enough to know the right way to do shit. Whether it was practicing guitar, or whether it was how to treat your friends or whether it was how to settle an argument between you and a friend or how to love somebody. I finally had the stuff under my belt, so this time I was going to start again. Because forever it just felt like I was trying to crawl out of a dirt hole. It felt like all my drug addiction and all the bad behavior of my youth had just put me down in a hole, and I could not get out.

I just wanted to get out and get into life. ...

It's been a good path since then, because I've grown and changed and gotten better at a pretty even level. I've stayed disciplined the whole time, and I don't ever lose sight of the fact that in the equation of what makes the music that I make, I'm a very small part of it.

It's the music that I listen to. It's pain. It's the friends that I have, whether they're human beings or spirits. That's where the music comes from. I'm just going on from that line. I was really blessed to be able to start from that fresh point and to have friends who believed in me. It would have been impossible without them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crossbeat Magazine Interview, October 2004

My mind is blank when I am on the stage. State of mine on stage is the same as myself listening to record while sitting on couch in my living room.

Interviewer : Hideyuki Otani

Oh! Anthony came onstage wearing pure-white suit! Maybe there were also a lot of people in the audience who felt that Anthony's wardrobe was representing rising spirit of the Chili Peppers. Chili Peppers' appearance warmed up festive mood, and their play made Yokohama's scorching summer even more heat up. The biggest show Chili Peppers have ever had in Japan, not only reflected current their strong power which didn't wilt under the big arena, but also illustrated the potential for Chili Peppers' growth. Like "Live in Hyde Park", they played a new song "Leverage of Space" and a new cover song "Brandy". From beginning to end, we had been overwhelmed by phenomenal performance of them. Moreover, we saw Anthony played the drum during the jams by Flea and John, and Flea played solo with trumpet at encore. In Japan, we have never seen those scenes before. Although Chili Peppers made their first appearance in a year and a half, four persons were twoor three times more powerful than we had expected.

Additionally, how active John Frusciante was! As well as playing the guitar with beautiful emotion, he improved his vocalization and refined his sensibility of a member to Chili Peppers' sound. Furthermore, he often gave brilliant smiles to audiences and moved freely the stage. He enjoyed many activities on the stage. And since the beginning of this year, he also has kept on pursuing solo stuff with surprisingly fast-pace. He has already released three albums "Shadows Collide with People", "The Will to Death", and "Automatic Writing" which is released under the name of the band "Ataxia". And he is going to release four another albums. All those are proof of his current energies. What does John Frusciante see about now? I tried to ask about it.

Interviewer:
Including "Shadows Collide with People" - which was released in the spring -, you are going to release seven albums in this year. When did you plan to release a large number of songs at a dash?

John Frusciante:
Well…having finished the tour of Chili Peppers, November, last year, I brought a mountain of songs to completion. I wrote many songs on RHCP tour during one and a half years. So I wanted to record them as much as possible. Just I had six months off and it was time for nothing to do. I thought "OK, I will record those songs as much as possible, during these six months." During the period, of course I also enjoyed myself listening to music without working. In addition to that, I continued to record an album a month... and when I had finished recording all songs, I decided to release them as quickly as I recorded them, that is to say, I will release an album a month.

Interviewer:
Do you feel like sharing your music with people when you have just finished writing songs, instead of taking a lot of time to work over after writing?

John Frusciante:
I think music ought to be listened to by people when music has recorded. I feel the certain energy of music is going to disappear with time. My music comes to me not only to enjoy myself but also to enjoy other people. For that reason, I feel my behavior would be egoistic if I had recordings for only me. Though I record music for me, I also would like my fans to enjoy them, so that I release albums.

Interviewer:
Currently, do you feel that your act of doing music is a one of acts of spiting something from inside of yourself?

John Frusciante:
Um...I really love music. I have been loving music since I was a kid. I play music because I love music. I am able to agree with your opinion. Maybe something from inside of myself is unleashed by playing music. But I don't play music for spitting. There are other ways to let out pent-up steam...(laugh)…for instance, you make love to someone, or you roar at someone... there are some ways. But for me, music is that brings something marvelous to other people. When you roar at someone, you may feel good. But, at the same time, you make someone feels bad. Playing music, player feels good. Listening to music, listener feels good. I play music because music is beautiful. I don't play music to let out pent-up steam. Even if someone wants to let out pent-up steam, it is better for him or her to stand on stage, to play something, to run, and to roar in front of 5 audiences. Contrary to such thing, it needs tireless efforts to make good music. I have been continuing efforts because I really love music, and music is purely beautiful. I don't think any reason other than it.

Interviewer:
Then, where on earth do you get energy that has been putting you into music?

John Frusciante:
I don't know. Maybe it arises from something I haven't remembered and something I experienced or hardly remember in my early childhood or before my childhood. Also it comes from soul of mine that has been subsisting since former incarnation. In a lot of cases, I think, music reflects artist's former incarnation, and indicates his or her individuality in the next world.

Interviewer:
Except for you, current musicians don't write a large number of songs in short time.
Have you ever been surprised at your creativity?

John Frusciante:
No, I haven't. I take it by little and little. Well…I think…it is very lucky for me to get such creativity now. Six years ago, you know, I was not able to realizate music. I had exerted myself to create music, but I was not able to complete and I was not able to record songs in the studio. In those days, I had no power to push anything through to the end, and no willingness finish with. Now, for that reason, I'm really lucky in creating music...really and truly ... I think so.

And I have been exerting myself to improve my abilities. For the last five years, I have spent all my time listening to music, writing music, practicing the guitar, and considering music. That's why I am able to write many songs now. On the other hand, many artists tend to spend a substantial amount of time in writing songs. I think they are very dull. In my opinion, the pace of my work is far from quick, but they are too slowly to do something. I think, everyone is be able to do something better than what he or she is doing now, but everyone doesn't have the will to do it.

For instance, last year I conceived "I want to end up making an album in five days", I heard that 60s artists had ended up making an album in one or two days, or in five days. After I had heard that story, I thought I would be able to do it. And I had exerted myself for it, and had made efforts to realize it. Finally I found the key to do it. Maybe it is not an objective for other people to make an album in such a short time. They always say definitively "We must spend a lot of months to make an album". But I refuse their opinion. It doesn't need six months to record an album, so I challenged myself. I had set my mind on recording an album for five days, and put my determination into action. Anybody can do it, if anybody try. I always set up my objective, and have challenged it, so that I am able to get current situation.

Interviewer:
Having said that, have you ever worried whether your fans could keep up your release with high-pace?

John Frusciante :
No, I haven't. If I was a million-seller artist, I might be anxious about a million and one fans "Can they buy an album a month?" Contrary to your imagination, I haven't had a lot of fans. I am supported by small number of fans. I suppose that they, enthusiastic followers, can buy my album every month because my music is meaningful to them. If I would like many more people to listen to my music, I should release an album a half year. However, I have been creating music not for many more people but for those who have liked my music. My purpose is not to increase the number of fans. I would like those who have liked my albums, to buy my new album and to listen.

Interviewer:
You are on tour now. Are you writing music during this tour?

John Frusciante :
Yes. On my album, there are a lot of songs written during past tour. I write songs when I stay quietly at hotel room after show, before show, or on day-off. In the last few years, most of the songs were written at hotel room.

Interviewer:
What do you think about your methodology or important thing when you write a song?

John Frusciante:
I have no method to create music. Songs are created on idea or feeling, coming across my mind. And I keep things in my mind like that each song is unique. I have never written songs based on the same idea. The way to write song is the same as usual … that means, when I write a song, I open up notebook, take a pencil, switch on the MD microphone, and record the sounds one by one. After getting ideas in shape, I record it as a hum on MD disc first. And then, I write down words on every line. Every time finish writing one line of lyric, I record the sounds of them. Through the process … it takes about one hour to complete song. For that reason, each song is same about process, but, each song is different from idea and that's where idea is coming from. I don't like to write a song along routine format, like "First chorus, Second chorus, Bridge...". Occasionally, of course, I write such a kind of song because feeling that I want to put into song, which leads me to ought to write such a kind of song. It is not for the reason that top sales song is written along format. I think, songs should be different from each other in arrangement and we should ignore routine format.

Interviewer:
Every time we listen to your music, we feel your music is filled with human emotion. Do you feel a sense of mission to keep on making real music in current music scene filled with commercialism?

John Frusciante:
Sometimes I feel so … but… my music is filled with not only human emotion also … yes indeed, each song may be filled with human emotion. And sometimes I feel that my music can sound cold to your ear because I like computer music too. So, my mission is … I really love music from the bottom of my heart, so that I play music. That is what I would like everyone to know. And, what someone is like music that puts such cordiality into? That is what I would like everyone to listen to, so that I have been creating music. I do music with pure reason. As I said, the only reason that I create music is because I love music. I don't think other than it.

You know, there are many people to do music for advancing their career, for winning fame and fortune, or for making someone take photos. I think such people don't have a reasonable reason for doing music. Well … I don't think they are strange people ... it is undoubted that music is an industry to make money … I am able to understand that money-seeking people come into this business. But I regard Chili Peppers as one of a few bands haven't been playing music with such a reason, so that I am proud of being a member of Chili Peppers, and I am really happy that Chili Peppers is a part of my life. All of the artists who play music that I like, and fascinate me, they have a natural relationship to music. I am attracted to those who have no choice but to făurite music, and also I am one of them.

Interviewer:
When you begin writing a new song, do you consciously differentiate song for your solo stuff and for Chili Peppers' stuff?

John Frusciante:
Um … when I hit on an idea for Chili Peppers, I usually notice it at an early stage, and I keep Chili Peppers a sort of music. Haven't I written a lyric for Chili Peppers? I think I shouldn't write a lyric for Chili Peppers. I consider my lyrics ought to be sung by me and Anthony's lyrics ought to be sung by Anthony. So, when idea about lyric existed earlier than music, I put words to music as a solo stuff. Sometimes … very occasionally, I waver in choice. For instance, songs I write while Chili Peppers are currently preparing to create a new album, that I usually keep for Chili Peppers. Though I want to write lyric for a new song, I resist my impulse in order to provide Chili Peppers with song. On the other hand, year ago, Chili Peppers didn't work anything, so that I put words to music as a solo stuff. Basically I provide Chili Peppers with ideas of guitar part, and then Anthony puts vocal over it, then Flea thinks base line, and Chad writes drum-part. However, when I think of a new song as a solo stuff, I can see a whole image immediately. Lyric comes to me as soon as guitar part comes to my mind, and also I can settle over-dub part, that is to say all come simultaneously.

Interviewer:
I think music has many potentials. For example, music sometimes becomes a medium of communication, or music is able to free up our feelings. What do you currently think about potential of music?

John Frusciante:
When we think of potential of music, we don't have to forget that our life will become dull if there is no music. In my childhood, I discovered music is able to make another shape of what I saw. Music changed shape of what I saw. For example, there is a room where music is streaming…but, without music, the room would change into a completely different room. When I noticed the thing and was able to "see" music in my childhood, I found that music creates wonderfully lovely sight. I think, if there was no music in this world, our life would be bore and dull, and it is very important for us that we don't take music for granted. We don't have to forget that music always gives immeasurable moments of happiness and joy to us. Memory of my first kiss reminds me whenever I hear a certain music that was streaming at that time. Or, when I hear another music, I may be able to recall that I have gone to somewhere, swaying in the car that was driven by my mother. Every time I hear music that I had heard in my childhood, I am able to discover a wonderful memory of my childhood. Without music, I would not find joy in those memories and my life would have no meaning. I am not able to live without music.
I guess, however, other people perhaps don't notice that music brings immeasurable beauty and warmth to our life. Maybe I am not able to say, "Music has a power to change the world"…I have no conception of how become this world would, if there was no music in this world. In my opinion, if there was no music in this world, our life would go to mess-up, this world would be filled with much more violence, and many more people would not find and any fulfillment in life. I think, when we think of "what is potential of music?", we had better think of "without music, how would this world become ?" more than think of "what can music do in order to brighten future?". I guess there is no sense in thinking of potential of music, whereas it is meaning that "without music, how would this world become?" because it is clear to answer… for instance, looking back upon your past, haven't you really enjoy your life if there was no music, have you?

Interviewer:
I quite agree.

John Frusciante:
And there is a question of what is music. There are spirits in another dimension where is completely different from dimension we live in now. There is no real existence in the dimension … so that they are not able to touch anything, and they are not able to eat anything. But, as same as us, there are human beings as individuality, and everyone has each personality. Once they think about something, each thought become reality in his or her inimitable way. And each reality is influenced by his or her way of thinking and each mind. They are able to become a person whom they want to be, and they are able to show themselves to other people in the dimension. Though everyone understands everything, they are not able to make anything because they live in a non-linear space-time. Though everyone has all of the knowledge and inexhaustible ideas, they are not able to actualize them because there is no pencil, no guitar, only existence is thought in the dimension. So we are able to write music, connecting with those human beings living in the dimension. Most people seem to be unaware of the thing, but I think, connecting with himself or herself living in the dimension too, each artist is able to create arts. People who live in the dimension send their ideas to us, and we receive their ideas, so that we are able to make sounds with guitar, to sing with voice, and to draw arts with canvas and brushes. Idea that was born in the spiritual dimension which changes to actuality in this world. Before idea comes to us, that idea has not yet changed to song or anything to be shaped, and it was just like a dust as it was flowing in the cosmos. There are many ideas and feelings even if we don't exist. But it is we who realize those ideas. Those ideas are called "network of thought" by me, and those ideas exist in only that dimension. We transform those ideas into reality, or actualize them. And actualization of those ideas are also influenced by our way of life…how to interpret ideas from "network of thought" is that depends on our life, our experience, the person who we love, and the music that we love. And I believe that something core of music already exists before we start writing music, and picture already exists before the picture is started to draw. The quintessence of picture and the quintessence of music already exist before we take them.

Interviewer:
I am very interested in your opinion. By the way, we are really touched by your play as if strike home to the heart of us, not only your solo album but also at the Chili Peppers' show. How is state of your mind when you energetically play the guitar on stage?

John Frusciante :
I always keep on being excited by music. And I concentrate on listening to other member's play and listening to the situation closely. I think, in a way, I am in the same state as audiences. If we do what must be done, we ought to listen to music. We should not think about "Which note do I have to play next?" or "What is play now?" It is important for us to enjoy moment to moment. To be honest, my mind is blank when I am on the stage and I don't concern anything… there is no "thought" in my head at that time. State of mine on stage is the same as myself listening to record while sitting on couch in my living room because I concentrate on listening to music.

Interviewer:
Really? Little did I imagine that you are in such state! We have long-waited Chili Peppers' Show in Japan and the show will be held from tomorrow. We are looking forward to see your show.

John Frusciante:
Yeah, when show-time is approaching to us, I am going to concentrate my expectations on show. I'm not excited now…because show will be held tomorrow. I always feel a thrill of pleasure at the moment of going to stage. It is impossible for me to have been exited since the day before show (laugh).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Visions Interview

During his day-job with the Red Hot Chili Peppers he's responsible for riffs reduced to the absolutely necessary and he also back in full possession of his sound mind - John Frusciante amazes us on his fourth solo album with a catchiness never thought possible as well as with hifi-appeal. One could almost say that he kept the richer, more consequent part of his "By The Way" input for "Shadows Collide With People". Respect!
Of course, they may exist. Those people considering the particularly unnerving "To Record Only Water For Ten Day" to be a milestone in music (not to mention both unequally even more erratic predecessors "Niandra LaDes And Usually Just A T-Shirt" as well as "Smile From The Streets You Hold", the latter being taken off the market shortly after its release). One could just as well speak of a scatter-brained psychogram serving only one aim: pitiless self-therapy. No doubt that this album has its place as an honest and painfully fought for testimonial of someone trying to get back up on his feet after a complete heroin blackout. And even more it's a testimonial to its author himself who was able to shake off his own demons and to close a dark chapter of his past through it. For time being at least.
Sitting opposite to you on the balcony of the luxurious hotel Chateau Marmont on this mild California January day, this very John Frusciante has come a long way, that's plain to see. This is not only valid for Frusciante himself but also for his music as the surprisingly strong and no longer home recording-like "Shadows Collide With People" impressively shows. This is since the balance works out right: solid, interesting arrangements let most of his new compositions come closer to the idea of Pop than ever before. With "This Cold" and "Second Walk", even two proper punks are among the 18 songs and there are also electronic miniatures. As he sits there in his hotel room, wrapped in a hotel blanket, sneering, the Pepper's guitarist nearly seems to be mischievous. But see for yourself:
Visions: You look good.
Frusciante: That's because I feel great! To be honest: I've never felt better. Year by year I keep feeling more free and healthier. I'm really glad that this records finally gets released. It's been ready for over a year now.
Visions: What led to such a long delay?
Frusciante: Oh well, the usual record label stuff. If that were the only thing I'm happy about these days, I still wouldn't call me a happy person. At the ocazie there are also a lot of other interesting things going on which enrich my life and make it exciting. I simply feel free to do what I want to do especially since the Chili Peppers are taking a creative break. I'm really enjoying this. I want to făcute as much music as possible. And that makes me glad. I'm just really excited to be alive.
Visions: Can you name some concrete examples? What are you working on?
Frusciante: Josh (Klingfloffer; Frusciante's best friend and musical collaborationist while realizing the current album the editor) and me are preparing some experimental live shows which I'm looking forward to. There will be, for example, one with Joe Lalli, Fugazi's bassist. Josh takes over the drums. We haven't really rehearsed yet, but I've got the feeling that this could become a more long-term thing in which you allow for more than having a few musicians playing Josh's and my songs. On principle we are open for a lot of things, even for completely freestyle improvisations. Apart from that, my synthesizer is all over the forthcoming solo-album by Omar Rodriguez (The Mart Volta guitarist ed.). And I dare to say: This stuff is really sick! Compared to it "De-Loused in the Comatorium" sounds like pure pop!
Visions: Is it rather electronic?
Frusciante: No. Just fucked up! (laughs) I would even dare to say that it belongs to the best I've ever been involved in.
Visions: Why didn't play Josh Klingloffer, but band colleague Chad Smith drums on "Shadows"?
Frusciante: Josh wrote all the grooves and rhythms, it's only that the didn't play them himself. I'm afraid Josh was simply afraid, he seemed to be like frozen. The enormous responsibility resting on his shoulders must have been a bit too much for him. That happens to a lot of young musicians when they have to perform in a large studio for the first time. It's like having your entire self under a giant microscope. But we plan to put the complete demos on which Josh can be heard up on the internet as free downloads. You will hear that Chad merely copied what normally would have been played by Josh.
Visions: Nevertheless Klingloffer is an important factor concerning this album, isn't he?
Frusciante: Yes, of course. He was indispensable! I hope that this is sufficiently credited in the liner notes. It would have been a lie to merely mention him as author. He himself had problems at the end putting himself at the same level as me, you know? After all, Josh plays at least half of the guitar overdubs and keyboards, most of bass and sings a lot. And, well ... he's my best friend, you know. He and Omar are my musical soul mates.
Visions: What inspired you to write another solo album after "To Record..."?
Frusciante: Nothing special. You could say I'm cleaning my system, which brings me into a good starting position for the next Chili Peppers album. Actually, I'm constantly writing songs and whenever I spot a connection between some of them I try to release them as an album.
Visions: Although sounding much brighter and more hopeful, your lyrics still seem to be dealing with coming to terms with your past.
Frusciante: Oh, I like my past! (slightly defiant) I don't regret a thing. I think it's more about structuring this period from today's perspective, to give things a meaningful structure. Even these days I'm still trying to make this tangle more plausible for myself. And a lot of this happens through lyrics. They express that I don't want to miss what made me to what I am today. I'm very happy to be who I am.
Visions: "Second Walk" is one of the brightest and also pushing songs and yet it has got the most serious and sad lyrics. Here we are dealing with a very honest, not at all palliating summary of what nearly destroyed your life and what is now once more shaping your present: fame and fortune.
Frusciante: Well, I partially agree. However, "Second Walk" is a relatively old song. It was written during the same phase when I was writing my last solo record. But I don't find it as sad as you do, especially since it's more about the differences to the past and not so much about analogies. While back then I wasn't able deal with everything, things are almost too easy for me these days. Today, I can handle fame quite well. Simply because I know what the întocmai opposite of fame feels like. I've been to both extremes.
Visions: Back to music. I personally had expected a much more electronic direction on this new album.
Frusciante. Well, it is there only simultaneously. A lot of my songs actually called for a pre-programmed version at the demo-stages. Very mechanical music. Or brittle, reduced, utterly sad things dealing with the end of everything and death, things which I will record just with acoustic guitar and voice when the time is right.
Visions: The record has just the right among of pop appeal. Last winter, Anthony Kiedis was right when he gave me the hint that your new songs would be "no more pretty out there just stunningly pretty". [note the interviewer has met Anthony. Aha, yes, thank your for telling us *yawn*]
Frusciante: Why, thank you. Even though I wouldn't agree that there are no more avantgarde elements in my music. (sounds a bit sourly)
Visions: Right. It's rather so that these avantgarde elements are rather found in the framework of the electronic sounding, instrumental interludes. Songs like "Omission" on the other hand sound like they might as well have been on the last Peppers' album.
Frusciante. Perhaps. There are indeed some chord changes which I used for a Peppers' track as well as for one of my own like this phrase on "Cut Out". It's also on "I Could Die For You", but there it sounds completely different. I don't see anything wrong in this.
Visions: Me neither. I rather see it as proof of how important your contribution is for the Pepper's songwriting. Does that make you feel proud?
Frusciante: Oh well, let the people say whatever they want. I know the truth. To some respect people overestimate my contribution, while they often underrated it in earlier times. Even on "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" I was responsible for over 50 per cent of the songwriting. It's only that no one took it seriously, because I was following a different concept which was primarily shaped by the thought of reduction. My influence within the band has always been the same.
Visions: Whereas your way of playing and your tonal spectrum expanded due to your reverence for Krautrock bands such as NEU!, Can or Faust. But compared to The Mars Volta, this can only be partially heard on your album.
Frusciante: The bands you mentioned and Kraftwerk are simply the four best bands that have ever existed and at least concerning myself, their influence cannot be overheard. Concerning my songwriting a lot of things come together in it. And not everything is obvious: While recording I was listening to The Smiths all the time. But do my songs automatically sound similar? I'm a bit surprised that you don't see the relation. [translator's note: *lol* go for it jf! what a twat... ]
Visions: At least it's less obvious than what concerns the majority of your songs.
Frusciante: Even if you look at the minimalist way I arrange my overdubs? Or all these strange, Kraftwerk-oriented synthesizers? I think you can hear that very well. I work on my songs with a similarly experimental approach. However, I might not put them on display as obviously as The Mars Volta. I might have done what at the age of 20 when I was crazy for Jimi Hendrix.
Visions: On the cinematic sounding "23 Go In To End" and on "Chances" one can hear Kraut-fan Omar Rodriguez on slide-guitar.
Frusciante: Well, that's a quite natural process. Whenever Omar is here in Los Angeles we meet in order to jam, to write songs or to listen to the other's latest musical discoveries. That he would sooner or later pay it back had been a given ever since I played on the Mars Volta album. By the way, "23 Go In To End" is an almost too obvious bow to "Ypsilon In Malaysian Pale", the solo work by Tangerine Dream mastermind Edgar Froese. Ingenious album, in case someone's interested.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scene Point Blank

However little you may think of the nowadays more-or-less declasse (in indie circles, anyway) punk/funk band Red Hot Chili Peppers, if you’re a pop music lover it’s still pretty hard to ignore the seemingly extraterrestrial talent of their lead guitarist/songwriter John Frusciante. John’s immense contributions to multi platinum recordings such as “By The Way,” “Californication,” & “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” have been critically hailed as beautiful and even at times staggering.

He’s written a string of incredibly catchy pop tunes that have dominated AOR radio in recent years, and as L.A. rock icons go, John surely sealed his infamy in the 1990’s during a six-year heroin habit that nearly cost him his life. In person, John has a reputation for being soft-spoken and often slightly less than coherent. This is a man who’s said he lives in the fifth dimension, and judging by my conversation with him, it’s easy to believe that’s true.

I talked with him to discuss his new solo record, his recent work with legendary producer Brian Eno, his new band with Fugazi bassist Joe Lally, his upcoming performance at All Tomorrows’ Parties with Jim O’Rourke & Vincent Gallo, creativity and madness, and his newfound love of the modular synthesizer.

EC: Congratulations on your new release, “Shadows Collide With People”---the press I’ve seen has been fantastic. 3 stars from Rolling Stone, a rave from the London Times. Are you psyched?

JF: Those things are all well & good but for me I was psyched at the end of making the record.

EC: It’s a thing of the past?

JF: It’s already behind me now. It’s always nice to be appreciated, but onward & upward. I’m more concerned with going forward & doing new things.

EC: Great, that’s what I want to talk to you about. Where you are now?

JF: Yeah I’m proud of the record I’m glad that people like it. But I am very much in the state of mind of doing new things. But I have been avoiding talking about what I’m doing now because it’s frustrating for people to hear about things that aren’t available yet. So it’s better for me just to talk about the album that exists now, and it’s an album I’m really proud of.

EC: As a longtime fan I’m really happy with it as well; it’s sitting well with me personally. I just wanted to share that the first time I saw you was in
’89, we were both 19. You’ve certainly come a long way since then. I was wondering if you could talk about your work with Brian Eno (legendary Talking Heads/U2 producer) at all?

JF: He came to one of our shows in England with his kid and I was really excited to meet him because he’s been a hero of mine since I was a little kid. And he invited me over to his studio and we spent a day just listening to records and stuff and taking a walk and we ended up recording some stuff mainly because he wanted to show me a sort of a set-up he had for processing the guitar. And to demonstrate it we recorded me soloing on the guitar. So I recorded some guitar soloing and he ended up building a song around it. And it came out really good; I really liked the song he did. He’s going to release the song. I’ve been really focused on the modular synthesizer in the last couple of years & he gave me some interesting tips on that whole world. Just ways of doing things that you wouldn’t think of doing because they’re technically wrong. Basically just using it in an unorthodox way. Actually that one day that we spent together really ended up having a big influence on the direction I’ve gone in musically since then?

EC: Yeah that’s why I asked the question. I would imagine that it really lit afire for
you. I would see kindred spirits getting together and you really taking something away from that.

JF: Yeah I did. My music, my whole approach to the synthesizer has completely changed now. I don’t really use it anymore for the oscillator or tone generator. It means basically I’m using the synthesizer more to change the sounds of other things rather than to use it as the source of the sound. Basically I’m using it in a much more subtle way. You could listen to a recording and you could think it was a recording from the 60’s because the things with the synthesizer are so subtle they end up making things they end up making the basic timbre of the various musical elements you can tell something different is going on but you can’t tell what it is that’s making it sound strange. I’m going in that direction rather than the 80’s synth-pop direction where it’s more obvious you’re hearing a synthesizer.

EC: In your live shows, in addition to playing your originals, you cover an interesting array of great bands & songwriters from the past such as Joy Division, Radiohead, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John & REM. I’ve also seen it written that your recent influences conține Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Human League & other famous synth- driven bands? Talk about how that influence happened for you? Did you seek out this music or did someone introduce you to it?

JF: That was stuff I was listening to a lot while we were making Californication & while we were writing By The Way, but for this last year and a half it’s been more really experimental electronic music and British folk rock and Velvet Underground & Talking Heads.

EC: Of course, some of your staples, right?

JF: I’ve been going back to something like Velvet Underground, I listened to it so much all through my 20’s basically. For a couple of years I didn’t
listen to it as much. Right now my taste is going more for things that are organic where the people are using all the sonic possibilities in interesting ways. Where people are pushing the boundaries of what you can do with texture of music but not doing it with a synthesizer which is such an easy sort of route to do it with. I’m also very impressed with the best people in experimental electronic world, like Peta and Eckart Aillers and Finez and Jim O’Rourke and Oren Umbarci and Francesco Lopez. Most of them use the computer as their main instrument.

EC: I only know the most obvious and acclaimed of the bunch which is Jim O’Rourke and he’s fantastic. Would you be open to working with him?

JF: Yeah, of course I would. He’s playing in…In April I’m going with Vincent Gallo because we’re performing on the Sonic Youth day of All Tomorrow’s
Parties. He’s playing another show at Royal
_________________
me and my me and my me and my me and my me and my friends

supercalifragilistic · Posted: 30/10/2007 14:40 Post subject:

Un interviu din 2003 luat de o fana, Barbara/ Young Kentucky Girl (de pe OHG Forums)

foarte instructiv interviul asta
draguta remarca cu climaxul :smart:

multumesc
_________________
Supercalifragilistic
Kiss me in the futuristic
Twisted but I must insist
It's time to get on top of this