Free Spirits In The Material World
Last modified: 22:19:46 CET on 08 Nov, 2010 |
November 1991, Guitar World (USA)
Thanks to Naomi, for typing it out
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Guitar talk, guy talk, squirt guns and gastric distress with Red Hot Chili Peppers' axe men John Frusciante and Flea.
Clad in nothing but a silk bathrobe, a scraggly-bearded John Frusciante opens the door of his mondo-Fifties Hollywood hills pad. John's robe has no drawstring, but he somehow manages to shield from view that part of his anatomy the Red Hot Chili Peppers are famous for sheathing with socks. This act of propriety is highly appreciated, considering that John is now hopping around his room like a demented leprechaun, grooving to Captain Beefheart CD and playing show-and-tell with his new guest: “Here's a painting I just did. Here's my favorite guitar [a dust-encrusted Fender Jaguar] – it's screwed up, and that's the way I like it!” John's a wild dude, a boy-child with facial hair. A real bohemian, maaaan. And like any self-respecting alternative rock guitarist, he hates talking with guitar mags.
“Music is an abstract representation of the cosmos. It doesn't have anything to do with strings, electronics or philosophies. None of those things!”
Yeah, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers do have a new record, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which they need to flog. And the record does feature some mighty fine guitar work from Frusciante, not to mention the fleet bass stylings of Flea – that one-named wonder-man with a supernatural command of The Funk.
Of course, everyone expects great playing from Flea. But Blood Sugar is also where Frusciante comes into his own for the first time. He only joined the band in 1989, after the death of the Peppers' original guitarist, the legendary Hillel Slovak. It was a tough slot to fill, particularly for a 21-year-old playing with bandmates seven years his senior, who were his teenage heroes to boot. But John has done it, laying lots of hard, colorful guitar work on what is easily the Chili Peppers' most stylistically diverse record to date. Dig the elephantine roar he coaxes from his axe on the Zeppelin-esque bridge in “Apache Rose Peacock.” Or his tortured solo on “I Could Have Lied” – there's enough quavering here to give Tom Verlaine the chills.
Sorry, son, you're gonna hafta talk guitar.
GUITAR WORLD: You're using clean, funk-oriented sounds on the new album, as opposed to the more distorted, metal kind of tone you had on your first Peppers' album, Mother's Milk.
FRUSCIANTE: Of course.
GW: Why, “Of course?”
FRUSCIANTE: Mother's Milk doesn't represent the type of guitar player I am. I'm a bit embarrassed by the album, really. I don't even want to talk about it. What we're doing now is what we're doing now. There's no conscious reason why I'm playing cleaner. It just happened that way.
GW: Did the cleaner sound make for more space in the arrangements?
FRUSCIANTE: Of course. Space is a huge part of it. Like those parts of life when you're able to kick back and do nothing – those are amazing parts of life. It's the same with music. Also, I think one great thing we did with this record is... I forgot what I was going to say, I'm sorry.
GW: We were talking about how clean guitar sounds leave more space.
FRUSCIANTE: Yeah, well, it was more about each of us making the other guy sound good, rather than showing off. Space – oh here's what I wanted to say: My least favorite kind of music and guitar playing is the sort where I feel like it's trying to do something to me. Like I'm supposed to sit there going... [orgasmic noises]. Do you know what I mean?
GW: Manipulative music.
FRUSCIANTE: Yeah, where it's just so obvious. Like the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
Things are more subdued at Flea's suburban house near Griffith Park. Actually, there's a pretty boisterous ping-pong game going on, but Flea himself is certainly more subdued than his guitarist. His gap-toothed grin makes him look like Sixties character actor Michael J. Pollard. No matter what question he's asked, he ends up talking about the deep spiritual bond shared by the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and of their love for each other. Guys with a lot of tattoos and muscles always talk like that.
“This is the first time the Red Hot Chili Peppers have done two albums in a row with the same lineup,”the bassman enthuses. “We've had the privilege of touring together and getting real tight and then recording after that. That really helps a lot – just the telepathy between musicians who really care about playing with one another.”
Flea patiently recounts the by now celebrated tale of the band's take-over of a haunted 1930's Hollywood mansion to record Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and of the Peppers living and recording together in manly accord, to escape the tensions of commercial recording studios. The house, not far from John's place, was discovered by the album's producer, Rick Rubin. They had the amps miked down the cellar, drums in the ballroom and mixing board in the library; the musicians' bedrooms doubled as isolation booths for vocals and acoustic guitar.
GW: Was all the material for the album written before you took up residence at the house?
FLEA: It was written before. We started writing after the tour and then we put it all together.
