Love Loss Life Magik
Last modified: 11:44:34 CET on 24 Sep, 2008 |
Frusciante became enamored as well, devoting hours to studying doo-wop, vintage Beach Boys and such girl groups as the Ronettes and Crystals. “John took it upon himself to become a student of vocal harmony and listened to all these harmonies… he went back and started studying the Beach Boys and kind of found the joy of their harmonizing.”
He’s always exploring new kinds of music and getting in there deep,” confirms Smith. “Nit like listening for pleasure, he really is a student of music.”
For Frusciante, it’s a labor of love. “I really started to pay close attention to the songs and the harmonies. Because a lot of people aren’t aware of just the… space between each note,” he pauses to use grand hand gestures to explain his point.
Clearly at ease with their surroundings and each other’s company, the Peppers complemented their musical evolution with unequivocally hones lyrics, which often concern love, an approach Flea admits is “usually the scariest route to take.” An obviously growing sentimentality is at the heart of “I Would Die For You,” “Dosed” and “The Zephyr Song.” Take, for example the chorus to the latter: “Fly away on my zephyr/ I feel it more than ever/ And in this perfect weather/ We’ll find a place together.” The song comes across as a surprisingly heartfelt overture to not only romantic love, but to love in general.
“There is a lot of love in general on this album,” agrees Kiedis. “The funny thing is that there seems to be a point which love in general – you know, love for life, love for air, love for God, love for just being – kind of intersects with romantic life. Because I think, sometimes, when you tap into the universal love, you’re able to really blossom into a romantic love. And really, they become kind of intertwined. The more love you’re conducting as this vessel, the more you can kind of give it to those around you. And there was definitely a love prism happening, in and amongst a lot of changing times in the world. It dawned on me that this is not the end of the world, but merely an opportunity to up the love in a big way. I mean, that was kind of my take on this whole year of people being afraid and bummed out about everything. It just seemed like one big opportunity for change, for positive change.”
As he speaks, it’s clear that Kiedis has established a foundation that has enabled him to achieve an increasing serenity. Don’t, however, assume that he’s in a relationship. “You could, but you’d be wrong,” he answers curtly. “Yeah,” he finally sighs, “I was during the entire writing process. And a lot of the songs that are kind of romantically spiked were inspired by my girlfriend at that time, who I had been with for three years. And I was deeply and truly in love with her, and just feeling great about things. And then, about the time we were midway through the recording of the vocals, we went our separate ways – but never stopped loving each other. We just decided that maybe we wanted different things out of life. So the second rocket booster went off – the rocket booster of pain and sadness. Which is equally motivational when you’re singing, as being in true love. So I kind of got the best of both worlds, as far as inspiration. It’s funny the part girls can play in your whole writing and recording process.”
Now, on the verge of sharing these songs with the public and gearing up to sing them in front of thousands, Kiedis insists they won’t necessarily open any old wounds. “Not at all. I may have been inspired by her, about wanting to be with her, and go on adventures with her. But it was also coming from a larger source. And I still feel the sort of ecstasy of… just being in love with life. You know, it’s kind of an overtone to those songs.”
The greater purpose of love is something the entire band now professes. The members are now sober, dedicated and adopting a humble goal of daily serenity. Flea maintains that this faithfulness resulted in a shared energy of love, which was the undeniable force behind the new album. “We tortured for a year and a half on Californication, and instead of going and fucking off, we just started working on this record. It’s just from wanting to give the most that we can. Everything that we’re doing in this band comes from a place of giving. And if there’s anything that I’ve learned from my years of being in this band…” he pauses. “There have been times when it’s great – we feel great and we’re rocking out and everyone thinks we’re cool and you think you’re cool and you’re making good music and everything’s great and your ego’s feeling good. But then there are times when it’s the most frustrating, miserable, lonely fucked up thing. But the thing is, when I look through all of it, the parts that are frustrating, lonely and sad and the parts that are the greatest rock-star dream – I look at it all as an opportunity for me to give. It all balances out into one thing that I can have purpose and dedication to, which is being a giving person. And that has more meaning to me than anything else that I can be doing – is thinking that I’m being giving, and doing things with the intention of being giving.”
Seated in the green room for The Jonathon Ross Show, the band awaits the arrival of Tom Jones and all eyes are on Smith. Hunched over a basket of fish and chips, he sadly shakes his head when asked how his earlier search has ended. Soon after, a heavily made-up Jones enters the room, breezing past the band and saying a quick hello before taking his seat next to an actress who immediately occupies his attention.
Frusciante watches, smiling and waiting for the inevitable exchange. It doesn’t come. Instead, Jones exits to take his seat with the talk show host, leaving Frusciante to question, “Did he look at me?” Their manager assures him that Jones did indeed look his way, but John still looks dismayed. “I think he was looking at Chad.” Smith observes Frusciante’s annoyance with a bit of surprise. “You mean you like Tom Jones?” he asks.
Upon his return, Kiedis decides to strike up a conversation with Jones. “We might need you to play bass on this song,” he jokingly asks. “Shit,” laughs Jones, sipping in his third pint. “I don’t play bass.” Tom seems to address only Kiedis and Smith (Flea is still in his dressing room), and Frusciante sinks deeper in his chair before leaping up to practice his other obsession – yoga. Sweetly oblivious to everyone around him, Frusciante briefly contorts and twists his body, while a slightly bewildered Jones looks on.
Before Tom leaves, he shakes hands with everyone saying, “Hope to work with you someday.” An enormous grin stretches across Frusciante’s face. The group then takes the stage to perform an acoustic rendition of “Cabron,” and despite having never heard the song, the crowd cheers as though it’s a classic. A confused technician at the side of the stage scratches his head. “Doesn’t ‘cabron’ mean ‘asshole?’” he wonders out loud. (“Or ‘mean motherfucker,’” Kiedis later clarifies.)
In the hallway leading back to their dressing rooms, pictures of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark 5 and even Tom Jones decorate the walls – a sort of musical BBC hall of fame. Perhaps one day, the Chili Peppers will grace these same walls. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Smith says of the band’s future. “This band has had a lot of peaks and valleys, and you make mistakes and you learn from them. No matter what happens with this record, I feel really good about it. We all do. And we’re gonna play some concerts and hang out and make more music, because that’s what we do.”
--- Chris Chandar
