Out Of The Shadows
Last modified: 17:29:43 CET on 16 Nov, 2008 |
Um, is it perhaps a good job that not all these references are audible at the same time?
‘Yeah,’ Frusciante agrees with a bit of a giggle, ‘but it all makes sense in the spirit of that period of my life. Depeche Mode’s Violator was the big thing in my head in terms of production. Even though there were many differences – I wanted lots of acoustic guitar and real drums as opposed to programmed drums – I wanted to have that same sort of richness, using string sounds in a similar way.’
Shadows Collide… is the first of Frusciante’s solo albums to be recorded in a studio as opposed to having a traumatic home birth, and he produced it himself with the experience he garnered with the Chili Peppers.
‘I’m pretty exact in the studio,’ he informs us. ‘I’m good about knowing when something’s good for the song and when it’s not – I don’t tend to mess around like that.
‘It was our idea to do a big production and have a lot of stuff going on. Usually when I write a song I record it onto a cassette recorder or a minidisc, but for this album we made eight-track demos before even getting to the studio stage. We used the eight-track to its fullest possible limits, putting so many things on one track that when it came to mixing it, both Josh and I would be sitting there pushing the faders… it would take us 15 mixes to get something right! We’re going to put them all on my website so people can download them.’
Intriguingly, we hear key threads of melody repeating themselves throughout the album. These, according to Frusciante, act as signifiers, conveying a certain meaning at a certain time. And the contemplative lyrics are equally cryptic…
‘When I’m writing my lyrics I’m constantly trying to play games with the words in terms of contradicting something I’ve said before, or keeping one concept going from the beginning to the end,’ Frusciante says, swinging abruptly into a sitting position and hugging his knees in enthusiasm. ‘I like juxtaposing aspects of reality with words that shouldn’t go together. The album’s title is the idea of a shadows bumping into a person – it’s not something that could actually happen, but with words or in your imagination you can make it happen. I’m proud of the lyrics, and it’s important for me to write them down because they’re not something I’m trying to mask.
‘At first I didn’t want to put my albums out at all,’ he reflects, ‘but once something’s buried in the past I finally do release them, which means it’s hard for me to relate to them. With the earlier records I felt at that time I was never going to make music again, so it seemed like I might as well release them because they would have been the last things I ever did.’
The strident, multi-harmony vocal tracks on Shadows Collide… are instantly recognizable as the work of the Chili Peppers’ chief songwriter, even if the subject matter – largely tales of transcendence – is several hundred shades darker than usual. Given that Frusciante usually writes both his solo material and band material at the same time, how does he decide what should go to whom?
‘I write about 60 per cent of the band stuff, but it’s as a guitar player, and that’s it,’ he clarifies. ‘Sometimes I write melodies, but I don’t ever write the words for the band. I’ve been writing words ever since I was a little kid, and I’ve got my own style with it. So if a song comes to me and it’s just an interesting guitar part, then I give it to the Chili Peppers. If it comes to me and I’m singing and pulling out my notebook, then it’s for me.’
A cheeky inquiry into how work on the new Chili Peppers’ album is coming along prompts a rather alarming response from Frusciante.
‘Well, I’ve been listening to a lot of British folk music like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, so the next Chili Peppers record, which is almost half done, has a lot of folk influences.’
Erm, funk and folk?
‘Yeah, I guess there is some funk on it, but we didn’t really mix funk and folk.’ John Frusciante pauses for effect. ‘But we did mix heavy metal and folk…’
TOUR DE FORCE:
This June will find the Chili Peppers playing some mammoth shows in the UK. Considering that one of Frusciante’s reasons for originally leaving the band was the ‘lack of connection’ he felt with the increasingly large crowds, it seems his former disgust has turned to something more amorous…
‘On the By The Way tour, the exchange of love with the audience was a wonderful experience for me, and a significant exchange for me as a person,’ he explains. ‘At the moment I’m so into being a normal guy that to be back in that place seems tiring to me right now, but by the time June comes round I’ll be ready for it again.’
Backstage at a Chili Peppers’ gig these fays you’re more likely to find rugs and throws, incense and candles and of course the obligatory purgatorial brown rice than the vices ordinarily associated with a world-renowned band. It’s all designed to make touring more bearable.
Frusciante: ‘You have to get into different patterns, whether it’s listening to Van Der Graaf Generator over and over or watching The Outer Limits every night, or reading all the time… that’s usually what I do at night after a show. And then during the day I end up getting some kind of pattern in ways of exercising. On the Californication tour it was yoga, and on the By The Way tour it was running. For me it’s important to be in good health and to be feeling relaxed and strong, otherwise it starts to get the best of you, and you start to look for artificial ways of relaxing yourself and calming down.’
