John Frusciante on his new album, The Empyrean

Many fans might have been surprised to hear that Red Hot Chili Peppers got into an indefinite hiatus in 2008. During this time, Anthony Kiedis has been focusing on his life as a father, Flea has been learning music theory at a university, Chad Smith has been involved in a jazz project, and John Frusciante, worthy to be called ‘the biggest explorer of music’ in the band, is about to release his 11th, self-produced album, The Empyrean. Frusciante had left the band in 1992 first time, and rejoined in Californication era after recovering from his serious drug problem. Then he continued to release experimental solo albums. His new album, The Empyrean, is a great one, featuring his experimental approach, incredible chordal sense, collaboration with Flea, Johnny Marr and a cover of Tim Buckley’s ‘Song To The Siren’. Although you might be surprised at what Frusciante said in this interview, this will tell you a real story on how he’s driven to create pure music.

‘Empyrean’ means the highest heaven, what does it mean for your album title?
It means the highest place in the heaven, but I wanted to give this title to this album in many ways. People might try to reach to a destination where they don’t know where it is, and sometimes reach to a different place. That’s the endless exploring. Every people have an appetite for exploring something they want and they have to obey it. The Empyrean is the place unknown and sublime where people try to reach to.

How long did it take to record this album?
It was recorded for a year and 3 months maybe. I started to record this album during a tour supporting Stadium Arcadium for a year and a half and recorded on and off during the breaks in the tour. So I didn’t work on it like every day. It took a long time because I worked on it only when I was feeling like it.

The most important thing for me is to create music not for a business, so this time I enjoyed creating. When I create own music, I want to yield myself to a feeling coming out of me. With The Chili Peppers, sometimes I had to work even when I didn’t feel like it. I felt pressure from the huge business behind the band. I like to create music, but with such a huge business, you had to keep dead line, and it did interrupt my musical creativity. And it made me unhappy to create music, more likely feel tired. So I didn’t want to put me in such a position with my solo works.

The new album is described as a mixture of rock, psychedelics, electronics and ambient music. What’s your aspiration?
I don’t listen to rock music but techno or electronics music recently. Electronics music has a lot of possibilities, wide range of sounds, many movements and changes in one song. I wanted to express same feeling as when I listen to electronics music. Also I engineered by myself, so I could put together every piece out of my head. To produce an album by myself has the same meaning of studying in a school in many cases. So this album is the first album that I really want to listen to.

What did you want to express with lyrics?
In this time, there was a certain idea that I want to express at first time. I have so many notebooks filled with tons of words in the past 10 years. One of themes of this album is, if you try to climb up a mountain and gave up in the middle, you can still climb up an another mountain with rest of energy as a result of giving up the first one.

How did Johnny Marr, former guitarist of The Smiths, currently with Modest Mouse and The Cribs, get involved with your album?
When The Chili Peppers was on a tour with Modest Mouse in South America, we became friends. I don’t remember if he said or I said to join to my recording, we recorded songs at my place when he’s in the town for Modest Mouse shows. His process to create music is amazing. I’m a sort of technical guitarist and playing based on sort of music theory. Meanwhile, he learned guitar playing by himself, so his music is more intuitive. He creates harmony and chord layering with a very new way. I have been listening to his music and learning a lot from him. I felt it’s like a magical moment when his playing coming out of amps.

Your solo works are totally different from The Chili Peppers. Is there any difference you want to make?
I joined to The Chili Peppers when I was eighteen. The Chili Peppers is an established band by Flea and Anthony’s creativity. When I joined to the band, all I thought about was not to play in my own way but fit them. It was very difficult to bring my own stuff into the band, although I found the way step by step. I had to edit my idea to fit to the band, because there’re certain things that people expect of the Chili Peppers. It’s like I provide my idea but not crossing the line or misinterpreting their energy and purpose. On the other hand, on my solo works I create the music completely freely. Being in a big rock band, there were many DO NOT things, and I struggled with it. However with my own music, I can enjoy and relax to work on, and simply focus on what I want to express through music. I don’t bring stuff that does not fit the Chili Peppers when I work with the Chili Peppers. That’s the big difference.

I’m surprised by your wide range of vocal styles, falsetto to baritone. What’s your approach on vocals?
It was a first time that I recorded most of vocals alone. And it’s a big difference compared to past albums. I was able to enjoy singing. If you record vocals with engineers, you much care about how I made it. You need to sing along to not only own criteria but also his criteria. I prefer more rough-cut vocal style, so I choose a take I most enjoyed. Also I wanted all songs to sound as if they were sung by different people.

Previous six solo albums were released from Warner Bros. Why did you release this new album on an indie label?
I didn’t want to do things that major labels require from their artists. With the major labels, you are expected to promote your music in many ways, with a bunch of interviews for a few months, touring for over a year, providing songs to TV programs and so on. I’m not interested in such things. If you focus on experimental music without paying attention to promoting it on the radio, it’s difficult to have a contract with a major label. I’ve created interesting pop music to attract listeners with the Chili Peppers. With my music, I have no intention to actively attract listeners. I just wanted to open the door wide so that listeners come into freely.

You released your first solo album in 1994 while you had drug problems. Has there been any difference since then?
No, when I had my drug problem, I didn’t create music so much. People say my first and second solo albums were recorded during the times I had my drug problem, but it’s not true. I didn’t play music at that time. When I left the band in 1992, I have completely lost motivation and things that I felt were beautiful before become ugly to me. I didn’t even listen to music, play guitar and all I did was those days writing notes or paintings. I felt that to be a purer and more creative form of work. I don’t think that my leaving the band at that point was wrong. Had I stayed in the band, I would not have been able to maintain my creativity with the same quality as when I left the band. Business cannot be a motivation for creating music. Huge success ruins any band. Many journalists thought I was a crazy drug addict but I knew clearly what was doing. It was right for me to hide from rest of the world just like monks would. People should obey to what they believe. It’s not right if you are motivated by making money. When I left the band, there were people who thought I was stupid because if I stayed I could have made lots of money. I believe it’s wrong. To most, that kind of people is right and my kind is stupid. But I’m sure they are wrong and I am right. Although, I respect their freedom to think otherwise.

—Bharoocha Hashim

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