Classic Rock Mother’s Milk feature, Total Guitar snippet & more
Seems there’s more on John in print media than there was in all the years from 2008 to 2013 together. While we’re not sure if that is good or not, we’ve sniffed out two fresh and new features as well as a couple of them from earlier this year. Enjoy!
John among Strat Legends in Total Guitar
The June 2014 issue of Total Guitar is dedicated to the 60th birthday of the Fender Stratocaster. Therefore, the magazine editors have compiled a list of the most influential Strat players of all time, listed by the decades when they emerged.
John is listed under 1990s and here’s what they’re saying about him:
During his tenure as Red Hot Chili Peppers axeman, Frusciante became a contemporary Strat icon thanks to a rich vocabulary of Hendrix inspired chordal embellishments and fiery solos. But while John’s first contributions can be heard on 1989’s Mother’s Milk, it wasn’t until Blood Sugar Sex Magik that his signature clean, compressed lines made their mark, most notably on riffy funkathon Give It Away and addiction ballad Under The Bridge.
Although funk was no longer the Chilis’ primary concern following Frusciante’s return in 1998, there are still plenty of stand-out Strat moments later on in the band’s career, from Scar Tissue’s sparse hybrid-picked intro to the snappy riffs of Can’t Stop and the Jimi-channelling solo in Dani California – John’s recent solo work, such as 2009’s The Empyrean, has its fair share of psychedelic Strat attacks, too. Frusciante is famed for his collection of endlessly desirable guitars, but none more so than his ‘casters – John’s favourite is an original ’62 Sunburst, but he also owns ’55 Sunburst and ’61 Fiesta Red models, fitted with Seymour Duncan SSL-1 pickups. We’re not jealous, honest.
Essential Strat Tone: Under The Bridge
Ohwell. Still better than what they’d written two months earlier and this little guy. Since the maestro is also gracing the cover, together with Jimi Hendrix and a couple of others, they pass.
Click the thumbnails to go to the individual pages in the gallery or here for the entire album.
Buy the magazine here.
Mother’s Milk feature in Classic Rock
Same kitchen, different chef. June 2014 issue of Classic Rocks brings us a really good feature story on Mother’s Milk.
At a time when hair-metal still rules and the concept of ‘grunge’ barely exists outside of a few clued-up hipsters in the Pacific Northwest, the Chili Peppers’ latest album, Mother’s Milk, is an anomaly: an illicit confection of funk, punk, rock and downright rudeness that defies the listener to even try to define it.
[…]Kiedis managed to do the later when he and Flea finally found what they were looking for in the shape of 18-year-old John Frusciante, a gifted, Hollyweird guitar player and Chili Peppers fan who would become a virtual Kiedis mini-me. He was joined by a big, burly 26-year-old drum killer from Michigan named Chadwick Gaylord Smith – just Chad, if you wanted to keep that smile on your face.
[…]In contrast to the singer, Flea welcomed the producer’s strong lead. The bassist had been forced to do the heavy lifting on the last album every time Kiedis disappeared for days into another smack-induced rabbit hole. Similarly, Frusciante revelled in the attention Beinhorn showered on him – the producer saw the hotshot guitarist as a way of bringing the Chili Peppers into the mainstream.
Up to then, the Chilis had relied on loose jams and bass-driven grooves as the foundation for their songs. Now, with ‘Greenie’ – as they dubbed Frusciante – on board, their new material became more structured, more melodic, more focused. More like songs, basically.
The whole feature will be typed up in a couple of days, until then, you can read it from the scans.
Click the thumbnails to go to the individual pages in the gallery or here for the entire album.
Buy the magazine here.
Rolling Stone Croatia, April 2014
Surprisingly, in its obsession with fading classic rock bands with their line-ups now unrecognisable and dreaded talent shows, the Balkans still has an ear for some different music. Ohwell, at least the Croatian edition of Rolling Stone does, as they reviewed Enclosure, gave it three out of five stars and actually graced one whole page with the said review and a photo of John. The author of the review, AnÄ‘elo Jurkas, said he did not remember writing this when we reached out to him to thank him, but it’s OK. It’s an honest review.
Do not classify Frusciante – this could be somewhat of an unspoken rule in the world of the guitarist rock and roll self-centered and the class-A axemen. The ex-Chili Peppers man has developed a cult following [editor’s note: Folks, that’s us, say hi for the camera!] not only because for his terrific guitar parts on their best albums (BloodSugarSexMagik and Californication) and the book titled with his last name; but also for his self-determined use of the instrument and pulling out rarely typical, but almost always interesting sounds.
The fight with his private demons taught him that it’s not a good idea to record everything he’s got in his head. Sometimes those rhythms can be beautifully psychodelically weird, unexpected, set free of any predictable rhythm known. Following his musical thoughts and guitar playing would be as ungrateful as in the case of the Mars Volta. They’re either turning out to be masterpieces or something only he can understand and listen to.
The most recent addition to his catalogue will delight the searchers for fresh and non-commercial ideas of the man who always walked two steps ahead. At the same time, it will not be remembered, for it’s just one of those weird Frusciante albums.
Best tracks: Crowded, Stratch.
Click the thumbnails to go to the individual page in the gallery or here for the entire album.
* Many thanks to Kristijan K. for the heads-up.
Rolling Stone India, March 2014
A huge jump from Balkans to the Indian subcontinent. An article on Scarlet Page’s Resonators exhibition which we also covered reveals some interesting details about the photo sessions leading up to the exhibition and the photo of John is one of the four used in the portfolio excerpt on the second page. Apparently, it was all done very fast!
You shot other artists in L.A. too. Tell us about that.
Well, I shot eight guitarists in a week. Slash in the morning, John Frusciante in the evening…they all live quite close by in the Hollywood Hills. I based the trip on Paul McCartney being there, but his management couldn’t really commit anything, so I took my husband along and planned this as an escape from the children (laughs).
Click the thumbnails to go to the individual pages in the gallery or here for the entire album.
Guitar Player Vault, January 2014
Last, but not the least, Guitar Player vault, the digital-only archive-only edition of the long-standing magazine has John on the cover of its first 2014 issue. A 2012 photo, leading up to, well, his lengthy interview conduced for the magazine for their November 2006 issue. Therefore, we included only the “new” bits.
Click the thumbnails to go to the individual pages in the gallery or here for the entire album.
You can read the original interview in its entirity here, as 7.5-year-old scans have been updated earlier today for your viewing pleasure, so was 95% of the 2006 magazine gallery and bits of the other years’ galleries.
If there is anything relevant in magazines, newspapers and on the web where you are – do not forget to share. You will be credited, as always. The community depends on volunteers.
