The Best Write-Up on Niandra LaDes – a Must-Read Interview with Toni Oswald!
You’re in for a treat, everybody. An interview with Toni Oswald for YLE by Tuomas Karemo, Finnish journalist and a fellow JF enthusiast reveals a lot of the story behind the cult favourite Niandra La Des – and clears up MANY things. On top of that, it’s the most ethical approach on this era in John’s career that we have ever seen. No creepy drug use fetishization, no enormous self-obsession in the introduction to the write-up – in fact, the researcher handled that aspect in a way that makes us on here not worthy!
In the lengthy feature peppered with quotations from Toni and John themselves, as well as a Nobel prize-winner in a completely unrelated field, Toni shares some never-before seen photographs of herself and John, from both their times as a couple and beforehand, talks about their spiritual connection that persisted despite it all and sheds light on some of the theories related to the album and the fan-created aura of mystery surrounding it, putting speculations to an end.
What are you going to read? Here’s a teaser…
What are the noises in Untitled #8? Not what everybody thought for years.
What is Toni herself singing in Untitled #9?
What is the memory of River Phoenix joining John for two songs that were cut from Niandra and ended up as a part of Smile like? What was the gone-too-soon actor like back then?
How did the 1992 fire happen?
How did the chaos seen in Stuff came to be?
How did John feel around the time he quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers the first time?
What is the deeper meaning of the Marcel Duchamps connection and how does it relate to the musings an older and wiser JF shared in his newer interviews? How did he grow as an artist through this experience?
…and many more.
The piece can be found here – https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2018/10/01/theres-no-more-me-the-history-and-love-story-behind-john-frusciantes-niandra and it’s exactly as good as we have just described it. Enjoy!
