Hot Stuff

After four years the Red Hot Chili Peppers finally release a new album with „Californication”. And also, with John Frusciante back in the band, the best guitar player Chilis ever had has joined them again.

“Goddamn” judged METAL Hammer (German Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Magazine) the freshly-released last RHCP album “One Hot Minute” back in 1995 stating this record “is so important, strong and beautiful!” Such praise would make a lot of bands more than happy. And maybe even get them to rest on their laurels. But not the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They knew just as well as their most devoted fans, that they had already delivered a far better album before…an album for eternity: “Blood Sugar sex Magik” dating back to the year 1991 was the Masterpiece to date from the Fun-Funk-Punk-Metal-Crossover-Band from Beach Boy country. With “BSSM” the Chilis hit the German charts and confidently crossed the magic Gold line, without losing their credibility. Two years later (1993) they finally received their Grammy for best hard rock performance. And then, during their tentative point of their success, guitarist John Frusciante quit the band. RHCP took out a spectacular, full page ad in the US press and listened themselves through 5000 (sic) auditions and applications. They eventually hired Wah-Wah specialist Dave Navarro (ex Jane’s addiction) and recorded “One Hot Minute”- a good album but no masterpiece; more like a five-minute microwave stew of Funk. Now-finally!- Frusciante has recovered from his drug excesses and made peace with singer Anthony Kiedis. That’s what made the new record “Californication” possible. At their beginnings the Red Hot Chili Peppers were infamous for posing and appearing on stage almost naked with just a white tennis sock pulled over their genitals. Afterwards they also convinced with their music. But it is not easy being a Red Hot Chili Pepper. You record an album every couple of years and then the journalists and press even want to speak with you about it.

Frontman Anthony Kiedis and the new old guitarist John Frusciante are late for the Musicexpress/Sounds interview. Or, precisely put, they are physically present but taking a break nevertheless. The interview schedule is hopelessly exceeded anyway, and they need to catch a breath of air. The door to their suite in a classy hotel in Beverly Hills is ajar and we can listen to their conversation. Both are enveloped in a discussion about music. Anthony tells John of the people who influenced him musically. A couple of months ago it would have been unthinkable that the two of them would sit together ever again in one room. Let alone speak to each other. Surprising is not only the fact that they speak , but also the topic they have: the Beatle’s Hard Day’s Night”! John’s calm remark: “Awesome movie! I used to love the Beatles. No idea, how many times I watched that movie.” But Anthony does not seem satisfied with that reply. He wants to know more. He has already worked with John Frusciante once and back then everything went wrong. This time it should go smoothly.And that requires getting to know each other better. He asks John, what he listened to as a preparation for the current record “Californication”. “Anthony, all I do is to listen to Music all day long” answers John, as if he is being held responsible towards an elder brother. “I’ve played Nigerian Music , John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Black Flag and David Bowie….I listen to Cream, basically to everything. Only listening to Beatles is too one-dimensional. There is no influence which has not impacted someone else before you.” That does not sound so exciting. Two band members gab about whom and what they like, so what? That is what members of bands do all over the world. They look for an independent approach on their music. The missing link which turns normal into something completely genius. That’s not any different for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and often enough they have produced totally common records such as: “The Red Hot Chili Peppers” (1984) and “Freaky Styley” (1985) never really impressed anyone that much and only with “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” (1987) and “Mother’s Milk (1989) they at least established themselves as trendsetters. “MM” had already been recorded with producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Run DMC, Beastie Boys) and together with him they compiled “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”. On hit there were such hits as “Under the bridge” and “Breaking the girl”. “BSSM” will be forever the record with which the Chilis are being measured – unless “Californication” tops the former success and at the moment it almost look like it. The missing link to conceive something brilliant might just be the collaboration between singer Anthony Kiedis and guitarist John Frusciante. Simple as that – and yet so complicated. For the current album the exact same line-up of “BSSM” stood in the studio: Anthony, John, Flea (bass), and Chad Smith (drums). Never change a winning team.

John became a member of RHCP back in 1988. His father John was a pianist and his mother Gail a singer (she can be heard i.a. on “Under The Bridge”). John loved Kiss, Aerosmith, The Germs, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. Later on his musical choice extended with the Progrock of Yes, Zappa, the early Genesis and King Crimson. The Frusciante family moved from New York to California , where John met bass player Flea ( Michael Balzary). Flea jammed a couple of times with Chili-fan John. When former guitar man Hillel Slovak dies of an overdose in 88′, Flea appointed then eighteen year old Frusciante as his replacement. Drummer Chad Smith was fully aware of the problems: “John had never been in a band before, and he was a huge Chilis fan – that would’ve been the same as if I joined Led Zeppelin. It just couldn’t work out!” But through John eventually Chad Smith became a member of the band. “I didn’t like them that much” Chad recalls today, “ and I definitely didn’t own a record. But a good friend of mine, Newt, loved them. Denise Zoom, Billy Zoom’s (of X) wife, used to fuck John Frusciante back then and a little later my friend Newt, and that’s how everything went. John told Newt that RHCP were searching for a new drummer and Newt told Zoom that he knew one personally. And then Zoom told John that she knew a drummer. Very incestuous, the whole thing. Anyway, Zoom said she knew a guy who’d even take his drum kit to bed with him and then I went to audition and we all got along with each other quite well. And that was the final cast for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The four of them recorded “Mother’s Milk. “Wow! That was crazy”, Chad recalls. “It was pretty cool. I liked a lot of the songs but we didn’t really play together. Flea and I recorded the basics and then John came and played the overdubs. Everything had to go fast. You can hear the difference to “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” two years later. By then we had been on tour together, knew each other a lot better musically and personally and wrote the songs together.”

When our interview with Anthony and John begins at last, the sun is just about to set. It’s a perfect sunset in L.A., golden rays are shining through the window. Both of them couldn’t be bothered less by us but instead kept the conversation going about Music. “The Beatles have influenced everybody”, John said. He had grown his hair shoulder length whereas his mate Kiedis had cut his long mane to shoulder length. “With ‘BSSM’ I copied their style a lot, but also Jimi Hendrix and all sorts of other guys were an influence”, John carries on. “But in the meantime I have the impression that nobody tries to be a good musician anymore. Ever since Punk, people tend to think it is uncool to practice and to really handle your instrument. But that’s nonsense. Musik is the best thing you can do. And being able to play well you can also learn from guitar players who are not incredibly good musicians but play in a cool way. If you work long enough with such people you develop your own style. You can express so many emotions with an instrument and therefore you should keep enhancing your skills constantly.” Anthony nods. It seems that there is no person he gets along with better in the whole world than John. But shortly after “BSSM” release it was different: Frusciante went off the rails. Why? Nobody really knows. The drugs surely didn’t help (two years ago the guitarist went to rehab by his own choice and seems to be clean since then). And then there is the problem what to do with your life, when the biggest dream you’ve ever had, has been fulfilled with sweet eighteen. “We sell millions of records” drummer Chad still rages, “but John dumps everything and gives up. ‘BSSM’ was released in September ’91 and we started touring in November. The problem stated to become evident already. He just didn’t want to play…it was like ‘Spinal Tap’. For a while we were on the road like a broken family. We only saw him onstage. It became more and more difficult. Then we went to Europe. There everything got worse but then again that was doing good. John belonged to the band and he made a crucial impact on ‘BSSM’ but he just didn’t want to carry on anymore. And you can’t force anyone to play Chilis-Crossover.” But Anthony Kiedis was mad. He didn’t speak to his ex-guitarist for years. He visited Frusciante in rehab but even then he didn’t want to persuade him into rejoining the band. Over years they experienced with different line-ups and eventually chose Dave Navarro. Chad’s comment: “jamming with Dave was cool. He was experienced and had played in bands before. He played completely different than John but we got along well with him. He is a nice guy. You can’t stand the company of most people for more than five minutes , no matter how good they play guitar.” But then the recordings for “One Hot Minute” began. Chad continues: “Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane’s Addiction, Dave’s former band, had a lot of ideas. He told Dave and Dave came to us with them. He was the freshman and sort of had to prove himself. And besides, Anthony didn’t have any lyrics or melodies. ’94 we went into the studio a couple of times but didn`t proceed that much. Then we toured through Europe, played Woodstock and with the Rolling Stones, then came Christmas and then one year had passed in the blink of an eye.” Anthony Kiedis was still angry about Frusciante’s drop out. “One Hot Minute” was released, but didn’t make a major impact. Dave eventually left the band again – in a mutual agreement, as it was stated. “Bringing back John was Flea’s idea” admits Anthony during the interview. “he asked me if I could imagine playing with John again. And I thought it was a damn good idea from the beginning.” Anthony knew deep in his heart that only John Frusciante could be the Keith Richards for Anthony’s Mick Jagger. So they made up and went to studio reunited.

“John wasn’t first choice, he was our only chance” Anthony admits without hesitation on that early summer evening in L.A. “Alternatively I could have made a solo album and I didn’t feel like doing that.” (Besides that he was probably aware that – again except maybe for the Rolling Stones – a singer’s solo album would always mean the end of the band). Anthony continues: ”John is a great songwriting partner, because he is open to everything and can profit from many musical backgrounds. He is intuitive, sensitive and smart; he understands, what I am trying to say. John also contributes with lyrics and ideas and the same evening you have a complete song.”

John is also happy having a second chance. He speaks slowly and repeatedly glances at Anthony, as if to make sure not to say anything wrong. “We realize every day that us four just make a perfect match.”, Frusciante explains, “the way I play guitar that is only possible with Flea and Flea in turn can only compose songs the way he does when Anthony sings. We are fully aware of that and each one knows that the others feel the same way. We trust each other a lot.” It sounds simple but simple sums up the work for the new album “Californication”: “It was a lot of fun and it was incredible how much we could achieve that fast. “ Kiedis tells with content. “We just jammed and all of a sudden there were all these songs…so we just carried on.”

“Californication” is the sick, advanced RHCP version of the Eagle’s “Hotel California”. The title already is a typical Kiedis wordplay – “fornication” meaning adultery. And he sings of the sweet n sour nights in L.A., of Lovesickness and such common things like an afternoon spent surfing with friends. When they had the songs complete, the band turned to their favourite producer Rick Rubin. “Rick takes care more of the arrangements” describes Anthony the collaboration.”We like a certain song, because we love playing it but he thinks it’s too long or that a part is too long. We don’t care about such things. And he always insists that I come up with a text for the bridge. We have this great instrumental bridge which we show him and he’s just like: ”It only turns to music when you sing to it.”

Sensational songs on „Californication” are the first single “Scar Tissue” and “Soul to Squeeze”, “Right on Time” (and thanks to Rick Rubin’s advice with backing vocals from John Frusciante). RHCP have developed themselves not only efficiently and musically, Kiedis has also perfectioned his lyrical skills. He now plays in the same league such as high-class beat-poets like Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg, and sometimes it is more important how something is said and told than what is really being said or told. Excerpt: “Psychic spies from China/Try to steal your mind’s elation/Little girls from Sweden /Dream of Silver Screen quotations/And if you want these kind of dreams/It’s Californication.” Somehow you get a premonition what he wants to tell us, but especially the rhythm of the song is great and “Psychic spies” simply sounds cool, no matter what it should mean. Did anyone for instance understand every Dylan song? Probably not even Bob himself did. “You can put anything into a phrase” Anthony explains patiently and smiles at John. “It’s like playing a note. It’s not only about the lexical meaning. I try to leave some interpretation space for my listeners. The meaning lies in what people hear and interpretate.”

When “Californication” was released, the Chili Peppers went on a mini tour through high schools, festivals, clubs and radio stations. One asks themselves if Anthony and John will get along with each other as well on the tour bus like they do at the ME/Sounds interview. Because who is really able to forgive? Can Kiedis truly forgive someone he considers his soulmate who dumped him? We will see. At least they have both realized, not only out of musical reasons, that they rely on each other. And they are convinced to make it to the top again. Together. As it is time to leave, Anthony explains to us: ”the band has become something magical to me again. It is like it was before recording our first album. Like stage fright before a show. Everything is possible! It’s a great feeling and I am very happy that he’s back. I don’t know what would’ve happened without the misleads during the past years. They seemed bewildering and senseless, dark and threatening, but now I believe that we wouldn’t sit here otherwise. Beaming proudly John adds: “I feel exactly the same. On the “BSSM “ tour I didn’t know what was left for me to reach. I had to retreat in order to find myself. Now I know myself, now I understand my guitar playing and know what lies ahead of us as a band. We will sound totally different on stage than on the album. It’ll be great. My playing is different now and I really like it- even on record.” And he’s got a point. “Californication” is at least as good as “BSSM”, if not better. And the band is in a good shape also. What should go wrong with such starting points and perfect circumstances? In any case we wish “Bon Appetit” when you indulge yourself in the new, superhot Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Steven Rosen/Ulrich Hoffmann

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