California: Heaven or Hell?

After four years of break the Red Hot Chili Peppers provide the best album of their turbulent career with their new old guitarist John Frusciante. With Californication the four funk rockers from LA already anticipate the hot Chili-sound of the 21 century.

Hamburg. Theater-Fabrik Kampnagel. About 300 selected fans and representatives of the music business experience the resurgence of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band, consisting of the singer Anthony Kiedis, the bassist Flea, the drummer Chad Smith and the returning guitarist John Frusciante, delight with the hyper-compressed funk-rock, they are famous for. The show incurs to a sudorific shirtless rock workout. The audience raves. During the old hits like Under the Bridge or Give It Away are blending new thrilling rock songs like Parallel Universe and of course the fantastic new single Scar Tissue, which outshone everything. It seems like the last eight years of the band just have been a preliminary, kind of a scheduling for something bigger, which starts 1999, the year of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They have never been better, more eloquent and more mature than today. But it was a long way so far.

Funky Days. In the 80s Antwan The Swan – Anthony Kiedis (Vocal), Flea – Michael Balzary ( Bass), Hillel Slovak (Guitar) and Jack Irons (Drums) dreamed of a cosmically connection between Funk, Rock and Heavy Metal in the sunny Los Angeles. The transcendental rock of Jimi Hendrix, the bone dry funk of James Brown and the psychedelic excesses of George Clinton were the paragons. The boys founded the garage band Anthem, which was called Red Hot Chili Peppers after Slovak and Irons left the band. Soon they got a recording contract. With Andy Gill (Gang of Four), the funk guru George Clinton (Parliament Funkadelic), the New Yorker avant-gardist Michael Beinhorn as the producer as well as with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley – a part of the famous Horn section of James Brown – as guest musician, the first three albums The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984), Freaky Styley (1995), and Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) showed a fascinating and rushing evolution. The RHCP became style characterizing Symbols of the funk-rock-metal-crossover-sound.

Losses. They activated worldwide attention with their individual version of the Beatles album cover Abbey Road 1988, where the band inluding the returned Hillel Slovak wear nothing else that a tennis sock on their cocks. A picture, which wandered around the pop world. At this time the drug consumption of the band literally exploded and demanded his first victim one year later. Hillel Slovak, a important component of the Band died because of an overdose. It was a heavy loss for the Peppers but it shouldn’t be the last guitarist they’ll loose.

Stars. John Frusciante, a young blessed guitarist and long-time fan without any band experience filled the space and played Mothers Milk with the band in 1989. The first small charts success followed. The individual freaky-funk-style of the Peppers and the common time spirit seemed to approach. But not until Michael Beinhorn was replaced by Def-Jam-founder and the American recordings chef Rick Rubin at the mixer 1991, they reached the commercial breakthrough. With Blood Sugar Sex Magic, recorded in the villa of the mysterious magician Harry Houdini marginally of Hollywood, sprung up an absolutely special album with 17 heavenly tracks, from those the hits Give It Away and Under the Bridge are just the peak of the iceberg. The album was sold more than 5 million times and captured the charts worldwide. The Red Hot Chili Peppers became real stars.

Tests. But it was right that success which shocked the sensitive musician John Frusciante and throw him out if the band. In the middle of the preparations for the Lollapalooza tour 1992 he left the band . Like before Hillel Slovak, he involves himself in a diabolic circulation of drug addiction. After his friend River Phoenix died because an overdose his washout seemed irresistible. Two extremely unsettled solo albums (Niandra LaDes And Usually Just A T-Shirt -1994, Smile From The Streets You Hold – 1997) testify it. Once again the band searched for a new guitarist. After a few guest performances ex-Jane’s-addiction-gitarrero Dave Navarro, who can be listened to on the album One Hot Minute. The album was vaunted as a masterpiece by critics but inside of the band guided the production to crass disagreements, which leaded in the end to Navarro leaving the band in April last year.

Survivors. From that followed the nearly disconnection of the band from California. But just almost, because Flea managed to bring John Frusciante back into the band. A healthful experience, how all four musicians surprising good-tempered in a noble Hamburger luxury hotel affirm. Anthony Kiedis with his shorted blond hair like a young tattooed Iggy Pop, thinks: “When we first jammed with John in Flea’s Garage again, the chemistry was between us immediately. It is just perfect like a miracle. John might be the only guitarist who suits to us.” Despite the exuberance he does not forget the extremely hard time of his survived heroin addiction:” Even though the communication between us where right there, it’s not a straight further development from Blood Sugar Sex Magic. For that there has happened too much the last years and we all had to experience all this crazy things to reach the point we are today.” Also for John who looks like Dennis Hopper in the middle of the 70s, the re-entrance was not unproblematic:” I have held a guitar virtually never the last six years, I didn’t know if I would manage it. But music has been the source of my happiness since my seventh year of my life.” “Besides I can write the best songs with John.” Anthony chips in.

Adults. Especially this agreement of the band is noticeable in the songs, which bespeak the self-image of the Chili Peppers or like Fleas voice it:” We have grown up and can realize what music can be and what magnitude it has for our life.” Chad completes:” An old school funksong or a beautiful popsong on one disk are no objection for us. Californication is no popalbum, but a album with songs which can become popular.” Anthony explains the word creation of the album title, which consists of California and Fornication:” It is positive and negative, like the life itself. California influenced the world with his products like movies, music, books, etc in a positive and negative way and that’s how the word should be intimate.”

They are not afraid to become a negative part of Californication themselves, Anthony insures:” That happened to us a long time ago and you have to take care that you don’t mutate to your own caricature. But today I am not afraid of this bullshit anymore.”

Anthony Kiedis: “Nothing is as hopeless and drab you can’t make beautiful music about it.”

Flea:” We don’t make thing which suit into special marketing plans but thing we are feeling.”

Chad Smith:” It was extremely important for us to tolerate important changes. Something new is always good.

John Frusciante:” We wanted a modern new sound without using modern new technique.”

Please follow and like us: