Autopsy Of A Mad Scientist

The Red Hot Chili Peppers marked the occasion of their 23rd birthday with a double brilliant double album; they come back to the lively funk-rock of “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”. Clung on to his Strats, John Frusciante steers the boat, impregnating the new songs with his sonic LSD. The Chili Peppers are going to get to our head again this year!

From the surfers’ harbors of Venice Beach to the biggest stadiums of the planet, the Red Hot Chili Peppers managed to demolish all the obstacles to reach an absolute glory. The jumping peas quartet from California is probably the latest band to have earned a career similar to the one of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Since the explosion of “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” in 1991, nothing seems to stop them, and their albums sales don’t bring the house down anymore, now it’s a castle. Their recipe is actually due to one only man: John Frusciante, aka the goose that lays the golden eggs. Maker of the biggest hits of the combo (“Under the bridge”, “Californication”, “Can’t stop”, …), this hard drug survivor, who has become a sweet psychopath since his recovery, now represents the artistic value of the Chili Peppers. Cherished and led by his circle, he could create a new collection of gems, most of them are the bases of the expected new album of 25 songs “Stadium Arcadium”. The creative madness of the guitarist literally explodes on that record, which oscillates between the most professional songwriting and the experimental fever, from the first song to the last one. Guitare Extreme went to the rocking hill, to get the words of this true contemporary rock genius.

John, which guitars did you use on the album?
Mainly my Fender Stratocaster Sunburst of ’62, the one I mostly used during the By The Way Tour. I think it’s also the guitar I used the most during the recording of “By The Way”. This time, there was a second Stratocaster, a white one I’ve recently bought. It’s excellent, it has a floating vibrato, it enables me to draw the notes back. That’s cool! I only used that one for the rehearsals before the recording. Then, during the sessions, I tested several guitars for each song, in order to find which one sounds the best. The Sunburst and the white one were often chosen, in particularly the Sunburst, even if the white one is great too. I plugged a Les Paul of ’69 on “Readymade”. As for my Gretsch White Falcon, I didn’t even take it out from its flight-case.

How come? You paid it more than $30.000…
To me, the price is not the most important thing. I played on it very often on the previous tours. Just for the By The Way Tour, I used it for 2 songs on 250 dates. This time, there was no room for it. There’s another song where I chose the Les Paul, but I don’t think it will be on the album. It is called “Whatever we want”. On the whole, there was no room for many different guitars, or for some effects. I all the same used several different wah-wah pedals, because I used some on many parts.

Except that, you generally use few effects, don’t you?
Yes, I’m not really an effect guitarist. This time, I treated my tracks with some effects, but after their recording, for example I put them through a modular synthesizer. It was funny to do, because I could freely turn the buttons in every direction and I was focused on the music. To do so while playing, I should have 4 hands and 2 brains (laughs). I also used a numeric delay or the new Moogerfooger Murf pedal from Moog, which is really excellent.

Is it a weird sounds factory?
Really weird, you can say so! The Murf is one of the pedals that inspired me the most. A concrete example: the solo of “Tell me baby”. When you listen to it again, you will notice how the guitar literally bursts out from the mix. This is a weird affect that I can’t really describe. I also used it on “Flea’s Trumpet”, in the beginning and in the end of the second verse of “Death of a Martian”. We can hear this pedal or the modular synthesizer on every song, but it’s often very subtle. That’s great, because there are not many subtle effects on the market. I did a lot of things by using the various signals. Sometimes, it sounds as if another guitarist plays with me. However, it is the same guitar. On the verses of “Dani California”, there is the normal rhythm guitar that I play live, when there’s part B, I send the sound in the modular synthesizer that I use as a dynamic filter. It opens and closes very quickly according to how I play the cords. I had fun; One of the things I am the proudest of is on “Stadium Arcadium”, but I will come back to that later.

So, all your work on this record is linked to the sound textures?
Yes, I really wanted to make a record that would be a sound experience for the listeners. I wanted the music to put them in a trance and enter their subconscious, that all the sounds mix together and bring them to another world. Just before, I talked about an effect on “Stadium arcadium”, and I’m trying to remember another song on which I did the same… “C’mon girl”. On those two songs, I turned the band upside-down. We had that old numeric reverb of 1976, the MT250, the very first one created actually. We passed my guitar in it, before sending it in a high frequency filter. When everything was at its maximum, the sound of the guitar was inaudible. Then, when I turned the frequencies button to the left, the sound of my guitar came back, starting by the most high-pitched frequencies. I recorded several tracks and I only kept those that sounded the best.

Did the idea of experimentation come from jamming with the band, or did you find all these ideas on your own?
We composed and recorded the base tracks all together, then I worked alone. Anthony worked with Rick Rubin to record his vocal parts, I did my overdubs on my own, with a sound engineer and an assistant. I got all the time I needed to experiment, and I did so 12 to 14 hours a day. I love all those songs and I wanted each of them to be perfectly completed. At the same time, my challenge was to create something I had never heard before. For that, my solo albums enabled me to use the studio in a creative way. The fact I used the same sound engineer who worked on my two last records helped me. He also mixed the Chili Peppers album. We gained by an experience we got working together, and we’re faster today, cos we know how to get some sounds. There are only two songs on the album with keyboards. On every other one, it is guitar. When it sounds like a mix of Mellotron and mandolin, it’s actually accelerated guitars. I did a lot of things by changing the speed of bands. On songs as “Dani California”, “Turn it again”, “West sand”, “Hard to concentrate”, “Stadium Arcadium”, there’s a guitar or a group of guitars that are accelerated on the band. Actually, I recorded those parts with the song played slowly, then I put back the band at its normal speed. When you listen to it after that, the guitars sound completely differently.

There are also many great solo on Stadium Arcadium…
Thank you! I’d like to precise that every solo was played at a normal speed.

There’s stuff that reminds of Hendrix, others Santana, or even Led Zep or Neil Young. Did you want to pay homage to them?
I think weird things happened with the guitar years after years. It seems that after the guitarists you’ve mentioned, everything fucked up. Even if I’m a big fan of Van Halen, Randy Rhoads or Steve Vai, I don’t think their way of playing guitar helped things along. Today, I got the feeling that people rebel against the playing of those masters, because now they all play very simply, and honestly, I think it was horrible when everybody wanted to play quickly. I’m tired of hearing all the guitarists playing basic stuff. I am inspired by Hendrix, Beck, or Page because they came from the right place. They tried to improve music, to go forwards. Time doesn’t work in their favour, but I think they had good intentions. I think that if we want to forge ahead, more than those guys did, we have to come back to the essence, to the substance of their playing: emotion. With Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, the idea was to surpass oneself with speed and neatness of performance. But how far can we go? Van Halen himself said in a 1979 interview: “I couldn’t play faster, that’s it.”. So this is not the way we must follow. Consequently, I come back to people who played in the 60’s and 70’s because there was more heart in their playing.

Do you see your playing on this record as a kind of musical testimony?
I’m a very serious musician. I don’t play solos to satisfy my ego. I decided to play some, and it was a well thought out choice. My reasoning is to take that kind of playing guitar from the 60’s and 70’s and to use it in a context of songs coming from a new place, a place that is mishmash of all the influences I got from the music of the 80’s and 90’s. I fit it to a new environment, by using a sound those guys didn’t have at that time. For example, I learnt a lot from the techniques of production of people as George Clinton and Brian Eno. In the early 80’s , Eno treated guitars and the other instruments with new synthesizers. Today, I make things with my guitar. My state of mind is to say “what would Clapton have done with Cream if he had had a modular synthesizer?”, I try to think in that perspective: “Let’s try to make an interesting thing, in a sound point of view, but with a range of sounds they didn’t have in the 60’s”.

So, you put yourself in Clapton & co’s place…
I get inspiration from those musicians, yes. I hadn’t been conditioned to copy their style, but I clearly studied the way they played. Sometimes, I listen to one of my recording and I think: “This thing reminds me so-and-so”. But at the same time, I would be unable to think: “Let’s record a solo in an Eric Clapton style”. I would be intimidated and couldn’t play a single note, because I have much respect for Eric Clapton. But sometimes, yes, I may think what I play sounds like Eric Clapton. Most of the time, other people as my guitar tech notice that and say it to me. I think people should study again what those masters did, because I don’t think we can find better since them. I’m not trying to do better than them, I just want to explore parallel ways. I focus on my songwriting work, which is more developed than the guitar playing. This is where I get my originality. For instance, a song like “Snow” doesn’t sound as a 60’s song. If you want to be a writer, then you must refer to Shakespeare, and understand that with many aspects, it is the biggest masterpieces ever written.

About the solos, you have never done before what you did on “Turn it again”…
I have always been able to do so, but I always stopped myself doing it, by playing more simply. If you had talked to me three years ago, I would have said the opposite. I would have told you I hated solos, and that people should play more simply. I change, I contradict myself, this is my personality. I work in a cyclic way, and when we started writing this album, I was in a solo mood. But believe it or not, I restrained myself all the same. On “21st century”, the first solo I recorded sounded like Allan Holdsworth. I surpassed myself. But finally, I decided to erase it and to do it again. This is not my role to play that kind of sophisticated stuff. I definitely have more affinity with Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton. I remain in their group, and if I try to surpass them, it’s only with sound and songwriting, never with technique.

As for your solo albums, do you have plans?
Well, there’s a new Ataxia album (band in which John collaborates with bassist Joe Lally and drummer Josh Klinghoffer). We’ll mix it as soon as the Red Hot Chili Peppers album is over.

Hillel Slovak: the shooting star
Hillel, an Israeli immigrant, was the first Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist, before he died of a heroin OD at 26. His very original style remains forever on the Red Hot records “The Red Hot Chili Peppers” (84), “Freaky Styley” (85) and “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” (87), his performances of “If six was nine” by Jimi Hendrix (go and find some bootlegs). Hillel was also a painter. After his death, some of his paintings were used by the band for Mother’s Milk CD booklet. The song “My lovely man” (Blood Sugar Sex Magik) is dedicated to his memory. He remains one of the major influences of John Frusciante, whose absolute dream was to play with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Dave Navarro: The true/false Red Hot
The common points between John Frusciante and Hillel Slovak weren’t limited to guitar: as his predecessor, Frusciante was addicted to heroin, and in 92, this led to his eviction from the band during the Japanese Tour. Dave Navarro, ex-riffer of Jane’s Addiction was called for help to finish the work and he participated to the recording of the following album, “One Hot Minute”. His gleaming, cosmic and psychedelic style, with many wah-wah and delays, gave the band a boost. Everything seemed to work, but he left the Californian band at the end of the tour. Flea, bassist, got back in touch with Frusciante, who, freed from his old demons, accepted to come back.

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