The Watt from Pedro show, 25th January 2009
Part III
Mike Watt: Watt From Pedro Show. Started the third hour off with “Elephants†by Warpaint. John that’s something you just mixed?
John Frusciante: Yeah, about a year ago actually, but it’s just coming out now.
Mike Watt: Just a year ago. (Laughs) Just about a year ago.
John Frusciante: Yeah.
Josh Klinghoffer: Yeah, just after The Empyrean was finished.
John Frusciante: Yeah, it was done, like, exactly right after The Empyrean was finished. After we were done with The Empyrean, we, I started mixing, uh, Warpaint.
Mike Watt: The Empyrean? Yeah, I’m thinking about “empyreanâ€.
John Frusciante: It means the highest point in heaven.
Mike Watt: Yeah, yeah. It’s in the, uh, Divine Comedy.
John Frusciante: Right.
Mike Watt: It’s one of the…yeah, really up there. It’s where the choir is. It’s kinda where Beatrice disappears. She aint at the very end. She goes and sits near Mary. It’s, like, Saint Bernard, I think (laughs) ends up taking ‘em the last…gig…show…floor show. Empyrean. But like, Empirical.
John Frusciante: Are they, are two words connecting?
Mike Watt: Maybe, uh…
John Frusciante: I don’t think so.
Mike Watt: Maybe Empirical means something …
John Frusciante: Right, high up.
Mike Watt: Something you can measure.
John Frusciante: Yeah, but Em…yeah, but Empyrean is specifically…
Mike Watt: Yeah, Empyrean was a level above…cuz they thought the planets were around us. So it was above the levels of the planets cuz we were in the centre.
John Frusciante: Yeah, it’s supposed to be the highest point of the highest…yeah.
Mike Watt: Yeah, we were, uh, the idea was we didn’t go around the sun, everything went around us.
John Frusciante: Right.
Mike Watt: and Empyrean was way up there. In fact, that says levels of heavens are different planets. Yeah it was trip.
John Frusciante: Yeah, that’s something, you know, since it’s pretty impossible to conceive of space ending at some point, but at the same time it’s im…it’s all…it’s just as difficult to imagine it going on endlessly so…
Mike Watt: I know.
John Frusciante:…I guess the Empyrean is a way of sort of expressing…
Mike Watt: You mean like infinities?
John Frusciante: Yean, you can’t…it’s impossible to picture space ending at a point but it’s also impossible to picture it going on forever and, and the Empyrean was a way sort of…
(Music playing loudly)
Mike Watt: Come on. Stop Mr. Coltrane.
John Frusciante:…of conceiving of a highest point that could be, or something.
Mike Watt: Yeah. I mean, some infinities are bigger than others.
John Frusciante: Mmhmm.
Mike Watt: Which is kinda hard to conceive of.
John Frusciante: Yeah.
Mike Watt: Like the set of all numbers.
John Frusciante: Yeah.
Mike Watt: Right? They go one forever.
John Frusciante: Yeah.
Mike Watt: They’re always going to be bigger than the set of odd numbers.
John Frusciante: Right.
Mike Watt: Right?
