Stadium Arcadium Era - Los Angeles Times Photoshoot, Los Angeles, 8 January 2005. During the recording period of Stadium Arcadium, the LA Times decided to take a visit to the home of guitarist John Frusciante. The extract in the paper reads:
Ā Ā -Ā The Hollywood Hills home of Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante has been the site of prolific musical activity lately, but the Moderne-style house also has reminders of a time when the musician flirted with oblivion.
An impressive collection of framed Andy Warhol movie posters alludes to days when his main activity was sitting in a drugged stupor watching Warhol and Bogart films.
And as he now sits on his living room sofa, Frusciante, 34, makes no effort to conceal arms whose smooth, scarred surface makes him look like a burn victim ā testimony to years of indiscriminate injection.
āI used to O.D. on cocaine all the time on my own and get myself out of it,ā he recalls. āIt was like a game for me, it was fun. That was how I got my kicks, from getting as close as I could to dying without actually dying.ā
āJohnās a very extreme person in what he does,ā says Flea, bassist and co-founder of the Chili Peppers. āHe never half-steps with anything.āRock musiciansā fascination with the abyss has become a familiar story, but few have gone so far out and bounced back so strongly as Frusciante.
Heās been back in the Chili Peppers for seven years after quitting for five, the band is at the top of its game, and heās ensconced as an A-list guitar hero (heās one of the elect on the cover of Guitar World magazineās 25th anniversary issue). He has just wrapped up a series of six solo albums that, remarkably, heās releasing in a seven-month span.
Fruscianteās lost years mark one of the most turbulent stretches in the history of a band that has made a byword of turbulence. Ironically, he came aboard in 1988 as a stabilising force, a teenage fan of the rowdy, popular but erratic L.A. band who got to join his idols and help transform them into a group with credibility and a substantial body of work. His pure, soulful style helped turn the band from a manic, funk-based act into an often pensive unit with depth and texture. His second album with the band, 1991ās āBlood Sugar Sex Magik,ā was a commercial and artistic breakthrough, in part due to his co-writing role with singer Anthony Kiedis on the image-changing hit ballad āUnder the Bridge.ā It was a dream come true for Frusciante, who was born in New York but grew up primarily in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
āThere was a lot of things going on at that time,ā says Frusciante. āAnthony and I were getting along less and less. Basically we got real successful and his response to the success was to bask in it, to hold on to it for everything itās worth. And my attitude was to resist, to back offā¦. I think itās a healthy way to respond to success.ā
He also felt that touring threatened the creative routine he had developed at home. So Frusciante abruptly quit the band during a tour of Japan and went off to indulge his demons.
Frusciante lived on royalty checks during his half-decade on drugs, but eventually the money and the creativity dried up. When he finally went into detox in 1998, he was surprised to find his old bandmates, who had made one album with Janeās Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, eager to reconcile, even though his musicianship had deteriorated.
āIt didnāt matter that my fingers were very weak and my guitar playing didnāt sound the way it used to sound, and that I couldnāt think as quickly musically,ā he says. āThey didnāt see any of that stuff. They saw in me what I was capable of, and for that Iāll always feel indebted to themā¦. Itās the best thing anybody ever did for me.ā
Now heās clear-eyed and in control.
āIāve seen John go through a lot of phases in his life,ā says Flea. āRight now heās is in my favorite phase that heās ever been in. Heās beautiful with his relationship to music, heās become a much more kind and giving and caring and understanding person. I just think heās in a really great space right now.ā
Frusciante couldnāt be in a much better situation. The Chili Peppers are about to record a new album, hoping for a spring release. He has a progressive-rock instrumental band with Flea and Omar Rodriguez of the Mars Volta as an outlet. There have been two successful Chili Peppers albums since he rejoined, āCalifornicationā and āBy the Way.ā And when the band took a six-month break in late 2003, it was a chance to do even more work.
āIām not somebody whoās really big on going on vacations or things like that,ā says Frusciante. āFor me itās about playing music all the time and about studying music all the time. Listening to music all the timeā¦ā
During the break, the guitarist found himself with about 70 songs heād accumulated over three years. Instead of discarding the bulk of them or taking years to release them, he began recording quickly, and before he knew it he had his series ready to go. He was shooting for six albums in six months, but a printing error on the cover delayed the December release of āCurtains.ā It now comes out Jan. 25.Released on the Santa Monica-based Record Collection label, the albums ā āThe Will to Death,ā āAutomatic Writing,ā āDC EP,ā āInside of Emptiness,ā āA Sphere in the Heart of Silenceā and āCurtainsā ā reflect his diverse taste, from raw, cathartic rock songs to progressive instrumental explorations to electronically enhanced experimentation to the acoustic sound of the finale.
āI always have to try to go in an extreme from what Iāve last done,ā he says. āEven in that six-month period, to me each record is completely different from the nextā¦."Basically I just keep changing. I like to keep contradicting myself, whether itās in the style of music Iām playing or in writing lyrics. Itās games of contradiction that keep me interested in what Iām doing.ā
Frusciante didnāt want to do any marketing, figuring the records would find their natural audience, but heās been surprised by how little attention theyāve received in specialty publications that generally revere his work. He thinks it might be a case of too much too fast.
āIād definitely like to dispel any notion that thereās very little effort going into it or that Iām doing some kind of throwaway albums or something. Itās just the way my life is structured that I have to release them that quickly. My only option is to do a lot of albums during a short period of time when I can.ā
But he stops when he hears himself complaining.
āItās all positive to me, because in general where my life is at is really positive. I have a few really good friends, I love being in my band, I love being given the opportunity to make the music Iāve made. Itās such a blessing to me. I didnāt have anything five years agoā¦. I had no freedom at all before, and now I have nothing but freedom.ā
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