The John Frusciante Community

A place for all John Frusciante fans to gather and such. It's primarily John Frusciante, but there will be lots of other music posted so people can expand their musical tastes. John Frusciante is such a genius. He connects all of us through his music which is simply beautiful. Enjoy. Run by Alex, Andrew, Amber, Lilith, Mel Topics Articles Audio Collaborations Covers Creative Writing Fan Art Funny GIFs Interviews Links Live Music Music Videos Philosophy Photos Quotes Rare Music Recordings Reviews Sharing Music Videos Or search by name of band, person, album, song or venue.

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Stream a song here and pre order the EP. Lilith

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Wonderful to hear John sounding so happy.

Pretty crushed that he talks about never performing live again though!

- Lilith @femiknessm

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John Frusciante, April 2013 photo session

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PBX FUNICULAR INTAGLIO ZONE

PBX FUNICULAR INTAGLIO ZONE

The clues were there on Letur-Lefr. Last time around, I put forward my thoughts that that album was essentially about love – the newfound love of John’s life somehow being reflected in his new form of music. PBX takes this even further, as I’ll hopefully demonstrate later on. What I missed on Letur- Lefr were the oblique nods to RHCP – mostly hidden within the words that John didn’t write – “Funky Monk’s his name” is a nod to the returning “villain”, John, and a neat nod to his past. The rappers also “spit like an AK” which could be a rifle, or could be a Kiedis. Tellingly, these references are left oblique, not even from John directly, and we are no nearer to fully understanding whether they are tributes or dismissals. John’s relationship to his former band’s music remains oblique.

Or does it? It took me quite a lot of time and study to figure out what I think John is trying to do with PBX. In much the same way as I believe you can only enjoy Smile when you understand and appreciate the circumstances of its creation, so PBX requires similar insight to allow true appreciation. Now, of course, I have no real way of knowing John’s intentions, but there is sufficient evidence within these songs  to make a series of compelling guesses.

I think PBX is, in all ways, musically and lyrically, a response and an antidote to John’s popular music. In his interview for the book “Feeding Back”, John states that his time with RHCP was a time when he was interested in exploring what would happen when he limited his creativity to popular music. He also says that he is no longer interested in working within these restrictions.

One of the most jarring things about the record, until you fully understand it, is its almost stream of consciousness style – electro drum beats that both do and don’t fit the songs, eclectic changes in tempo (though this fits in with his earlier philosophy around guitar solos, as can be seen on his YouTube tutorials), vocals floating oddly in the mix. The true genius of all of this is that it is fully intentional, and works almost as part of the album’s manifesto – to make the freest, wackiest kind of music, not shackled by perceptions of what has gone before, or how a song ought to be structured. John is throwing out the rulebook, drawing a line under his melodic, structured past, and TELLING US ABOUT IT IN THE LYRICS.

“He don’t see now you don’t see the heaps of elevation in me. No-one gave me time or rhythm – I don’t give you mine”. Who’s “he”? Is it Anthony? Or Flea? Or someone else unable to see that John is now making music on a different level. He uses the word “elevation”, which maybe suggests he does see this as an improvement - I’m not 100% convinced of this, nor would I want every album from here on in to sound like this, but at least in throwing out the rulebook, John is striving for something new, which could also be something great.

This is his musical letter to fans. It sets out his stall really clearly – he doesn’t owe anybody anything. He doesn’t have to make the sort of music we expect, just because it’s the sort of music we expect. This lyric alone is an explicit statement of where John is at right now – people are welcome to come along and listen, but they’ll basically get what they are given.

It’s a compelling message. Later, he states “in enemies hands, I don’t have to measure” – he isn’t calling his fans enemies, but those that would have him stay the same are, in a way, enemies to the new John. I guess most of us have been to RHCP gigs. There are always great crowds of fantastic people. But there are also lager swelling louts, for whom the whole experience is just an excuse to hear songs from the radio while getting drunk or doing drugs. Those are the enemies, and for the time being, in not making pop songs, but by returning to his esoteric roots, John no longer has to measure his success in their terms.

“And I’ve seen a million eyes at once, staring as one” – this must be those self-same crowds. “Sum” is another love letter to Nicole – all the love, the hero worship and adulation of those crowds, while not dismissed here, is put into perspective and eclipsed by the love of just that one special person. “You are the apple of my life. There’s no-one but you in the world that I’d choose” – clearly, he doesn’t need the million adoring eyes, he only needs two.  In boiling it down to this most personal statement, John still makes it all about love. There can be no doubt that he makes no apology for the wackiness on display – the music is just for him now, and maybe for Nicole as well. And yet, he put the album out to us anyway, allowing us to find our own meanings within it. He’s not telling all his fans to go away, but he is making it clear that if we do, he will still be making the music he wants to make.

This is John as he is now, and this is the music he is going to make. “I’d never been right before I walked right out that door”, he says, and we can only assume he means the virtual door of pop music, and/or RHCP. “I need a taste, I can almost face myself” is a stark reminder that this is a man who has been through much emotional turmoil – as they say, once an addict, always an addict, and I hope for John’s sake he doesn’t taste too much. But ultimately John knows that it’s our mistakes that “help us see that we make our own surroundings”.

This is the album that puts to bed John’s career as a popular musician, for now, but in so doing it does indeed elevate him to a full artist. You might well hate it, you might find it difficult to understand, but I urge you to listen again with your mind blown as far open as can be. There are some gorgeous melodic hooks in here, some expressions of musical language that will resonate deeply with anyone who spent the 1980s and 1990s playing video games (some of the synth work is VERY Nintendo and Sega, and it’s AWESOME!), and, within the lyrics and the music, hidden in plain sight, John draws a line under what’s gone before, makes no apology about what is coming now and leaves the future wide open and full of possibilities.

What we least expect may, indeed, be coming next.

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Frusciante Mix Challenge

A couple of days ago Lilith (femikneesm) posted a challenge to Twitter: a Frusciante mix, no more than 12 songs, your ultimate favourites. Like many challenges I've taken this quite seriously (it beats thinking about work, right?) and have spent the past two days devising a playlist in my head that comprises my all-time favourite John songs. And now, because it's Friday night and I have no life, I've emptied the contents of my head into iTunes (to test the flow of the playlist IRL, of course) and then onto this Tumblr page to share with fellow Frusciante fans. Enjoy...and maybe create your own if you feel like it!

1. Ramparts From my favourite JF album, To Record Only Water for Ten Days. This song makes me imagine I've been holed up in a house someplace that's sunny but the house is cold; it's surrounded by really high walls, and I'm walking outside into the backyard squinting into the too-bright sun. At first I'm hating it but then I'm just embracing it, standing underneath it letting it thaw me out. So random, I know.

2. Going Inside For something like seven years I'd not played TROWFTD. I'd lost it, and had to buy it back again (luckily, my local store had it as an import). Being greeted by Going Inside for the first time in ages was a sweet, familiar 'welcome back'.

3. In Your Eyes It's hard to pick a favourite track from Letur-Lefr, but I feel like In Your Eyes is really sweet and a great bridge between 'guitar-John' and 'electro-John', if that makes sense.

4. Walls WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLS! Need I say more? Also, Josh Klinghoffer.

5. The Afterglow This song is just transcendent. It reminds me of balmy summer nights and feeling content. And again, the wizard Josh Klinghoffer.

6. Omission So many of my favourite JF songs also feature a significant contribution from Josh. Shadows Collide With People came out when I was in Year 11 at high school. I remember repeatedly playing this on the bus to and from school on my CD Walkman (don't laugh!), falling more in love with Josh's voice each time. My favourite thing about Omission is that it actually feels like J & J are playing two separate songs that weave perfectly together.

7. This Cold This Cold has grown on me over time. When I first bought SCWP I barely noticed it, but I have gradually learned to listen more to the bass in music and not just what's going on over the top. The bass work in this song is some of my favourite in all of John's music.

8. Saturation Saturation pretty much reduces me to tears each time. At one live performance John said something to the effect of, 'have you ever had that feeling where sad music makes you happy?' then proceeded to play this song. Yes John, I have.

9. Central For me, Central is the high point of The Empyrean. I love the piano work (again, JK) and the searing guitar starting around 4.30. And of course, that 'John Roar'.

10. One More of Me 'What's gone will never come back / but it exists when you think of it / and what is anything anyway / but a series of things running through your brain?' These lines stay with me constantly and inform so much of how I go about my daily life.

11. Here, Air Here, Air is as close to perfection as music gets, in my opinion. It is honestly goosebump-inducing, and I don't say this carelessly. That beautiful lightness as John sings 'I am here for you now'...gorgeous.

12. The Will to Death A favourite for many, I'm sure. Such relatable lyrics, that soothing outro, the barely-audible whisper of the page turning after 'limitations are set, only then can we go all the way'...so lovely and intimate.

So there you go: twelve of my favourite Frusciante songs. I realise about half of John's albums aren't represented here, and some are over-represented. I love all of John's music in different ways, and this is just what speaks to me most.

x Mel

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Sean Marus - "The Epiphany" ALBUM REVIEW

Guys, I know many of you "know" Sean, and as he is such a huge part of our family, I thought that here would be the best place for me to review his recent album.

Andrew

An artist’s influences should always be apparent, although of course there’s a fine line between being influenced by something, and simply copying it. Happily, Sean Marus is well able to walk that line with precision, and while there’s no denying that, on this record, the echoes of the greats that have inspired him are there for all to hear, it’s also very definitely Sean’s own record, telling the story of his very own epiphany.

I’ll deal with the influences first, if I may. Sean and I “met” in the virtual sense though twitter, and more specifically, the community of friends on twitter who gather to appreciate the music of John Frusciante. What Sean takes from John isn’t a “style” of playing, per se, but more a deep rooted, emotional connection with music; an ability to express himself musically in ways that go deeper than vocal expression. It’s most apparent on the instrumentals, “From the Inside” and “Creature of Habit”, both of which remind me of low-fi John; Niandra Lades and Smile era Frusciante, where the textures of acoustic guitar and occasional, precision picked electric guitar come together to form something truly ethereal and otherworldly. As Sean sings elsewhere on the record, sometimes with words, “nothing seems to fit so I guess this will have to do”. It’ll do just fine.

Elsewhere, I’m reminded of the kind of relaxed, intimate recording methods of people like Elliot Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel and Conor Oberst, whose own song is covered here, perhaps being the most overt influence of the entire album. The album certainly gives that vibe – these songs are very personal, very much focused on the various emotional states of the man pouring his soul into songs for us, and so that they are produced in this quite intimate way, just layered guitars and vocals for the most part, fits perfectly with the mood of the album.

And so what of the mood? To me, “The Epiphany” is a story of love in all its forms. It tackles the loneliness that comes when we are without love, the feelings we feel when we have lost love, the fear we feel when we begin to love and ultimately, the joyous redemption that love brings. No other force in the universe can affect us in quite so many ways as love, and Sean’s ultimate epiphany seems to be that, across this album, he is able to accept love and all the trappings it brings. It’s presented in three distinct parts, and in many ways I think the three parts deal with the differing stages of love.

Part I: The Seed:

“I Live Through You” is the tale of an unhealthy kind of love, when the only reason for living is that other person, but when somehow that’s not enough, and it pushes that  person away. It feels like a possessive, self-destructive kind of love that can ultimately only fail.

The cover of Bright Eyes’ “Lua” is a sweetly sung, well interpreted tale of two people who long for a connection but are scared to make it. Both lovers are able to connect physically, but both know that by the morning, no other scary feelings will come along to tie them together. They won’t allow it.

Part II: The Infection:

“Collapse” deals with us at our most desperate, when the demons that inhabit our minds have done their finest work, and we are on the verge of breaking down. If only we could stop these feelings, and eradicate that self-doubt, that inability to love ourselves, then the love of someone else may yet break into our world and save us.

“Drained” deals with our ability to survive after love, to rediscover the bits of our selves we thought we had lost when our love had broken down.

Part III: The Epiphany:

“Fever Dream” brings us hope that love can save us, though it shows that even love can’t be perfect. Here, our artist admits to needing “this bottle of pills (to) feel something or nothing at all”; the concept of the fever and the dream makes this love something transient; something that could either solidify into reality, or dissipate like a dream you just can’t remember in the morning. It’s love at its most precious, and its most vulnerable. The implication here is that the love does not last, but that it is something we can learn from. “Just because it hurts doesn’t mean I’d wish it all away” is an acknowledgement that the good times were worth the heartache of the bad, and “who knows what would I would be if what was never would have been” is a sweet lament to a lost love that, nevertheless, made the world a better place in which to live.

The last two songs on the record, though, show us that through all these stages of love, we can come out stronger, and ready to love deeper and better than before. “Before I found you here I trembled with fear”, admits Sean, before revealing that “you put the sun in my darkened sky and I can feel you in my mind” – that level of intimacy, when the other person occupies your head and your heart, is something to which we can surely all relate.

“Breaking Through” closes the album by bringing us right into the moment of love – it’s a joyous, uplifting song that proves that however rocky the road of love, it’s always the best road to walk. Through love, Sean tells us “I made it out of hell, and I’d do it all again to meet you on the other side and hold your gorgeous hand”. It’s the way we should all feel about love – maybe a little sad, maybe a little bruised, maybe a little scared; but also full of hope, and full of the certainty that it’s all worth it in the end.

A few more things I noted before I go. I’ve dealt with the ways in which the album is influenced, musically, but I must also draw attention to the lovely way in which it’s put together. Low fi and intimate it may be, but it’s also strikingly beautiful, played with some real technical flourishes, as well as sack loads of heartfelt emotion.

Vocally, it’s also very nice, although this is the only place in which I can level any form of constructive criticism, which is something I did promise. The vast majority of the album is sung in the lower part of Sean’s vocal range. Now, this is not a bad thing in many ways, because he has such a rich, deep tone to his voice (if you imagine what it might have sounded like if Eddie Vedder or Kurt Cobain had made an Elliot Smith record, you’re somewhere near, and of course that’s no bad thing), and yet there are a few select moments where Sean really lets rip vocally, and the turbo charge of emotional power he sends across the music in those moments is so electrifying, it’s something I’d like to hear more of in the future.

Ultimately, I can say only good things. “The Epiphany” is clearly a labour of love, about love, and it displays an understanding of that love, in all its forms, and with all its consequences. Very, very special. Highly recommended.

You can (and should) download Sean’s album a thttp://seanmarus.bandcamp.com/album/the-epiphany

You can download the album for free, but I would urge you all to make some contribution, however small, to show this guy that for some people at least, music is still worth something. Help him make a second album, guys, because I for one want to hear it.

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RHCFamily BOOK

http://www.mediafire.com/?qq7a10yryyij4

Follow this link to access a book made by RHCP fans, for RHCP fans. Much John content as you'd expect

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Have people listened to these demos on the bandcamp page? I am really loving them!

Lilith

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Some Thoughts on Letur Lefr

I guess I must be some kind of masochist, because I am kind of addicted to reading the comments on YouTube. What has struck me most about comments on the Letur tracks is that so many people are asking, if this music wasn’t Frusciante, would you be listening to it?

I have to admit, this has given me pause. My friends and family have dubbed me “John blind” - which means that I think everything he does is marvellous, and I’ll love it no matter what. To some extent this is true. Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that Frusciante fever is pretty much a permananet state for me, after all. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that.

When it comes to John’s latest, I have to confess that this is not the type of music I usually listen to. My exceedingly large record collection does not feature any hip hop, or rap. I don’t think I own any R&B that dates past the 1970s. I am not really a fan of electronic music, either. I was a teenager in the 90s, and that is when I really formed my musical tastes. I never got into the ‘rave’ scene, and playing a lot of early Nine Inch Nails was about the extent of my exposure to electronic music. But I’m not completely closed minded either. Some of my favourite artists - including John - have been using electronic components in their music for ages, and I’ve certainly come to respect and actually enjoy that.

So. Letur. If I am really honest, I have to admit that it is not an album I would have picked up, or played, if it were not a Frusciante release. But how glad I am that I did play it (repeatedly). I genuinely believe that the first and last tracks are two of John’s great ones. I love them. I love the layers, the vocal effects, the denseness of the sound. And I love the three other tracks as well - FM the least, but I keep waking up with it in my head, so that probably won’t be the case for long. I am grateful for this EP, becuause it has exposed me to musical styles I simply would not listen to otherwise.

I think this is really one of the most wonderful things about John - he keeps striving, and searching, and creating something new, and in the process, he takes us a long with him. And that is a pretty amazing thing.

Lilith

@femikneesm

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The Red Hot Chili Family

Words that don’t mean anything Can mean everything at once Those words could take you anywhere If you’d just give them the chance They’d take you to California To meet a Venice Queen To the cloud of Raindance Maggie Or a bridge, where blood has been Drawn from desperate veins To mask the loss and heal the pain Or away to Ethiopia And California again This time to dream of spaceships Made in the basement below Raise a glass to all the family And the fields all white as snow!

Andrew

[lifeisabath]

[sophiecaley]

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John Frusciante, by Mike Piscitelli, 09th July 2012

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By the Way

10 Years On: A Retrospective

“Standing in line to see the show tonight and there’s a light on”. Has there ever been another line in another song anywhere that connects the listener with the experience of loving music as much as that one does? Small wonder that when people queue up to see RHCP shows even now, that song often breaks out among the crowd.

From there, the song explodes into a thousand different stories, as Kiedis’ lyrics paint pictures in your head. Like so much of his lyrical work, they manage to mean nothing, but somehow also mean everything. All the while, Flea and Chad power along with unbelievable rhythm, and John scratches out funky guitar beats before adding melodies, harmonies and depth both through his guitar and through his beautiful voice, which reaches never-before-heard highs on his vocal work for this album.

10 years ago, my 19 year old self lived in an uncertain but exciting world. The biggest thing for me was my impending university life, which was due to start the September after By the Way’s July release. I remember listening to that record on the train to and from university every day, and my best friend at uni was also a massive fan. We saw the band together for the first time at a festival show the following summer, and seeing those songs performed live meant so much to us.

Another time, when we were on a uni organised coach trip to London to protest against tuition fees (yeah, that was an issue even back then), my copy of By the Way was passed down the aisle and slid into the CD player. Every single person on the coach loved it. We sang along, a huge group of strangers, connected by the music.

Just the other day, while driving home late at night, Can’t Stop still managed to make me cry. Back then I was in love with the world, and always looking to be part of a wave. It’s so hard to understand what that song means – to me, it’s one for the misfits, so appropriate as the Chilis themselves are all slightly oddball characters, just on the fringes of cool, making music because they “can’t stop” , always looking to play the next “shin dig”, and for every fan, it feels like they do it just for us. “Ever wonder if it’s all for you?” Kiedis asks, and he sings to each and every one of us, while his crazy, burning talent of a friend lays down the best backing vocals ever recorded on anything, ever.

Listening to Can’t Stop now, all my love for the world and all the craziness in it comes pouring back into my heart even when I feel down. Hearing Josh play it live in 2011 was my moment of healing, realising that while I’ll always love John, I’ll always love the band too, and I am so grateful they are still around, even slightly altered. I know there’ll still be times when I’m standing in that line, looking at the light.

Of course, that’s only 2 songs discussed, but already I think you can get the idea that, while every RHCP record is a thing of beauty, there’s just something so special about this one – be it that it came into my life right when I needed it, be it that the melodies are so soaring and soothing; everything just works.

Universally Speaking is just a great pop song, all loose riffage and crooning vocals, leading to a soaring chorus and a simple, but beautiful guitar outro. The restraint John shows on this record, leaving aside true virtuoso style playing in favour of what I think he called a “British tradition” (he meant Beatles, Beach Boys, that kind of simplicity) is truly staggering. He only really lets rip in the traditional guitar master sense on Minor Thing, but all over the rest of the record he plays in little, subtle ways that you could easily miss. I Could Die For You must have been the song Macy Gray heard that convinced her nobody else could play on Sweet Baby, Dosed benefits from about 4 distinct but perfectly blended guitar tracks, Cabron and Venice Queen demonstrate the beauty that’s possible from an acoustic guitar, whilst also both containing beautiful electric playing.

Lyrically, the album is often wistful; it feels very much like the work of a band who have achieved much wisdom – it’s staggering to think that this was actually their 8th album, though for that line-up it was either the 4th or the 2nd depending on how you view things. I always see Californication as the beginning of something, By the Way as the middle and Stadium Arcadium as the culmination, but that’s just me. But whatever, the record is a beauty – it touches on drugs and the death of friends (This is the Place, Venice Queen), on love for lovers as well as life, on modern culture and its dark side “throw away your television” and “use two sticks” both cried for simpler times.

Don’t Forget Me is an extraordinary song. I went through a phase of disliking the studio version, because it’s such a different beast live, but actually, to put the song squarely as a part of this album, I think Rick Rubin maybe was right to mix it as he did. It has an air of mystery and danger to it, as well as the great backing vocals and thunderous playing from all involved. It’s phenomenal played live with the guitar ramped up to the rafters, but in the context of Frusciante’s restrained approach to the rest of this album, it would have jarred presented in any other way but this.

We get a few funky moments too; Can’t Stop, Throw Away Your Television and On Mercury all fill those gaps, but never stray too far from a melody either. Melody comes to the fore on songs such as I Could Die For You, Midnight andTear; but every single song is blessed with enough melodic hooks to keep the listener singing along forever.

Then we reach the end with Warm Tape followed by Venice Queen. Both these songs bewitch me – Warm Tape a glorious love song not just about emotional love, but also physical love, rendered here as something so natural, as a “river that runs right through you”, Anthony urging his lover to love him without fear or shame: “make it for me baby and don’t be sorry”. So good I nicked my internet username from it (I’m @bluerockquarry on twitter, but if you’re reading this, chances are you already know that!)

Venice Queen is something else again. A tribute to a dead friend who, if I remember correctly, played a huge part in saving the lives of both Anthony and John, the song begins as a gentle lament, again using vignettes and snapshots to paint a picture of confusion, across which the friend in question, Gloria, is laid to rest, before the song soars into the sky amid acoustic guitars, John’s glorious backup vocals, and Anthony’s stark confessions and declarations of love and gratitude. “We all wanna tell her, tell her that we love her.” “We all wanna kiss her, tell her that we miss her.” “And now it’s time for you to go, you taught me most of what I know, where would I be without you, Glo?” It’s tear-jerking stuff, and Gloria should be very proud.

Like all good music, By the Way means many things to many people. That’s one of the great skills of Anthony as a lyricist and of this band as a bunch of musicians – they make music that can both be general and direct, and can be taken so easily into the heart and soul. I’m so glad I picked up this record; 10 years on, it remains a firm favourite.

“By the way, I tried to say I’d be there…”

Andrew Buckley

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Letur-Lefr

By John Frusciante

Since the news came, somewhat out of the blue, that John was to release new music this summer, I have been watching the various reactions of his fan base with something akin to fascination. There were those of us (at this point I must admit to being a huge admirer of the man and his musical output; a fact that will certainly colour this review somewhat) who were immediately positive; I think it’s fair to say, the ones who expected something totally different from anything that had gone before. Then those others that heard the word “electronic” and recoiled in horror.

Of course, electro and its trappings should be nothing new to long-time fans of John’s work, but I guess his status as so many people’s ultimate guitarist naturally means many people wish he would make rock album after rock album after rock album. Those same people probably wish he was still a Chili Pepper – but, for the time being at least, both those moments appear to have passed.

And it’s a good thing. On Letur-Lefr, we encounter a John making music with no restrictions; he is playing with tempo and rhythm, but still injecting every piece upon which he sings with melodies you feel have been a part of your soul forever. The two linked tracks that bookend the record are both beautiful – the last track prequels the first in a way only John could have thought of.

“In My Light” feels like the story of a man who has almost given up on love, but he is doubtless holding on to a bit of hope. Someone has walked through his wall of sleep and he is seemingly about to wake up. But maybe he feels inadequate: “I’ve shrunk in size, I’m a weakling, I’m the weak link. I’d be your guide but I’m not seeing” he sings; creating such glorious, heart soaring melodies in the middle of his kaleidoscope of electronic sounds.

“In Your Eyes” picks up the story, though for the listener this is where we begin, with a John proclaiming to his love: “in your eyes I will make a home forever. It’s the only way to look back and see ahead”, and again, it’s for this passage that John reserves his most beautiful vocal melody. These two songs are the most “traditional” John fodder on offer here, and I guess because of that they are both clear favourites for me. And as a fellow fan pointed out, there are guitar parts and melodies here that will ring more than a few bells to people who’ve listened to ”Unchanging” and “A Corner”. No bad thing it is, too!

Sandwiched between these two songs, we have the two “hip hop” tracks and the instrumental. “Glowe” we have all heard plenty of times thanks to it appearing as a free download upon ordering the record, and it’s a lovely little piece of music; the guitar sitting pretty among all the other sounds. “FM” is a real highlight for me; a bunch of John’s friends, including the lyrical genius that is RZA, build a case in defence of hip-hop over John’s music. Once again, John proves that good music is good music regardless of genre. 909 Day is, I think, less remarkable – it’s lovely to listen to, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t stay with me once the song is over in the way the other tracks do. Though I do, of course, love John’s little vocal performance.

All in all, the EP finds our John in great form – experimental, a little bit crazy in places, but full of soul and melody. He’s in great voice throughout – every little aspect of John’s vocals we have come to love, from the falsetto to the croon to the roar, can all be found here. Sometimes it feels as though the vocals or the guitar are too low in the mix, but then again that would appear to be the intention. John is demonstrating here that he will always grow and change musically, but at the heart of his work there will always be exactly that – heart.

Bravo, John! Welcome back!

Reviewed by Andrew Buckley

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Red Hot Chili Peppers – Knebworth Park – 23rd June 2012

[All, I hope you don't mind me posting this here :-) Please be aware that I’d had about 2hrs sleep after the gig, and this was the next night, after I’d drunk a bottle of vino, just for a change… I’m leaving my thoughts as they were thought though – albeit somewhat incomprehensible at times..]

It’s all over.  I have some critiquing that I would like to document sooner rather than later.  They were amazing, I don’t think Kiedis was (is) well though, vocals weren’t fantastic and Josh did the Factory of Faith chorus for him, which I think he thanked him for afterwards.  In my opinion it improved the song, I love Josh’s vocals, just beautiful.  Without going on much of a tangent, I love the way he sings without inhibition (excuse the pun) he sings as himself and he obviously enjoys doing so without self-indulgence or pretence of greatness.  (I love JK ;-)).

Anyway, the gig.

Was very good.  They didn’t do a lot of what I would’ve liked them to do: jam at the end of By the Way, jam at the end of Give it Away, play Don’t Forget Me, play Right on Time, have a really good final jam (etc, etc.)  Anyway, they were great, the intro to Californication was wonderful - the only point that (almost) gave me tears though (I wanted them to make me cry – godamnit!), they played Sir Psycho (with They’re Red Hot! :D), Soul to Squeeze (:’)), PEA! :D, Charlie (which I love ‘cause my lovely dog (man) was a Charlie, and he always made me smile), Higher Ground was pretty good, Dani, Throw Away (WITHOUT THE DON’T YOU EVER LEAVE – BASTARDS.), yeah, tbh it was a pretty standard gig…. I loved it, grinned, danced and was in my absolute element throughout, but… I had thought due to the sheer number of people there they might do something special, which to me they didn’t.  I’d’ve liked an awesome final jam, a jam at the end of BTW (shock, horror) (I booed them at this point, the faces on the people stood around we were pictures), and maybe one of their new songs – why not?  Why aren’t they putting them out there, they obviously want people to buy them so why the fuck not play them? 

Anyway, it was brilliant.  I’m just a bit sad that I walked out saying “I’m a little disappointed”, which is fucking ridiculous – FFS – I saw the Chilis!  It’s not like it’s an everyday experience, only my third time (I hope there shall be more!), it was brilliant and wonderful and I love them.  Josh was amazing, much better than he was six months ago and sang much more too, obviously his confidence (unsurprisingly) has increased.  I saw the Chilis, I’m devastated there’s a big but, but there is, but they were wonderful and I love them as much as ever – which is a lot!  (I love you, Josh, Flea, Chad and Anthony (AND JOHN!))

Amber

[jfrusciantesite]

A child has this relationship to a creative force, you know? Yeah, your parents gradually, you know, they gradually shove your face in the concrete, and so do your teachers and school system and…everything’s working against you, but…but…but the force of creativity nature is not working against you - it’s right there for you, at any time! You just…you know, you just have to be ready not to judge yourself and to be open to whatever’s gonna come through you and to-to be ready to not…to not…eeeh to not judge what comes through, but be alright with it, whatever it is, cause it’s just the universe of expressing yourself.

The Heart Is A Drum Machine (via jfrusciantesite)