John Frusciante

John Frusciante

John Anthony Frusciante (IPA pronunciation: [fɹuˈʃɑnteɪ]) (born March 5, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he has recorded five studio albums. Frusciante also maintains an active solo career, having released nine albums under his own name, as well as collaborations with Josh Klinghoffer and Joe Lally under the name Ataxia. His solo recordings incorporate a variety of elements ranging from experimental rock and ambient music to New Wave and electronica. Drawing influence from guitarists of various genres, Frusciante emphasizes melody and emotion in his guitar-playing, and favors vintage guitars and analog recording techniques.

Frusciante joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the age of 18, first appearing on the band's 1989 album Mother's Milk. The group's follow-up album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, was a breakthrough success. However, he was overwhelmed by the band's newfound popularity and as a result quit in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a long period of heroin addiction, during which he released his first recordings: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and Smile from the Streets You Hold (1997). In 1998 Frusciante successfully completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Chili Peppers for their 1999 album Californication. Since then he has continued to record with the band and has received critical recognition for his guitar-playing, having ranked eighteenth on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2003.

Biography

Early life

Frusciante was born in Queens, New York on March 5, 1970. His father, John Sr., was a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his mother Gail, was a promising vocalist who gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mother. Frusciante's family relocated to Tucson, Arizona, and then Florida, where his father still serves as a Broward County judge. His parents separated, and he and his mother subsequently moved to Santa Monica, California.

A year later, Frusciante and his mother moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles with his new stepfather who, according to Frusciante, "really supported me and made me feel good about being an artist." Like many youth in the area, he became involved in the L.A. punk rock scene. At age nine he became fixated on The Germs, wearing out several copies of their album (GI). By age ten he had taught himself how to play most of (GI)'s songs in a tuning that allowed him to play every chord with a single-finger barre. Soon after, Frusciante began taking guitar lessons from a player who introduced him to the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Frusciante began studying guitarists like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix at the age of eleven. After mastering the blues scale, he discovered Frank Zappa, whose work he would study for hours. Frusciante dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen with authorization from his parents and completion of a proficiency test. With their support, he moved to Los Angeles on his own in order to focus on sharpening his musical skills. He began taking classes at the Guitar Institute of Technology, but soon figured out a way to punch in for classes without actually attending.

1988–1992: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Main article: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Frusciante first saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert when he was fifteen and soon became a devoted fan. He idolized guitarist Hillel Slovak, and studied and learned virtually all the guitar and bass parts from the Chili Peppers' first three albums. Frusciante became acquainted with Slovak by frequenting Chili Peppers shows; they spoke at the last show Frusciante attended before joining the group:

...Hillel asked me, 'Would you still like the Chilis if they got so popular they played the LA Forum [a large venue where mainstream acts play]?' I said, 'No. It would ruin the whole thing. That's great about the band, the audience feels no different from the band at all.' There was this real kind of historical vibe at their shows, none of the frustration that runs through the audience when they jump around and can't get out of their seat. I didn't even watch the shows. I'd get so excited that I'd flip around the slam pit the whole time. I really felt like a part of the band, and all the sensitive people in the audience did too.

Frusciante became friends with former Dead Kennedys drummer D. H. Peligro in early 1988. They jammed together on numerous occasions, and Peligro invited his friend Flea (bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers) to jam with them. Frusciante and Flea developed a musical chemistry immediately, with Flea later saying that might have been the day he first played the bass riff to "Nobody Weird Like Me". Around the same time, Frusciante was going to audition for Frank Zappa's musical congregation, but abandoned any such ideas before the final try-out as Zappa strictly prohibited illegal drug use among musicians in his band. In an interview Frusciante said, "I realized that I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs and get girls, and that I wouldn't be able to do that if I was in Zappa's band."

Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1988, and Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, who was incapable of coping with Slovak's death, left the group. Remaining members Flea and singer Anthony Kiedis regrouped, determined to persevere in the music industry. The band added Peligro on drums and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, formerly of P-Funk, on guitar. McKnight, however, was failing to spark any chemistry within the group. Flea proposed auditioning Frusciante, whose intimate knowledge of the Chili Peppers' repertoire astonished him. Flea and Kiedis auditioned Frusciante for the band and agreed that he would be a suitable replacement for McKnight, who was promptly fired. When Flea called Frusciante with the news of his acceptance into the Chili Peppers, Frusciante was so excited that he ran through his house, jumped up a wall and left permanent boot marks there. He was about to sign a contract with Thelonious Monster at the time (and had actually been playing with them for two weeks), but his unanticipated reception into the Chili Peppers prompted him to change his plans.

A few weeks into the band's new lineup, Peligro, whose performance was suffering due to extreme drug abuse, was fired from the band. Soon after, Chad Smith was added as the group's new drummer and the new lineup began recording their first album, 1989's Mother's Milk. During recording, Frusciante wanted to focus his playing on emulating Slovak's signature style, rather than imposing his own personal style on the group. Producer Michael Beinhorn disagreed, and wanted Frusciante to play with an uncharacteristic heavy metal tone. Frusciante and Beinhorn frequently fought over guitar tone and layering, and Beinhorn's view ultimately won out.

File:Rhcplive1991.jpg

Frusciante (right) and Kiedis (left) performing as the Red Hot Chili Peppers during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour in 1991

The Chili Peppers collaborated with producer Rick Rubin for their second record with Frusciante, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Rubin felt that it was important to record the album in an unorthodox setting, so he suggested an old Hollywood Hills mansion, and the band agreed. Frusciante, Kiedis and Flea isolated themselves in the mansion for the duration of recording. Smith however, felt the mansion was haunted and refused to live there. For the duration of recording, Frusciante and Flea made few ventures into society, spending most of their time consuming significant amounts of marijuana. Around this time, Frusciante started a side collaboration with Flea and Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins called The Three Amoebas. They recorded roughly ten to fifteen hours of material, though none of it has ever been released.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik was a huge hit upon its release on September 24, 1991. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts, and eventually sold over seven million copies in the U.S. alone. The album's unexpected success instantly turned the Chili Peppers into rock stars. Frusciante was blindsided by his newfound fame, and struggled to cope with it. Soon after the album's release, he began to develop a dislike for the band's popularity. Kiedis recalled in his memoir that he and Frusciante used to get into heated discussions backstage after concerts: "John would say, 'We're too popular. I don't need to be at this level of success. I would just be proud to be playing this music in clubs like you guys were doing two years ago.'" Frusciante later said that the band's rise to popularity was "too high, too far, too soon. Everything seemed to be happening at once and I just couldn't cope with it." He also began to feel that destiny was leading him away from the band. When the Chili Peppers began their world tour, he started to hear voices in his head telling him "you won't make it during the tour, you have to go now". Frusciante admitted to having once taken great pleasure in a hedonistic existence; however, "...by the age of 20, I started doing it right and looking at it as an artistic expression instead of a way of partying and screwing a bunch of girls. To balance it out, I had to be extra-humble, extra-anti-rock star." Frusciante refused to take the stage during a performance at Tokyo's Club Quattro on May 7, 1992, announcing to his bandmates that he was leaving the band. He was eventually persuaded to perform the show, but left for California the following morning.

1992–1997: Drug addiction

Frusciante developed serious drug habits as a result of touring with the band during the previous four years. He said that when he "found out that Flea was stoned out of his mind at every show, that inspired me to be a pothead". Not only was Frusciante smoking large amounts of marijuana, he began using heroin and was on the verge of full-scale addiction. He went back to his home in California and fell into a deep state of depression; feeling that his life was over, and that he could no longer write music or play guitar. For a long period of time, he focused primarily on painting and producing 4-track recordings he had made during the time he spent recording Blood Sugar Sex Magik. To cope with his worsening depression, Frusciante dramatically increased his heroin use to a state of abuse; and subsequently spiraled into a life-threatening dependency. According to Frusciante, his use of heroin to medicate his depression was a clear decision: "I was very sad, and I was always happy when I was on drugs; therefore, I should be on drugs all the time. I was never guilty—I was always really proud to be an addict."

Template:Sample box end Frusciante released his first solo album Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt, on March 8, 1994. The majority of the tracks on the album were recorded while he was strung out on heroin in his Hollywood apartment. The effect drug use had on the album's sound is exemplified on its tenth track, "Your Pussy's Glued to a Building on Fire". Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt was partly recorded during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions, and was released on Rubin's label American Recordings. Warner Bros., the Chili Peppers' label, had rights to the album because of the leaving-artist clause in Frusciante's Chili Peppers contract. However, because he was living as a recluse, the label gladly handed the rights over to Rubin, who released the album at the urgings of Frusciante's friends.

An article published by the New Times LA described Frusciante as "a skeleton covered in thin skin" who, at the pinnacle of his addictions, nearly died from a blood infection. His arms became fiercely scarred from improperly shooting heroin and cocaine, leaving permanent abscesses. Frusciante spent the next three years holed up in his Hollywood Hills home; the walls of which were badly damaged and covered in graffiti. During this time, Frusciante's friends Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes went to his house and filmed an unreleased documentary short called Stuff, depicting the squalor in which he was living. The house was eventually destroyed by a fire that claimed his vintage guitar collection, and left him with a few serious burn injuries after he narrowly escaped. Frusciante released his second solo album, Smile from the Streets You Hold, in 1997. The album's first track, "Enter a Uh", was largely characterized by cryptic lyrics and hysterical screeches. Frusciante also coughs throughout the track, showcasing his deteriorating health. By his own admission, the album was released in order to get "drug money"; he withdrew it from the market in 1999. Although his initial motives for releasing the album were ignoble, Frusciante has stated that he likes the album and has promised to one day re-release it.

1997–2002: Rehabilitation and return to the Chili Peppers

In late 1997, after more than five years of addiction to the drug, Frusciante quit using heroin cold turkey. However, months later he was still unable to break addictions to crack cocaine and alcohol. In January of 1998, upon the urgings of longtime friend Bob Forrest, Frusciante checked himself into Las Encinas, a drug rehabilitation clinic in Pasadena to begin a full recovery. Upon his arrival at the clinic, he was diagnosed with a potentially lethal oral infection, which could only be alleviated by removing all of his teeth and replacing them with dentures. He also received skin grafts to help repair the abscesses on his ravaged arms. About a month later, Frusciante checked out of Las Encinas and reentered society.

Fully recovered and once again healthy, Frusciante began living a more spiritual, ascetic lifestyle. He changed his diet, becoming more health-conscious and eating mostly unprocessed foods. Through regular practice of vipassana and yoga, he discovered the effect self-discipline has on the body. To maintain his increased spiritual awareness and reduce distraction from his music, Frusciante decided to abstain from sexual activity stating: "I'm very well without it." All of these changes in his life have led him to a complete change in his attitude toward drugs:

I don't need to take drugs. I feel so much more high all the time right now because of the type of momentum that a person can get going when you really dedicate yourself to something that you really love. I don't even consider doing them, they're completely silly. Between my dedication to trying to constantly be a better musician and eating my health foods and doing yoga, I feel so much more high than I did for the last few years of doing drugs. At this point I'm the happiest person in the world. These things do not fuck with me at all, and I'm so proud of that—you don't know how proud I am. It's such a beautiful thing to be able to face life, to face yourself, without hiding behind drugs; without having to have anger towards people who love you. There are people who are scared of losing stuff, but you don't lose anything for any other reason than if you just give up on yourself.

Despite his experience as an addict, Frusciante does not view his drug use as a "dark period" in his life. He considers it to be a period of rebirth; during which he found himself and cleared his mind. Frusciante has since stopped practicing yoga, due to negative effects it was having on his back, but he still tries to meditate daily.

In early 1998 the Red Hot Chili Peppers fired guitarist Dave Navarro and were on the verge of a breakup. Flea told Kiedis, "the only way I could imagine carrying on [with the Chili Peppers] is if we got John back in the band." With Frusciante free of his addictions and ailments, Kiedis and Flea thought it was an appropriate time to invite him back. When Flea went over to Frusciante's house and asked him to rejoin the band, Frusciante started sobbing and said "nothing would make me happier in the world."

With Frusciante back on guitar, the Chili Peppers began recording their next album, Californication, which was released in 1999. Frusciante's return restored a key component of the Chili Peppers' sound, as well as a healthy morale. He brought with him his deep devotion to music when he returned, which had a significant impact on the band's recording style during the album. Frusciante has frequently stated that his work on Californication is his favorite.

During the Californication world tour, Frusciante continued to write his own songs, many of which would be released in 2001 on his third solo album To Record Only Water for Ten Days. The album was dissimilar to his preceding records in that it wasn't as markedly stream-of-consciousness or avant-garde. However, the album's lyrics were still very cryptic and its sound was notably stripped down. The songwriting and production of To Record Only Water for Ten Days were more efficient and straight-forward than on his previous recordings. The album strayed from the alternative rock he had just written with the Chili Peppers on Californication, focusing more on electronic and New Wave elements. Instead of focusing mostly on his guitar work, Frusciante focused more on synthesizers, which are a distinctive feature of this record.

In 2001, Frusciante began recording his fourth album with the Chili Peppers, By the Way; a time that he considers to be among the happiest of his life. He relished the chance the album gave him to "keep writing better songs". His goal to improve his guitar playing on the album was largely driven by a desire to emulate guitar players such as Andy Partridge, Johnny Marr and John McGeoch; or as he put it, "people who used good chords". The album marked Frusciante's shift to a more group-minded mentality within the Chili Peppers, viewing the band as a cohesive unit rather than as four separate entities. By the Way was released in the U.S. on July 9, 2002.

2002–present: 2004 recordings and Stadium Arcadium

Frusciante wrote and recorded a plethora of songs during and after the By the Way tour. In February 2004, he started a side project with Joe Lally of Fugazi and Josh Klinghoffer, called Ataxia. The group was together for about two weeks, during which time they recorded approximately 90 minutes of material. After two days in the recording studio, they played two shows at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, and spent two more days in the studio before disbanding.

Template:Sample box end Frusciante released his fourth full-length solo album Shadows Collide with People on February 24, 2004. The album featured guest appearances from some of his friends, including Klinghoffer, and Chili Peppers bandmates Smith and Flea. In June of 2004, Frusciante announced that he would be releasing six records over the span of six months: The Will to Death, Ataxia's Automatic Writing, DC EP, Inside of Emptiness, A Sphere in the Heart of Silence and Curtains. With the release of Curtains Frusciante debuted his only music video of 2004, for the track "The Past Recedes". He wanted to produce these records quickly and inexpensively on analog tape, shunning modern studio and computer-assisted recording processes.

Frusciante at Madejski Stadium in Reading, England in July 2006

In early 2005, Frusciante entered the studio to work on his fifth studio album with the Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium. His guitar playing is dominant throughout the album, and he provides backing vocals on the majority of the tracks, as well. Frusciante, who usually follows a "less is more" style of guitar playing, began using a full 28 track mixer to display the full range of his guitar arsenal. In the arrangements, he incorporates a wide array of sounds and playing styles, ranging from the Blood Sugar Sex Magik to By the Way. Several reviews have stressed that Frusciante's influence by Hendrix is evident in his solos on the album, with Frusciante himself backing this up. He also expanded use of guitar effects throughout the album, and used various other instruments such as the synthesizer and mellotron. Frusciante worked continuously with Rubin over-dubbing guitar progressions, changing harmonies and utilizing every tool in his arsenal.

Frusciante began a series of collaborations with friend Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and his band The Mars Volta, by contributing vocals and electronic instrumentation to their album De-Loused in the Comatorium. He also contributed guitar solos on their 2005 album Frances the Mute. In 2006, he helped The Mars Volta complete their third album Amputechture by playing guitar on seven of the album's eight tracks. In return, Rodriguez-Lopez has played on several of Frusciante's solo projects including two songs from Curtains. Ataxia released their second and final studio album, AW II, on May 29, 2007.

Musical style

When the intellectual part of guitar playing overrides the spiritual, you don't get to extreme heights.

John Frusciante (Rolling Stone, 2007)

Frusciante's musical style has evolved significantly throughout his years of playing. Although he has received moderate recognition for his guitar work in the past, it was not until Stadium Arcadium that music critics and guitarists alike started to recognize his work. Frusciante attributes this to his shift in focus, stating that on the album he chose an approach based on rhythmic patterns that were inspired by the complexity of material Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen produced. On preceding records, however, he centered much of his output around the influence of various underground punk and New Wave musicians. In general, his sound is also defined by an affinity for vintage guitars. All the guitars that he owns, records, and tours with were crafted prior to 1970. Frusciante will use a designated guitar for the song he finds it suits best. His most frequently used instrument of recent times is a 1962 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster which he has used on every album since returning to the Chili Peppers, and their ensuing tours. Frusciante's most prized instrument is a 1955 Gretsch White Falcon, which he used twice per show during the By the Way tour. He has since removed the White Falcon from his repertoire, feeling there was "no room for it".

Frusciante uses a variety of vocal styles on his solo albums, ranging from the distressed screeches heard on Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt and Smile from the Streets You Hold, to more conventional styles on subsequent records. With the Chili Peppers, Frusciante provides backing vocals in a falsetto tenor, a style he established on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He thoroughly enjoys his role in the Chili Peppers as backup singer, and feels that backing vocals are a "real art form". Despite his commitment to the Chili Peppers, he feels very strongly that his solo material and his contributions to the band should remain separate. When he returned to the Chili Peppers in 1999, Kiedis wanted the band to record "Living in Hell", a song Frusciante had written several years prior. Frusciante rejected the request, feeling that the creative freedom he needs for his solo projects could conflict with his role in the band.

Technique

Frusciante's guitar playing is largely centered on melody and emotion rather than virtuosity. Although certain elements of his virtuoso influences can be heard throughout his career, he has said that he often downplays this as much as possible. He feels that in general, guitar mastery has not evolved much since the 1960s and considers the greatest players of that decade to remain unsurpassed. When he was growing up in the 1980s, many mainstream guitarists chose to focus on speed. Because of this, he feels that the skills of many defiant New Wave and punk guitarists were largely overlooked. It is for this reason that Frusciante chooses to accentuate the melodically-driven technique of players such as Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division as much as possible. He feels that their style has not been fully developed as a result of being overlooked, and therefore chooses to draw heavily from their technique. Despite this, he considers himself a fan of technique-driven guitarists like Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai, but represses an urge to emulate their style: "People believe that by playing faster and creating new playing techniques you can progress forward, but then they realize that emotionally they don't progress at all. They transmit nothing to the people listening and they stay at where Hendrix was three decades ago. Something like that happened to Vai in the 80s." Believing that focusing only on "clean tones" is negative, Frusciante developed an interest in playing with what he calls a "grimy" sound. As a result, he considers it beneficial to "mistreat" his guitar and employ various forms of distortion when soloing. He also tries to break as many "stylistic boundaries" as he can, in order to expand his musical horizons. Frusciante considers much of the output from today's guitarists to lack originality, and that many of his contemporaries "follow the rules with no risk".

Over the years, Frusciante's approach to album composition changed. On his early recordings, he allowed and welcomed imperfections to enter the sound, noting that "even on [To Record Only Water for Ten Days] there are off-pitch vocals and out-of-tune guitars." However, on subsequent albums such as Shadows Collide With People, he sought the opposite aesthetic: "I just wanted everything to be perfect—I didn't want anything off pitch, or off time, or any unintentional this or that." Frusciante views songwriting as a progressive development, which he does not force upon himself: "If a song wants to come to me, I'm always ready to receive it, but I don't work at it." Much of his solo material is initially written on an acoustic or unamplified electric guitar. Frusciante cultivates an atmosphere conducive to songwriting by constantly listening to the music of others and absorbing its creative influence. He also prefers to record his albums on analog tapes, and other relatively primitive equipment. This preference stems from his belief that the use of older equipment can actually serve to speed up the recording process, and that modern computerized recording technology gives only an illusion of efficiency. Frusciante tries to streamline the recording process as much as possible, because he feels that "music comes alive when [you] are creating it fast". He also enjoys the challenge of having to record something in very few takes, and believes that when musicians are unable to handle the pressure of having to record something quickly, they often get frustrated, or bogged down by perfectionism.

Influences

Although Slovak and Hendrix were arguably Frusciante's biggest influences prior to joining the Chili Peppers, some of his other early influences include avant-garde acts like Captain Beefheart, The Residents, The Velvet Underground, Neu! and Kraftwerk. Frusciante credits his inspiration for learning guitar to Greg Ginn, Pat Smear and Joe Strummer, among others. Heading into his adolescent years, he began focusing on Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, as well as lesser known bands like Public Image Ltd., Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Smiths. Frusciante also enjoys the acoustic one-man blues of Lead Belly and Robert Johnson, and the two were a notable influence on him during the recording of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. On Californication and By the Way, Frusciante derived the technique of creating tonal texture through various chord patterns, from post-punk musician Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. During the recording of Stadium Arcadium however, Frusciante moved away from his New Wave influences and concentrated on emulating flashier guitar players, such as Hendrix and Van Halen. With his recent solo work, Frusciante has cited electronic music—in which the guitar is often completely absent—as an influence. His electronic music influences include Ekkehard Ehlers, Peter Rehberg and Christian Fennesz. His interests are constantly changing, as he believes that without change, he will no longer hold any interest in playing: "I'm always drawing inspiration from different kinds of music and playing guitar along with records, and I go into each new album project with a preconceived idea of what styles I want to combine."

Discography

Main article: John Frusciante discography

Date of release	Title	Record label
March 8, 1994	Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt	American Recordings
August 26, 1997	Smile from the Streets You Hold	Birdman Records
February 13, 2001	To Record Only Water for Ten Days	Warner Music Group
March 5, 2001	Going Inside	Warner Music Group
February 24, 2004	Shadows Collide with People	Warner Bros.
June 22, 2004	The Will to Death	Record Collection
September 14, 2004	DC EP	Record Collection
October 26, 2004	Inside of Emptiness	Record Collection
November 23, 2004	A Sphere in the Heart of Silence	Record Collection
February 1, 2005	Curtains	Record Collection

References

• Kiedis, Anthony (2004-10-06). Scar Tissue. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0101-0. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Official website
• Template:Myspace
• Official Red Hot Chili Peppers website