New Interview: Red Hot Information

In the newest Interview Anthony Kiedis and Flea talk to David Fricke:

'I was afraid," Flea, the bass guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, confesses over the roar of a tour-bus engine. "I couldn't imagine going out with someone else. It seemed done."

Flea explains the way he and Frusciante wrote songs: "John would come in with an idea, bam, and I'd pick it up. Or I'd have an idea and, boom, he'd play the right thing. Done." Flea also describes their friendship variously as "pleasant", "tense", "brotherly" and "combative."

It's like his band is "missing a family member", he says.

The drummer admits he hoped Frusciante would change his mind, "which he's done before. OK, he's doing other things, but one day, I'm gonna get that call: 'Hey, it's John, you wanna jam?'" Smith does an affectionate impression of Frusciante's choppy, whispering voice. "Never happened." 

Klinghoffer says excitedly. "Flea and John had a special relationship -- I saw it for years. That Flea and Chad and Anthony could open up and let someone else in, someone new, is amazing to me."

Over a steak dinner and a glass of wine at a hotel in Big Sur, Klinghoffer -- an amiable, soft-spoken guy in a tall, wiry frame -- recalls a recent phone conversation with Frusciante. The two met when Klinghoffer was in his teens, playing with their own fraternal intensity on Frusciante's solo records and other projects. "I was talking to him about playing with these guys," Klinghoffer says. "He said, 'There's something amazing about getting up in the morning and playing something amazing with your friends.'

Frusciante could not be reached for comment. "I think he just wants to be free to do what he wants," Flea suggests, "without the commerce involved with being in a big band." 

Bob Forrest points out a significant difference between the two guitarists: "John exploded to power and money so quickly" when he joined the Chili Peppers. "He never had Josh's experience of playing with other musicians."

Source: Independent.ie