Monday, October 21, 2013

John Frusciante Biography - Part 4 Before and after Red Hot & Toni Oswald

The guys from Universo Frusciante did an amazing job to make this biography of John Frusciante crafted from stories, facts and quotes from interviews and testimonials.  And I will just to bring it to you in English.

The before and after of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
"He just said," I can not do this. I can not play it anymore. "He did not want to play that night, so we had to beg him to make his last appearance. Conflicts with Frusciante had been going on for months." It was inevitable he would not leave, you could say it your way playing was angry band. If the band played something soft, he began to play more aggressively and vice versa. It was just to go against. He was really hating it as much as I loved playing with him, it was a great relief when it came out. "- Flea
"I spent a long time with Peppers disliking anything besides playing with Flea. Showing your eyes and my amp - those were the only good things. Anyway I left. Soon after recording the album [BSSM] was the first time I wanted to leave, it was because I saw the direction we were going in our career, I knew I would not like it. Peppers On the last show I saw with Hillel Slovak, my girlfriend asked me: "Would you like to be in the Chili Peppers, even if they were popular and touched the 20,000 places Forum Inglewood? "and I said," No, they will never touch the Forum because that would go against the whole reason we all come to the show and jump all over the place, it made ​​me feel like I was in the band. I can not imagine that happening. "In that time, being in a show of them was one of the denser vibrations that I have ever experienced on Earth. Was amazing. Was so magical, you really felt part of the band, even if you were in the audience . "
John leaves the peppers and then they call Dave Navarro, guitarist at the time "Jane's Addiction" to play in the band. The departure of John was well accepted by Flea and Chad Smith apparently, but Anthony Kiedis disliked the attitude of John and this further increased the conflict between them.
"As we were finishing the sessions for Blood Sugar Magik Sexy I started hearing voices in my head that told me" You will not make it during the tour, you have to go now. Do not challenge fate, forcing her life to take a direction you do not have the need to follow. "Often the most important choices in life are the things that you do not need, but contain some sensational and relationship with the future. These are choices that require courage because everything from an economic point of view or you always wanted to do in life, pushes these decisions. "
A few years after the departure of Frusciante but Anthony sees their status and feel compelled to pray and wish good things for John.
"I forced myself to want good things to John, hoping to keep him alive, healthy and happy. This is the best way to get rid of sorrows." - Anthony Kiedis 1995
My Friends
One Hot Minute (1995)
- We had these auditions without power [after the departure of John] we saw a million people and it did not work. So, Dave is provided. He came in and was ready to begin. He was ready to be in a great band and play. - Flea

Meanwhile, John was living in a mansion in Hollywood Hills. John only was involved in painting, as well as being a brilliant guitarist, is also a talented painter, has three of his pictures published in a book called "Musicians as Artists" (one of these paintings was painted by him and Clara, daughter of Flea ) and some other paintings have been exhibited in art gallery "Zero One Gallery" in Melrose, Los Angeles.
"When I was 18/19 years I felt good. I grew up reading interviews of artists, saying that they hated being on tour. For example, Frank Zappa did not like to travel. So I was not expecting a flower garden, it was absolutely easier than I thought. But during the BSSM era, besides the fact of being in a band that was beginning to have an early success, what I needed most was a chance to change what I had. And I just found almost at random: I was a songwriter and guitarist. direction I needed to take, but in the end when I left the band, I felt that my life was over, even though only 22 years old. might seem very stupid now, but then I I felt I could not write music or play my guitar more. I never think to do that again in the future. "
Some paintings of John:
     
John was falling into serious drug use, but increasingly people who knew him were getting worried about him. He was often seen with his friend River Phoenix, a promising young Hollywood actor who died on October 31, 1993, in front of the Viper Room in Hollywood after having made a fatal combination of drugs. This however did not change the habits of drugs used by John.
Phoenix was a star frustrated rock, in the days before his death, he was gone with the guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, they embarked on a major drug binge. "[Rio] stayed with John for the next days is probably not had a minute's sleep" ...

"Rio and John appeared" at the Viper Room. There was also Phoenix's brother, Joaquin, sister Rain, his girlfriend Samantha Mathis, Flea also a close friend and Depp. Once Frusciante and Phoenix arrived, cocaine began circulating ... - Bob Forrest
Although he was also writing short stories and making paintings, he was taking less care of yourself and your home, losing too much weight her eyes were wider and wider. He sometimes kept in contact with Flea, played together, and came to build a project with Stephen Perkins, whom they called "Three Amoebas", but nothing was released.

Author's note: John once said in 1994, have more or less 15 to 10 hours of material "Three AMEOBAS" on tape and wanted to release it, possibly between fires and changes in hotels all this material was lost.
"The first solo show I did was at the Viper Room, lasted just a minute, was the night River Phoenix died. Rang the song Life Is A Bath was the first time I did a show alone, played the song Life Is A Bath and threw up on my friend Gibby Haynes, felt the whole thing up when I was on stage, dropped the guitar and turned pro Gibby who was sitting on the stage floor and threw up on him, he laughed a lot. "
Talk about your friendship with River Phoenix, the late actor who would actually be in 'Niandra.
"River and I actually played together. We had a kind of communication that was intense, with just two guitars."
... - We did two songs. One is called "Bought Her Soul" and is the second song on the album. When I recorded the song, I said to River "Make sounds with your voice, I'll burn it reversely about this song, but you are not allowed to hear the melody."

Then he made sounds into the microphone while I was recording, listening on headphones. This is another voice in the background beyond my voice. It's perfect for music. We were cosmically together.

Bought Her Soul, seemed to be driven by a powerful emotion.

John and Toni Oswald

[...] Before the rise of the Red Hot Chili Pepper to stardom, Toni Oswald was already a close friend of Hillel Slovak, original guitarist of RHCP. Their friendship was broken when Hillel started injecting heroin.
"I took acid in school, but I was not very interested in using drugs, I was very afraid of heroin. Stopped hanging out with Hillel for it. I could not take it with me as well. I thought he was going to die. Then he sobered up, came back into my life, had a relapse and died. It devastated me. This really fucked my head. I was twenty years old. I lived in a bubble for months, wondering what the hell happened? "- Toni Oswald
Toni carrying the burden of guilt, along with your pain. She feels abandoned him when he needed help.
"My generation grew up watching the tragedies sixties, knowing it (heroin) could kill them, but romanticizing them. Nico, Lou Reed ... You know it's dangerous, but there is something about that and arrogance of youth. Hillel's death was a great catalyst for me (later), leaving John, when he was on the same path "  
Five months after the death of Hillel, Toni Oswald would complete 21 years. She celebrated with friends in "du jour" is a small bar in Los Angeles. Anthony Kiedis arrived and brought with him his new guitarist, John Frusciante. Two years younger than Toni, she found John arrogant but beautiful. She had a good impression of him at first. He [John] told his friends he had met a girl with a smile that would brighten the sky.
"They were working on [Blood Sugar Magik Fri] and I went to a party at the house where they were recording. Tonight Rick Rubin introduced us properly"  
After the release of BSSM, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were platinadamente now famous.Leaving the little scene funk / punk band from Los Angeles, toward international stardom. Was unexpected and disconcerting. John fought against all who see hysteria and falsehood with fame. Before long he questioned serious questions about life and art.
"The media was so intense. After every show, someone was trying to ask him questions. Was so fascinating to watch people from Rolling Stone, coming into our house. They were interviewing him in the living room, and I could hear them. I always I was delighted with what would end up in the magazine. they would turn every individual into a character and sell that image. "  
Finally in Japan, John reached his breaking point, along with the delusion that he was going through, I decided to leave the band.

Although it was what he felt he needed to do, he was depressed and beginning to isolate. He made ​​a conscious decision to use heroin, leaving Toni deeply conflicted.
"Drugs were something he found to numb their pain. Then he started using."  
Things started to go wrong. After a fire reaches your home, Toni and John move to an apartment in New York. They divided their time between there and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles ...
"I was crying all the time. Earlier I fought him. Was devastating. All my friends were using heroin. John was the love of my life. There was no way I could leave him. And there was no way I could stay in the relationship sober. "
For a long time he lived in close proximity to death, producing a haunting song transcendental, which confused the mainstream and thrilled the underground. But for those who live on planet earth, it was painful to watch his physical deterioration.

Heroin Addiction

During this time John began using heroin and crack much - he allegedly first used after the process of recording BSSM - he used cocaine throughout adolescence. At some point however for a mix of these drugs, he accidentally set fire to his house in the Hollywood Hills, which caused severe scarring on his arms.

One of the last things we saw in John's house that burned down, it was a short documentary called "Stuff".
"In the last show of Jane's Addiction in California, was the first time I did heroin use. I was so depressed after leaving the Chili Peppers and had so many things going on in my mind that I could not solve. The world seemed to be only this ugly place. My perception of things was completely reversed around where everything that was once beautiful now was ugly. I could not get any more happy to be alive. Wore heroin and cocaine all the time, so I felt I same again. "
Stuff
Made in 1993 by Johnny Depp and the lead singer of the Butthole Surfers, Gibby Haynes. Dr. Timothy Leary is also present in the video. The main purpose of the film was to portray the chaos that lived John Frusciante.

The Documentary was once aired on Dutch TV program called "Called Lola Da Musica", and was released in the 90s as a very rare promo VHS. "Untitled # 2" album Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt is featured in this film with a poem read about its melody.

"Unknown Song" - Stuff Soundtrack
"Gibby is my friend for a while, and Johnny Depp brought up here one night that I was still in a period of intense concentration in painting and he made the mistake of sitting next to me and tell me that the ink bottle I had was dead because the surface had hardened. So when he said "this paint is dead" I grabbed a bit of paint and threw it. But even though I have been bothered with it, the thing was taken in good mood. And even though he was in my home, he sat next to me for half an hour before I knew it. And no one can sit next to me while I paint, but the vibe was not getting in my way, so I figured it was a pretty cool person. And we three sat there all night listening to my music and they really liked. they kind of forced me to outsource it.

But they were startled by the way my house was, had ink for everything, so they wanted to shoot. But unlike people who have ideas in the middle of a night session, they came three days later with a team and filmed and edited. Just getting a little cool movie. But my girlfriend and I were going to do on our own to match the music, something for MTV and to be released on videotape. "
In 1994, John released his first solo album "Niandra Lades And Usually Just a T-Shirt." The album may not be well understood, but translates what John was feeling at the time, being a sad and introspective album. The album shows a great potential for John, getting some positive reviews. 
The album combines an experimental style in a narrative way, with guitar, guitar, banjo, piano, synthesizers, and a four-track recorder. The songs were composed between 90 and 93 while he was recording BSSM and the rest in his home after he left the band. And notice the noticeable decline occurring between the tracks on the album, the chronology of events.

Released in 1994 by Birdman, Rick Rubin record sold 15,000 copies. Was withdrawn, to be released again in 1999, 2003 and 2013.

Untitled # 3
The character [Niandra Lades] appointing the CD is an androgyny created by John, he wanted to create a fictional acid trip in homage to the artists of the '60s, their cosmic journeys offered by LSD.

John wanted to do one of two albums named "Niandra Lades" and another named "Usually Just a T-Shirt", but as he believed he was dying (as a consequence of drug) decided to release an album called Niandra Lades and Usually Just A T-Shirt, which contains the songs from the two albums he intended to launch.

The album is dedicated to Toni Oswald and Clara Balzary, Flea daughter. Two tracks were to be in it: Height and Down Well, I've Been to include the participation of River Phoenix, but ended up going back to the album (Smile From The Streets You Hold).

The album features the participation of Toni Oswald, his girlfriend at the time on two tracks.
"John who invented the name. I do not know where he got. Niandra as John / Rrose Sélavy is a character in the film." Usually Just a T-Shirt "appeared because when John went to tour in the beginning of our relationship, we decided to just wear the clothes of each other while we were away. Sent him on tour a big box with my pants and shirts and he called me asking what I used to wear my striped tights with those of the 60 that I had sent, and then replied, "Generally just a shirt. "After this phrase became the name of the tape we used to listen to in the car which contained the songs you presently know how Usually Just a T-shirt.'' - Toni Oswald
Released because John thought there was more good music or something like vibrations of Da Vinci, Jane's Addiction and Jimi Hendrix. So was supported by several friends, such as Johnny Depp, Flea, River Phoenix, Chad Smith to release it. The album features 25 tracks and two bonus that will come in rare cassette version of the album, Ants and Soul Removal. John wanted to put more tracks on this CD but "over the tape."

Ants

The version K7 album "Niandra Lades And Usually Just a T-Shirt," see with two bonus tracks.

"Ants," a song that was also part of the semi-autobiographical film "Gift" Perry Farrell, launched in 1993 and a nice long version of "Usually Just a T-Shirt."
I was recording on my four-track recorder which would be my first solo album, when I went to see Porno For Pyros. I went crazy over some friends there and Kurt Cobain was opening the show with a guitar, so I went to Perry and said: "I have songs that match your movie." Because I had seen a trailer. "You need more music for your film?" And he said: "Well, we'll edit it Wednesday somewhere in the St. Monica Boulevard and I think we have room for your music.". I was there the day with my music on tape and matched perfectly with the movie, so Perry called me and asked me: "She has a name?" And I said no and he suggested Ants, and I said it could be.
Gift - 1993
Movie scene which appears Ants

John says that the time per week spent 2 notebooks with lyrics. Some songs that were to be on this CD were stopping at Smile From the Streets You Hold, and one for the Estrus EP.
The first part of the album, Niandra Lades, was recorded before John ceases to be a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, during the recording of the disc Blood Sugar Magik Fri. The second part, Usually Just A T-Shirt, was produced as the band toured in the months before the departure of Frusciante.
"Usually Just a T-Shirt, the songs were recorded in the order they appear on the album, the first songs were recorded simultaneously while we were recording BSSM and the rest just before I leave the band. I think it's interesting that you can hear that the decline was happening inside me. I think the last two songs are the best on the album. Yet at the same time, it is very sad ... because when I listen, it sounds like a person falling apart, like someone about to kill . the reason why these songs are sad is the same for which they are good, and I'm proud that these songs are what they are. For the last song, I can say that I thought of it as meaning that my then took to leave the band, if I had not stopped playing, and my friend who played bass had not died.

All songs Niandra Lades were recorded in my living room at 8505 Hollywood Boulevard in Kings Road in Hollywood Hills. "
Niandra Lades And Usually Just a T-Shirt 
Time: 1 hour 10 minutes 13 seconds 
John plays: All instruments (guitar, guitar, banjo, piano and synthesizer)
Something interesting and that the front and back covers of "Niandra Lades And Usually Just a T-Shirt" are both scenes of a movie called, "Desert In Shape" conceptual film written and directed by friend and ex-girlfriend of John, Toni Oswald . The film itself lasts 17 minutes and was filmed in summer 1992 on Hollywood Boulevard, in the backyard of Greg Gibbs (a friend of John) and Malibu. It is an experimental piece with influences Marchel Duchamp and Salvador Dali. Clara Balzary, Flea's daughter, is the first 4 minutes and John appears only in the last minute of the film.

John is invoking the alter ego of Marcel Duchamp, Rrose Sélavy. In addition, two of his songs that later appear in Smile From The Streets You Hold, Enter A Uh For Air and compose the soundtrack for the film, along with The Nume Tutalar of Maria Callas.

Some movie images posted in 2009 by Toni Oswald
  
Desert In Shape was never released.
"The film is an answer to the question" Is there any way for us to see the film Toni Oswald about you, that Hood Niandra Lades? Could you tell us about this? "She finished the film recently, definitive and he remained without issue for a long time but has been done during this period, around 1992 - I think - or 1993, but the film is set in 1992, inspired by the ideas of Marcel Duchamp that she was with me when we were doing the tour the BSSM in Europe and I think I've always been sitting there and thinking about various things, so she was always writing in his notebook, elaborating this idea for this movie, which I seem to play the alter ego of Marcel Duchamp's Rose Sélavy, as was someone pushed her out of the house, with another friend of mine. The film was shown only recently at the Viper Room, they watched a movie at night and then showed it, and I do not know if I will have some kind of release or something -like ". (John)

"The film was created because I was having recurring dreams while traveling through Europe with John while he was on tour (with RHCP, 1992), and then I started writing a few things from the dream, and also at the time I was reading a lot of interviews and illustrated books about Marcel Duchamp and so the dream and Duchamp began to form a relationship ... The movie is about a girl who is trapped in her own imagination and also a part of his childhood, and she moves into the real world and then, as she comes through the work and philosophy of Marcel Duchamp, she moves herself to a body ready with the help of Niandra Lades (John), and turns "- Toni Oswald

In the same year the launch of Niandra ... After 2 years of his departure from Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante exposes all that he had lived in the "dimensions" of your mind, seemingly depressed he tells his shocking relationship with drugs and the reasons that led him to leave the group in peak of commercial success and critical.The interview took place in the small apartment of John in Venice Beach (Los Angeles - CA) where he lived at that time, by Bram van Splunteren.
"When the Chili Peppers became popular after Under the Bridge, it became increasingly difficult for me to make recordings with them for a movie. Once I was offered an interview for 20 minutes in a hotel room in Germany, and I was so arrogant as to refuse it. So I decided to stop trying to film them whenever he could. But then one day I was wondering what happened to John after he had left the band. had I shot him several times as well on a documentary about Jimi Hendrix and always had a good relationship. I knew a friend in Los Angeles who knew John and I asked my friend Dick Rude, if he could ask me to interview John up. did not take long time, so that soubesemos John was okay with that, then we search for it. I had heard some stories about drugs, but did not know then that he had entered this serious state of heroin use, so when he opened the door for us, I was shocked to see the condition he was in there, we probably something like two hours at his home, his girlfriend was there and filmed as much as we could. During one of the breaks, John went into another room and used some more heroin. I thought it was a bit shocking. But on the other hand, sometimes I thought he was very lucid and had interesting things to say about the Chili Peppers, about life, about yourself and about your music. When he leaves his home two hours later we were in shock, about how John was inside, the blood on his shirt, his teeth were very bad, the scars on his arms ... it was an experience find it very emotional in that state. Much later I discovered that only we filmed it, it's never filmed during this difficult period of his life. - Bram van Splunteren.
People who saw the interview were initially shocked. Instead of looking, energetic and happy time when John was playing with RHCP during the period 1989 and 1991, the world saw now a junkie whose voice was rougher than ever, he wore old clothes and messy, giving the impression of someone who was slowly forgetting how to play guitar. During some scenes, he lay down and closed his eyes, as a symbolic representation of death, which was likely and was being expected by many, to how their condition of dependency would be advanced.

VPRO 94
In 1995, the Peppers launch "One Hot Minute" with the new era in the band's guitarist, Dave Navarro, the album creates controversy regarding the sound and controversy after the release of the video for "Warped", where the last scene and Anthony Kiedis Dave Navarro kiss.

Warped
One Hot Minute (1995)
"For me, Dave Navarro was born to be in Jane's Addiction, so I think it was the best, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers he had no chemistry. He was in the other direction as a person ... I think he never loved being in the group. He spoke ill of them when he came, laughed at them ... I always felt offended by the way he spoke of Peppers, never seemed to be proud of the band. "

In 1996, John sinks completely into drugs, more specifically heroin, your situation is deplorable. The mansion in which he lives gets dirty and without any care, you could see blood stains everywhere, he loses almost all his teeth, his lips are pale and dry now, just a little wet by saliva, your nails are black by blood, feet, legs and ankles are stained with cigarette burns that he knocked, his clothes had dried blood spots and he fed a ration type Disabled.
John begins to spend most of the time at home, not daring to go outside. People were just closer to his home, saying there stank. And from then on, everyone begins to think that John was dead. In the living room of his mansion had CD's, cigarettes, bottles of water and alcohol, among other things scattered on the floor. His appearance is 20 years older, his voice becomes severely inarticulate.

If all this were not enough, he was kicked out for not paying rent, was even threatened by drug dealers to whom he owed money (had a moment he came to owe $ 30,000 to your dealer so he had to borrow money to not be killed).
"I have not forgotten anything that lived at that time. Finally, when I left the band and decided to become a drug addict, I believe I made the right choice. Was what I needed then. I was completely inside of me, to be there was what I needed to isolate myself from the hectic pace of the world. "
He was living in the Chateau Marmont hotel when the journalist Robert Wilonsky visited and wrote an article about it for Phoenix News Times. The same article appeared in the LA Weekly.

LA Weekly - November 1996
The life of a heroin addiction and Frusciante.

His upper teeth are almost rotten now, they have been replaced by tiny slivers of folder through the gums are rotten. His lower teeth, thin and brown, appear ready to fall, he coughs a lot. Her lips are very dry and coated with a thick layer of saliva that seems to glue. His head is shaved. Her nails, or spaces that used to have nails are black because of the blood. Your feet, ankles and legs are pocked with burns from cigarette ashes unfiltered Camel that fell unnoticed on your skin, it also has bruises, wounds and scars. He wears a flannel shirt old, only partially buttoned, and khaki pants. Dried blood spots appear in the pants. Rumor has it that the roll rockstars Hollywood never get hurt because they never take care. There were rumors of how John was hiding in his house in the Hollywood Hills, in a place where few dare to tread because of the stench.

Some people said it was the smell of death. It was probably just the smell of feces and urine left there over weeks and months. There are stories of an ancient superstar guitarist who now hardly see the outside world, which remains at home to read, write, paint and play guitar. And to poke. But they are not just rumors. John Frusciante's living the cliché rock star holed up at the Chateau Marmont, where the biggest names have already come and leave ...

He appears to be 20 years older than he had during his days of peppers, and her voice is serious and slurred now. He does not eat food, he swallows formulas high calorie canned, usually consumed by the elderly and disabled. He likes the way his body is - a skeleton covered in thin skin, because that's how David Bowie was in "The Man Who Fell to Earth". Frusciante says he almost died in February, he explains his body had "one twelfth of blood than it should have, and that blood was infected.

"My body does not produce any new red blood cells." So he left the drugs for a few months and was clean, as much as he could. But the world does not seem right to him through sober eyes dead, is not good for him to stay with numb hands. The spirits do not visit, the ghosts do not speak with him, the door of the heroine who opened for him had been closed, and he would again try to open it, even if it might kill him.
...
In the end, Frusciante became just another talented musician who plunges a needle in her arm every few hours - between playing and painting, between reading and writing, between preparing a new album and find a new home between the living and dead these days lists labels are once again stored with men and women just like Frusciante, although publicists to hide their habits artists.
After this interview, he was expelled from the Chateau Marmont and also the Mondrian Hotel. The article was sent to be printed and published, Robert Wilonsky was not sure if John was still alive. However, the more likely it was that John was with Toni Oswald, as stated years later in the booklet of "Greatest Hits - Red Hot Chili Peppers", he was listening to music and smoking marijuana in her car.

John was only 26.
"When I was 26 years old and had no place to live, sitting in stationary car of my friend Toni, and cigarette smoking marijuana coming from their livelihoods, I was not allowed to smoke in her car, wondering if my life was ending or if it was a fresh start, listening to REM and Radiohead, I felt that radio was my company (along with my K-7's of Bob Marley and the Butthole Surfers) ".
But in early 1997, John appears to the public again, looking and feeling a little better things, it shows the support of his old friend Bob Forrest, the Tour Nuttstalk call now for 8 U.S. cities Her voice was especially damaged and he committed many mistakes while playing. Years later, he revealed that he had not played for about 2 years before that tour. In Nuttstalk Tour, John has performed in small venues and bars, its deplorable state, John was often ridiculed, and many people said that the drug had destroyed his talent, would soon have an overdose and die at any time. Besides his solo acoustic shows, John had in his sets electric tracking Norwood Fisher (Fishbone) and Chris Warren (drum tech Chad).

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