Monday, October 21, 2013

John Frusciante Biography - Part 3 Red Hot Chili Peppers

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.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Although John gave up competing to find that the musician did not accept that his band members taking drugs during the tour.
"I realized I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs and get girls, I would not be able to do this if I was in Zappa's band."
During this period, John began to write and record their own songs like A Fall Thru The Ground, among others.

At 17, John is addicted smoker, receives news that Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak overdosed on heroin and had died. This shook him deeply.

With the subsequent cancellation of the band's drummer Jack Irons, Anthony Kiedis and Flea would follow with the band, now seeking a new guitarist and drummer.The band had already chosen the former guitarist (P-Funk) DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight to occupy the post of Hillel Slovak, but when the chemistry between McKnight and the rest of the band was determined to be non-existent, he was fired.

John played sporadically with DH Peligro, which had long been a friend of the Chili Peppers. He decides one day call Flea to jam with him and a "boy who detonated on guitar." Flea was so met John. In this first contact where they met and first played together, Flea could not believe what I was seeing, much less what I was hearing, John was a clone of Hillel! Moved up and played like Hillel.


A Fall Thru The Ground
Shortly thereafter, Flea called John to play with him at his home, after he was sure that he would be ideal to follow the guitarist with the band.

John was almost signing a contract with "Thelonious Monster", but the peppers were faster and so John ends up as the new guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  
He was already on the Thelonious Monster. It was me, DH Peligro, who introduced John to Flea and Anthony, because he had already played in a garage band with me. - DH Peligro
"When I entered the RHCP, Anthony and Flea could have told me:" Listen, we're us and you will be just a guitarist. "So we could never make an album as Californication or Blood Sugar if they had told me this. Instead, I said: "You're just like us, even though we are playing at 5 years and you just join the band, their ideas are no less important than our own.". Consequently, we have a relationship that grows musically. "
Newly added as guitarist Chili Peppers. He collaborated on the debut album of singer and American actress Kristen Vigard, then backing vocalist of the band. In a refinement melancholy ballad called "Slave to My Emotions", John starts strumming ai what later would become his unmistakable style of playing electric and acoustic guitar.This song was co-written and produced by him.

Slave to My Emotions
"After the death of Hillel, Blackbyrd Mcknight we hired to play guitar. But the chemistry was nasty and was not working. Someday my dear friend DH Peligro said 'let's do a jam,' I know a boy who sets off on guitar. I I went to Dirty D's Garage and met John Frusciante and started improvising. was fun, I think that's where we wrote the bassline for 'Nobody Weird Like Me' that day. We played again shortly after the death of Hillel, I was very depressed. I called John a little later and asked if he would like to play me in a 4-channel recorder in my house. John came and was very nice, I thought, 'This kid's got ... I think it has to be our new guitarist. "And then I turned pro Anthony, who was with his family in Michigan and told him about what was happening. He returned to LA soon after and saw John making jam with Thelonious Monster and called me all excited and we agreed that it was in! To the disappointment of Thelonious Monster, we went much faster. Rob Graves said 'That's not cool, man, he plays very well, has a cool visual ... Fuck . 'John lived a street after me, with his friend Bill.'s father John was a judge and Senator Bill was, and they were crazy Freaks 2. Watching John Water's listening to Frank Zappa, intellectuals sex. "- Flea
When John joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988, he was presented as a neat kid - a kid again 17 years in Southern California, which would be in direct contrast with the original guitarist Hillel Slovak.
The famous instrumental song'' The Pretty Little Ditty'' RHCP, was born during a jam between Flea and John in the first session band rehearsals. So the new RHCP had to do a small tour, named "Turd Town" with John and DH Peligro.

At the time, Anthony after the shocking loss of Hillel Slovak, was in a period sober and thought everyone should do the same. As had some tension between him and DH, after the "Turd Town Tour" things got worse and he was eventually fired from the band.

After many test in choosing a drummer, Chad Smith is chosen.

The new band played their first show together on 09 October 1988 and soon after they recorded their fourth album, Mother's Milk.

Green Heaven Jam / Police Helicopter
John's first performance with the Chili Peppers in 1988.
"Something new and significant that happened at that time, was John and Anthony have appeared with the basis for 'Knock Me Down." This was very important and was a new creative development brought those two, did light a new and simple melody changed the basis of the compositional style of the band, which previously did not exist when most of the songs were bases and grooves were initiated with bass lines. was an entirely new element to the sound of our band and a large opening for new nodes. John really knew how to play. "- Flea
On August 16, 1989 they released the album "Mother's Milk".

Interview disclosure:
Very rare interview with Red Hot Chili Peppers HardNHeavy for the program in 1990 (subtitled).
"When we finished that record, we did not say" This is our best album ", but felt bad about Mother's Milk [Breastmilk]. However regretted the album cover. Flea invented the title in honor of bodily fluids Loesha, they were feeding their daughter, Clara. (Do not believe the rumors that "breast milk" is a reference to heroin.) Our friend Nels Israelson, who had done pictures from the second and third albums, had an old poster from the 1960s Sly and the Family Stone that his band Sly is holding in his hand. thought it would be great to be a little person in the hand of a giant naked woman. band not too enthused about the idea, but eventually agreed. Unfortunately I arrived late for the tests models for the cover and Nels had already chosen the girl. discovered that the model does not accept shows her breasts and I could not understand why the chose.
The cover was printed and breasts were covered, but the EMI printed hundreds of posters with their breasts exposed. These were for record stores and friends. I think it was Chad and Flea have written some perverted things in one of the posters, and model sued us. Earned $ 50,000, an agreement enormous at the time. "- Anthony Kiedis
With the hits "Higher Ground" (Stevie Wonder cover) and "Knock Me Down", a song and posthumous anti-drugs on Slovak ["If you see me going crazy | if you see me up | pull me down"] that seems fun and ironic, were not so strong in its real meaning.

In "Mother's Milk", Frusciante significantly alter the band's sound, putting more emphasis on melody and rhythm guitar in the band, which had dominated the band's previous material. Returning as a producer, Michael Beinhorn favored heavy metal riffs, widely used in the album "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)" and the excessive overdubs John, resulted in a constantly dispute the guitar sound of the album between Beinhorn and Frusciante. 
Knock Me Down
"When I joined the band, recording the Mother's Milk, the producers pushed me style funk-metal riffs heavier. That did not come from my heart, however, it now looks good to me. Though I would not be proud of the album, is probably our most influential album, a lot of people jumped when he heard. In some cases, we put 5 in both dirty guitars and a solo extra docked to bottom. When the tour ended, we started working on Blood Sugar Magik Fri, and I decided, consciously that would direct me to play towards Flea, leaving my sound cleaner and using only the distortion for solos. wanted them to stay and more minimalist space, creating more spaciousness to the sound. "
Mother's Milk peaked at number 52 on the Billboard. The album became the first gold record from the band in early 1990, was the first step for the band achieve international success.
John letter written by the members of the official fan club of RHCP in 1990, after the Mother's Milk tour.
Dear people who care enough about what we do to write us a letter,

I feel like a rockstar terrible and inconsiderate writing a generic letter like this to everyone who wrote to us. At the same time, it is physically impossible for us to write individual responses at all. We've been on tour for the past nine months, making it difficult to even organize a coherent sentence. Even I had never written a letter to anyone my entire life. Sometimes if someone has written me an interesting letter leaves your phone number, I'll call. But most of you do not let your numbers (probably for good reason). I would like to take this opportunity to write some aphorisms that then you do not think that this letter was written by someone hired.

1. Artistic expression, gender and sincerity are the only really important things.
2. Music is the face of God.
3. The best service you can render to humanity and to worry about their own affairs.
4. Never trust someone who says "I'll kill you in the name of God."
5. Buy an album by Eric Dolphy.

Love, John Frusciante (Froo-shon-tay)
In 1991 the Chili Peppers are hired by Warner Bros. Records, it also changes the producer ...

Rick Rubin takes the band stood out for being more liberal in contrast to the producers who had worked with them in the past. Eventually the band decided that it would be the best choice as a producer, and so commissioned to produce what would become "Fri Blood Sugar Magik". Rubin used to help organize the beats, guitar melodies and lyrics.

The band tried to record the album in an unconventional setting, believing it would increase the group's creative output. So for eight weeks, Rick took a different approach with the band for the recording of Blood Sugar Magik Fri: musicians were playing face to face, in the same room, using less technology possible. After recording the album were completed, was released a documentary showing the recording of Blood Sugar Magik Fri, titled Funky Monks.

At the beginning of the documentary, John is sitting on the roof talking about the importance of the 4th dimension, at another point, he's talking about various things related to sex and posing for photographs. John seemed just a regular guy for his age, having fun, but the fall was yet to come ...

During the recording of BSSM, he wrote about 60% of the music and came up with many ideas and improvements, including the brilliant and emotional guitar played on "I Could Have Lied". He also experimented with the songs falsetto background, who would later become his trademark.

The recordings took place in a mansion that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.

Sir Psycho Sexy (Unmastered unsequenced Tape)
The mansion also has been used by various names in music such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Linkin Park, Maroon 5, Slipknot and System of a Down.

Excerpt from Documentary, Funky Monks 1991.
"It's like the fourth dimension ... and I asked to verbally describe what it is ... the fourth dimension. No words, no symbols, no pictures.'s All pure energy and real. Vibrations and . And if I think how cruel this world and probably commit suicide after a while. If this is what I like, my energy ... Thinking about it certainly would not have the strength to create music "
Reaching number three on the Billboard charts, the album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and was critically acclaimed, thus beginning the popularity of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It has some of the greatest hits such as "Under the Bridge", "Give It Away", "Suck My Kiss" and "Breaking the Girl".

Under the Bridge

By reason of the tremendous success of the album "Blood Sugar Magik Fri", the Peppers did not stop more than playing shows around the world and give interviews.But the success was already breaking the friendship that was inside of the band, John was already exhausted from the tour, the friendship between him and Anthony Kiedis was gone, John and Anthony spoke only what is necessary, and this began to reflect the shows John sang out of tune, did solos in the middle of the songs and played guitar louder than the other instruments.
We're too popular! I do not need that level of success. For me it would be enough to play our music in clubs like you did years ago - John said.

- Not bad that these kids have been - I was saying. - Let's make a good show for them. No need to hate and get crazy with them because it happened.

He was furious, hiding and did not want to do what I wanted. That was my big mistake, we all want to react to the situation the same way I do. John had already decided what was cool, and play for a stadium full of boys ceased to be legal for him. I'd rather be at home listening to Captain Beefherat and painting. John was reading too much William Burroughs at the time, and his idea taken from Burroughs, was that every true artist is at war with mundo.Ironicamente, the more he despised our success, we became more popular. The more he stamped his feet, we sold more records, the more he was disappointed with the number of people passing through the door, more people came to the shows. I thought it was wonderful the fact that we have created something special and the world respond well. -Anthony Kiedis
And that made ​​it clear that it was full and well indifferent to the band!
"John was isolated. It was very important for us to connect as we played - We are not like the fucking Eagles that guys play and do not look in the face, or on stage. The band is a gang, a tribe, a great family, a brotherhood. Perhaps that is dysfunctional, perhaps we changed things, sometimes nerves get the flower skin, but even so we're a family. "- Chad Smith

"When speaking with a fan, you're talking to someone who is not talking to you.'re Talking about a picture with your image, we are talking to a poster, and even if you make the mistake of thinking they are talking to you, when they say that is a genius or a shit ... Regardless of your image, if you believe in true human being, you morre.E is why many rockstars become an image. "
Under the Bridge (Saturday Night Live - February 22, 1992)
On May 7, 1992, left a half-hour before a presentation in Omiya Japan, when Frusciante announced his intention to leave the band. After a long conversation with the band's tour manager, he agreed to do another show and the next day back to Los Angeles. As a way to announce his departure, he just asked the manager of the band issue a statement saying that he had gone mad.
"Just tell them I'm crazy!"

No comments:

Post a Comment