• If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

John Frusciante

Page history last edited by Herbel-Eisenmann, Kaleb 15 years, 1 month ago

 

 

  John Anthony Frusciante is an American musician. He is the guitarist and backing vocals for the alternative rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also does his own solo work and is affiliated with The Mars Volta and Ataxia.

 

                                                          Childhood                           

 

John Frusciante was born in Queens, New York on March 5, 1970. His father, John Sr., was a Julliard trained pianist and his mother; Gail was a promising vocalist who left her career to become a single mother. He became interested in rock music at an early age. His parents got a divorce when he was 7 and he moved to California with his mom. His step dad later gave him his first acoustic guitar at age 9, which he spent nearly all of his time playing, becoming familiar with nearly all of the guitar parts in songs by The Germs. He also studied work of Guitarist Frank Zappa for hours. At age 16 he dropped out of High School to go to the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood Hills, California.

 

Joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

    John went to his first Red Hot Chili Peppers concert when he was 15 years old and instantly idolized guitarist Hillel Slovak. Within weeks he knew how to play all of their songs and was familiar with all of the bass lines. He became affiliated with Slovak after attending many concerts and spoke to him often. Frusciante’s friend D.H Peligro, former drummer of The Dead Kennedys, whom he jammed with on numerous occasions, invited his friend, Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to join them. They developed chemistry immediately. Frusciante was going to audition for Frank Zappa’s band but eventually decided not to because Zappa prohibited all use of illegal drugs. In 1988 Hillel Slovak died of drug overdose and drummer Jack Irons left, being unable to cope with the death. After unsuccessfully adding Dwayne McKnight, Flea suggested auditioning Frusciante, and Anthony Kiedis (vocals) agreed that he was right for the band.

 

                  

Red Hot Chili Peppers ’88 – ’92

 

    Soon after Frusciante joined the band, they picked up drummer Chad Smith and began recording the album Mother’s Milk. John focused on copying Slovak’s playing style instead of applying his own. Next, in his second album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, John started to incorporate metal and funk tones along with Slovak’s style. The album was hugely successful peaking at #3 on the Billboard charts and sold 13 million copies worldwide.

 

Departure From the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The unexpected success of the turned the Chili Peppers into instant rock stars. Frusciante was blindsided by fame and struggled to cope with it. He disliked the bands popularity saying it was “ too far, too soon.” On May 7, 1992 he refused to come on stage at a show at Tokyo’s Club Quatro, but was eventually persuaded to do so. The next morning, he left for California. He felt like he was forced out of the band, not by the members, but by the way things were going.     

 

Drug Addiction ’92 – ‘ 97

Upon returning to California John entered a deep state of depression and started smoking large amounts of marijuana. He was also on the verge of a full-scale addiction to heroin. To cope with his depression Frusciante increased his heroin use and spiraled into a life threatening dependency. He could no longer write music or play the guitar; instead he focused his creative output on painting and writing short stories. A reporter described him as “ a skeleton covered in thin skin “. At the height of his addiction, John almost died from a blood infection. His arms became fiercely scarred from improperly shooting cocaine and heroin and the walls of his house were damaged and covered with graffiti. Friends Johnny Depp and Gibby Hayes made a short documentary film called Stuff, which was filmed at John’s house, showing the mess he was living in. To set the mood, songs written by Frusciante during his addiction were played in the background of the production. His house was eventually destroyed by a fire, which left him with a few serious burns and claimed his vintage guitar collection.

 

Return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers

  In late 1997, after five years of heroin addiction, Frusciante quit using the drug cold turkey, or all at once. Months later he was still unable to break addictions to crack cocaine and alcohol. In early 1998 after urgings by long time friend Bob Forrest, John checked himself into Las Encinas, a rehabilitation center in Pasadena, California. A month after receiving skin grafts to help repair scars on his arms and dentures to replace his lethally infected teeth, he checked out and began to lead a healthy, spiritual lifestyle. In  1998, the year that John checked out, RHCP were on the verge of breaking up after firing John’s replacement Dave Navarro. After thinking it through, Flea and Kiedis decided to invite John back into the band. When Flea came over to Frusciante’s house to ask him if he wanted to be back in the band, John started sobbing and told him that nothing would make him happier in the world. With John back, the Red Hot Chili Peppers started to record their album Californication.

 

 

Albums

 

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

 Frusciante’s 2nd album with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 24, 1991, it was ranked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 13 million copies worldwide, being the Chili’s introduction into worldwide popularity and critical acclaim. This is what caused John to leave the band due to his inability to cope with the popularity of the album. This album featured defining popular tracks such as “ Under the Bridge” and  “Give it Away”. The style of this album was the typical punk and funk style but also started to incorporate melodically driven songs and some metal riffs.

        

Californication

In 1998 after John’s return to the Chili Peppers, the group started writing and recording songs for their new album, Californication, which would be released in 1999. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard top 200, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide. It marked a change in style for the band, mainly because of Frusciante’s return. It focuses more on a “ punk funk” sound and melodic riffs, like Blood Sugar Sex Magik, compared to Navarro’s style of more heavy metal and psychedelic rock. John has stated that his work on this album is his favorite.

 

By the Way

John’s fourth album with the group, released July 9, 2002, sold 300,00 copies in its first week alone. Frusciante has considered that writing By the Way was one of the happiest times of his life. He is also credited with writing most of the album’s melodies, bass lines, and guitar progressions. This album contained virtually none of the signature “ punk funk” style of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and used tools such as the mellotron and various effect pedals throughout. It also features use of different instruments like the keyboard, piano, acoustic guitar, trumpet, and Latin guitar.

 

Stadium Arcadium

The 5th and final album John produced with the Chili’s debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 contains two discs, Mars and Jupiter. It was nominated for seven Grammy awards in 2007 after its release in May 2006. They recorded 38 new songs at “ The Mansion”, the same place where they recorded break-through album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. During the recording of this album John focused more on a “ flashy” guitar style, drawing inspirations from Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Myles Swift, and Steve Vai. He also used synthesizers throughout the album. Popular songs from Stadium Arcadium include “ Dani California” and “ Snow (Hey Oh) “.

 

 

 

Solo Work

Following the Stadium Arcadium tour, the Red Hot Chili Peppers agreed to a hiatus of indefinite length. John continued to work on his solo career, which he had stared in 1994 and continued along side RHCP, releasing 10 albums from 1994 to 2009. His most resent album, released on January 20, 2009, The Empyrean features an array of musicians including fellow band mate, Flea, friend Josh Klinghoffer, and former Smiths singer, Johnny Marr. John has stated many times that he is very happy with his latest album.

 

Ataxia

In 2004, John Frusciante formed a band called Ataxia. The members were John on guitar and vocals, Josh Klinghoffer on drums and vocals, and Joe Lally on the bass guitar and vocals. They wrote and recorded songs for two weeks and split the material into two albums, Automatic Writing (2004) and AW II (2007). They only performed two live shows, both at the Knitting Factory in L.A. on February 2 and 3, 2004. After this they disbanded. Klinghoffer continues to work with Frusciante on his solo projects.  

 

Technique

John’s technique is largely centered on melody and emotion. He feels that in the 80’s, when he was growing up, people focused greatly on speed and because of this many skilled guitar players were overlooked, though he is still a fan of Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne) and Steve Vai. He tries to break stylistic boundaries and enjoys the challenge of having to record something quickly and dislikes the studio process and the need for perfection when recording.

 

 

Influences

 

Though Hendrix is his biggest influence, early influences include David Bowie, T. Rex, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Velvet Underground, and many others. In his adolescent years he focused more on Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Hendrix as well as bands like Public Image Ltd. John’s influences and style change continuously and usually with each album he produces. He states that he is always drawing inspiration from different areas of music and believes that if his interests in music are not constantly changing that he will lose interest.

 

Bibliography

                                                   Wikipedia.org/wiki/john_frusciante

                                                              Scar Tissue Kiedis, Anthony, Hyperion Books, New York, NY

                                                              http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0996889/bio

                                                              Wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the _way

                                                               Blood Sugar Sex Magik music by Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante,

                                                                Michael Balzary, and Chad Smith, Produced by Rick Rubin

                                                                http://www.fretbase.com/images/uploaded/artists/000/000/025/large/John_Frusciante.jpg

 

                                         

 

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=934320140327789739. 

Video of arguably the Red Hot Chili Peppers best life performance. All of the jams and solos are improvised.

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.