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April 2001, Total Guitar (UK)
thanks to Caroline for typing it out
click the thumbnail for scans
TG’s First Guest Editor
Hey guitar people! It’s wake up time! Pick up that hunk of wood. Hold it close, real fuggin’ close. A hundred years in the making - the time has come to merge flesh with frets, to rewrite the rulebook, LA style. Hell, yes..
OK, so John Frusciante isn’t actually writing the mag (and no, he doesn’t talk like that either), but he is the one player TG receives constant and unrelenting requests to tab. So when we got the go-ahead to interview the man, we thought: “Why not get John to choose the songs we tab?” John, of course, didn’t select any of his own stuff but came up trumps with some unusual but well-worthy choices - songs and techniques that helped mould the guitar player that is Frusciante and that could improve your playing too. Like Joy Division’s Shadowplay (p84) or Blind Blake’s Southern Rag (p87), or an analysis of Jimmy Page’s soloing style (p92). So turn to page 30 to learn more about Frusciante’s world - like how he’s already working on his next solo album, or why he’s started to play synth parts on his guitar.
Every inch the performer, John also stripped to the waist (it’s hard getting the Chilis to keep their clothes on) for the cover. Who were we to argue? Our next Guest Ed, it would seem, has a lot to live up to…
Interview
From punk rock fan to funk rock icon, John Frusciante tells Helen Dalley how good it feels to be back in the fold, and how Depeche Mode synth lines have helped make him the best guitarist that he can be.
There’s not many guitarists who get to join their favourite band at 18, but then John Frusciante ain’t just any guitarist. One of the first things he told the press on signing up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988, was that all he really cared about was “playing guitar like I’ve got a huge cock”. He was the perfect candidate to join the band that made themselves famous by wearing nothing but socks on theirs.
Frusciante is a strange, yet heady, mix of fanaticism (he used to practice for 15 hours a day) and punk sensibilities. He cites bands like the Sex Pistols and L.A punks, the Germs, as the reason he picked up the guitar. But his real obsession, has always been the Chili Peppers. After seeing the band perform for the first time at age 15, John was completely hooked and before long, he had completely learnt the band’s whole repertoire. His fanaticism with all things Pepper impressed bassist Flea so much so, that when then - guitarist Duane McKnight bowed out in 1988, Flea immediately remembered Frusciante. Despite this guy never having been in a band before - and possessing nothhing in the way of stage experience - Flea managed to convince the rest of the band, Frusciante was the right man for the job. John was in, and within weeks, was busy recording the now legendary Mother’s Milk.
Two years later, the Chili Peppers were at the height of their fame, revelling in the success that Blood Sugar Sex Magik had brought them. On paper, everything looked peachy, but beneath the surface lurked a different story.
A man who had always valued his privacy, the band’s superstardom began to take its toll on John (”The popularity bummed me out”) - so much so, that during a promotional visit to London the guitarist inexplicably turned round and flew back to L.A. Needless to say, the unity in the band was on the wane, and apart from Flea, Frusciante had stopped connecting with the others Chilis. Already dabbling in drugs, his heroin problem quickly spiralled out of control and he stopped playing guitar altogether in 1992, choosing instead to paint. He clung to the brushes - and the opiates - for three more years, until his friends, the actor River Phoenix and Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell, convinced him to record his first solo album, Niandra Lades And Usually Just A T-Shirt (1995).
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