Tonal Telepathy
? 2002, Guitar (Germany)
translated by dv8 at gmx dot de
help on the exact date of publication would be appreciated
Melody-wise they are so much in harmony and their play's so tight that the Red Hot Chili Peppers once again can only be measured by their own standards. Using his instrument, their guitar-Picasso John Frusciante shows us where to find the magic of playing with bassist Flea and tells us why the new songs of the 'Californication' follow-up 'By the Way' will deepen the cult surrounding the band.
One has been invited: In order to promote the Chili Pepper's next mega-seller, their record company has come up with something special: An open air gig on the top parking deck of Hamburg's Saturn shopping mall. While the lights of the night descend on the city's rooftops and a soft summer breeze is around, the four Californians enter the stage which has been erected especially for this occasion. They pick up their instruments and reassuringly nod towards each other before the send a mix of songs from their new album and hits such as 'Scar Tissue', 'Give It Away', 'I Could Have Lied' or 'Californication' into the night. Even though this being a promo-gig and despite the abundance of PR-nerds this so-called 'showcase' is for many fans and some journos like a movie. So much interaction between the band members, so much blind understanding and so much wonderful music.
The morning after John Frusciante shows up for the interview at the Hyatt explaining that his hair is wet cause he's been swimming and he eyes light up as he sees the little Vox Cambridge 15 Amp and the Fender Strat we set up for him. He quickly orders some coffee and lunch and sits down next to the guitar.
Seeing you guys on stage just like last night, it is again and again fascinating to see how much interaction there is between you and how tight your play is especially between you and Flea.
Watching each other has always played an important role for us. It is fun to concentrate on the other person's fingers and his play while playing something completely different yourself. The most important connection to someone you're making music with is taking place subconsciously in the back of your head. You think and play towards the same direction, no matter whether you look at each other while doing so or not.
You once said that besides finding your own style you also found the 'best fitting style of playing guitar in connection with Flea playing bass'...
Way back when I joined the band and when we were recording 'Mother's Milk' [1989] the producers pushed me into this metal-funk department and I therefore played mainly hard riffs on the lower e-string. That didn't really come from the heart, however, in those days it seemed to be a good idea. Althoug I'm not too proud of 'Mother's Milk'. it is probably our most influential album. At least back then a lot of people jumped at it. In some instances we simultaneously put five distorted guitar tracks and a piercing solo on top of the bass. When the 'Mother's Milk' tour was over and we started working on 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' [1991] I consciously decided to aim at playing behind Flea, keeping my sound clean and using my distortion pedal only for solos. I wanted to keep my solos as minimal as possible and wanted to play in a more spatial way I wanted to create more room. The guitarists that I then considered to be good models were Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow, who's also playing with a rather 'busy' bass guitarist, and Andy Sumner of The Police. I considered myself more and more as support for Flea and Chad. This way I discovered exactly what I'm good at. And the most fascinating thing about it was this: Since I began to retreat from the foreground, creativity simply started to pour out of me thus automatically putting me into the fore at the same time however in a deeper way. Flea on the other hand also became more simple, more delicate and useful for me to play with. Somehow everyone in the band suddenly took off into this direction. Meanwhile all of this is so well-developed and steady between us that I don't have to think about it at all for me things just flow.
In a way both of you play melodies and rhythms which perfectly melt into one. How do they come into existence?
It is good to display opposites. I remember a good exercise we did during the time of 'Blood Sugar' to practice playing together. While Flea played a complex funky and syncopated rhythm I tried to fill the holes with chords and to kind of play in between Flea. [audio example #1 from the cd comes in here / John demonstrating how to fill the 'holes' in Flea's bass lines]. I think it is important to create new rhythms. If someone plays something and you want to join the jam you should try to find a different rhythm, one that is part of what the other plays and that supports whatever he started out with. This way you create something completely new. Sometimes we play harmonies that suit each other and sometimes we play stuff that is totally apart.
During the intro to 'By The Way' we both play exactly the same rhythm but are adding different notes. The combination of this produces a double stop, which in itself implies chords. I don't have a clue which ones. We simply face each other and listen just like Fugazi who often come up with chords in which guitar and bass play different notes.
