Universally Speaking
The album John is referring to, and which he seems very keen to talk about, is his fourth solo record, due for release later this year. A collaboration with the talented musician Josh Klinghoffer (although the record will be released under John's name) it contains Frusciante songs dating from the time of his last solo record through to the By The Way sessions and features some notable guest appearances. "The oldest songs on the album were written at the time I wrote the last songs for my last solo record," explains John, "but they obviously required real drums not a drum machine, which I used for that record. For this record Chad (Smith, the Chili's drummer) played the drums. Josh and I had the drum parts worked out and Chad just came in and belted 'em out like a session musician and did really great job. Flea plays upright bass on one song. It's his first upright bass performance on a record and he did an amazing job. Plus Omar from The Mars Volta plays slide guitar on two of the songs."
Like all of Frusciante's solo releases to date, these new recordings are more experimental than his work in the Chilis. This time around it's John's current passion for electronica and modular synthesis that surfaces. "There's a lot of very experimental electronic music on this album," John admits, "but allied to good songs. The synthesisers are usually used in a very subtle way - the songs are basically acoustic guitar, drums and bass with additional Melotron or synthesiser and electronic sound here and there. The way it's recorded is a lot more colourful than anything I've done before. The entire recording was done according to an aesthetic. The microphones we used were all old microphones and a lot of the drums were recorded on an eight-track and then bounced to 24-track. Every effort was made to make all the sounds as warm as possible, and in a lot of ways it has the same vibe and warmth as sixties and early seventies recordings. That's the feeling we tried to capture."
In fact, Frusciante's hands-on approach to his solo work and growing confidence in mixing and engineering music has led him to question producer Rick Rubin's treatment of By The Way - to the extent that at present he finds it hard to even contemplate a new Chilis record.
"To tell you the truth, I've had a really hard time accepting that By The Way is actually finished," says Frusciante, his face displaying a look of frustration and sadness. "On my record you'll notice any interesting sound that comes in is loud. For me that's what keeps my interest going in a record. I don't want them to get in the way of the vocal, but I am also not parnoid about stepping on the vocal. Rick really mixes the vocals high and pushes anything that matches the vocals' power back so it doesn't come anywhere near it. I can't even listen to our last record because of that; the mix just drives me so crazy. For the first time Rick was nice enough to let me have something to do with the mixing process, where I was saying how lout to put this harmony next to this harmony and stuff. But the big picture was left to him. But in the course of time I've really developed my own opinions as far as that goes, so for my album you'll see it's done differently and I hope that the next Chili Peppers record can be more like mine.
"Finishing my solo record has camed something inside of me because at least I'm pround of it, 100 per cent. With By The Way there are so many things about it I wish were different and I can't let go of it, you know? I can't just admit to myself that it's happened."
Luckily, Frusciante has had the chance to make amends as various tracks are culled from the record for sngle release. "We remixed Can't Stop for the single and I like that mix a million times better," John confirms. "And we just did a remix of Universally Speaking because they're thinking of releasing that as a single, and I like that a lot better too. When we get these opportunities to rmix songs I get to get them the way I want. I guess I hadn't really refined my ability to trust my own instincts about things. I was used to just handing the tapes over and letting Rick mix them however he felt bast and I was always happy with them. My approach now is so much more multi-dimensional than just playing guitar." These days Frusciante is a man totally immersed in music. He lives it, breaths it, eats it and sleeps it. And more tha likely when he's sleeping, he dreams it. His knowledge of music is encyclopaedic, his hunger for it seemingly insatiable. Get him on the subject of his favourite current artists and the range of styles and generations they cover is impressive. "I've been listening to some of this very abstract electronic music that's being made now," Frusciante begins, his enthusiasm for the subject palpable. "Rosy Parlane, Pita and a guy called Fennesz. He's a great guitar player too, and all his albums are good and all totally different. It's just very abstract music where there's no beat. The timing's very different and that's what sounds interesting to me. I also listen to a lot of folk music like Joan Baez, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, as well as stuff like King Srimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Mott The Hoople and Slade. I don't pay attention to the world. I just have the art I like and the music I like and for me that's the whole world."
Estimated to be 2,000-strong around 10 years ago, Frusciante admits that he now has no idea how large his record collection is. "I haven't figured it out, maybe I'll do an estimate sometime."
With such a tough touring schedule and a continuous flow of press commitments, John even has to call in some favours to make time to pursue his vintage vinyl obsession. "When I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago this girl got the keys to her dad's record store and kept it open between two and six in the morning, so that was fun," he reveals. "But lately I just haven't had the time as I wake up so late. My whole day consists of just a few hours of practising, warming up my voice and stuff."
