Spiegel interview
Eventually, Frusciante found his own way out of drug addiction, a struggle he describes as a battle between good and bad spirits. "A lot of fighting had to be done to get where I am now. But I think me and the spirits that are on my side really won over." The guitarist's move back into the light is beautifully documented on his 2001 solo album, To Record Only Water For Ten Days, a focused, song-oriented set that in many ways set the stage for By The Way.
Today Frusciante is drug-free and healthy. He's an avid practitioner of Ashtanga, a particularly strenuous style of yoga. "I've always been a person who's had a lot of problems with the stress of the world," he says. "Like I'm susceptible to motion tension. When I get in a car or airplane, it makes me tense. But since I started doing yoga, where you're building muscle as well as relaxing yourself, I haven't had such a problem with motion tension. I don't do the actual meditation part of yoga. But I think that when I play guitar I'm probably employing a lot of the rudiments of meditation, because I'm completely focused on something that's kind of abstract. I feel like there's a stillness inside my mind, which is what you're going after when you do something like meditation. So even though I don't really go to yoga for that spiritual angle, it probably is helping me to be able to do that better."
These days, Frusciante says, "most of my supernatural experiences are in the past. It's a world I don't really delve into that much anymore. But I believe that there are things we don't see with our eyes that are making every moment what it is. And every person is made up of a bunch of people. And everybody who's alive is everybody who died. I just think it's all one big energy working together. I see the world as being very balanced-completely, perfectly balanced."
Unlike his friend, Flea does meditate on a regular basis. "But for me meditation and yoga are more like a science than a religious path," he says. "Most religions to me are like an exclusive country club. I'm not into that. I've read a lot of Buddhist books and stuff, but I've never been a Buddhist. I just like the idea of the Buddha. The same way I like the idea of Jesus. I like the idea of someone who is completely giving in their every breath. I just try to live my life like that every day. Try."
While Flea maintained a compassionate friendship with Frusciante during his time out of the band, the Chili Peppers soldiered on with a succession of guitarists: Jesse Tobias, Arik Marshall and former Jane's Addiction axman Dave Navarro, with whom they cut 1995's One Hot Minute. But shortly thereafter, it was mutually decided that Navarro would part company with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"It just wasn't working with Dave," says Flea. "It was evident to all of us. So there were no hard feelings."
Chad Smith recalls a conversation he had with Navarro shortly before the guitarist left the group. " Dave said to me, 'The Only guy you should get back is John. He's the guy for your band."
