Autopsy Of A Mad Scientist
June 2006, Guitare Extreme magazine, France
thanks to Audrey Lodieu, for the copy of magazine and this perfect translation
The Red Hot Chili Peppers marked the occasion of their 23rd birthday with a double brilliant double album ; they come back to the lively funk-rock of “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”. Clung on to his stratos, John Frusciante steers the boat, impregnating the new songs with his sonic LSD. The Chili Peppers are going to go to our head again this year!
From the surfers’ harbors of Venice Beach to the biggest stadiums of the planet, the Red Hot Chili Peppers managed to demolish all the obstacles to reach an absolute glory. The jumping peas quartet from California is probably the latest band to have earned a career similar to the one of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Since the explosion of “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” in 1991, nothing seems to stop them, and their albums sellings don’t bring the house down anymore, now it’s a castle. Their recipe is actually due to one only man: John Frusciante, aka the goose that lays the golden eggs. Maker of the biggest hits of the combo (“Under the bridge”, “Californication”, “Can’t stop”, ...), this hard drug survivor, who has become a sweet psychopath since his recovery, now represents the artistic value of the Chili Peppers. Cherished and led by his circle, he could create a new collection of gems, most of them are the bases of the expected new album of 25 songs “Stadium Arcadium”. The creative madness of the guitarist literally explodes on that record, which oscillates between the most professional songwriting and the experimental fever, from the first song to the last one. Guitare Extreme went to the rocking hill, to get the words of this true contemporary rock genius.
John, which guitars did you use on the album?
Mainly my Fender Stratocaster Sunburst of ’62, the one I mostly used during the By The Way Tour. I think it’s also the guitar I used the most during the recording of “By The Way”. This time, there was a second Stratocaster, a white one I’ve recently bought. It’s excellent, it has a floating vibrato, it enables me to draw the notes back. That’s cool! I only used that one for the rehearsals before the recording. Then, during the sessions, I tested several guitars for each song, in order to find which one sounds the best. The Sunburst and the white one were often chosen, in particularly the Sunburst, even if the white one is great too. I plugged a Les Paul of ’69 on “Readymade”. As for my Gretsch White Falcon, I didn’t even take it out from its flight-case.
How come? You paid it more than $30.000...
To me, the price is not the most important thing. I played on it very often on the previous tours. Just for the By The Way Tour, I used it for 2 songs on 250 dates. This time, there was no room for it. There’s another song where I chose the Les Paul, but I don’t think it will be on the album. It is called “Whatever we want”. On the whole, there was no room for many different guitars, or for some effects. I all the same used several different wah-wah pedals, because I used some on many parts.
Except that, you generally use few effects, don’t you?
Yes, I’m not really an effect guitarist. This time, I treated my tracks with some effects, but after their recording, for example I put them through a modular synthesizer. It was funny to do, because I could freely turn the buttons in every direction and I was focused on the music. To do so while playing, I should have 4 hands and 2 brains (laughs). I also used a numeric delay or the new Moogerfooger Murf pedal from Moog, which is really excellent.
Is it a weird sounds factory?
Really weird, you can say so! The Murf is one of the pedals that inspired me the most. A concrete example: the solo of “Tell me baby”. When you listen to it again, you will notice how the guitar literally bursts out from the mix. This is a weird affect that I can’t really describe. I also used it on “Flea’s Trumpet”, in the beginning and in the end of the second verse of “Death of a Martian”. We can hear this pedal or the modular synthesizer on every song, but it’s often very subtle. That’s great, because there are not many subtle effects on the market. I did a lot of things by using the various signals. Sometimes, it sounds as if another guitarist plays with me. However, it is the same guitar. On the verses of “Dani California”, there is the normal rhythm guitar that I play live, when there’s part B, I send the sound in the modular synthesizer that I use as a dynamic filter. It opens and closes very quickly according to how I play the cords. I had fun; One of the things I am the proudest of is on “Stadium Arcadium”, but I will come back to that later.
