Gonzo interview 2004 transcript

February 2004, Gonzo on UK MTV. If anyone has correct information of this, or a video clip, it would be much appreciated. Many thanks to Gem Healy for the transcript

Zane Lowe: “Coming up today on the couch we welcome Mr John Frusciante (Frush-an-tay) did it pronounce it correctly? We can ask him personally. I think it’s pronounced John Frushantay. That’s right of course you will know him as guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but a lot of people who’ve been throwing questions our way, ah, for one of the greatest guitar players in modern music history, will also know him from his solo material, he’s got a brand new album coming out, called ‘Shadows Collide With People’, and we’re gonna focus most of the conversation on that…watch everybody go to another station haha! Seriously it’s gonna be good, gonna be good talking to him and the record is amazing, it’s lovely, lush production, great songs, and not the kind of um, sort of indie, shmindy type, lo-fi type record you’d expect from a popular guitar player doing a solo album it’s a quality piece of work”.

—–Video: The Vines - Ride—–

ZL: “John Frushantay, joining us on the couch today, answering a few of your questions, a few of mine, talking about his latest album ‘Shadows Collide With People’. Straight to some music news: Chili Peppers, tour dates confirmed, two more massive UK shows, I kind of let this slip last week by accident but anyway, as previously reported, the bands fans have already snapped up 200,000 tickets in record time for the open-air shows in Manchester, Edinburgh and Hyde Park in London, two more dates have been added, Cardiff Millennium Stadium on June 23rd, for the Welsh massive, and another date at Londons Hyde Park on the 25th, for the London massive, so there you go if you’ve got a little cash you need to get in there right now although the rate at which those tickets were flying…

man off camera: “You’ve got time it goes on sale i think this Saturday.”

ZL: “You are correct sir, Saturday the 21st of February, alright put that in you diary wake up early and get ready to go to the Chili Peppers in the summer”.

—–Video: The Darkness - Love Is Only A Feeling—–

[ John is now sat on the couch when the camera cuts back to the studio.]

ZL: “Welcome back to the UK bro do you like it here?”

John Frusciante:[Quietly] “Yeah”.

ZL: “You do? When was the last time you actually came back out here? Do you come out here when you’re not sort of with your friends in the band?”

JF: “Mmm-hmm”. [Indicating 'yes']

[Immediately cuts to a 7 second clip of 'Going Inside' video]

ZL: “Lets talk about the new album ‘right ‘Shadows Collide With People’, it’s your first record you’ve done on your own and with your friends outside the Chili Peppers in 3 years, I mean, how long have these songs been floating around for you, that feature on this album?” [Holds up Shadows]

JF: “Um, lets see, the oldest songs on there were written on the Californication tour but i think there’s only one, or maybe a couple from that period of time. [Picks up Shadows and studies the back] The rest of them were written during ‘By The Way’ or right before ‘By The Way’, or right after ‘By The Way’”.

ZL: “Do you find that the songs kind of differ, depending on whether you’re writing them on the road, or whether you’re actually in a more intimate environment, on yourself? By yourself?”

JF: “No there’s no specific difference, [short pause]

ZL [Interrupts and talks over John]: Do you not like to put yourself in an environment…?”

JF [Continues his original sentence]: “Every song’s different from every other song you know.”

ZL: “Sure.”

JF: “But i find that in general on tour there’s a kind of um, there’s a kind of a, there’s a kind of a confusion that runs through everything that you do when you’re on tour because you’re never really sure where you are you know, you’re, part of you’s in the place you just left and part of you’s in the place where you’re going…”

[Cuts immediately to]—–Video: RHCP - Scar Tissue—–

—–Video: RHCP - Breaking The Girl—–

ZL: “Ah the album, ‘Shadows Collide With People’ has a few, it feels like it’s got more what people would term ‘traditional production values’ to it? I don’t know if you’d take that as a complement I hope you do. It’s got like a much richer, warmer sound, like you’ve spent more time on the whole making it sound like on a whole like a complete piece of music that a lot of people can listen to and not just people who are fans of your previous albums, is that fair to say, would you think?”

JF: “Well it was recorded in the traditional way meaning it was recorded in a recording studio…”

ZL [Interrupts}: "A nice recording studio, like, like with lots of buttons and..."

JF [Interrupts]: “Yeah, the same ones that the Chili Peppers record at, and, and, and um, yeah I mean, my other records were recorded at home so, yeah I suppose it’s a certain sort of stretch of the ear for people who are accustomed to listening to…”

ZL [Interrupts]: “But ironically on the other side of the coin for people who aren’t and I suppose a lot of people given that you know, you’ve been making music with the Chili Peppers for a few albums now, will probably come to your own records for the first time maybe they haven’t heard ‘To Record Only Water For Ten Days’, ah it would be like a really nice warm opening listen you know what I mean?

JF: “Yeah I know it’s an album I’m really proud of, it’s the first time that I’ve ever actually had an idea for an album and actually seen through it to, through to its completion. Um, other records, you know, cos there were demo tapes I made at home of all these songs [Indicates to the Shadows cd] but, but uh, I didn’t just stop there, whereas with the other albums that’s where it stopped…”

ZL [Interrupts and drowns out Johns speech]: “Yeah, this one you know you produced it, you got friends in to help you create the sound, and like I said it’s got a really light and optimistic sound feel to it as a record I really enjoy listening to it. Let’s talk about some of these people that you collaborate with as well. This guy Josh Klinghoffer right, who seems to have a fairly substantial role in the record?” (JF:” Mmm-hmm”.) “Who’s he?”

JF: “He’s probably my best friend, he’s 24 years old now, um, he was 23 at the time we made the record, and um, he’s, ah, he’s a very great musician all the way round he’s played bass, guitars, keyboards, drums, sings, and he does everything great, and so he’s my favourite person to collaborate with when it comes to my solo music because ah, we think very much the same way…”

ZL [Interrupts]: “Well he’s your mate isn’t he so it’s…”

JF: “Yeah, he’s my best friend and we think very much the same way but at the same time my, my perception of my own songs is very tied to the fact that I, that I write those rhythms I write those chords and I write that melody so that is the song to me whereas, he’s able to sort of read in between the lines…”

ZL [Talks over John, which, by the way, is even more bloody annoying when you're trying to transcribe what's being said]: “he’s got some different perspective”.

JF [Continued speaking despite the interruption]: “In a way that I’m not y’know, so he, so he uh, Chad Smith plays the drums but Josh wrote all the drum parts, cos he played on the demo tapes, and uh, he’s just a really creative person and I expect him to do a lot more but..”

ZL: “But you’ve got him on the record”.

—–Video: Hundred Reasons - What You get—–

—–Video: The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man—–

ZL: “Little more time with John on the couch right now straight to the planet MTV2.com for your questions ah best piece of…actually i should give this person an extra special shoutout cos definitely one of your biggest fans, uh ‘Frushantee Ladies’, uh, best piece of advice you’ve ever received?”

JF: “Hmmm”. [On screen: "thinks for a bit..."]
JF: “Yeah I”. [On screen: "bit more uncomfortable silence..."]
[On screen: "bit more uncomfortable silence..."]
JF: “One of them was…”
JF: “…that I can’t expect things to, I can’t expect the world to just come to me, you know, you’ve got to go out and get whatever it is that you expect of the world, you know, you can’t expect the world to bring it to you on a platter, which I think for a long time I spent years thinking that that was going to take place, and whatever you want…”

ZL: “And it’s good advice man, from a gentleman who’s done just that”.

JF: “Yeah, so you know, I’ve learnt myself too, and yeah, ok, that’s a good one”.

ZL: “‘Shadows Collide With People’, has received critical acclaim at this point, um, do you feel differently about reviews, do you even read them or anything when it’s your solo music? Waymart wants to know.”

JF: “Yeah I mean I’ve read, I’ve read 4 reviews from this album so far and they’re all very nice”.

ZL: “Does it affect you more, less or more when it’s…?”

JF: “It doesn’t affect me at all I mean, ah,”

ZL: “It’s not something you give a lot of credence to.”

JF: “I’ve already written all the music for at least another 5 albums…”

ZL [Interrupts. Again]: “So one review’s not gonna stop you from making another..!”

JF: [Laughs] “Yeah!”

—–Video: RHCP - Under The Bridge (Alternate Version)—–

ZL: “Another question from the planet MTV2europe.com: Is there any sort of confirmed collaboration with sort of Flea Omar and/or Cedric that you wanna do? GaZZwa has some kind of sneaking suspicion that you guys have been talking about it.”

JF: “Yeah, uh, well lets see, Omar has a solo record, that he’s in the middle of, which I play a lot of guitar and synthesiser on, and I also sing on one song, and so um, so that’s one collaboration between us. Then we’ve been making these home recordings that maybe we’ll release something off, this 8-track that he has at his house, and then him and me and Flea, while we were on tour together we wrote three sort of long uh, I don’t know what you’d call them I guess they’re kind of instrumental progressive rock songs or something, and, and uh, the three of us, each one of us wrote one of them, and they were real hard to learn and they’re gonna be real hard to learn again cuz it’s been months since we played ‘em, but we’re gonna record those sometime in March or April.”

ZL: “This is awesome man what an amazing postition you’re in y’know to be hanging out in your home-town with some of your friends who just happen to be some of the greatest musicians in modern music haha!”

JF: “Yeah, I know, I couldn’t be happier.”

[Cuts to a 19 second clip of 'Going Inside' Video]

ZL: “And now will you be doing any more solo touring (JF: “No.”) cos I know you’ve got the big summer shows with the Chili Peppers so you just wanna release this record and be done with it?”

JF: “I’m doing a lot of recording, I’m not uh, I’m not interested in, the Chili Peppers have like a 6 month break and I just don’t want to spend it repeating myself, I want to spend it doing new things and covering new ground and get as much accomplished as I can.”

ZL: “Plus you’ll get your live-fill this summer man when you play in front of like about 500,000 people accumulatively across the UK and stuff.”

JF: “Yeah definitely. I definitely get plenty of…”

ZL [Interrupts]: “Ah two live Hyde Park shows shall we do another one, what about, shall we do the Millennium Stadium, yeah, throw it in there as well, shall we do like the Atlantic Ocean, yeah let’s play that. Alright listen it’s nice to see you again thanks very much for coming in it’s been nice talking to you and I really can’t recommend this record enough not that you ever listen to me anyway”.