John Frusciante is a musician with a unique manner of playing the guitar. He received the greatest fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He played in this team from 1988 to 1992 and from 1998 to 2009, having recorded 5 studio albums with the team.
Solo career
Of course, Russian music lovers are mostly familiar with the play of John Frusciante on his records with Red Hot Chili Peppers. However, not everyone knows that the solo career of a musician is no less impressive.
While in free swimming, the guitarist created 11 regular and 5 mini-albums. The clip of John Frusciante “Wayne” was widely known. Work on ten of these discs took place in parallel with the concert activities and studio recordings of Red Hot Chili Preppers.
Childhood and passion for music
John Frushante was born in New York, in a musical family. His father taught piano, and his mother was a gifted vocalist who left her career to take care of children. The Frusciante family has Italian roots - his great-grandfather emigrated to the States from the city of Benvenuto.
Parents divorced when the future musician was not even 10 years old. A year later, the boy and his mother moved to Los Angeles. There, John had an adoptive father, who, according to Frushante, "strongly supported and encouraged the desire to become an artist."
Musical influence
Like many teenagers of the late seventies - early eighties generation, John Frusciante was fond of punk rock. Most of all he liked bands from Los Angeles. At 11, he could already play most of Germs' songs on his guitar, as he was a big fan of this band. After some time, he became interested in classical rock and began to study the works of Jeff Beck, Jimi Page, David Gilmore and Jimi Hendrix. Hearing Frank Zappa, the boy began to sit for hours in his room, learning his favorite solos.
Introducing Red Hot Chili Peppers
John Frushante first heard RHCP around 1984, when his guitar teacher auditioned for the band, wanting to be their guitarist.
At the age of 16, the hero of the article dropped out of school. His parents did not prevent this. They saw that the boy wanted to become a professional musician, and did not interfere with him. Thanks to their support, the son was able to go to Los Angeles to improve his guitar playing there. The young musician studied for some time at the Institute of Guitar Art. He first got to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at the age of fifteen and immediately became their loyal fan. He was delighted with the play of guitarist Hillel Slovac. The young man learned all parts of the solo guitar and bass from the early discs of his favorite band.
The musician managed to get acquainted with the Slovak 2 months before his death and his joining the group. In 1988, young John Frushante became friends with the drummer from the band Dead Kennedys, who introduced him to the bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers - Flea.
Musicians often began to play jams together. After the same year, Slovakia died of an overdose, they invited guitarist McKnight to the band, who left the band, recording only one song with him. Then the bass player remembered his friend and invited John Frusciant to audition. He was already familiar with the amazing technique of playing the guitar of a young musician, but did not know that his friend knew almost the entire repertoire of the team.
By the way, at the same time, John Frusciante auditioned for a place as a guitarist in Frank Zappa's band. The competition for this position consisted of several stages. When John Frushante was admitted to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he refused to listen to Zappa. John’s relatives recall that when Flea called him to inform him that the guitarist had been accepted into the team, the guy began to run around the house with shouts of joy and jump on the walls, leaving imprints of shoes.
John Frusciante, whose photos are presented in the review, admitted in an interview that, despite the fact that by the time he was accepted into the group all the parts of Slovak could play, his own style was very different from the manner of the former guitarist “peppers”.
The new member of the group was more of a rock and roll musician than funky. Starting playing RHCP, he tried to copy the style of his predecessor. However, producer Michael Beinhorn did not agree with his intention to make himself a "clone". He advised John Frusciante to try playing in a heavier style, more typical of heavy metal. This sound was very different from the first 3 records of the group.
Rick Rubin and solo project
To record another disc, the group decided to invite another producer. He became a specialist with an original innovative approach to creating musical works - Rick Rubin. To create the first solo album, John Frusciante set a goal at the same time. To do this, he went to the studio with Flea and drummer of Jane's Addiction - Stefan Perkins. With this composition, the musicians recorded about 15 hours of material. None of these compositions have yet been published.
But the album "Red Sugar Sex Magik" by Red Hot Chili Peppers gained worldwide popularity. He climbed to third position on Billboard Magazine chart. Such success contributed to the fact that the members of the collective began to be perceived by the music community as real rock stars.
The hero of this article did not like such popularity. The band’s vocalist recalls that after the concerts John told him: “We are too popular. I don’t need to be at such a high level of fame. I would just like to play my favorite music in clubs, as you did before I arrived.”
Leaving the group
After recording two albums, John Frushante decided to leave the team. He announced his intention to colleagues before speaking in Japan. The guitarist was persuaded to play the upcoming concert, after which John Frusciante left the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
He explained his action by the fact that he grew out of the age at which they use the ability to play the guitar in order to attract the attention of girls and receive an invitation to a party. "After 20 years, I began to perceive music as an art," - so said the musician himself.
Solo career
The musician completed work on the first album by 1994. Most of the material was recorded before he left the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And only the song Running Away Into You was created after the dismissal.
Compositions from this disk are sustained in emphasized avant-garde style.
John said that he simply broadcasts the music that plays in his head. And if these sounds are accurately transmitted, then the album is great.
Second disc and drug addiction
John Frushante's second album, Smile From The Streets You Hold, was released in 1997. The first track of the album is distinguished by mysterious lyrics and hysterical cries. The sounds of the cough that strangled the musician during the performance did not begin to be cut out of the recording. This song suggests that John Frusciante was in extremely poor health while working on the album.
He suffered from drug dependence for several years. According to him, the second album was only a means of making money for heroin. In 1998, after much persuasion of friends, the guitarist agreed to go to a rehabilitation clinic. Leaving this institution, John was completely transformed. The artist began to lead and promote a healthy lifestyle. John also follows a strict diet, eating mainly unprocessed foods.
Return to the group
In the spring of 1998, another guitarist left the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the group was on the verge of collapse. Flea then told Anthony Kiedis that the only way to save the group was to invite John Frushante to it again. When the musicians came to a friend and asked him to return, he burst into tears and said that nothing else could have made him so happy.
This decision was also won musically. Californication, recorded in 1999, was enthusiastically received by critics and became the band’s greatest commercial success.
As in previous years, during concert tours, John Frusciante did not stop composing songs. Many of the compositions written during the tour of 2001 were included in the third solo album. At the same time, the novel of John Frushante and Mila Jovovich took place, which was widely discussed in the press.
"The happiest time"
So the musician calls the recording period of his fourth disc as part of Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the way. He admits that in the process of this work he learned to write more beautiful songs. Between studio recordings, the guitarist worked on creating his own album and music for the film "Brown Rabbit."
After that, the musician released two more solo discs, participated in several projects of his friends. Leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2009, he devoted himself entirely to working on solo records.
John Frusciant Guitars
The musician's performing style has been continuously improved throughout his musical career. In October 2003, Frusciante was included on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the top 100 guitar players of all time. In it, John takes the honorable eighteenth place. Among the guitarists who had the greatest influence on him, he mentions Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Hallen.
His corporate identity is different, including the use of mainly antique tools.
What kind of guitars does John Frushante have? All the instruments that he possesses have ever recorded, used during concerts, were made until 1970. To record each song, the musician selects a guitar, the sound of which is fully consistent with the nature of this work. The first instrument he acquired after joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the 1962 Fender Jaguar.
Most often, John Frushante plays the 1962 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst, which was presented to him by Anthony Kiedis after his return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. From now on, he plays this guitar on every album.
John also has a 1955 Fender Stratocaster. This is a unique maple finger tool.
The most expensive instrument in John Frushante’s collection is the 1955 Gretsch White Falcon. He used this guitar twice during a concert during the tour in support of By The Way. After this trip, he stopped carrying this tool with him, saying that there was not enough space for him.
Almost all the acoustic compositions performed by John Frusciante were played on a 1950 Martin guitar.
Conclusion
This article was dedicated to a musician who ranks 18th on the list of the best guitar performers of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine - Frusciante. This artist is striking in his creative fecundity and industriousness. The writing and recording of new material has not stopped almost ever since the beginning of his career.