WEBVTT - John Frusciante Returns, Part 1 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:23.116 Pushkin. Hey everyone, today we're sharing one of Rick Rubin's 0:00:23.116 --> 0:00:27.156 most intimate conversations ever Unbroken record with Red Hot Chili 0:00:27.156 --> 0:00:31.596 Peppers guitarist John Frushante. Rick last spoke to John back 0:00:31.636 --> 0:00:33.796 in April when the Peppers were getting ready to release 0:00:33.876 --> 0:00:38.116 Unlimited Love, their first record with Rushante in sixteen years. 0:00:38.796 --> 0:00:41.396 If you haven't heard Rick series of individual interviews with 0:00:41.436 --> 0:00:43.956 the band, I highly recommend you go back and listen. 0:00:44.596 --> 0:00:47.996 Those conversations are a testament to the band's deep, soulful 0:00:48.036 --> 0:00:51.676 connection and their unique creative partnership that has proven time 0:00:51.676 --> 0:00:55.196 and again to soar as a result of Frushonte's songwriting 0:00:55.276 --> 0:00:59.556 and gorgeous guitar work, and Frushante rejoining the band again 0:00:59.796 --> 0:01:03.836 has reinvigorated the group. On April, first Unlimited Love debut 0:01:03.916 --> 0:01:07.596 at number one in the US and fifteen other countries. 0:01:08.156 --> 0:01:10.396 In July, the band anounced the release of a second 0:01:10.476 --> 0:01:13.756 Rick Rubin produced album that's out today, Return of the 0:01:13.876 --> 0:01:17.716 Dream Canteen. On today's episode, we'll here John Frushonte talk 0:01:17.716 --> 0:01:20.356 about the making of Blood Sugar, Sex Magic and how 0:01:20.396 --> 0:01:23.876 has contributions on slower, more melodic songs like Under the 0:01:23.916 --> 0:01:27.236 Bridge and Breaking the Girl helped expand the Chili peppers 0:01:27.316 --> 0:01:31.236 funk punk sound. John also talks candidly about the dark, 0:01:31.316 --> 0:01:34.956 drug addicted years that followed the intense success of Blood Sugar, 0:01:35.516 --> 0:01:38.196 and he explains how he was able to finally get 0:01:38.196 --> 0:01:41.196 sober and rejoin the Chili Peppers to record their classic 0:01:41.276 --> 0:01:49.076 commercial comeback album Californication. This is broken record liner notes 0:01:49.116 --> 0:01:52.836 for the digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. Here's Rick Rubin 0:01:52.916 --> 0:01:55.876 and John Frushonte And just a heads up, this is 0:01:55.956 --> 0:01:58.996 part one of a two part conversation, so keep your 0:01:58.996 --> 0:02:02.716 eye on our feed for part two soon. What's happened 0:02:02.716 --> 0:02:05.996 to man? Hey? Rag? How are you feeling good? How 0:02:06.036 --> 0:02:09.596 are you good? What's life on the road like these days? 0:02:10.356 --> 0:02:12.956 It's been really good. Yeah, we're in a great like 0:02:13.356 --> 0:02:16.516 playing has been really fun and you know, it's it's 0:02:16.516 --> 0:02:19.796 a different kind of lifestyle, just like everything is aimed 0:02:19.836 --> 0:02:21.956 towards being able to get up on stage and do that. 0:02:22.036 --> 0:02:23.796 And it took me like about a month and a 0:02:23.836 --> 0:02:26.756 half pretty much the whole European tour. Every time I 0:02:26.796 --> 0:02:30.396 walked out into one of those stadiums to play, I 0:02:30.476 --> 0:02:33.076 was shocked about the amount of people, you know, like, 0:02:33.396 --> 0:02:35.916 like I thought we had played stadiums before in Europe, 0:02:35.916 --> 0:02:39.996 and now I realized we hadn't. Maybe we'd played some festival, 0:02:40.116 --> 0:02:43.076 we hadn't played anything that looked like that. Wow, every night, 0:02:43.116 --> 0:02:47.036 that amount of energy coming from the people and putting 0:02:47.036 --> 0:02:48.756 out what you feel like you have to put out. 0:02:48.796 --> 0:02:52.676 It's just every day when I wake up, I can't 0:02:52.676 --> 0:02:55.396 imagine going up on stage and in front of that 0:02:55.476 --> 0:02:58.556 many people and doing that. But you just gradually build 0:02:58.596 --> 0:03:01.356 yourself towards it throughout the day, and I don't know, 0:03:01.396 --> 0:03:03.676 it's just a real different state of mind. But I enjoy. 0:03:03.836 --> 0:03:06.356 I enjoy practicing all the time. That's the main thing 0:03:06.396 --> 0:03:10.996 I do, is just practice and the energy of the audience. Like, 0:03:11.036 --> 0:03:14.316 can you use the energy coming from the audience to 0:03:14.556 --> 0:03:17.836 channel that into what you're doing. Yeah, it seems like 0:03:17.876 --> 0:03:21.436 that happens. That's what I'm preparing myself to take place, 0:03:21.436 --> 0:03:24.956 because what I play when I'm practicing, it's not nearly 0:03:24.996 --> 0:03:27.316 as intense. Ever, no matter what I warm up with, 0:03:27.436 --> 0:03:29.876 it's not nearly as intense as what I do once 0:03:29.916 --> 0:03:33.876 I'm up there. It's just like, I feel like it's 0:03:33.916 --> 0:03:37.276 something about the people and the general feeling of happiness 0:03:37.356 --> 0:03:41.076 that brings that out of me. And you can practice 0:03:41.116 --> 0:03:43.156 all you want, but there's really no practice for doing 0:03:43.196 --> 0:03:45.996 that other than doing it, you know, because there's no 0:03:46.036 --> 0:03:48.476 way to simulate it. So yeah, I feel like I'm 0:03:48.516 --> 0:03:52.596 just warming up. I'm looking forward to next year and stuff. Yeah, 0:03:52.676 --> 0:03:55.316 you know, so, I think the last time we talked, 0:03:55.356 --> 0:04:00.156 we were starting to talk about playing on albums and 0:04:00.196 --> 0:04:04.476 we got through Mother's Milk and then we got distracted. 0:04:04.516 --> 0:04:07.916 It never kept going exactly. So Mother's Milk. It was 0:04:07.956 --> 0:04:10.356 not a great experience for you. And was that I 0:04:10.356 --> 0:04:13.116 can't remember now. Was that your first time in a 0:04:13.156 --> 0:04:16.636 proper recording studio recording or no, Well, the first time 0:04:16.716 --> 0:04:18.916 was when we did the song Taste the Pain and 0:04:18.956 --> 0:04:21.476 that went really well, Like did it in one take 0:04:21.556 --> 0:04:25.796 and everything, you know, went really smoothly. Yeah. Michael Binhorn 0:04:25.956 --> 0:04:28.036 was just hyped when we were making the record, and 0:04:28.076 --> 0:04:30.516 he was taking on a lot of pressure. I think 0:04:30.516 --> 0:04:32.236 he had put a lot of pressure on himself that 0:04:32.276 --> 0:04:34.196 it's got to be the greatest album ever and all 0:04:34.196 --> 0:04:40.036 this stuff, and he definitely imposed that on me and 0:04:40.756 --> 0:04:44.436 me especially because I think he felt like I was 0:04:44.516 --> 0:04:47.556 young and you know, he could really guide me and 0:04:47.636 --> 0:04:52.516 stuff like this, and you know, so the album felt forced. I've, 0:04:52.956 --> 0:04:56.676 you know, since doing interviews recently, I've kind of reflected 0:04:56.716 --> 0:04:59.356 on that period, especially once we got on tour, because 0:04:59.356 --> 0:05:03.196 once we started touring with Chad after the record had 0:05:03.196 --> 0:05:06.516 come out and stuff, it really we really had a thing. 0:05:06.676 --> 0:05:08.756 Like I think even a couple of years later, I 0:05:08.756 --> 0:05:12.756 didn't appreciate what that was. I was such a fan 0:05:12.836 --> 0:05:15.076 of the band before I was in the band that 0:05:15.156 --> 0:05:18.756 I thought of the magic of that band really highly 0:05:19.436 --> 0:05:24.076 with Helleo and Jack. But I recently heard, just heard. 0:05:24.116 --> 0:05:27.396 I listened to one song of us around that time 0:05:27.396 --> 0:05:30.956 of the Mother's Milk tour, doing what was usually our 0:05:30.996 --> 0:05:33.276 first song back then, the first song they ever performed 0:05:33.316 --> 0:05:37.356 on stage out in LA and Man, I was like, wow, 0:05:37.396 --> 0:05:39.716 we were really good. I was like I was because 0:05:39.716 --> 0:05:41.796 I always think I was bad at that time, and 0:05:42.076 --> 0:05:44.276 I listened back to it and I was like, Wow, 0:05:44.276 --> 0:05:47.236 we really had something that that that that other band 0:05:47.276 --> 0:05:50.956 didn't have, Like we had this very intense energy, like 0:05:50.996 --> 0:05:54.356 there was something kind of mellow in comparison about about 0:05:54.436 --> 0:05:57.556 the previous band, Like we really did play every note 0:05:57.556 --> 0:05:59.276 like it was going to be our last, Like there 0:05:59.356 --> 0:06:02.996 was this passion and intensity, and I don't know, considering 0:06:02.996 --> 0:06:05.356 that it was basically funk music and that we were 0:06:05.356 --> 0:06:08.716 playing it that hard, I just don't feel like there's 0:06:08.756 --> 0:06:11.356 ever only been anything like it. And I even though 0:06:11.396 --> 0:06:13.276 I had an ego about it at the time, I 0:06:13.316 --> 0:06:16.916 don't think I really appreciated like how special it was. 0:06:16.996 --> 0:06:19.996 And I think when I really felt like I found myself, 0:06:20.036 --> 0:06:22.436 I kind of mellowed out a bit, you know, and 0:06:22.476 --> 0:06:26.596 stopped pushing myself on the music so much. And but 0:06:26.636 --> 0:06:29.396 there really was something we had then in eighty eight 0:06:29.476 --> 0:06:33.156 eighty nine that was I guess, in particular eighty nine 0:06:33.196 --> 0:06:36.516 that was really like powerful. I saw you guys at 0:06:36.556 --> 0:06:39.356 the Greek Theater at that time and it was mind blowing. 0:06:39.756 --> 0:06:42.956 Right Yeah. That was the very last show of that tour, 0:06:43.116 --> 0:06:46.836 So yeah, yeah. And I think part of it also 0:06:46.956 --> 0:06:49.516 has to do with Chad, because if you think of 0:06:49.516 --> 0:06:51.996 what drummers and funk bands sound like, like, you think 0:06:51.996 --> 0:06:55.556 about James Brown's drummers, they're super groovy, but they played 0:06:55.676 --> 0:07:02.636 almost like jazz, like, like very subdued groovy but not loud. Yeah, 0:07:02.956 --> 0:07:08.156 And Chad's rocking like crazy, which is not your typical 0:07:08.316 --> 0:07:12.076 funk drum right, But he's got a he's got a 0:07:12.076 --> 0:07:17.316 good funk feel, you know, it's incredible. It's a great combination. Yeah, 0:07:17.356 --> 0:07:19.596 it's just like there's this heaviness to it, but it's 0:07:19.636 --> 0:07:21.516 still got this funk thing, but it's also got this 0:07:21.756 --> 0:07:25.636 extra speed to it. And it was just there's all 0:07:25.636 --> 0:07:27.996 four of us. It was just like it was a 0:07:28.036 --> 0:07:30.756 real explosion when we came out on stage and there 0:07:30.876 --> 0:07:33.836 was like, I don't know, somehow it took me like 0:07:34.036 --> 0:07:37.556 thirty three years to realize to realize what that thing 0:07:37.676 --> 0:07:40.356 was we had. Because there's other things about that period 0:07:40.356 --> 0:07:42.916 of time, like I can be critical about myself in 0:07:42.916 --> 0:07:46.316 the sense that I wasn't improvising as much as I 0:07:46.356 --> 0:07:51.356 did after that, Like my solos weren't as like ever 0:07:51.396 --> 0:07:54.396 since then. You know, when I play a solo, it's 0:07:54.756 --> 0:07:57.836 usually pretty unique to that night. It's rare that I 0:07:57.956 --> 0:08:01.036 do the same thing in the same place twice, you know, 0:08:01.116 --> 0:08:04.996 And at that time, I feel like I wasn't ready 0:08:05.036 --> 0:08:09.476 to take that risk. But that was part of the intensity. 0:08:09.476 --> 0:08:11.596 It was so important to me that it was maximum 0:08:11.636 --> 0:08:14.316 intensity all the time. When I did start improvising, there 0:08:14.396 --> 0:08:19.196 was this feeling of like indifference to the outcome. Yeah, 0:08:19.196 --> 0:08:22.276 it feels much it feels much riskier to do. Yeah, 0:08:22.316 --> 0:08:26.876 it is, And like in nineteen eighty nine, I energetically 0:08:26.956 --> 0:08:29.196 like the energy was the main thing to me, and 0:08:29.396 --> 0:08:31.956 like I couldn't afford to let that energy slip at 0:08:31.996 --> 0:08:34.876 all the way I felt, you know. So I'm I'm 0:08:34.916 --> 0:08:37.396 glad I went. I'm glad I moved past that to 0:08:37.476 --> 0:08:40.996 being able to relax and allow mistakes to happen and 0:08:41.116 --> 0:08:44.476 allow allow myself to do a solo that's not great 0:08:44.836 --> 0:08:48.476 in knowing that like taking the same risk the next 0:08:48.476 --> 0:08:51.556 time a great one might come. You know. Yeah, it 0:08:51.676 --> 0:08:54.036 also makes sense that because you were such a big 0:08:54.116 --> 0:08:57.876 fan of the original lineup of the band and knowing 0:08:58.196 --> 0:09:00.996 you're just a different person. It's, you know, it's you 0:09:01.156 --> 0:09:04.316 always feel like how do I fit in? You know, 0:09:04.396 --> 0:09:06.716 how do I step up to this thing that I 0:09:06.756 --> 0:09:08.916 love so much? It didn't it doesn't even really have 0:09:09.036 --> 0:09:11.036 to do with how good of a guitar player you are, 0:09:11.116 --> 0:09:13.556 do you know what I mean? It's like, those guys 0:09:13.596 --> 0:09:17.156 do this thing that I love, and now I get 0:09:17.156 --> 0:09:20.156 to do it. But it's weird, you know, it's just weird. 0:09:20.236 --> 0:09:23.036 It's it's a weird thing. No, it's really strange and 0:09:23.476 --> 0:09:26.796 Anthony and Fleet. All my memories of seeing them prior 0:09:26.836 --> 0:09:30.436 to my being in the band, including had videotapes. I 0:09:30.476 --> 0:09:32.716 managed to get a hold of of early live shows 0:09:32.716 --> 0:09:35.356 of Theirs and stuff that I used to watch when 0:09:35.356 --> 0:09:38.636 I was, you know, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and they and 0:09:38.676 --> 0:09:40.396 they still have it to this day. They have this 0:09:41.316 --> 0:09:44.396 thing that happens on stage and in a way, they're 0:09:44.476 --> 0:09:48.676 kind of like that in life too. They somehow simultaneously 0:09:49.436 --> 0:09:52.436 appear to be trying very hard and at the same 0:09:52.436 --> 0:09:55.716 time they seem like they're kicking back and they really 0:09:55.756 --> 0:09:58.316 don't care about the impression they make on anybody, and 0:09:58.356 --> 0:10:03.356 they're there to be themselves. Like there's this balance in 0:10:03.556 --> 0:10:07.396 the persona of who they are on stage that somehow 0:10:07.476 --> 0:10:12.436 has this combination of a careless, kind of relaxed, I 0:10:12.436 --> 0:10:16.596 don't give a shit thing, and I'm trying really hard 0:10:16.676 --> 0:10:19.076 at the same time to be the best entertainer I 0:10:19.076 --> 0:10:22.796 can be up here. It's a it's something. It's yeah, 0:10:22.796 --> 0:10:27.876 it seems contradictory, and so coming into it, I think 0:10:27.916 --> 0:10:29.636 my first thought was that I was going to be 0:10:29.636 --> 0:10:32.156 as crazy as them on stage, you know, like, and 0:10:32.196 --> 0:10:35.116 I think possibly the reason I didn't have that same 0:10:35.276 --> 0:10:37.836 balance is because I think I cared a lot for 0:10:37.876 --> 0:10:41.076 the reason that you're saying. You know, I couldn't have 0:10:41.196 --> 0:10:45.756 that relaxed indifference. That's this very cool sense that I 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:48.556 used to get from them on stage. For me, if 0:10:48.556 --> 0:10:50.476 I was going to go up there and go crazy, 0:10:50.676 --> 0:10:52.716 that's all it was was a guy going crazy. There 0:10:52.836 --> 0:10:56.356 was no cool kickback aspect to it. You know. It 0:10:56.476 --> 0:10:59.076 just wasn't me being trying to be wild and crazy 0:10:59.156 --> 0:11:03.116 like my it's not my personality and it wasn't the 0:11:03.156 --> 0:11:07.796 best way for me to serve the overall chemistry of 0:11:07.836 --> 0:11:11.516 the group, you know. So having a relaxed mental attitude 0:11:11.516 --> 0:11:14.796 to the performance part, to the playing part, to everything 0:11:14.996 --> 0:11:17.876 was what turned out to be best for everybody, I think. 0:11:18.276 --> 0:11:20.316 But like I say, there was something about the fact 0:11:20.356 --> 0:11:24.876 that I was just so all, you know, all out 0:11:24.916 --> 0:11:28.156 in that first couple of years that you know, never 0:11:28.316 --> 0:11:30.516 got that back again again, you know what I mean, Like, no, 0:11:30.676 --> 0:11:32.396 but that it's cool and it's cool that that's a 0:11:32.476 --> 0:11:34.916 period of time, and that's like you wouldn't change your 0:11:34.956 --> 0:11:37.316 diary entries either, you know. It's like that's a moment 0:11:37.316 --> 0:11:39.516 in time and that was then and now you get 0:11:39.516 --> 0:11:41.556 to do this and it's great, and it's you know, 0:11:41.556 --> 0:11:44.196 it's different versions of good. It's not like they're in 0:11:44.276 --> 0:11:47.476 competition with each other. Yeah. I remember I went to 0:11:47.476 --> 0:11:50.516 see Radiohead two nights in a row at Radio City Musical, 0:11:51.276 --> 0:11:55.156 and the first night it looked like Tom York didn't 0:11:55.196 --> 0:11:58.356 want to be there and he was just standing at 0:11:58.356 --> 0:12:02.396 the mic and playing and singing and stone faced, not 0:12:02.556 --> 0:12:07.156 moving perfectly still, and it just felt like he was 0:12:07.196 --> 0:12:09.476 just waiting for the show to end. And then the 0:12:09.476 --> 0:12:12.476 next night, which was the last show of the tour, 0:12:13.596 --> 0:12:16.196 he was the most animated I've ever seen him, Like 0:12:16.396 --> 0:12:20.476 it was the opposite person. Two nights in a row, Yeah, 0:12:20.516 --> 0:12:23.116 and he was running all over and happy. It. It 0:12:23.196 --> 0:12:26.476 was fascinating to see. I've had that same thing a 0:12:26.596 --> 0:12:30.716 few times on this tour, Like I'm specifically DC to 0:12:30.876 --> 0:12:33.796 Boston was the same thing as what you just described, 0:12:33.956 --> 0:12:37.356 Like there's certain nights where for some reason, I can't 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:40.996 put any physical energy into the show, including just the 0:12:41.076 --> 0:12:45.596 normal sort of crouched down, kind of leaning back kind 0:12:45.636 --> 0:12:50.676 of stance that's pretty normal for Flee and I to 0:12:50.916 --> 0:12:53.636 play in. And Anthony stands the same way too. It's 0:12:53.676 --> 0:12:56.036 just like I can't even do that. I can just 0:12:56.116 --> 0:13:00.116 stand there perfectly straight up and with my legs straight 0:13:00.396 --> 0:13:03.076 and stand by Chad and just walk up to the 0:13:03.116 --> 0:13:05.476 mic when it's time to sing or press an effect 0:13:05.796 --> 0:13:08.956 and walk back to Chad after that, and just like 0:13:10.356 --> 0:13:13.356 I can't look at the audience, I can't feel anything. 0:13:14.196 --> 0:13:16.556 Probably the best that ever comes out of my playing 0:13:16.596 --> 0:13:20.076 on a night like that is a kind of intensity 0:13:20.116 --> 0:13:22.956 that comes out of anger that I just focus into 0:13:22.996 --> 0:13:27.716 the playing, and I can't really enjoy it. But that's 0:13:27.796 --> 0:13:30.316 probably if I listened back, I would imagine that would 0:13:30.356 --> 0:13:33.076 be the redeeming part of the show. Is just some 0:13:33.116 --> 0:13:35.076 sort of focus that can come from being in a 0:13:35.116 --> 0:13:37.076 bad mood like that that I can put into my 0:13:37.156 --> 0:13:40.596 lead playing in a certain way. But if that happens, 0:13:41.236 --> 0:13:43.276 do you always know it's like, oh, I had this 0:13:43.396 --> 0:13:46.196 argument earlier with someone and that's it. Or is it 0:13:46.356 --> 0:13:48.276 just like a feeling you wake up that way and 0:13:48.356 --> 0:13:51.596 it's not related to anything specific that you could point 0:13:51.676 --> 0:13:54.676 finger at. Yeah, if I analyze it, I could have 0:13:54.716 --> 0:13:57.156 a theory, but there's really like no way to know. 0:13:57.396 --> 0:13:59.596 There's really no way to know. I sense it when 0:13:59.636 --> 0:14:02.356 I'm walking towards the stage and when I'm on stage. 0:14:02.396 --> 0:14:05.436 I realize it in that moment that I'm first on 0:14:05.516 --> 0:14:08.756 stage and I realize, Okay, I'm in one of those 0:14:08.756 --> 0:14:10.436 moods and I'm not going to be able to get 0:14:10.436 --> 0:14:12.956 out of it, you know. And the same thing happens 0:14:13.076 --> 0:14:16.276 to flee or you know, but he has a different 0:14:16.276 --> 0:14:19.436 way of handling it, like he might go extra physically 0:14:19.476 --> 0:14:22.796 crazy to work his way through it. For me, I don't. 0:14:23.116 --> 0:14:26.316 I don't try to do that. I just uh yeah, 0:14:26.436 --> 0:14:29.276 just stand there and get through it. And I'm sure 0:14:29.396 --> 0:14:32.836 musically the show's great, Like it's it's great either way. 0:14:33.036 --> 0:14:36.556 Maybe I've got definitely when I've had nights like that, 0:14:36.756 --> 0:14:39.276 Anthony'll give me back some report like so and so 0:14:39.556 --> 0:14:41.956 said that somebody who's seen us a lot of times. 0:14:42.316 --> 0:14:44.196 So and so said it was the best show he's 0:14:44.196 --> 0:14:47.196 ever seen of us. So you know, it's so I'm 0:14:47.316 --> 0:14:50.396 I'm learning to just let it be that way when 0:14:50.396 --> 0:14:52.596 it's a nice night like that, and don't beat myself 0:14:52.716 --> 0:14:54.876 up about it while I'm on stage or anything. And 0:14:54.956 --> 0:14:57.916 in my radio hit example, I can't say one show 0:14:57.956 --> 0:14:59.716 was better than Together. It was right. I was going 0:14:59.756 --> 0:15:03.556 to be interesting to see how different it could be. Yeah, 0:15:03.636 --> 0:15:06.316 yeah that so, yeah, the night following the night that 0:15:06.316 --> 0:15:10.116 I'm thinking of in Boston, like like it was the freest, 0:15:10.356 --> 0:15:13.396 most loosest I could imagine feeling on stage, like it 0:15:13.476 --> 0:15:16.756 was particularly like one of the best shows of the tours. 0:15:16.756 --> 0:15:20.276 So sometimes those maybe those nights are just to remind 0:15:20.316 --> 0:15:23.196 myself to really be able to feel it completely, because 0:15:23.236 --> 0:15:25.636 if you know, if you felt good every night, you 0:15:25.716 --> 0:15:29.636 might never feel particular high because there isn't a load 0:15:29.636 --> 0:15:32.516 of balance it for granted. Also, yeah, so there's something 0:15:32.516 --> 0:15:34.996 about that. And it's like with meditation. You know, when 0:15:35.036 --> 0:15:37.596 you sit to meditate. At the end of the meditation, 0:15:37.636 --> 0:15:39.996 there is in a sense of sometimes we'll say to 0:15:40.036 --> 0:15:42.116 ourselves or that was a good one, or that wasn't 0:15:42.156 --> 0:15:44.916 a good one, and neither those are true. It's like, yeah, 0:15:45.116 --> 0:15:47.876 it's if you sat down to do it, you did it, 0:15:47.956 --> 0:15:51.316 and that's all that matters. And then sometimes the experience 0:15:51.356 --> 0:15:54.596 of it is euphoric, and other times it feels like 0:15:54.636 --> 0:15:58.156 you don't go anywhere and that's what it's supposed to 0:15:58.236 --> 0:16:00.396 be that day to get to the next one. It's 0:16:00.436 --> 0:16:03.596 just the path on the road, you know. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:03.636 --> 0:16:05.956 it's a really hard concept for people to understand and 0:16:05.996 --> 0:16:08.996 for you to try to make yourself always remember, is 0:16:09.156 --> 0:16:11.876 that like that there's not a good and bad meditation, 0:16:12.116 --> 0:16:14.636 you know, It's it's a hard thing to understand because 0:16:14.636 --> 0:16:17.596 when your head is full of thoughts and you just 0:16:17.676 --> 0:16:23.636 feel like this is not going well. But yeah, you 0:16:23.676 --> 0:16:25.716 really never know. And I know it from history of 0:16:25.756 --> 0:16:28.796 other bands too. I know, like certain nights when somebody 0:16:28.916 --> 0:16:32.116 was you know, supposedly like not in a good mood 0:16:32.156 --> 0:16:34.116 that night, and they played really good. It was just 0:16:34.276 --> 0:16:37.796 different than how they normally played, you know. So I 0:16:37.796 --> 0:16:40.476 don't know, I'm trying not to be too judgmental about it, 0:16:40.516 --> 0:16:43.796 but it's not as fun, that's for sure. Yeah. So 0:16:43.916 --> 0:16:48.396 the band was really rocking after Mother's Milk Live and 0:16:48.476 --> 0:16:50.276 now it's time to make the next album, and that's 0:16:50.316 --> 0:16:54.116 when we started working together. And tell me from your perspective, 0:16:54.116 --> 0:16:57.556 what was the experience like of making Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Well, 0:16:57.596 --> 0:17:00.556 pretty much right around that time that we played at 0:17:00.556 --> 0:17:03.836 the Greek, I guess we had. We took a couple 0:17:03.836 --> 0:17:06.636 of months off, and during that couple of months I 0:17:06.716 --> 0:17:10.876 really was And around that time, I remember I ran 0:17:10.956 --> 0:17:14.316 into you at Canters when we weren't we didn't know 0:17:14.356 --> 0:17:16.956 who was going to produce the record, and a lot 0:17:17.036 --> 0:17:19.316 of things were lining up for me as a musician 0:17:19.356 --> 0:17:22.956 and as a person right around that time, and I 0:17:23.036 --> 0:17:26.596 just had I had some epiphanies in terms of taking 0:17:26.596 --> 0:17:30.556 the direction of my playing and my songwriting in a 0:17:30.636 --> 0:17:34.516 different in a different direction. We were so close by 0:17:34.516 --> 0:17:37.756 that point as a as a band and as friends. 0:17:38.636 --> 0:17:41.836 I didn't feel anymore like I had to prove myself 0:17:41.996 --> 0:17:45.356 or to be to be what my idea of a 0:17:45.436 --> 0:17:50.796 Chili Pepper was or anything. I was confident that in 0:17:50.996 --> 0:17:55.436 my place in the band, and I felt like I 0:17:55.436 --> 0:18:01.436 I wanted to try just being myself, even though I've 0:18:01.436 --> 0:18:04.636 been gradually being more and more myself as a person 0:18:04.676 --> 0:18:06.636 and as a musician as that tour went on. But 0:18:07.676 --> 0:18:11.436 around that time, I was having all these realizations just 0:18:11.476 --> 0:18:15.036 listening to music that was that was my favorite music 0:18:15.076 --> 0:18:18.396 at the time, and that was different from what the 0:18:18.436 --> 0:18:22.236 band was always listening to together, because we were always 0:18:22.716 --> 0:18:25.196 we were always listening to like Curtis Mayfield, the Meters 0:18:25.796 --> 0:18:31.316 Signed The Family, Stone zz Top, the Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack, 0:18:31.436 --> 0:18:34.436 like different, different little things that we would listen to together. 0:18:34.596 --> 0:18:36.956 That and even at home, that was a lot of 0:18:36.996 --> 0:18:39.556 what I'd been listening to that Fishbone, you know, like, 0:18:39.756 --> 0:18:42.956 and so I just started now the tour was over 0:18:43.036 --> 0:18:45.956 and everything, and I was living in this house, living 0:18:45.956 --> 0:18:48.076 in the in the Hollywood Hills for the first time, 0:18:48.156 --> 0:18:52.876 and and just having really strong feelings listening to things 0:18:52.916 --> 0:18:59.076 like The Velvet Underground and television and Peter Gabriel era Genesis, 0:18:59.276 --> 0:19:01.676 and I was realizing that, like that, a lot of 0:19:01.716 --> 0:19:05.556 power can come from from not hitting the strings super 0:19:05.556 --> 0:19:08.516 hard all the time, you know, from from not filling 0:19:08.596 --> 0:19:12.356 up all thiss with notes, from leaving big spaces listening 0:19:12.356 --> 0:19:15.236 to that guitarist from Bow Wow Wow, and listening to 0:19:15.276 --> 0:19:18.036 how how spacious is playing was and how well it 0:19:18.116 --> 0:19:20.556 supported the bass. I've been a fan of them forever, 0:19:20.636 --> 0:19:24.036 but just hadn't specifically wanted to play like that. And 0:19:25.436 --> 0:19:29.356 so I was really starting to realize, like how much 0:19:30.036 --> 0:19:33.476 music was starting to really produce these intense feelings inside me. 0:19:33.556 --> 0:19:36.596 That that period only really lasted for a few years 0:19:36.636 --> 0:19:40.036 where I really I had a kind of a synesthesia 0:19:40.236 --> 0:19:43.596 where I could oftentimes it was seeing, but it was 0:19:43.636 --> 0:19:47.636 something in between seeing and hearing in my brain that 0:19:48.276 --> 0:19:50.596 if I put on a record, the feeling was produced. 0:19:50.876 --> 0:19:53.356 If I put the needle back, the same exact feeling 0:19:53.676 --> 0:19:56.516 was produced again, and it was like watching a movie 0:19:56.636 --> 0:20:00.396 or something. So certain records were bringing up those feelings 0:20:00.516 --> 0:20:04.916 really intensely, or that bringing up that phenomena, and so 0:20:04.956 --> 0:20:07.276 those were the things I focused on. Captain Beefheart was 0:20:07.276 --> 0:20:09.716 a real big one for me at the time that 0:20:09.836 --> 0:20:13.036 was producing I think more of those types of sensations 0:20:13.076 --> 0:20:18.556 than anything else was. So started writing things because I 0:20:18.636 --> 0:20:20.596 knew it Flee and Anthony's taste so well, and I 0:20:20.676 --> 0:20:23.716 knew the breadth of it, and I knew their open mindedness. 0:20:23.716 --> 0:20:26.596 Like I was still trying to make stuff that I 0:20:26.636 --> 0:20:29.356 thought they would like, as I still do today, but 0:20:29.476 --> 0:20:31.476 I was coming from an angle that they weren't going 0:20:31.556 --> 0:20:35.076 to expect, you know, And so like that, Breaking the 0:20:35.116 --> 0:20:37.836 Girl's Song was one of the first things that I 0:20:37.876 --> 0:20:42.236 wrote before we ever started rehearsing, and Funky Monk's song 0:20:42.436 --> 0:20:47.436 was one that I sort of collaborated with Anthony. He 0:20:47.876 --> 0:20:51.076 was playing the guitar part, but it was it wasn't 0:20:51.116 --> 0:20:53.036 really the guitar part. It was just one finger and 0:20:53.076 --> 0:20:54.476 he was hitting all the strings and he was going 0:20:54.556 --> 0:20:57.996 bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum 0:20:57.996 --> 0:21:01.116 bum bum bum. And so I took that basic rhythm 0:21:01.196 --> 0:21:04.796 and made a thing out of it. And power of 0:21:04.796 --> 0:21:07.716 Equality I think was the basic riff for that was 0:21:07.796 --> 0:21:09.596 something I came up with early. And it was just 0:21:09.676 --> 0:21:13.196 like I was really starting to understand how to get 0:21:13.276 --> 0:21:18.836 power out of simplicity and wasn't trying to compete with 0:21:18.996 --> 0:21:21.756 Flea as far as being busy and stuff like that. 0:21:21.836 --> 0:21:24.476 It was one of those things where I finally had 0:21:24.476 --> 0:21:27.236 it through my head like Flea's allowed to be busy somehow, 0:21:27.516 --> 0:21:29.596 Like he can be busy and not sound like he's 0:21:29.636 --> 0:21:32.196 showing off. If I do it, it sounds like I'm 0:21:32.236 --> 0:21:36.036 eating into everybody else's space. You know. Was appreciating stuff 0:21:36.076 --> 0:21:39.356 like led Zeppelin, where you noticed Jimmy Page is playing, 0:21:39.396 --> 0:21:42.116 He's he gives so much space to the drums. He's 0:21:42.156 --> 0:21:45.356 often not playing. He'll often hold a note and leave 0:21:45.396 --> 0:21:49.036 it to allow the snare drum to be the maximum 0:21:49.236 --> 0:21:53.356 size that it can be. And so, yeah, it was 0:21:53.516 --> 0:21:56.116 putting all those things together in my head and that 0:21:56.836 --> 0:22:00.716 having that synesthesia thing, and so when we started rehearsing, 0:22:00.756 --> 0:22:03.716 just everything was falling into place like magic and yeah, 0:22:03.716 --> 0:22:07.676 I had that talk with you. It canters and I 0:22:07.756 --> 0:22:10.316 became really psyched about the I of you producing us, 0:22:10.356 --> 0:22:12.796 and we all talked about it, and that's what everybody 0:22:12.796 --> 0:22:16.316