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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, y'all, today's the start of a month long

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Speaker 1: run of episodes and celebration of the Red Hot Chili

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Speaker 1: Pepper's newest release, Unlimited Love. You'll hear Rick Rubin in

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Speaker 1: conversation with all four members of the band. It's a

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Speaker 1: fascinating and oftentimes hilarious collection of interviews that showed just

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Speaker 1: how close these guys are and all the emotional ups

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Speaker 1: and downs they've been through together over the last thirty years.

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Speaker 1: If you're a diehard fan, you know why this release

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Speaker 1: is so exciting. Unlimited Love is their first record with

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Speaker 1: guitarist John Frusciante in sixteen years. John's integal as any

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Speaker 1: of the four members to unlocking the signature sound they've

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Speaker 1: been building on since the release of Blood, Sugar, Sex Magic.

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Speaker 1: In this episode, you'll hear John in conversation with Rick Rubin,

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Speaker 1: who stepped back into the producer seat for this release.

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Speaker 1: John tells Rick about his deep musical exploration as a

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Speaker 1: young guitar player, how he fell in love with the

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Speaker 1: Chili Peppers as a teenager, and what it was like

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Speaker 1: joining the band he becomes such a fan of at

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Speaker 1: just eighteen years old. Then, at the end of the talk,

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Speaker 1: Rick and John are joined by a very special guest.

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Speaker 1: This is broken record line of notes for the digital age.

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Speaker 1: I'm justin Mitchman. Here's Rick Rubin and John Drushante. Let's

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Speaker 1: go back up a long ways. Tell me about the

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Speaker 1: first time you remember ever seeing or hearing about the

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Speaker 1: Chili Peppers, first time you ever heard the name of

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Speaker 1: the band. The first time that I remember hearing the

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Speaker 1: name of the band was that I had a guitar

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Speaker 1: teacher named Mark nine. He's the only guitar teacher who

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Speaker 1: I ever was really excited about and that I feel

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Speaker 1: like I really got some good things from. At the

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Speaker 1: time that I started playing guitar, I was into punk,

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Speaker 1: and every guitar teacher I took a lesson from would

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Speaker 1: start insalting punk right away. I'd tell them that that

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Speaker 1: was my favorite music, and they'd tell me that it

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Speaker 1: wasn't music, and all this kind of stuff. Then this guy,

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Speaker 1: Mark nine came along, and he had played with Nina Hogan,

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Speaker 1: he'd been in her band for a period of time,

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Speaker 1: and Pat Smir was the other guitar player. I guess

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Speaker 1: Mark was the lead guitar player and Pat was the

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Speaker 1: rhythm guitar player for a period of time, and he

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Speaker 1: thought Pat Smir was a great guitarist. And Pat Smir

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Speaker 1: was the main reason that I started playing guitar. The

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Speaker 1: first things I learned were germs, and so the fact

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Speaker 1: that I'd found a guitar teacher who like thought Pat

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Speaker 1: Smir was a great guitar player was really exciting to me. Plus,

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Speaker 1: he was into all this psychedelic music from the sixties

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Speaker 1: and so he was playing with various things. He had

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Speaker 1: a band called Underworld, He played with a guy called

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Speaker 1: Randall Kennedy and Reconstruction and it was like a poetry

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Speaker 1: arty kind of thing. And he had a ska group

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Speaker 1: called Scotch And I was really into everything he did.

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Speaker 1: I had cassettes tapes of everything. And at one point

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Speaker 1: he came and said that there was a band called

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Speaker 1: the Red Hut Chili Peppers that he was auditioning for

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Speaker 1: and that he was hoping to get in and he

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Speaker 1: played guitar and bass, and it got stuck in my

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Speaker 1: head that he was auditioning for bass for this band.

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Speaker 1: And then, probably about anywhere from like six months to

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Speaker 1: a year after this, I saw the video for Trueman

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Speaker 1: Don't Kill Coyotes on on MTV, and I was like, huh,

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Speaker 1: he wouldn't have been a good replacement for this bass player, like,

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Speaker 1: of course this Basela. Nobody could replace this guy. But

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Speaker 1: as it turned out, it was guitar that he had

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Speaker 1: been auditioning for. So yeah, so that there was a

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Speaker 1: period of a few weeks where I remember him talking

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Speaker 1: about how he hoped he would he would get hired

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Speaker 1: to be in this band, but at the time they

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Speaker 1: were choosing between Jack Sherman and Mark nine, and they

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Speaker 1: wound up chosing Jack Sherman. How old were you at

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Speaker 1: that time? Do you remember? Yeah, it had to be

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Speaker 1: when I was thirteen or fourteen that he was auditioning,

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Speaker 1: because Hellell and Jack were originally in the band for

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Speaker 1: only six months and then they quit and that's when

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Speaker 1: Anthony and Filey looked for new guys. So the band

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Speaker 1: starts in eighty three, I'm not sure what month. And

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Speaker 1: then how old were you when you end up joining

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Speaker 1: the band? Eighteen? So you hear about them, you already

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Speaker 1: know about the band for four or five years before

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Speaker 1: you are okay, so like it's not like I found

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Speaker 1: out about them and then I was suddenly a fan

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Speaker 1: of them, like, yeah, like I just were aware of them. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was aware of them that I think. The next

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Speaker 1: step was I had a friend named Jerry who worked

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Speaker 1: for the Frank Zappa family, and I used to spend

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Speaker 1: a lot of time at his house listening to listening

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Speaker 1: to music, listening to a lot of Frank Zappa like

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Speaker 1: live tapes and stuff like that, and at one point

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Speaker 1: Jerry gave me a compilation tape. It was mostly esoteric

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Speaker 1: kind of avant garde music. There was like Meredith Monk

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Speaker 1: on it. I think there was even some Funkadelic on it.

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Speaker 1: He was he was the first person who mentioned Funkadelic

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Speaker 1: to me. And one of the things on that cassette

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Speaker 1: tape was the song Hurdled the Turtle from their second

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Speaker 1: Holme Freaky Styley, and I thought that was really good,

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Speaker 1: like loved everything about it. The drums reminded me of

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Speaker 1: like a funk version of a Captain beefheart beat, and

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Speaker 1: the walla pedal thing was so clever and the way

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Speaker 1: that he incorporated it into the guitar part, and that

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Speaker 1: song has this great way of each element coming in

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Speaker 1: one by one, and so you really fully appreciate how

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Speaker 1: great the guitar part is how great the drumbeat is

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Speaker 1: because you hear each thing sort of one added to

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Speaker 1: the next. But at that point, they weren't that different

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Speaker 1: to me than the Residents or these other things, like

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Speaker 1: their drummer had played with Captain Beefheart, and I was

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Speaker 1: mainly at that time, like I was really intensely into

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Speaker 1: Frank Zappa and Steve I and stuff like this, Like

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Speaker 1: I was really trying. I'd been through many other phases,

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Speaker 1: but at that period of time, I was really trying

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Speaker 1: to just get to a point where nobody could tell

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Speaker 1: me I wasn't a good guitar player. I was trying

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Speaker 1: to really at a certain point, I was like, whatever

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Speaker 1: people think is the hardest stuff to play, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: try to play that. But the Chili Peppers were just

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Speaker 1: like an interesting band and fun to watch and stuff

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Speaker 1: on these videotapes that I had, and I bought their

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Speaker 1: first record when I was in Florida. I have this

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Speaker 1: strange memory of I bought their record and then I

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Speaker 1: went up to my step mom, who I would often

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Speaker 1: just go to to tell weird little things, Like one

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Speaker 1: day I'd come to her and I'd say, like I

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Speaker 1: decided what my favorite ending to any album is. It's

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Speaker 1: the ending to Rise and Fall of Ziggy Startus by

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Speaker 1: David Bowie. You know, I just say things that she

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Speaker 1: didn't care about at all, you know. But I remember

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Speaker 1: listening to that Chili Peppers record and saying I could

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Speaker 1: never be in a band like that. I could never

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Speaker 1: be in that band because there's not enough musical variety

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Speaker 1: for me. Like it was a strange thing to say.

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Speaker 1: She was like, oh, you would never be in that band, okay,

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Speaker 1: you know, like it was it seemed like the most

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Speaker 1: far fetched thing in the world. That's some record I

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Speaker 1: bought at the Big Peaches record store. I'd say I

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Speaker 1: couldn't be in That still sticks in my hand. But basically,

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Speaker 1: I had a friend in high school who was really

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Speaker 1: into the Chili Peppers and he and he'd gone to

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Speaker 1: see them at least a couple of times. I remember

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Speaker 1: he went and saw them at Fender's Ballroom. That was

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Speaker 1: before I was going to see them with Fishbone and

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Speaker 1: Faith the More on the Best of the West tour

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Speaker 1: and stuff. And he was also into the that License

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Speaker 1: Tale album as well. Like he got me excited about

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Speaker 1: music that was sort of outside of the spectrum of

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Speaker 1: what I'd been listening to lately, music that was more

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Speaker 1: like about fun, you know, because I was I'd gotten

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Speaker 1: into such a technical frame of mind. And so he

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Speaker 1: and I went to see the Chili Peppers at the

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Speaker 1: Variety Arts Center downtown. And I'd been very happy at

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Speaker 1: previous shows i'd been to, like Adrian Blue and Stanley

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Speaker 1: Clark and things. I felt the feeling of joy at

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Speaker 1: concerts before, but there was nothing in comparison to seeing

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Speaker 1: that band. It was when the original lineup was back together,

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Speaker 1: but they hadn't come out with their third record yet,

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Speaker 1: and everything I'd heard of them, everything that i'd seen

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Speaker 1: on videotape, did not prepare me for the intensity of

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Speaker 1: that show. It it was so psychedelic they all had.

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Speaker 1: They had the fluorescent paint everywhere on their bodies you

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Speaker 1: couldn't see them, and the black lights. It felt so otherworldly.

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Speaker 1: It felt like me and the other you know, however

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Speaker 1: many people it was a thousand people who were there,

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Speaker 1: like it felt like we just all went into a

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Speaker 1: dream together or something, you know. It did not feel

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Speaker 1: like reality. That I saw two shows where they did that,

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Speaker 1: where they wore the paint and never had experienced anything

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Speaker 1: where the audience and the performers felt like we were

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Speaker 1: all one thing. We were all in the same place together.

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Speaker 1: The rest of the world didn't exist. Everybody's completely happy,

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Speaker 1: everybody's out of their minds, everybody's jumping around, you know.

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Speaker 1: As I say, punk was the music I started with,

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Speaker 1: but I was too young. I was into punk when

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Speaker 1: I was nine, ten eleven, you know, so I was

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Speaker 1: too young to be going to shows. But at their show,

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Speaker 1: it was like I was feeling that same energy that

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Speaker 1: I remembered imagining about punk shows, you know, where people

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Speaker 1: call them mosh pitt Now we called it a slam

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Speaker 1: pit pick. Then it was punk roft, the first music

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Speaker 1: that you embraced. Well before that, I was into the

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Speaker 1: stuff that every other kid in Santa Monica was into,

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Speaker 1: you know, we were We liked Aerosmith and Alice Cooper

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Speaker 1: and Van Halen and Kiss and like that was just

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Speaker 1: the stuff that that any kid who was into skateboards

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Speaker 1: and that was what the kids in the neighborhood liked.

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Speaker 1: And at one point I moved from Santa Monica to

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Speaker 1: mar Vista, and at that point I discovered carol Q

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Speaker 1: radio station and Rodney Bingenheimer's show. There was where I

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Speaker 1: first heard punk, and so it was definitely a adual thing.

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Speaker 1: I remember like being really into Devo and the B

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Speaker 1: fifty twos and stuff like that for a while and

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Speaker 1: then discovered the Germs and sex Pistols. There was a

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Speaker 1: girl lived next stoor to me for a couple of

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Speaker 1: months who used to let me go through a record

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Speaker 1: collection and tape record things and stuff, so I remember

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Speaker 1: I went to her apartment and recorded like never Mind

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Speaker 1: the Bullocks by the sex Pistols and more songs about

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Speaker 1: buildings and food by the Talking Heads, and so yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was basically into like new wave and punk rock,

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Speaker 1: and that gradually turned into being specifically into hardcore punk,

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Speaker 1: and then from there you moved into more technical stuff

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Speaker 1: was at the next step. Yeah, it was a lot

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Speaker 1: of little phases it went. Punk was what was what

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Speaker 1: made me pull the acoustic guitar out of the closet

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Speaker 1: and start learning songs, even though it wasn't an electric guitar.

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Speaker 1: I'd wanted to play electric guitar years before that, but

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Speaker 1: nobody would buy me one, and I just did not

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Speaker 1: like the sound of an acoustic so so I put

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Speaker 1: it off. But eventually I was like, Okay, if I

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Speaker 1: just learned a bunch of punks here, maybe my dad

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Speaker 1: will see that I'm dedicated and he'll buy me an electric.

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Speaker 1: So I learned how to play like the entire Sex

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Speaker 1: Pistols album and a lot of other songs, Black Flag

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Speaker 1: and the Germs, and he bought me a stratocaster. And

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Speaker 1: when I got the stratocaster, I started reading Guitar Player magazine.

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Speaker 1: And I had had a friend at school who really

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Speaker 1: liked Jimmy Hendrix prior to that, and I was always

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Speaker 1: kind of messing with him, telling him that the Sex

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Speaker 1: Pistols were far more important to music than Jimi Hendrix

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Speaker 1: was and all this stuff. But we would play tapes

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Speaker 1: for each other and stuff, and once I actually had

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Speaker 1: an electric guitar, I just became obsessed with Jimmy Hendrix

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Speaker 1: and that led me to just being into Jeff Beck

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Speaker 1: and Cream. And there was this violence thing about punk

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Speaker 1: at that point, this stigma to it, like people would

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Speaker 1: find out that I was into punk and they wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be friends with me anymore, and it was like their

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Speaker 1: parents told them, You're not allowed to be friends with

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Speaker 1: that guy anymore, or whatever. That happened to me multiple times,

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Speaker 1: and so I moved from punk being the like the

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Speaker 1: main thing I was into to being really into sixties

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Speaker 1: music and the whole just the peacefulness of the of

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Speaker 1: the ideals of it appealed to me at the time.

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Speaker 1: For whatever reason, I was trying to get out of

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Speaker 1: this angry, sort of violent state of mind that I

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Speaker 1: could feel going on inside me. There was definitely a

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Speaker 1: minute when punk rock turned like a new group of

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Speaker 1: punks joined. It's like the Dead Kennedy's wrote the song

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Speaker 1: Nazi Punks Fuck Off, you know. It was about that

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Speaker 1: the punk movement, which started as this beautiful, peaceful, fun,

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Speaker 1: high energy movement started turning dark for a period of

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Speaker 1: time when new people got involved just to fight basically. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was really there was a lot of fighting, and

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Speaker 1: I felt that violence in myself, Like I liked that

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Speaker 1: about it, you know, but I think it kind of

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Speaker 1: scared me that I had this other part of me

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Speaker 1: inside that was that I wasn't sure what was capable of.

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Speaker 1: Always had concerns about was I saying completely or not,

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Speaker 1: And there was definitely lots of times in my life

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Speaker 1: where I was concerned that I might be crazy, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: the violence thing felt like a screwy thing for me

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Speaker 1: to be dabbling around with and feeding that part of myself.

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Speaker 1: So gradually it was like sixties music. And then from

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Speaker 1: there I got into like more already kind of seventies

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Speaker 1: music like Brian Eno and Roxy Music and David Bowie

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Speaker 1: and and progressive rock like Genesis and Yes and Kim Crimson.

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Speaker 1: Kim Crimson, Yeah, like they became my favorite band. I

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Speaker 1: got really into Adrian blues guitar playing. I was obsessed

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Speaker 1: with him, and so this is all I'm like thirteen

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Speaker 1: years old at this point, twelve thirteen years old, you know,

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Speaker 1: And so every all the stages went very fast. And

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Speaker 1: it's not like I ever stopped liking anything that I'd

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Speaker 1: like previously, but I got I would get really excited

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Speaker 1: about a new thing and be focused on that at

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Speaker 1: So I think when I was about fifteen was when

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Speaker 1: I got obsessed with Frank Zappa. And that's any guitar

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Speaker 1: player who was related to him. So Warren Coucarulo and

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Speaker 1: Steve Ye and Adrian Blue also happened to be in

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Speaker 1: his band for a while, but I'd already been into

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Speaker 1: him for a while and then yeah, like the Red

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Speaker 1: Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys. That was like

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Speaker 1: this fun music that I was into, largely through this

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Speaker 1: kid that I knew at school. And then when I

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Speaker 1: moved to Hollywood when I was seventeen, I realized I

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Speaker 1: had to make a switch. I had been into all

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Speaker 1: this music that I was into because I thought it

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Speaker 1: was going to make me a quote unquote better guitar player.

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Speaker 1: And I decided, I'm just gonna start listening to only

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Speaker 1: the things that give me the best feelings. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to put aside this idea of what's technically good or

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Speaker 1: anything like that. I'm gonna just listen to the music

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Speaker 1: that gives me the strongest feelings inside. And so at

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Speaker 1: that time, that was like the New York Dolls, Susie

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Speaker 1: and the Band Cheese, David Bowie, t Rex, stuff like this.

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Speaker 1: If I was honest with myself, that was the music

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Speaker 1: that I liked the most out of any other music.

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Speaker 1: And the Red Hot Chili Peppers was also part of that.

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Speaker 1: And in their case, that was somebody who I could

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Speaker 1: go see live all the time. So before I was

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Speaker 1: in the band, I probably saw them about six seven

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Speaker 1: times or something wow, all within about a you know,

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Speaker 1: a year and a half or something like that. And

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Speaker 1: over that year and a half did they change at all?

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Speaker 1: Did you notice, like as a fan, did you see

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Speaker 1: them changing? Were they getting better, were they getting worse?

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Speaker 1: Anything different? Not that I can remember. They seemed pretty

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Speaker 1: consistent to me. Great. There was a couple of shows

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Speaker 1: that got shut down and stuff like either after a

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Speaker 1: few songs, and you know, their shows got pretty crazy

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Speaker 1: at that time. But yeah, they were always great. And

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Speaker 1: the other thing is that I would have necessarily known

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Speaker 1: details about them because every time I ever went and

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Speaker 1: saw them, after the first time, I would tell myself, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this time, I'm gonna I'm just gonna watch the show,

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Speaker 1: because every time they started playing, I just started jumping

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Speaker 1: around in the audience like crazy, and I barely I

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Speaker 1: would see little glimpses once in a while. I would

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Speaker 1: look up at the stage, you know, or I'd somehow

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Speaker 1: wind up close to the stage for a second and

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Speaker 1: I'd look up at hill l or whatever you know

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Speaker 1: I like, and I and this memory would be etched

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Speaker 1: in my brain forever of like one of them from

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Speaker 1: that angle. But like people, I would I would bring

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Speaker 1: to their shows, those people would actually watch the show,

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Speaker 1: so they'd have some thoughtful comments after the show about

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Speaker 1: the show. For me, it was that dream state that

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Speaker 1: I was talking about at their first show. That's what

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Speaker 1: every show I saw of Theirs was for me, because

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Speaker 1: I felt so part of the experience that I couldn't

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Speaker 1: resist the temptation to just jump around the audience like

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Speaker 1: a crazy person. Amazing. So yeah, I didn't have too

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Speaker 1: critical of a sense of what was going on up

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Speaker 1: there because I would mostly see them in between songs

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Speaker 1: when they were talking in between songs, and they were

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Speaker 1: so funny at that time. They would always be saying

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Speaker 1: funny things in between the songs and stuff. The thing

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Speaker 1: you're describing about going to a Chili Pepper show and

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Speaker 1: that being taken away is the experience that I have

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Speaker 1: when I watch you guys play in the studio or

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Speaker 1: in rehearsals, like it feels like we're entering a different

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Speaker 1: dimension and the music somehow we get to have this

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Speaker 1: transcendent experience where when it's happening, it feels like nothing

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Speaker 1: else in the world is happening, but the music being

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Speaker 1: played in this moment, and it's different every time. It's

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Speaker 1: another part of it. It's not like it's so structured. Yes,

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Speaker 1: the order of the things that happen in the song

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Speaker 1: might be the same order, but the energetic peaks and

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Speaker 1: the trip that it takes us on musically always I

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Speaker 1: feel a whole new way thing every time it happens.

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Speaker 1: It's an amazing experience, jaw dropping to watch still to

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Speaker 1: this day. So I understand exactly what you're talking about.

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Speaker 1: It was really important to me when I joined the

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Speaker 1: band to try to keep that same energy going that

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Speaker 1: I that I remember feeling at their shows. And there

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00:18:25,916 --> 00:18:28,356
Speaker 1: was definitely a thing that appealed to me about them

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Speaker 1: in comparison to other artists. They seemed to have more

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Speaker 1: conviction than other people like they it seemed to mean

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Speaker 1: more to them. And that was the original thing that

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Speaker 1: made me like throw away my Kiss records and become

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Speaker 1: you know, obsessed with the germs and Black Flag and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that. Was I could tell that it really

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Speaker 1: meant something to these people and Kiss I got. I

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Speaker 1: realized when I was about nine years old that like,

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Speaker 1: I felt strongly about them, but I wasn't sure that

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Speaker 1: they felt strongly about as strongly about themselves or about

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Speaker 1: any kind of connection they could have to a person

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Speaker 1: like me, you know, whereas those other people, it felt

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Speaker 1: like we were breathing the same air we were. We

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00:19:06,996 --> 00:19:09,636
Speaker 1: were seeing the music from the same angle, not two

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Speaker 1: opposite angles. It wasn't the seller and the consumer. It

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Speaker 1: was this thing that we're all clinging to as as

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Speaker 1: like a thing that's, I don't know, saving us from

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Speaker 1: all the confusion of life. And so I saw that

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Speaker 1: same conviction, and you know, I just always got the

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Speaker 1: sense that music really mattered to that band, you know,

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Speaker 1: and so always wanted that to be the center of

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Speaker 1: what we did, that we felt strongly about about the

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Speaker 1: music and a better connection to each other. We'll be

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Speaker 1: right back with more from John Fushante and Rick Rubin.

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Speaker 1: After a quick break, We're back with more from John

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Speaker 1: Fushante and Rick Rubin. How did you find out that

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Speaker 1: they were looking for a guitar player before you ended

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Speaker 1: up joining How did that happen? So when I was

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Speaker 1: when I was seventeen, I was living on Yucca and

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Speaker 1: Argyle in Hollywood, and I became friends with with a

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Speaker 1: girl named Sarah Cox who was from New York, and

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Speaker 1: she she introduced me to dh Calego from the Dead

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Speaker 1: Kennedy's and so I started playing with him and a

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Speaker 1: bass player friend of mine named Robert, and we started

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Speaker 1: doing a band that was pretty Chili Peppers inspired. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the song Stone Cold Bush was originally that band wrote

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Speaker 1: that song Wow. And we never played any shows or anything,

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Speaker 1: but but we played together a fair amount and one

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Speaker 1: day DH just called me up and Flee had just

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Speaker 1: gotten back from their last European tour, and he said, Fleeze.

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Speaker 1: He knew I loved Flee, you know, and so he said,

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Speaker 1: Fleeze here, you want to you want to come over

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Speaker 1: and jam with us? And so I went over there

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00:20:47,276 --> 00:20:51,556
Speaker 1: and played with him, and we played the Funkadelic song

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Speaker 1: Alice and Alice and My Fantasies, and I think we

388
00:20:56,156 --> 00:20:59,436
Speaker 1: even tried to do a cover version of Higher Ground,

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Speaker 1: which was what we wound up doing on Mother's Milk.

390
00:21:01,876 --> 00:21:03,996
Speaker 1: But Flee had that idea already at that time, what

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Speaker 1: you know, a heavy metal version of Higher Ground and

392
00:21:08,836 --> 00:21:12,436
Speaker 1: Jane and stuff, and I guessfully enjoy jamming with me.

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Speaker 1: He gave me his phone number and told me, you know,

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Speaker 1: like you know, I'd love to play more. And a

395
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Speaker 1: few weeks later I called him up to see if

396
00:21:22,076 --> 00:21:24,116
Speaker 1: he wanted to jam again, got my nerve up to

397
00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:26,876
Speaker 1: call him up, and he was crying and he just said, like,

398
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Speaker 1: I can't talk right now. My guitar player just died.

399
00:21:30,196 --> 00:21:33,236
Speaker 1: And we got off the phone real quick. Then I

400
00:21:33,236 --> 00:21:35,116
Speaker 1: think he might have gotten in touch with me after

401
00:21:35,156 --> 00:21:38,316
Speaker 1: that at some point and just was saying he's trying

402
00:21:38,356 --> 00:21:41,876
Speaker 1: to get get back into the headspace of making music again.

403
00:21:41,996 --> 00:21:44,076
Speaker 1: Not sure if the band's going to continue or anything

404
00:21:44,116 --> 00:21:46,316
Speaker 1: like that, but did I want to come jam with

405
00:21:46,396 --> 00:21:49,756
Speaker 1: him and his friend Dick's garage, And so we just

406
00:21:49,796 --> 00:21:52,116
Speaker 1: played the two of us without a drummer or anything,

407
00:21:52,636 --> 00:21:56,836
Speaker 1: and he told me, you know, if I'm not sure

408
00:21:56,876 --> 00:21:58,716
Speaker 1: if we're going to keep, if the band's just going

409
00:21:58,756 --> 00:22:01,116
Speaker 1: to stop at this point, but but if we are,

410
00:22:01,436 --> 00:22:05,116
Speaker 1: you'll definitely get an audition, you know. And then at

411
00:22:05,156 --> 00:22:08,516
Speaker 1: one point he called me up and told me, hey,

412
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Speaker 1: I know there's this guy Blackbird who he'd been in

413
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Speaker 1: the band for like a week at one point and

414
00:22:15,716 --> 00:22:18,516
Speaker 1: when hellel had quit and then we'd fired him when

415
00:22:18,556 --> 00:22:20,756
Speaker 1: Helle decided he wanted to rejoin, and we felt kind

416
00:22:20,796 --> 00:22:24,436
Speaker 1: of guilty about it. So we feel like we've got

417
00:22:24,556 --> 00:22:27,316
Speaker 1: to we've got to give him this chance. We kind

418
00:22:27,316 --> 00:22:30,356
Speaker 1: of owe it to him. So Blackbird was in the

419
00:22:30,396 --> 00:22:33,636
Speaker 1: band for several months. But I had a feeling that

420
00:22:33,756 --> 00:22:37,316
Speaker 1: I would wind up being in the band, and that

421
00:22:37,396 --> 00:22:40,196
Speaker 1: was what eventually happened. Tell me what you remember about

422
00:22:40,236 --> 00:22:42,516
Speaker 1: the first two jams. Let's start with the first one,

423
00:22:43,036 --> 00:22:48,156
Speaker 1: you Pellegro and Flee. What do you remember about that experience?

424
00:22:48,196 --> 00:22:50,716
Speaker 1: How long was the jam? It was in a garage

425
00:22:50,996 --> 00:22:54,556
Speaker 1: at a house that DH and Walt from Fishbone lived in,

426
00:22:55,156 --> 00:22:57,596
Speaker 1: and it was in the garage. I passed that garage

427
00:22:57,636 --> 00:23:00,276
Speaker 1: many times, but yeah, we jammed for a couple of hours.

428
00:23:00,716 --> 00:23:02,676
Speaker 1: It seemed like, you know, sat in the car. He

429
00:23:02,756 --> 00:23:06,156
Speaker 1: fully played us Alice in my fantasies and I think

430
00:23:06,236 --> 00:23:09,356
Speaker 1: higher Ground. I remember definitely like talking about it, but yeah,

431
00:23:09,396 --> 00:23:11,236
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't have much memory about it. I

432
00:23:11,276 --> 00:23:15,636
Speaker 1: was so nervous, and again that that very fast state

433
00:23:15,676 --> 00:23:18,796
Speaker 1: of mind just went through, just like Yeah. My memories

434
00:23:18,796 --> 00:23:23,516
Speaker 1: are inconsequential things like like Flee going up to DH

435
00:23:23,596 --> 00:23:25,796
Speaker 1: while we were playing and whispering something to him, and

436
00:23:25,836 --> 00:23:27,876
Speaker 1: me wondering, I wonder if he's saying something good about me?

437
00:23:28,036 --> 00:23:29,836
Speaker 1: Is he think you know? Do you think something negative

438
00:23:29,876 --> 00:23:31,916
Speaker 1: about you? Know who knows. I mean, I felt like

439
00:23:31,916 --> 00:23:33,436
Speaker 1: he was probably thinking something good about me, but it

440
00:23:33,436 --> 00:23:36,396
Speaker 1: could have been something totally unrelated. But I remember that

441
00:23:36,436 --> 00:23:39,516
Speaker 1: moment of wondering what he was whispering in DH's ear.

442
00:23:40,036 --> 00:23:42,276
Speaker 1: Do you remember thinking he was playing great? Like, were

443
00:23:42,276 --> 00:23:45,596
Speaker 1: you impressed with him? Oh? Yeah, he was my favorite

444
00:23:45,596 --> 00:23:49,876
Speaker 1: bass player, you know, so it was incredible to be Yeah,

445
00:23:49,876 --> 00:23:52,556
Speaker 1: to'd be playing and you were not disappointed in the experience.

446
00:23:52,596 --> 00:23:55,996
Speaker 1: It was all that you imagined it would be. Yeah, amazing, Yeah,

447
00:23:56,036 --> 00:23:59,436
Speaker 1: it felt really good. Amazing. And then the second time

448
00:23:59,476 --> 00:24:00,676
Speaker 1: when it was just you and him, what do you

449
00:24:00,716 --> 00:24:03,436
Speaker 1: remember about that one? It was just kind of it

450
00:24:03,516 --> 00:24:05,916
Speaker 1: was low energy, you know, we were we were both

451
00:24:05,956 --> 00:24:08,156
Speaker 1: sitting like the first time, we're wearing straps and we're

452
00:24:08,196 --> 00:24:11,076
Speaker 1: like rocking out, you know. Like the second time we

453
00:24:11,076 --> 00:24:13,556
Speaker 1: were just kind of sitting there, and the mood was

454
00:24:13,596 --> 00:24:18,356
Speaker 1: definitely somber, and I remember feeling a little like disconnected,

455
00:24:18,676 --> 00:24:20,476
Speaker 1: Like I think, you know, as good of a guitar

456
00:24:20,476 --> 00:24:22,516
Speaker 1: player as I thought I was at the time, Like,

457
00:24:23,076 --> 00:24:24,636
Speaker 1: I think I had a long way to go in

458
00:24:24,756 --> 00:24:29,196
Speaker 1: terms of really understanding how to how to gel with him,

459
00:24:29,276 --> 00:24:31,516
Speaker 1: because in a lot of ways I was afraid to

460
00:24:31,596 --> 00:24:35,876
Speaker 1: play simple. There was so much kind of eighties disease

461
00:24:35,916 --> 00:24:38,356
Speaker 1: in people's heads at the time, and I was definitely

462
00:24:38,356 --> 00:24:40,716
Speaker 1: a victim of that, Like like, if I'm not playing

463
00:24:40,756 --> 00:24:45,236
Speaker 1: something fancy, I'm I'm not giving enough or something, or

464
00:24:45,276 --> 00:24:46,956
Speaker 1: I'm not or people aren't going to like what I'm

465
00:24:46,996 --> 00:24:50,916
Speaker 1: playing or something. And what I realized once I'd been

466
00:24:50,956 --> 00:24:54,636
Speaker 1: in the band for a bit was just like the

467
00:24:54,716 --> 00:24:57,236
Speaker 1: way to compliment someone like Flees bass playing it really

468
00:24:57,276 --> 00:25:00,236
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with showing off because he sounds

469
00:25:00,236 --> 00:25:02,956
Speaker 1: like he's showing off when he's not. Yeah, people who

470
00:25:02,996 --> 00:25:06,396
Speaker 1: are impressed by fanciness naturally hear his bass playing and

471
00:25:06,556 --> 00:25:10,676
Speaker 1: go like, wow, he's really good. But from Fleece perspective,

472
00:25:10,716 --> 00:25:13,996
Speaker 1: coming from playing jazz and trumpet and all that, and

473
00:25:14,476 --> 00:25:16,436
Speaker 1: jazz kind of being the main kind of music that

474
00:25:16,476 --> 00:25:19,756
Speaker 1: his brain formed being into, his playing is a simplification,

475
00:25:20,316 --> 00:25:24,836
Speaker 1: a big simplification of his natural taste, you know. So

476
00:25:24,956 --> 00:25:27,836
Speaker 1: in his own way, his whole style on bass is

477
00:25:27,876 --> 00:25:31,476
Speaker 1: a simplification of his basic mental concept of music. And

478
00:25:32,116 --> 00:25:35,556
Speaker 1: for me to simplify to that same amount meant playing

479
00:25:35,596 --> 00:25:38,916
Speaker 1: way less than I had imagined myself. So yeah, so

480
00:25:38,916 --> 00:25:41,476
Speaker 1: I think probably I might have been playing too much

481
00:25:41,516 --> 00:25:45,276
Speaker 1: on that somber day and afterwards feeling like I could

482
00:25:45,276 --> 00:25:47,996
Speaker 1: have been more supportive of him or something. What was

483
00:25:48,036 --> 00:25:50,436
Speaker 1: the first time he played with the whole band? Or

484
00:25:50,476 --> 00:25:52,636
Speaker 1: tell me about that experience. Showing up for an audition.

485
00:25:52,876 --> 00:25:56,356
Speaker 1: I imagine that was the next step. Well, we'll see. Well,

486
00:25:56,396 --> 00:25:57,996
Speaker 1: that's why I was saying when Fleet called me up

487
00:25:58,036 --> 00:26:00,316
Speaker 1: to tell me they were hiring Blackbird, I had an auditioned.

488
00:26:00,676 --> 00:26:03,676
Speaker 1: He told me I could audition, and then he went back.

489
00:26:03,716 --> 00:26:07,476
Speaker 1: It never happened. It never happened. Then what happened next, Well,

490
00:26:07,516 --> 00:26:10,276
Speaker 1: there was an audition, but I didn't know it was

491
00:26:10,316 --> 00:26:13,316
Speaker 1: an audition when it was happening. Fleet had cooked up

492
00:26:13,316 --> 00:26:16,516
Speaker 1: this idea. So one day I get a call from him.

493
00:26:16,596 --> 00:26:19,196
Speaker 1: You know, we're friendly around this time. We see each

494
00:26:19,196 --> 00:26:21,396
Speaker 1: other at a party. You'd come over to my girlfriend's

495
00:26:21,516 --> 00:26:24,796
Speaker 1: birthday or whatever. So just friendly with each other. And

496
00:26:24,836 --> 00:26:27,716
Speaker 1: one day he just calls me up and he says, hey, man,

497
00:26:27,756 --> 00:26:30,956
Speaker 1: I'm making these four track recordings. I have a drum

498
00:26:30,956 --> 00:26:33,796
Speaker 1: machine here in this cassette four track, and do you

499
00:26:33,796 --> 00:26:36,356
Speaker 1: feel like coming over and playing some guitar on the stuff.

500
00:26:37,436 --> 00:26:39,276
Speaker 1: And so, of course I said yes, and I went

501
00:26:39,316 --> 00:26:41,916
Speaker 1: over to his apartment. So we had like three songs

502
00:26:41,956 --> 00:26:45,356
Speaker 1: of him playing bass to a drum machine, and I

503
00:26:45,476 --> 00:26:48,956
Speaker 1: made up guitar parts on the spot, plugged directly into

504
00:26:48,956 --> 00:26:53,276
Speaker 1: the four track and played the parts I made up,

505
00:26:53,676 --> 00:26:56,556
Speaker 1: and we had fun doing that for a while, and

506
00:26:56,596 --> 00:26:59,796
Speaker 1: then we sat around I think we watched some Funkadelic

507
00:26:59,916 --> 00:27:03,156
Speaker 1: videos for a bit, and we're hanging out with his wife, Louisia.

508
00:27:04,556 --> 00:27:08,476
Speaker 1: And it turns out I knew the only way after

509
00:27:08,516 --> 00:27:11,316
Speaker 1: the fact that what Flee had done was he recorded

510
00:27:12,076 --> 00:27:15,716
Speaker 1: Blackbird playing making up his guitar parts and recording them

511
00:27:15,716 --> 00:27:19,436
Speaker 1: on that same four track tape, and then he erased

512
00:27:19,476 --> 00:27:23,236
Speaker 1: those parts and recorded me on the same tape, so

513
00:27:23,276 --> 00:27:26,516
Speaker 1: he had mixes of both and he could compare whose

514
00:27:26,556 --> 00:27:29,836
Speaker 1: guitar parts are better. Little did I know. After I

515
00:27:29,956 --> 00:27:33,516
Speaker 1: left that night, Loisha said to Flee, she said, that's

516
00:27:33,556 --> 00:27:35,756
Speaker 1: the guitar player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He

517
00:27:35,796 --> 00:27:38,476
Speaker 1: has to be your guitar player. For Flee, he was

518
00:27:38,516 --> 00:27:40,796
Speaker 1: feeling definitely a lot of guilt about the idea of

519
00:27:40,836 --> 00:27:43,516
Speaker 1: getting rid of Blackbirds. So I guess, even though I

520
00:27:43,556 --> 00:27:47,476
Speaker 1: guess I won that contest or whatever. A couple of

521
00:27:47,516 --> 00:27:51,756
Speaker 1: weeks went by and nothing more happened, and then one

522
00:27:51,836 --> 00:27:54,116
Speaker 1: day Flee gives me a call and he tells me

523
00:27:54,236 --> 00:27:58,476
Speaker 1: Bob Forrest from Felonious Monster is looking for guitar players

524
00:27:58,516 --> 00:28:03,076
Speaker 1: and things aren't going super well with Blackbird. But he's like,

525
00:28:03,156 --> 00:28:06,076
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where that's going with Blackbird or if

526
00:28:06,076 --> 00:28:10,876
Speaker 1: it's working out, And so I told Bobby could have

527
00:28:10,956 --> 00:28:13,956
Speaker 1: your number, But I also told him that I have

528
00:28:14,076 --> 00:28:17,756
Speaker 1: first DIBs on this guy if if if we decide

529
00:28:17,796 --> 00:28:21,236
Speaker 1: we want him in the Chili Peppers, like like, I've

530
00:28:21,276 --> 00:28:23,356
Speaker 1: got first dibbs, and you can't be angry if I

531
00:28:23,556 --> 00:28:27,036
Speaker 1: take him from you, you know. So I talked to Bob.

532
00:28:27,756 --> 00:28:30,996
Speaker 1: I go down to the Felonious Monster rehearsal and I

533
00:28:31,036 --> 00:28:33,716
Speaker 1: had auditioned for them, and they hired me right away.

534
00:28:34,116 --> 00:28:37,036
Speaker 1: But the thing about that rehearsal was Anthony Jetis was

535
00:28:37,156 --> 00:28:39,996
Speaker 1: there at the rehearsals, so I don't know him, and

536
00:28:40,036 --> 00:28:42,356
Speaker 1: Flee must have talked. Flee was like, you should, you

537
00:28:42,356 --> 00:28:46,756
Speaker 1: should go check this guy out, and so Anthony was

538
00:28:46,876 --> 00:28:49,596
Speaker 1: watching the whole time. So I auditioned, they hired me,

539
00:28:50,356 --> 00:28:52,756
Speaker 1: then Anthony left there and went to Flee and then

540
00:28:52,796 --> 00:28:54,956
Speaker 1: They both called me up at like six o'clock in

541
00:28:54,996 --> 00:28:58,436
Speaker 1: the evening and they were they were like, we've been

542
00:28:58,436 --> 00:29:02,316
Speaker 1: talking a lot about it, and we've decided we'd like

543
00:29:02,436 --> 00:29:04,956
Speaker 1: you to be the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

544
00:29:05,916 --> 00:29:08,476
Speaker 1: Is this what you want? And I said, yeah, I

545
00:29:08,516 --> 00:29:11,076
Speaker 1: want this more and anything in the world. And they

546
00:29:11,116 --> 00:29:14,076
Speaker 1: had to figure out the ordeal of telling Blackbird about

547
00:29:14,076 --> 00:29:15,716
Speaker 1: it and stuff, so they wanted to be sure that

548
00:29:15,716 --> 00:29:19,116
Speaker 1: this was definitely what I wanted to do. Yeah, and

549
00:29:19,156 --> 00:29:21,476
Speaker 1: I called I called Bob and told him, you know,

550
00:29:22,476 --> 00:29:25,876
Speaker 1: I'm happy to play whatever gigs you have scheduled right now,

551
00:29:26,036 --> 00:29:28,916
Speaker 1: keep playing with you now. But but they asked me

552
00:29:28,916 --> 00:29:30,796
Speaker 1: to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So that's what

553
00:29:30,836 --> 00:29:33,796
Speaker 1: I'm doing. And he said, yeah, I figured that was

554
00:29:33,836 --> 00:29:37,916
Speaker 1: going to happen, and yeah, so I kept I kept

555
00:29:37,916 --> 00:29:41,876
Speaker 1: playing shows with them, but started rehearsing with the Chili

556
00:29:41,916 --> 00:29:43,716
Speaker 1: Peppers a few weeks later. And at this point I

557
00:29:43,756 --> 00:29:45,756
Speaker 1: don't know if I mentioned Dh Polgro who I'd been

558
00:29:45,756 --> 00:29:47,436
Speaker 1: playing with who introduced me to Flee. He was the

559
00:29:47,516 --> 00:29:49,876
Speaker 1: drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers at this time,

560
00:29:50,676 --> 00:29:55,156
Speaker 1: so he'd stop playing with me as a result of

561
00:29:55,316 --> 00:29:57,996
Speaker 1: being in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you know as well.

562
00:29:58,396 --> 00:30:00,956
Speaker 1: So you were in the Chili Peppers before Chad was

563
00:30:00,996 --> 00:30:03,796
Speaker 1: in the Peppers. Yeah, I didn't know that. For some reason,

564
00:30:03,836 --> 00:30:06,116
Speaker 1: I thought I thought you were last to come, but

565
00:30:06,196 --> 00:30:08,676
Speaker 1: maybe just because you're younger, so that was probably what

566
00:30:08,756 --> 00:30:11,156
Speaker 1: I thought. Yeah, so you were in the band and

567
00:30:11,276 --> 00:30:14,076
Speaker 1: what happened. So me and DH and Anthony and Fleet

568
00:30:14,396 --> 00:30:16,516
Speaker 1: we were the band, and you know, we did some

569
00:30:16,556 --> 00:30:19,236
Speaker 1: small tours. We did a tour called the Turdtown Tour

570
00:30:19,356 --> 00:30:23,916
Speaker 1: which was through the Midwest, and and that didn't go

571
00:30:23,996 --> 00:30:28,916
Speaker 1: so well. But but yeah, there it was very inconsistent.

572
00:30:28,996 --> 00:30:32,356
Speaker 1: DH was great, like energy wise, he was a great drummer,

573
00:30:33,236 --> 00:30:36,196
Speaker 1: is a great drummer, but he wasn't as devoted to

574
00:30:36,236 --> 00:30:39,796
Speaker 1: the concept of the band as the rest of us were.

575
00:30:40,396 --> 00:30:42,516
Speaker 1: For me, it just felt like this is my whole life.

576
00:30:42,556 --> 00:30:44,716
Speaker 1: If I fail at this, like my whole life is over.

577
00:30:44,836 --> 00:30:47,836
Speaker 1: Like I've got you know. For Dh, he had an

578
00:30:47,916 --> 00:30:51,596
Speaker 1: arms distance relationship to it in some ways. And it

579
00:30:51,676 --> 00:30:53,756
Speaker 1: was a strange tour. Sometimes shows would have a lot

580
00:30:53,796 --> 00:30:55,556
Speaker 1: of people, but there was like there was a show

581
00:30:55,556 --> 00:30:58,236
Speaker 1: at a cowboy bar for instance that I remember somewhere

582
00:30:58,356 --> 00:31:01,036
Speaker 1: that it's like only people there were, the people that

583
00:31:01,116 --> 00:31:03,476
Speaker 1: go there every night to drink. Like Anthony was so

584
00:31:03,516 --> 00:31:05,956
Speaker 1: mad that our manager had even scheduled us to be

585
00:31:05,996 --> 00:31:09,276
Speaker 1: playing at this place, and we had such a bad

586
00:31:09,276 --> 00:31:13,156
Speaker 1: show and we had to restart songs, like because we

587
00:31:13,236 --> 00:31:16,116
Speaker 1: got so messed up time wise from each other that

588
00:31:16,156 --> 00:31:18,236
Speaker 1: we had just hopefully had to stop the song and

589
00:31:18,316 --> 00:31:22,476
Speaker 1: start over. There was low points like that, but we

590
00:31:22,476 --> 00:31:25,196
Speaker 1: were also really great friends sometimes. You know, recently I

591
00:31:25,236 --> 00:31:27,476
Speaker 1: saw a picture of the four of us together, and

592
00:31:27,516 --> 00:31:30,476
Speaker 1: we really you can see that we're all friends, you know,

593
00:31:30,556 --> 00:31:32,796
Speaker 1: you can see like that we all come from. Like

594
00:31:32,876 --> 00:31:34,916
Speaker 1: Chad came into the band. He was like a foreigner,

595
00:31:35,036 --> 00:31:37,236
Speaker 1: you know. He was like from Detroit. He was more

596
00:31:37,276 --> 00:31:39,476
Speaker 1: from a hard rock He probably expected to come to

597
00:31:39,596 --> 00:31:41,756
Speaker 1: la and be in a band like Guns n' Roses

598
00:31:41,876 --> 00:31:45,436
Speaker 1: or something like that, and so he we were definitely

599
00:31:45,476 --> 00:31:48,196
Speaker 1: a mismatch thing with Chad, whereas with DH, you could

600
00:31:48,196 --> 00:31:50,036
Speaker 1: see that we were all sort of from the same

601
00:31:50,836 --> 00:31:53,916
Speaker 1: walk of life or whatever. You know. Well, we fired

602
00:31:53,996 --> 00:31:58,116
Speaker 1: DH and we auditioned a ton of drummers and Chad

603
00:31:58,156 --> 00:32:02,396
Speaker 1: came along. The story of that is Denise Zoom, who

604
00:32:02,396 --> 00:32:05,636
Speaker 1: had been married to Billy Zoom from X She she

605
00:32:05,756 --> 00:32:07,716
Speaker 1: walked up to me at a show of Fishbone and

606
00:32:07,756 --> 00:32:11,676
Speaker 1: Public Enemy at the at the Santa Monica Civic and

607
00:32:11,796 --> 00:32:13,716
Speaker 1: which turned out to be a very violent show. I

608
00:32:13,716 --> 00:32:15,676
Speaker 1: think there was some guns and stuff at that show.

609
00:32:15,716 --> 00:32:19,516
Speaker 1: But at one point she comes up to me and

610
00:32:19,556 --> 00:32:21,916
Speaker 1: she says, John, I've got your new drummer. He eats

611
00:32:21,956 --> 00:32:26,116
Speaker 1: drums for breakfast. And I told everybody that afterwards that

612
00:32:26,196 --> 00:32:28,316
Speaker 1: they were like, go to corny line, like eats drums

613
00:32:28,356 --> 00:32:31,596
Speaker 1: for breakfast. And then he came to audition for us,

614
00:32:32,676 --> 00:32:35,396
Speaker 1: and then after he left because he just wrote us

615
00:32:35,436 --> 00:32:37,396
Speaker 1: the whole time. We were used to DH kind of

616
00:32:37,516 --> 00:32:41,436
Speaker 1: following us, and Chad came in and he drove the

617
00:32:41,436 --> 00:32:44,316
Speaker 1: whole thing. He started he started by playing a slow,

618
00:32:44,356 --> 00:32:46,636
Speaker 1: funk groove and he just gradually sped up and sped

619
00:32:46,716 --> 00:32:49,596
Speaker 1: up and sped up until he was playing like crazy fast,

620
00:32:49,756 --> 00:32:52,916
Speaker 1: you know, speed metal kind of thing. He was very impressive.

621
00:32:52,956 --> 00:32:55,076
Speaker 1: There was another couple of drummers who seemed good, but

622
00:32:55,996 --> 00:32:58,436
Speaker 1: Chad just seemed like he could be the driving force

623
00:32:58,516 --> 00:33:01,396
Speaker 1: in the band in his own way, you know, like yeah,

624
00:33:01,476 --> 00:33:04,796
Speaker 1: And so after he left, Flee said he really does

625
00:33:04,836 --> 00:33:08,476
Speaker 1: eat drums for Breakfast because he seemed so out of

626
00:33:08,516 --> 00:33:11,036
Speaker 1: his mind. He was just because when he was speeding up,

627
00:33:11,036 --> 00:33:14,596
Speaker 1: he was going, fuck yo, fuck yo. He was really

628
00:33:14,596 --> 00:33:16,756
Speaker 1: putting a lot of energy into it. And yeah, how

629
00:33:16,796 --> 00:33:19,796
Speaker 1: hard he hit and everything, and how funny he was.

630
00:33:20,356 --> 00:33:23,316
Speaker 1: Because that's how it struck us. I think the second

631
00:33:23,316 --> 00:33:27,436
Speaker 1: he started playing, Anthony started having a laugh attack. And

632
00:33:27,556 --> 00:33:29,716
Speaker 1: when Anthony has a laugh attack, it goes on for

633
00:33:30,196 --> 00:33:32,676
Speaker 1: you know, minute, like ten minutes or something, and that's

634
00:33:32,676 --> 00:33:35,156
Speaker 1: what happened when Chad played. He just couldn't stop laughing,

635
00:33:35,716 --> 00:33:39,316
Speaker 1: and I got you know, that was contagious. I started laughing.

636
00:33:40,516 --> 00:33:42,676
Speaker 1: So yeah, we were like falling on the floor laughing

637
00:33:42,756 --> 00:33:47,316
Speaker 1: at how intense he was. Amazing. So yeah, there was

638
00:33:47,356 --> 00:33:49,316
Speaker 1: only a couple of months really rehearsing with Chad just

639
00:33:49,356 --> 00:33:51,036
Speaker 1: given him the chance to come up with his own

640
00:33:51,116 --> 00:33:54,836
Speaker 1: drum parts to the tunes that we'd already written and stuff.

641
00:33:54,916 --> 00:33:57,196
Speaker 1: But he was very fresh to the band. We offered

642
00:33:57,276 --> 00:33:59,076
Speaker 1: him a chance to do a recording with us. We

643
00:33:59,116 --> 00:34:02,156
Speaker 1: recorded the song Taste the Pain for a movie soundtrack,

644
00:34:02,196 --> 00:34:05,516
Speaker 1: and I remember it was December of eighty eight, and

645
00:34:06,036 --> 00:34:08,436
Speaker 1: this is before we decided to hire him. We thought

646
00:34:08,476 --> 00:34:11,076
Speaker 1: this would be a good chance to see how it goes,

647
00:34:11,956 --> 00:34:14,116
Speaker 1: and he said, I can't. I've got to go to

648
00:34:14,156 --> 00:34:17,596
Speaker 1: Detroit to be with my family for Christmas. I was like,

649
00:34:17,636 --> 00:34:19,876
Speaker 1: what the hell is wrong with this guy? Doesn't he

650
00:34:19,956 --> 00:34:23,636
Speaker 1: realize like the chance that he has here, Like there

651
00:34:23,716 --> 00:34:25,476
Speaker 1: was definitely a concern that there was a lack of

652
00:34:25,516 --> 00:34:30,156
Speaker 1: appreciation from Chad about realizing from my perspective, like what

653
00:34:30,236 --> 00:34:32,796
Speaker 1: a great band this was, what a great chance this was.

654
00:34:33,356 --> 00:34:36,156
Speaker 1: He didn't seem particularly like floored by the idea. He

655
00:34:36,196 --> 00:34:39,396
Speaker 1: seemed very indifferent and nonchalant about the whole thing, you know.

656
00:34:39,716 --> 00:34:42,956
Speaker 1: Whereas for me, I was so scared every move that

657
00:34:42,996 --> 00:34:45,156
Speaker 1: I made that like I would do something wrong and

658
00:34:45,236 --> 00:34:48,076
Speaker 1: not be in the band anymore, you know. But Chad

659
00:34:48,236 --> 00:34:51,076
Speaker 1: was just like very casual about it, which to his

660
00:34:51,156 --> 00:34:54,036
Speaker 1: credit in a way. But yeah, So we used Fish

661
00:34:54,156 --> 00:34:58,796
Speaker 1: from Fishbone for that session, But in the end we

662
00:34:58,836 --> 00:35:02,036
Speaker 1: did decide that Chad was the drummer. Do you do

663
00:35:02,076 --> 00:35:05,476
Speaker 1: any gigs with Chad before that recording the album? Definitely

664
00:35:05,516 --> 00:35:08,316
Speaker 1: played with him during the recording of the record. I'm

665
00:35:08,356 --> 00:35:09,916
Speaker 1: not sure if we play with him before. We were

666
00:35:09,956 --> 00:35:14,356
Speaker 1: definitely doing little weekend jaunts all the time at colleges

667
00:35:14,396 --> 00:35:17,436
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Yeah, it'll be a club show

668
00:35:17,476 --> 00:35:19,916
Speaker 1: here and there. But yeah, it's funny. I don't have

669
00:35:19,916 --> 00:35:22,556
Speaker 1: any memory of what the first show with Chad was.

670
00:35:22,916 --> 00:35:25,956
Speaker 1: It was definitely during the album. We were continually going

671
00:35:25,956 --> 00:35:28,036
Speaker 1: out and doing these little weekend shows to pick up

672
00:35:28,076 --> 00:35:30,956
Speaker 1: extra money and stuff, and he was always really good.

673
00:35:30,996 --> 00:35:33,076
Speaker 1: It was so it was great to play with somebody

674
00:35:33,076 --> 00:35:36,996
Speaker 1: who played stuff the same way basically every not. I mean,

675
00:35:37,036 --> 00:35:40,356
Speaker 1: he improvised and he was responsive, but you could depend

676
00:35:40,396 --> 00:35:44,156
Speaker 1: on him for tempo. He would definitely help the show

677
00:35:44,276 --> 00:35:46,636
Speaker 1: be the solid show that it could be every time,

678
00:35:46,796 --> 00:35:50,316
Speaker 1: which is great. Yeah, we'll be right back with more

679
00:35:50,396 --> 00:35:56,756
Speaker 1: from John Fasante. We're back with the rest of Rick

680
00:35:56,836 --> 00:36:00,476
Speaker 1: Ruban's conversation with John Fasante and a special guest who

681
00:36:00,556 --> 00:36:03,196
Speaker 1: joins the chat. So tell me the experience of making

682
00:36:03,236 --> 00:36:05,076
Speaker 1: the first album. Was that the first time you ever

683
00:36:05,076 --> 00:36:08,676
Speaker 1: recorded in a proper studio. Yeah, that was the first time.

684
00:36:09,276 --> 00:36:11,436
Speaker 1: Well you know that that we did that song Taste

685
00:36:11,476 --> 00:36:14,196
Speaker 1: the Pain, and that went really smoothly that. I remember

686
00:36:14,876 --> 00:36:17,236
Speaker 1: the bass and the guitar and the drums, what we

687
00:36:17,316 --> 00:36:20,356
Speaker 1: played when we did the basic track, that was what

688
00:36:20,436 --> 00:36:22,436
Speaker 1: was on what wound up on the record, you know,

689
00:36:22,516 --> 00:36:25,516
Speaker 1: like like the live take was the full guitar take

690
00:36:25,636 --> 00:36:28,196
Speaker 1: that I played, which was how I expected that I

691
00:36:28,196 --> 00:36:30,796
Speaker 1: would play in a studio. But but I was real

692
00:36:30,876 --> 00:36:33,876
Speaker 1: glad that everything locked in so so well and that

693
00:36:33,956 --> 00:36:35,596
Speaker 1: I was as good as I thought I could be.

694
00:36:35,716 --> 00:36:39,356
Speaker 1: But when we did Mother's Milk, Michael Beinhorn had this

695
00:36:39,636 --> 00:36:43,556
Speaker 1: concept of the producer. Michael Binhorn had this concept of

696
00:36:44,116 --> 00:36:50,116
Speaker 1: really exaggerating the heavy metal funk aspect of the band,

697
00:36:50,316 --> 00:36:54,796
Speaker 1: and he wanted everything to be fast and pushed, like

698
00:36:54,916 --> 00:36:57,716
Speaker 1: in timing. For people who don't know, it's when you're

699
00:36:57,756 --> 00:37:00,796
Speaker 1: in the studio you talk about things being laid back

700
00:37:01,196 --> 00:37:05,196
Speaker 1: or pushing. Usually when you say that someone's pushing, it

701
00:37:05,236 --> 00:37:08,116
Speaker 1: means they should redo it and lay back a little better,

702
00:37:08,276 --> 00:37:11,556
Speaker 1: you know. But in Michael Bienhorn's case, he was wanting

703
00:37:11,636 --> 00:37:14,876
Speaker 1: us to push everything. And I never even heard these

704
00:37:14,916 --> 00:37:18,676
Speaker 1: expressions before laying back, pushing. I wasn't quite sure what

705
00:37:18,676 --> 00:37:20,996
Speaker 1: they meant. I thought that you just played on time

706
00:37:21,156 --> 00:37:25,676
Speaker 1: and that was the object, And if the concept had

707
00:37:25,716 --> 00:37:27,436
Speaker 1: just been to lay back, I think that was what

708
00:37:27,476 --> 00:37:29,556
Speaker 1: I was doing naturally when I thought I was playing

709
00:37:29,596 --> 00:37:33,476
Speaker 1: on time, but he wanted everything to be pushed extra hard,

710
00:37:33,516 --> 00:37:35,156
Speaker 1: and we were playing all the songs. When I hear

711
00:37:35,196 --> 00:37:37,596
Speaker 1: the album now I hear I feel like we're playing

712
00:37:37,636 --> 00:37:41,036
Speaker 1: them about ten fifteen vpm faster than we would play

713
00:37:41,076 --> 00:37:44,676
Speaker 1: those songs live, like we really He would make us

714
00:37:45,076 --> 00:37:47,556
Speaker 1: redo a take because we weren't pushing hard enough, and

715
00:37:47,596 --> 00:37:49,036
Speaker 1: he would come out to the live room and he

716
00:37:49,036 --> 00:37:51,756
Speaker 1: would jump up and down and shake his hand in

717
00:37:51,796 --> 00:37:54,916
Speaker 1: the air and get all sweaty and stuff. He was

718
00:37:54,956 --> 00:37:57,956
Speaker 1: trying to make us push extra hard. And I think

719
00:37:57,956 --> 00:37:59,876
Speaker 1: that's what a lot of people, you know, I know,

720
00:37:59,956 --> 00:38:03,796
Speaker 1: people who come from like the jungle drumming bass, you know,

721
00:38:04,836 --> 00:38:07,836
Speaker 1: break core kind of music, that they loved that album

722
00:38:07,876 --> 00:38:11,356
Speaker 1: when they were kids for that reason, because it was

723
00:38:11,436 --> 00:38:16,916
Speaker 1: this really fast, intense, pushed version of funk, which not

724
00:38:16,996 --> 00:38:19,396
Speaker 1: that different in some ways from what happens when you

725
00:38:19,436 --> 00:38:23,996
Speaker 1: speed up a breakbeat. You know, I didn't know what

726
00:38:24,116 --> 00:38:27,196
Speaker 1: pushing was, and I couldn't do what he was wanting

727
00:38:27,276 --> 00:38:30,036
Speaker 1: us to do. Chat and Flee seemed to understand what

728
00:38:30,076 --> 00:38:32,996
Speaker 1: it was that he wanted, but it got to the

729
00:38:32,996 --> 00:38:36,676
Speaker 1: point where I couldn't track with Flee and Chat anymore.

730
00:38:36,676 --> 00:38:38,516
Speaker 1: And I thought this is just because I'm I suck

731
00:38:38,556 --> 00:38:40,156
Speaker 1: and I'm a failure and I'm the worst one in

732
00:38:40,196 --> 00:38:44,316
Speaker 1: the band. And so almost everything, if not everything that

733
00:38:44,396 --> 00:38:46,596
Speaker 1: I played on that album I did as an overdub

734
00:38:46,676 --> 00:38:51,436
Speaker 1: because I couldn't get into that groove. It just felt unnatural. Yeah,

735
00:38:51,476 --> 00:38:54,276
Speaker 1: it felt unnatural. It felt you know, like I say

736
00:38:54,556 --> 00:38:56,796
Speaker 1: to this day, but definitely at that time, it felt

737
00:38:56,836 --> 00:38:58,796
Speaker 1: like we were playing every song faster than we had

738
00:38:58,836 --> 00:39:01,196
Speaker 1: and the groove of it wasn't supposed to sit in

739
00:39:01,236 --> 00:39:05,436
Speaker 1: a pocket, but was supposed to be constantly pushing forward,

740
00:39:05,756 --> 00:39:08,796
Speaker 1: and that was just an awkward thing, you know. So, Yeah,

741
00:39:08,796 --> 00:39:11,196
Speaker 1: it was difficult album for me to make, like, you know,

742
00:39:11,276 --> 00:39:13,396
Speaker 1: not knowing anything about the recordings to a lot of

743
00:39:13,556 --> 00:39:14,996
Speaker 1: a lot of my work on it was just me

744
00:39:15,076 --> 00:39:18,716
Speaker 1: and Michael Beinhorn sitting there with me playing and sort

745
00:39:18,756 --> 00:39:21,316
Speaker 1: of being in the dark about what he was gonna

746
00:39:21,676 --> 00:39:26,876
Speaker 1: think was a good take and what he wasn't. Yeah,

747
00:39:26,956 --> 00:39:30,036
Speaker 1: definitely had a really difficult time making making that record

748
00:39:30,116 --> 00:39:33,636
Speaker 1: for that reason. Like it was definitely a forward thinking

749
00:39:33,716 --> 00:39:36,196
Speaker 1: concept at the time, you know that. I think a

750
00:39:36,236 --> 00:39:38,956
Speaker 1: lot of people were influenced by in different ways. It

751
00:39:39,076 --> 00:39:41,236
Speaker 1: felt like he had such a strong vision that it

752
00:39:41,356 --> 00:39:43,476
Speaker 1: didn't feel like there was any room for me to

753
00:39:44,676 --> 00:39:47,036
Speaker 1: find what it was that I had to say or

754
00:39:47,076 --> 00:39:49,476
Speaker 1: to fit into that in a way that was comfortable.

755
00:39:50,316 --> 00:39:52,276
Speaker 1: And he kind of took over the project during the

756
00:39:52,316 --> 00:39:56,076
Speaker 1: mixing process, like like none of us were there, none

757
00:39:56,116 --> 00:39:58,876
Speaker 1: of us. It wasn't until we had the finished copies

758
00:39:58,916 --> 00:40:01,076
Speaker 1: of the record that we even heard the thing like,

759
00:40:01,996 --> 00:40:04,516
Speaker 1: and songs were re edited and things like that in

760
00:40:04,556 --> 00:40:07,516
Speaker 1: ways that were totally unlike the way that we wrote

761
00:40:07,516 --> 00:40:11,196
Speaker 1: the songs and stuff. Yeah, that was a pretty intense experience.

762
00:40:11,596 --> 00:40:13,876
Speaker 1: And then you went on tour after that. Yeah, then

763
00:40:13,876 --> 00:40:16,036
Speaker 1: we toured for like a year and a half. Oh

764
00:40:16,076 --> 00:40:20,916
Speaker 1: there's Anthony. Hi John, Hey, Hey, what's happing in Hi? Rack?

765
00:40:21,276 --> 00:40:24,356
Speaker 1: I hope I'm not interrupting. No, oh good. We just

766
00:40:24,596 --> 00:40:28,476
Speaker 1: got a history lesson that was fascinating for me. I

767
00:40:28,516 --> 00:40:30,956
Speaker 1: loved it. I think you would enjoy it too. You

768
00:40:31,036 --> 00:40:35,036
Speaker 1: might not know the backstory that you weren't part of

769
00:40:35,476 --> 00:40:40,436
Speaker 1: two John, the backstory of John. Yeah Jack John before

770
00:40:40,516 --> 00:40:47,156
Speaker 1: the band's interesting. I had met John. Oh yeah, I

771
00:40:47,156 --> 00:40:49,236
Speaker 1: didn't even tell that story. There's a couple of Anthony

772
00:40:49,236 --> 00:40:52,836
Speaker 1: and I connection stories that I didn't mention. Anthony what's

773
00:40:52,836 --> 00:40:56,636
Speaker 1: your what's your meeting? John's story, It's kind of gruesome.

774
00:40:56,636 --> 00:41:00,756
Speaker 1: It's gnarly, it's not a So the Red Hot Chili

775
00:41:00,796 --> 00:41:06,396
Speaker 1: Peppers had a show in Pasadena, yep, Perkins Palace. At

776
00:41:06,436 --> 00:41:09,436
Speaker 1: Perkins Palace, which was a storied venue. A lot of

777
00:41:09,476 --> 00:41:12,996
Speaker 1: great shows there, including King Crimson. We're fleet passed out,

778
00:41:13,796 --> 00:41:15,716
Speaker 1: but we had a show there. And I was going

779
00:41:15,796 --> 00:41:19,956
Speaker 1: through a very nebulous period in my life where I

780
00:41:20,036 --> 00:41:24,116
Speaker 1: was doing a lot of narcotics and sometimes I would

781
00:41:24,116 --> 00:41:26,596
Speaker 1: show up late to shows, or sometimes I would miss

782
00:41:26,756 --> 00:41:30,996
Speaker 1: the occasional show because I was just lost in a haze.

783
00:41:31,956 --> 00:41:34,716
Speaker 1: On this particular show, I was running late because I

784
00:41:34,756 --> 00:41:40,436
Speaker 1: was downtown Los Angeles buying narcotics. And I showed up.

785
00:41:41,036 --> 00:41:43,076
Speaker 1: It was dark out, and there was a park in

786
00:41:43,076 --> 00:41:46,076
Speaker 1: front of Perkins Palace, and I was going to go

787
00:41:46,356 --> 00:41:50,916
Speaker 1: fix somewhere in this park to kind of take the

788
00:41:50,996 --> 00:41:57,876
Speaker 1: sick edge off myself, and I ran into these two beautiful, excited, vibrant,

789
00:41:58,796 --> 00:42:02,036
Speaker 1: stoked for the show fans, or at least you know

790
00:42:02,116 --> 00:42:05,396
Speaker 1: from my point of view. And one was John and

791
00:42:05,476 --> 00:42:08,516
Speaker 1: it was at Bill No. This was a guy named Matt.

792
00:42:08,516 --> 00:42:12,516
Speaker 1: The guy, Yeah, Matt, So John and Matt approached me

793
00:42:13,196 --> 00:42:14,556
Speaker 1: and they were like, oh my god, we're here for

794
00:42:14,556 --> 00:42:16,636
Speaker 1: the show. We can't wait. You know what songs? Are

795
00:42:16,676 --> 00:42:18,396
Speaker 1: you gonna play? This kind of thing? And I was like, oh,

796
00:42:18,436 --> 00:42:20,756
Speaker 1: it's so nice to see you. Yeah, I'm just gonna

797
00:42:20,756 --> 00:42:22,716
Speaker 1: be in there in a minute. I'll see you guys inside.

798
00:42:23,516 --> 00:42:26,516
Speaker 1: You actually didn't brush us off. You actually like like

799
00:42:26,516 --> 00:42:30,436
Speaker 1: like we like I think that guy Matt. I's like, hey, Anthony,

800
00:42:30,476 --> 00:42:32,836
Speaker 1: what are you doing? You know, and and and You're like, oh,

801
00:42:32,876 --> 00:42:39,076
Speaker 1: I'm just taking a contemplative walk, a little too contemplated

802
00:42:39,356 --> 00:42:42,876
Speaker 1: to be honest. So we had our interaction and they

803
00:42:42,916 --> 00:42:45,716
Speaker 1: did make a large impression on me. I was I

804
00:42:45,796 --> 00:42:50,236
Speaker 1: was touched by the enthusiasm and just the the beautiful

805
00:42:50,236 --> 00:42:53,356
Speaker 1: aura of these people that were so into the show

806
00:42:53,996 --> 00:42:57,556
Speaker 1: that I felt honestly a little bit demoralized about because

807
00:42:57,636 --> 00:43:00,756
Speaker 1: I was going through this weird time and I knew

808
00:43:00,756 --> 00:43:04,556
Speaker 1: I would not be at my best, which mattered to

809
00:43:04,636 --> 00:43:07,796
Speaker 1: me a lot. Yeah, but I had this this addiction

810
00:43:07,876 --> 00:43:10,676
Speaker 1: thing going on. And so we parted ways and I

811
00:43:10,716 --> 00:43:13,836
Speaker 1: went and found a staircase and I sat down and

812
00:43:13,916 --> 00:43:18,036
Speaker 1: I literally took care of my business on the staircase,

813
00:43:18,956 --> 00:43:21,836
Speaker 1: just to be well enough to go and play. And

814
00:43:21,996 --> 00:43:24,636
Speaker 1: as I looked up afterwards, I realized I was on

815
00:43:24,676 --> 00:43:28,796
Speaker 1: the stairs of the passage in police department, that that's

816
00:43:28,916 --> 00:43:33,276
Speaker 1: the location I had chosen to do my dirty work,

817
00:43:33,476 --> 00:43:37,116
Speaker 1: and I was I was foggy. Then I went inside,

818
00:43:37,556 --> 00:43:43,196
Speaker 1: went backstage prepared full of day glow colors in black light,

819
00:43:43,276 --> 00:43:46,476
Speaker 1: and you know, madness and a girlfriend and my band

820
00:43:46,556 --> 00:43:49,396
Speaker 1: was kind of mad at me, and we did the

821
00:43:49,396 --> 00:43:53,636
Speaker 1: best we could, but it was subpar, and from my standpoint,

822
00:43:54,396 --> 00:43:57,156
Speaker 1: I was not on fire. But that's the first time

823
00:43:57,196 --> 00:44:00,636
Speaker 1: I met John. What was the second John. Well, there's

824
00:44:00,676 --> 00:44:03,476
Speaker 1: this funny thing in about nineteen eighty six, I think

825
00:44:03,476 --> 00:44:06,996
Speaker 1: it was my stepdad came home one day and told

826
00:44:06,996 --> 00:44:09,476
Speaker 1: me a story that he was driving on the freeway

827
00:44:09,876 --> 00:44:12,116
Speaker 1: and the cars were all stopped. It was a lot

828
00:44:12,116 --> 00:44:14,636
Speaker 1: of traffic, and he was eating a banana and he

829
00:44:14,676 --> 00:44:17,476
Speaker 1: threw the banana peel out the window, and some guy

830
00:44:17,636 --> 00:44:20,636
Speaker 1: jumps out of his car, picks up the banana peel

831
00:44:20,876 --> 00:44:23,036
Speaker 1: and stuffs it back through the window at him and

832
00:44:23,156 --> 00:44:27,756
Speaker 1: makes some intense remark about about littering, and makes a

833
00:44:27,796 --> 00:44:30,716
Speaker 1: remark about the banana and him and gets back in

834
00:44:30,756 --> 00:44:33,556
Speaker 1: his car. Then I'm driving in a car with Anthony

835
00:44:34,116 --> 00:44:37,196
Speaker 1: about two years later, and Anthony tells me the same story,

836
00:44:37,676 --> 00:44:39,476
Speaker 1: only he's the guy who gets out of the car

837
00:44:39,516 --> 00:44:41,636
Speaker 1: and picks the banana peel up and stuffs it back

838
00:44:41,636 --> 00:44:47,316
Speaker 1: through the window. Amazing crazy. Yes, yes, that was my

839
00:44:47,596 --> 00:44:53,036
Speaker 1: m o. You know, a bit self righteous. And I'm Leabrea.

840
00:44:53,156 --> 00:44:56,556
Speaker 1: One time, way earlier, I saw somebody throw a bag

841
00:44:56,596 --> 00:44:59,836
Speaker 1: of McDonald's out their window, and fries and paper and

842
00:44:59,956 --> 00:45:02,676
Speaker 1: cups went flying all over. And I did the same thing.

843
00:45:02,716 --> 00:45:04,716
Speaker 1: I collected it all up and stuffed it back in

844
00:45:04,796 --> 00:45:08,476
Speaker 1: their car, and they ended up chasing me north on LaBrea,

845
00:45:09,276 --> 00:45:14,396
Speaker 1: rowing hamburgers like weapons, and I remember like dodging and ducking,

846
00:45:14,436 --> 00:45:16,916
Speaker 1: and I don't know, when I was a kid, I

847
00:45:16,956 --> 00:45:19,636
Speaker 1: also did the same thing. I saw young people throwing

848
00:45:19,676 --> 00:45:21,836
Speaker 1: their candy rappers into bushes and I was like, no,

849
00:45:21,836 --> 00:45:24,756
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, no no, that's a bush. You cannot

850
00:45:24,756 --> 00:45:28,276
Speaker 1: harm the bush. So then there was this period of

851
00:45:28,356 --> 00:45:33,436
Speaker 1: time where hellel. Slovak had died, Jack Irons had quit

852
00:45:33,556 --> 00:45:37,716
Speaker 1: the band and flee and I as was our kind

853
00:45:37,716 --> 00:45:40,956
Speaker 1: of energetic momentum where like we you know, we love

854
00:45:40,996 --> 00:45:46,196
Speaker 1: these people, but we must continue playing music. Together. And

855
00:45:47,036 --> 00:45:50,956
Speaker 1: it's hard to find the right people to play music with.

856
00:45:51,396 --> 00:45:53,636
Speaker 1: You know, it's the chemistry. It doesn't matter. They could

857
00:45:53,636 --> 00:45:56,196
Speaker 1: be the most brilliant people on earth, but you have

858
00:45:56,276 --> 00:46:02,076
Speaker 1: to find that weird, soulful, guttural connection. And we had

859
00:46:02,076 --> 00:46:06,316
Speaker 1: tried playing with Blackbird McKnight as a guitarist and DH

860
00:46:06,396 --> 00:46:09,716
Speaker 1: Pelegro as a as a drummer, and and that wasn't

861
00:46:09,716 --> 00:46:14,036
Speaker 1: totally working out. And then Flee had mentioned that there

862
00:46:14,116 --> 00:46:17,476
Speaker 1: was this sort of prodigious young person from the valley

863
00:46:17,836 --> 00:46:22,756
Speaker 1: who was supposed to be a real sensation of guitar playing,

864
00:46:22,756 --> 00:46:25,676
Speaker 1: and I was intrigued. And then Bob for said, Hey,

865
00:46:25,716 --> 00:46:27,996
Speaker 1: I'm going to get this this young guy, John Fraschante

866
00:46:28,116 --> 00:46:31,636
Speaker 1: to join Felonious Monster. And all these kind of bells

867
00:46:31,676 --> 00:46:34,276
Speaker 1: and whistles were going off in my head. And I

868
00:46:34,316 --> 00:46:36,676
Speaker 1: had a conversation with Flee and he's like, yeah, this

869
00:46:36,876 --> 00:46:39,476
Speaker 1: I jammed with this this young person, and he was

870
00:46:40,196 --> 00:46:42,476
Speaker 1: he was on point. So then I went and saw

871
00:46:42,596 --> 00:46:46,316
Speaker 1: John audition for Thelonious Monster in a garage on Fountain

872
00:46:47,396 --> 00:46:49,796
Speaker 1: and saw him play, and I was like, I just

873
00:46:49,956 --> 00:46:52,596
Speaker 1: I have to intervene here. I can't let this happens

874
00:46:53,276 --> 00:46:57,676
Speaker 1: he's too perfect for what we are doing. And I was,

875
00:46:57,836 --> 00:47:00,036
Speaker 1: you know, I was probably a selfish punk at that

876
00:47:00,556 --> 00:47:04,236
Speaker 1: phase of my life. And I remember having some conversation

877
00:47:04,316 --> 00:47:07,196
Speaker 1: with John in the driveway like that was a great audition,

878
00:47:07,236 --> 00:47:09,916
Speaker 1: But you know, would you consider maybe joining our band

879
00:47:09,956 --> 00:47:13,116
Speaker 1: instead of this band? That that's my hazy memory. John

880
00:47:13,156 --> 00:47:17,476
Speaker 1: probably has a clearer picture. Yeah, yeah, I mentioned it.

881
00:47:17,996 --> 00:47:23,276
Speaker 1: You did. Yeah, same same, same basic, same basic series

882
00:47:23,276 --> 00:47:28,596
Speaker 1: of events. Yes, And you know, like I said, finding

883
00:47:28,636 --> 00:47:32,396
Speaker 1: that person, these people who you really connect with on

884
00:47:32,436 --> 00:47:36,196
Speaker 1: an invisible level and that you know can hear you

885
00:47:36,236 --> 00:47:40,076
Speaker 1: and you can hear them and somehow put your musical

886
00:47:40,196 --> 00:47:44,276
Speaker 1: energies together to make sound and song and and have

887
00:47:44,356 --> 00:47:47,436
Speaker 1: a life together. It's you know, it's that's some kind

888
00:47:47,476 --> 00:47:52,316
Speaker 1: of divine intervention when this happens, because I've just seen

889
00:47:52,356 --> 00:47:56,116
Speaker 1: many times that's it's a hard fit to find. Absolutely, Yeah,

890
00:47:56,356 --> 00:47:59,716
Speaker 1: how did What do you remember about that rehearsal that

891
00:47:59,716 --> 00:48:02,676
Speaker 1: that thelonious rehearsal with John? What do you remember? I

892
00:48:02,756 --> 00:48:10,036
Speaker 1: remember being mesmerized by John's personality and prowess. So he

893
00:48:10,076 --> 00:48:12,156
Speaker 1: got up on stage with all of these much older,

894
00:48:13,476 --> 00:48:18,316
Speaker 1: more experienced guys and really was kind of the dominant force,

895
00:48:19,436 --> 00:48:21,436
Speaker 1: and it was just full of energy. He was just

896
00:48:21,956 --> 00:48:28,036
Speaker 1: young and no one had thwarted his love or enthusiasm

897
00:48:28,156 --> 00:48:30,996
Speaker 1: or you know all of that stuff about music and

898
00:48:31,196 --> 00:48:33,916
Speaker 1: entertainment and just you know, being a person on stage.

899
00:48:33,916 --> 00:48:35,676
Speaker 1: And I was like, that would be a fun person

900
00:48:35,836 --> 00:48:39,236
Speaker 1: to interact with. And he just knew how to play.

901
00:48:39,276 --> 00:48:43,436
Speaker 1: I mean, he learned songs very quickly. And I liked

902
00:48:43,516 --> 00:48:45,716
Speaker 1: him as a person. You know. I became very close

903
00:48:45,756 --> 00:48:48,836
Speaker 1: to John at that point in my life, and yeah,

904
00:48:48,836 --> 00:48:50,876
Speaker 1: I just liked being around him. Do you remember the

905
00:48:50,916 --> 00:48:54,876
Speaker 1: first time you and John played on stage together? Well,

906
00:48:55,636 --> 00:48:58,356
Speaker 1: I remember the Holy Gully stage where we were hearsed

907
00:48:59,596 --> 00:49:04,436
Speaker 1: quite quite vividly. John was playing Were you playing in Ibanez? Yeah?

908
00:49:04,436 --> 00:49:08,116
Speaker 1: I was yeah, yeah, which which was different and new

909
00:49:08,156 --> 00:49:12,316
Speaker 1: for us. I think it had been collaged. Well, I

910
00:49:12,356 --> 00:49:14,556
Speaker 1: had two guitars. I had one guitar that had naked

911
00:49:14,596 --> 00:49:16,956
Speaker 1: ladies all over it under the finish, and then I

912
00:49:16,996 --> 00:49:19,196
Speaker 1: had this. I guess I didn't have the abends with

913
00:49:19,276 --> 00:49:21,036
Speaker 1: the naked lady guitar. Was what I had when I

914
00:49:21,116 --> 00:49:24,996
Speaker 1: joined was that it was a performance guitar. It's made

915
00:49:24,996 --> 00:49:27,436
Speaker 1: by this guy in North Hollywood. So now I'm trying

916
00:49:27,476 --> 00:49:29,996
Speaker 1: to think of our very first show. That would have

917
00:49:30,036 --> 00:49:37,996
Speaker 1: been Texas. What right, No, Arizona, Arizona, Phoenix, like a

918
00:49:38,076 --> 00:49:40,316
Speaker 1: one off. Yeah, we did one show in Phoenix. Then

919
00:49:40,356 --> 00:49:46,596
Speaker 1: we played the John Anson Ford. That was the second show. Wow. Yeah,

920
00:49:46,676 --> 00:49:50,636
Speaker 1: so yeah, the Arizona show, i'd really just remember that

921
00:49:50,716 --> 00:49:52,636
Speaker 1: we had to go there. But the John Anson Ford

922
00:49:52,636 --> 00:49:56,996
Speaker 1: I remember very well because we decided to wear costumes. Yes, yeah,

923
00:49:57,036 --> 00:50:02,276
Speaker 1: we were like superhero costumes, except for our drummer DH,

924
00:50:02,556 --> 00:50:07,396
Speaker 1: who wore a Bumblebee costume, much to his chagrin that

925
00:50:07,556 --> 00:50:09,596
Speaker 1: he hated it and we couldn't understand and why why

926
00:50:09,676 --> 00:50:11,596
Speaker 1: is he hate the bumblebee costume so much? You know,

927
00:50:11,636 --> 00:50:15,556
Speaker 1: he looks amazing and there's a giant bee playing drums

928
00:50:16,356 --> 00:50:20,716
Speaker 1: and he was uncomfortable. And it turns out that John Belushi,

929
00:50:20,716 --> 00:50:23,196
Speaker 1: who had also dressed up as a Bumblebee on Saturday

930
00:50:23,276 --> 00:50:30,556
Speaker 1: Night Live, also detested the Bumblebee costume. Do you remember, Anthony,

931
00:50:30,596 --> 00:50:34,556
Speaker 1: do you remember the first gig with Chad? Oh? Wait, yes, yes, yes,

932
00:50:34,596 --> 00:50:38,636
Speaker 1: I do? Is that the roxy? Oh? Is that true? Well?

933
00:50:38,716 --> 00:50:42,556
Speaker 1: It was either first or second? I think you're right, yeah,

934
00:50:42,756 --> 00:50:47,156
Speaker 1: I think yeah, And he was late. He was really late. Wow.

935
00:50:49,116 --> 00:50:54,516
Speaker 1: Chad is such a force of nature himself. His audition,

936
00:50:54,636 --> 00:50:58,636
Speaker 1: which took place with John and Flee at the Holy Gully,

937
00:50:58,836 --> 00:51:02,276
Speaker 1: was so profound and unforgettable. We had played with this

938
00:51:02,396 --> 00:51:05,996
Speaker 1: series of drummers and they were interesting. They could do

939
00:51:06,036 --> 00:51:10,516
Speaker 1: certain things, okay, And then Denise Zoom, the former girlfriend

940
00:51:10,516 --> 00:51:14,196
Speaker 1: of Billy Zoom, had suggested this guy from Detroit, Michigan.

941
00:51:15,636 --> 00:51:21,876
Speaker 1: And Chad walks in very cavalier, nonchalant, you know, could

942
00:51:22,036 --> 00:51:24,756
Speaker 1: could really care less of who we thought we were,

943
00:51:24,796 --> 00:51:27,116
Speaker 1: and we thought we were quite a lot at that moment.

944
00:51:27,716 --> 00:51:33,596
Speaker 1: And he sat down and just blew everybody's mind with

945
00:51:33,676 --> 00:51:37,636
Speaker 1: his power and his attack. And you know, Flee was

946
00:51:37,716 --> 00:51:40,476
Speaker 1: used to kind of leading the dance, and suddenly he

947
00:51:40,516 --> 00:51:44,156
Speaker 1: had this drummer, Chad Smith, who wait drums for breakfast,

948
00:51:44,196 --> 00:51:50,716
Speaker 1: apparently taking over the dance. And we were all laughing

949
00:51:50,836 --> 00:51:55,756
Speaker 1: hysterically trying to keep up with Chad's race on the drums.

950
00:51:56,236 --> 00:51:57,836
Speaker 1: Then we called him up and you know, he had

951
00:51:57,876 --> 00:52:02,916
Speaker 1: this this giant poof of hairsprayed glamorrock hair or something,

952
00:52:02,996 --> 00:52:04,956
Speaker 1: and we said, shave your head and you have the

953
00:52:05,036 --> 00:52:07,636
Speaker 1: job in the band, and he was like, I think

954
00:52:07,676 --> 00:52:11,756
Speaker 1: I'll pass. Like, wow, no, no, no, you get the job.

955
00:52:11,876 --> 00:52:14,836
Speaker 1: You just have to shave your head. That's all right,

956
00:52:14,916 --> 00:52:18,876
Speaker 1: thanks though, And at that moment we were like, this

957
00:52:18,916 --> 00:52:23,116
Speaker 1: guy is strong enough in his own conviction of self

958
00:52:23,156 --> 00:52:25,116
Speaker 1: that he doesn't want to shave his head to join

959
00:52:25,196 --> 00:52:28,516
Speaker 1: our band, which kind of maybe made us like him

960
00:52:28,556 --> 00:52:31,676
Speaker 1: even more. And then he was late to his first show.

961
00:52:33,276 --> 00:52:36,196
Speaker 1: I was so mad at him for not shaving or

962
00:52:36,236 --> 00:52:38,636
Speaker 1: being late, for being late. I just remember because I

963
00:52:38,676 --> 00:52:40,796
Speaker 1: already had those feelings like this guy just does not

964
00:52:40,916 --> 00:52:43,316
Speaker 1: realize what a great band, you know, what a great

965
00:52:43,356 --> 00:52:46,476
Speaker 1: situation this is, and yeah, he doesn't appreciate it. And

966
00:52:47,116 --> 00:52:48,916
Speaker 1: then when he showed up late, I just write, what

967
00:52:48,956 --> 00:52:53,716
Speaker 1: the hell is wrong with this guy? It's so funny,

968
00:52:54,236 --> 00:52:56,996
Speaker 1: it is it is. I remember he was going to

969
00:52:57,036 --> 00:52:59,076
Speaker 1: continue going. He was he was enrolled at the music

970
00:52:59,076 --> 00:53:01,836
Speaker 1: school g I T Or the Drum Institute or whatever.

971
00:53:02,396 --> 00:53:04,716
Speaker 1: And at his first rehearsal with us after he joined,

972
00:53:05,116 --> 00:53:07,236
Speaker 1: I was like, so, you're gonna quit the music school, right,

973
00:53:07,236 --> 00:53:09,716
Speaker 1: and he's like, well, no, my parents paid for it

974
00:53:09,796 --> 00:53:11,596
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep going with that.

975
00:53:11,636 --> 00:53:13,756
Speaker 1: And I was like, don't you understand this is a

976
00:53:13,796 --> 00:53:18,396
Speaker 1: world famous band here like like like like you can

977
00:53:18,396 --> 00:53:20,516
Speaker 1: make a living doing this now, you don't need to

978
00:53:20,596 --> 00:53:24,116
Speaker 1: go to a music school, you know. He just it

979
00:53:24,196 --> 00:53:26,956
Speaker 1: was really hard to get on board. Let's let's talk

980
00:53:26,996 --> 00:53:31,236
Speaker 1: about where you're self effacing is like saying, yes, this

981
00:53:31,276 --> 00:53:33,756
Speaker 1: is the best band in the world, but but in reality,

982
00:53:33,796 --> 00:53:37,076
Speaker 1: at this point in time, are the Chili Peppers the

983
00:53:37,076 --> 00:53:41,156
Speaker 1: most popular band in in LA? Would you say we

984
00:53:41,156 --> 00:53:49,596
Speaker 1: were world famous in Hollywood? I mean, it really depends

985
00:53:49,636 --> 00:53:53,716
Speaker 1: on who you ask, because you know, we are very

986
00:53:53,756 --> 00:53:58,236
Speaker 1: first show in nineteen eighty three, we played one song

987
00:53:58,396 --> 00:54:02,236
Speaker 1: because that's the only song that we had. And after

988
00:54:02,316 --> 00:54:05,356
Speaker 1: that that performance, if you would have asked me who

989
00:54:05,396 --> 00:54:09,996
Speaker 1: is the most popular band in law, what is it? Yeah? Obviously,

990
00:54:10,956 --> 00:54:14,156
Speaker 1: so we had an inflated sense of who we thought

991
00:54:14,156 --> 00:54:17,156
Speaker 1: we were. But but it wasn't coming from a purely

992
00:54:18,076 --> 00:54:22,036
Speaker 1: narcissistic standpoint. It was kind of in our world. We

993
00:54:22,116 --> 00:54:26,516
Speaker 1: could feel that we were gonna do something special and

994
00:54:26,956 --> 00:54:30,716
Speaker 1: it felt that special within ourselves. So by the time

995
00:54:30,836 --> 00:54:33,356
Speaker 1: John joined, you know, we had had some real highs

996
00:54:33,356 --> 00:54:36,836
Speaker 1: and lows, some ups and downs, and but we were

997
00:54:36,876 --> 00:54:41,276
Speaker 1: certainly in the conversation as far as you know la popularity,

998
00:54:41,476 --> 00:54:44,036
Speaker 1: I would say, were we not, John, Yeah, Like I

999
00:54:44,076 --> 00:54:46,076
Speaker 1: would say, the other bands at that time that were

1000
00:54:46,156 --> 00:54:48,916
Speaker 1: that seemed to be at a similar sort of level

1001
00:54:48,916 --> 00:54:52,916
Speaker 1: of popularity were like Jane's Addiction and Fishbone At least

1002
00:54:52,956 --> 00:54:54,636
Speaker 1: in that world, I guess there were like heavy metal

1003
00:54:54,676 --> 00:54:57,436
Speaker 1: bands and stuff, but that was a completely different world

1004
00:54:57,476 --> 00:55:01,076
Speaker 1: that often played at completely different venues and stuff like that. Like,

1005
00:55:01,756 --> 00:55:03,756
Speaker 1: but as far as like the things that seemed to

1006
00:55:04,076 --> 00:55:07,636
Speaker 1: be rooted in punk to some degree, like, yeah, it was,

1007
00:55:07,956 --> 00:55:10,116
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it was those three bands that we're

1008
00:55:10,156 --> 00:55:14,036
Speaker 1: sort of playing at the same basic size places and

1009
00:55:14,076 --> 00:55:18,156
Speaker 1: stuff like that. When you say, yeah, yeah, but we

1010
00:55:18,356 --> 00:55:21,236
Speaker 1: were not truly world famous at that point. But I

1011
00:55:21,236 --> 00:55:23,796
Speaker 1: think the band could play The band hadn't played everywhere

1012
00:55:23,796 --> 00:55:25,316
Speaker 1: in the world, but I think the band could play

1013
00:55:25,316 --> 00:55:30,396
Speaker 1: clubs pretty much everywhere that we wanted to play. You know, yeah,

1014
00:55:30,396 --> 00:55:36,916
Speaker 1: we could play ding walls and in the UK. Thanks

1015
00:55:36,996 --> 00:55:39,596
Speaker 1: John Vashonta and Anthony Keatis for talking about the early

1016
00:55:39,676 --> 00:55:42,196
Speaker 1: days of the band. Make sure to check out next

1017
00:55:42,236 --> 00:55:45,196
Speaker 1: week's show, where Rick will continue this conversation with both

1018
00:55:45,236 --> 00:55:48,396
Speaker 1: Anthony and John. We'll hear about how John we joined

1019
00:55:48,436 --> 00:55:50,876
Speaker 1: the band as well as the stories behind the songs

1020
00:55:50,876 --> 00:55:54,516
Speaker 1: on their new album, Unlimited Love. You can hear Unlimited

1021
00:55:54,516 --> 00:55:56,796
Speaker 1: Love and all our favorite red Hot Chili Pepper songs

1022
00:55:56,836 --> 00:56:00,036
Speaker 1: on a playlist at broken record podcast dot com. Be

1023
00:56:00,116 --> 00:56:02,796
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot

1024
00:56:02,796 --> 00:56:05,836
Speaker 1: com slash broken record Podcast. We can find all of

1025
00:56:05,836 --> 00:56:08,956
Speaker 1: our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter at

1026
00:56:09,116 --> 00:56:13,356
Speaker 1: broken Record. Broken Record is produced Helpful Leah Rose, Jason Gambrell,

1027
00:56:13,716 --> 00:56:17,916
Speaker 1: Bent Holladay, Eric Sandler, and Jennifer Sanchez, with engineering help

1028
00:56:17,956 --> 00:56:22,476
Speaker 1: from Nick Chafield. Our executive producer is Mia LaBelle. Broken

1029
00:56:22,476 --> 00:56:25,396
Speaker 1: Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you like

1030
00:56:25,516 --> 00:56:28,996
Speaker 1: this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus.

1031
00:56:29,476 --> 00:56:32,876
Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content

1032
00:56:32,996 --> 00:56:36,276
Speaker 1: an uninterrupted ad free listening for four ninety nine a month.

1033
00:56:36,956 --> 00:56:40,676
Speaker 1: Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts subscriptions, and if

1034
00:56:40,676 --> 00:56:42,916
Speaker 1: you like the show, please remember to share, rate and

1035
00:56:42,996 --> 00:56:45,556
Speaker 1: review us on your podcast app. For our theme musics

1036
00:56:45,556 --> 00:56:47,596
Speaker 1: by Kenny Beats, I'm justin Richmond,