WEBVTT - John Frusciante 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.796 Pushkin. Hey, y'all, today's the start of a month long 0:00:22.876 --> 0:00:25.436 run of episodes and celebration of the Red Hot Chili 0:00:25.436 --> 0:00:29.236 Pepper's newest release, Unlimited Love. You'll hear Rick Rubin in 0:00:29.276 --> 0:00:32.596 conversation with all four members of the band. It's a 0:00:32.636 --> 0:00:36.196 fascinating and oftentimes hilarious collection of interviews that showed just 0:00:36.236 --> 0:00:38.876 how close these guys are and all the emotional ups 0:00:38.916 --> 0:00:41.916 and downs they've been through together over the last thirty years. 0:00:42.596 --> 0:00:44.916 If you're a diehard fan, you know why this release 0:00:45.076 --> 0:00:48.196 is so exciting. Unlimited Love is their first record with 0:00:48.236 --> 0:00:53.036 guitarist John Frusciante in sixteen years. John's integal as any 0:00:53.076 --> 0:00:55.556 of the four members to unlocking the signature sound they've 0:00:55.556 --> 0:00:58.756 been building on since the release of Blood, Sugar, Sex Magic. 0:00:59.316 --> 0:01:02.516 In this episode, you'll hear John in conversation with Rick Rubin, 0:01:02.636 --> 0:01:05.116 who stepped back into the producer seat for this release. 0:01:05.836 --> 0:01:08.316 John tells Rick about his deep musical exploration as a 0:01:08.356 --> 0:01:10.476 young guitar player, how he fell in love with the 0:01:10.556 --> 0:01:12.916 Chili Peppers as a teenager, and what it was like 0:01:12.996 --> 0:01:15.236 joining the band he becomes such a fan of at 0:01:15.276 --> 0:01:18.396 just eighteen years old. Then, at the end of the talk, 0:01:18.596 --> 0:01:21.396 Rick and John are joined by a very special guest. 0:01:24.396 --> 0:01:27.636 This is broken record line of notes for the digital age. 0:01:27.836 --> 0:01:33.156 I'm justin Mitchman. Here's Rick Rubin and John Drushante. Let's 0:01:33.196 --> 0:01:36.396 go back up a long ways. Tell me about the 0:01:36.436 --> 0:01:39.316 first time you remember ever seeing or hearing about the 0:01:39.356 --> 0:01:41.116 Chili Peppers, first time you ever heard the name of 0:01:41.116 --> 0:01:44.676 the band. The first time that I remember hearing the 0:01:44.756 --> 0:01:47.596 name of the band was that I had a guitar 0:01:47.716 --> 0:01:52.076 teacher named Mark nine. He's the only guitar teacher who 0:01:52.076 --> 0:01:55.916 I ever was really excited about and that I feel 0:01:55.956 --> 0:01:58.956 like I really got some good things from. At the 0:01:58.996 --> 0:02:01.396 time that I started playing guitar, I was into punk, 0:02:01.476 --> 0:02:04.916 and every guitar teacher I took a lesson from would 0:02:04.956 --> 0:02:07.436 start insalting punk right away. I'd tell them that that 0:02:07.956 --> 0:02:10.676 was my favorite music, and they'd tell me that it 0:02:10.756 --> 0:02:14.236 wasn't music, and all this kind of stuff. Then this guy, 0:02:14.276 --> 0:02:16.836 Mark nine came along, and he had played with Nina Hogan, 0:02:17.276 --> 0:02:18.996 he'd been in her band for a period of time, 0:02:18.996 --> 0:02:22.316 and Pat Smir was the other guitar player. I guess 0:02:22.356 --> 0:02:24.796 Mark was the lead guitar player and Pat was the 0:02:24.876 --> 0:02:28.076 rhythm guitar player for a period of time, and he 0:02:28.156 --> 0:02:30.956 thought Pat Smir was a great guitarist. And Pat Smir 0:02:31.116 --> 0:02:34.076 was the main reason that I started playing guitar. The 0:02:34.076 --> 0:02:38.076 first things I learned were germs, and so the fact 0:02:38.116 --> 0:02:40.436 that I'd found a guitar teacher who like thought Pat 0:02:40.436 --> 0:02:44.476 Smir was a great guitar player was really exciting to me. Plus, 0:02:44.476 --> 0:02:47.796 he was into all this psychedelic music from the sixties 0:02:47.836 --> 0:02:50.156 and so he was playing with various things. He had 0:02:50.156 --> 0:02:52.476 a band called Underworld, He played with a guy called 0:02:52.596 --> 0:02:56.556 Randall Kennedy and Reconstruction and it was like a poetry 0:02:56.796 --> 0:02:59.756 arty kind of thing. And he had a ska group 0:02:59.796 --> 0:03:03.676 called Scotch And I was really into everything he did. 0:03:03.716 --> 0:03:06.476 I had cassettes tapes of everything. And at one point 0:03:06.516 --> 0:03:08.596 he came and said that there was a band called 0:03:08.636 --> 0:03:11.636 the Red Hut Chili Peppers that he was auditioning for 0:03:12.196 --> 0:03:14.116 and that he was hoping to get in and he 0:03:14.156 --> 0:03:16.796 played guitar and bass, and it got stuck in my 0:03:16.836 --> 0:03:19.716 head that he was auditioning for bass for this band. 0:03:20.556 --> 0:03:24.076 And then, probably about anywhere from like six months to 0:03:24.116 --> 0:03:27.276 a year after this, I saw the video for Trueman 0:03:27.356 --> 0:03:32.516 Don't Kill Coyotes on on MTV, and I was like, huh, 0:03:32.556 --> 0:03:35.956 he wouldn't have been a good replacement for this bass player, like, 0:03:36.036 --> 0:03:39.836 of course this Basela. Nobody could replace this guy. But 0:03:39.996 --> 0:03:42.036 as it turned out, it was guitar that he had 0:03:42.076 --> 0:03:45.036 been auditioning for. So yeah, so that there was a 0:03:45.036 --> 0:03:47.716 period of a few weeks where I remember him talking 0:03:47.756 --> 0:03:50.236 about how he hoped he would he would get hired 0:03:50.236 --> 0:03:52.836 to be in this band, but at the time they 0:03:52.876 --> 0:03:56.836 were choosing between Jack Sherman and Mark nine, and they 0:03:56.996 --> 0:03:59.836 wound up chosing Jack Sherman. How old were you at 0:03:59.836 --> 0:04:02.076 that time? Do you remember? Yeah, it had to be 0:04:02.156 --> 0:04:04.476 when I was thirteen or fourteen that he was auditioning, 0:04:04.516 --> 0:04:08.236 because Hellell and Jack were originally in the band for 0:04:08.316 --> 0:04:11.116 only six months and then they quit and that's when 0:04:11.116 --> 0:04:14.036 Anthony and Filey looked for new guys. So the band 0:04:14.076 --> 0:04:16.916 starts in eighty three, I'm not sure what month. And 0:04:16.956 --> 0:04:18.596 then how old were you when you end up joining 0:04:18.596 --> 0:04:22.236 the band? Eighteen? So you hear about them, you already 0:04:22.236 --> 0:04:26.436 know about the band for four or five years before 0:04:26.436 --> 0:04:28.596 you are okay, so like it's not like I found 0:04:28.596 --> 0:04:30.356 out about them and then I was suddenly a fan 0:04:30.436 --> 0:04:33.196 of them, like, yeah, like I just were aware of them. Yeah, 0:04:33.196 --> 0:04:35.436 it was aware of them that I think. The next 0:04:35.476 --> 0:04:37.916 step was I had a friend named Jerry who worked 0:04:37.956 --> 0:04:42.276 for the Frank Zappa family, and I used to spend 0:04:42.276 --> 0:04:44.876 a lot of time at his house listening to listening 0:04:44.876 --> 0:04:47.276 to music, listening to a lot of Frank Zappa like 0:04:47.356 --> 0:04:51.356 live tapes and stuff like that, and at one point 0:04:52.236 --> 0:04:56.556 Jerry gave me a compilation tape. It was mostly esoteric 0:04:56.636 --> 0:04:59.116 kind of avant garde music. There was like Meredith Monk 0:04:59.236 --> 0:05:01.796 on it. I think there was even some Funkadelic on it. 0:05:01.876 --> 0:05:04.836 He was he was the first person who mentioned Funkadelic 0:05:04.956 --> 0:05:08.436 to me. And one of the things on that cassette 0:05:08.436 --> 0:05:12.196 tape was the song Hurdled the Turtle from their second 0:05:12.196 --> 0:05:15.276 Holme Freaky Styley, and I thought that was really good, 0:05:15.276 --> 0:05:17.836 like loved everything about it. The drums reminded me of 0:05:18.436 --> 0:05:20.956 like a funk version of a Captain beefheart beat, and 0:05:20.996 --> 0:05:25.676 the walla pedal thing was so clever and the way 0:05:25.716 --> 0:05:29.156 that he incorporated it into the guitar part, and that 0:05:29.196 --> 0:05:31.556 song has this great way of each element coming in 0:05:32.156 --> 0:05:35.076 one by one, and so you really fully appreciate how 0:05:35.116 --> 0:05:37.316 great the guitar part is how great the drumbeat is 0:05:37.316 --> 0:05:40.116 because you hear each thing sort of one added to 0:05:40.156 --> 0:05:44.236 the next. But at that point, they weren't that different 0:05:44.716 --> 0:05:47.316 to me than the Residents or these other things, like 0:05:47.356 --> 0:05:50.356 their drummer had played with Captain Beefheart, and I was 0:05:50.436 --> 0:05:54.116 mainly at that time, like I was really intensely into 0:05:54.156 --> 0:05:57.036 Frank Zappa and Steve I and stuff like this, Like 0:05:57.076 --> 0:06:00.196 I was really trying. I'd been through many other phases, 0:06:00.196 --> 0:06:02.156 but at that period of time, I was really trying 0:06:02.196 --> 0:06:04.676 to just get to a point where nobody could tell 0:06:04.716 --> 0:06:06.756 me I wasn't a good guitar player. I was trying 0:06:06.756 --> 0:06:10.436 to really at a certain point, I was like, whatever 0:06:10.476 --> 0:06:12.436 people think is the hardest stuff to play, I'm gonna 0:06:12.436 --> 0:06:14.796 try to play that. But the Chili Peppers were just 0:06:14.836 --> 0:06:18.876 like an interesting band and fun to watch and stuff 0:06:18.876 --> 0:06:22.276 on these videotapes that I had, and I bought their 0:06:22.316 --> 0:06:24.396 first record when I was in Florida. I have this 0:06:24.716 --> 0:06:27.436 strange memory of I bought their record and then I 0:06:28.076 --> 0:06:30.836 went up to my step mom, who I would often 0:06:30.876 --> 0:06:34.116 just go to to tell weird little things, Like one 0:06:34.156 --> 0:06:36.836 day I'd come to her and I'd say, like I 0:06:36.876 --> 0:06:40.196 decided what my favorite ending to any album is. It's 0:06:40.276 --> 0:06:42.516 the ending to Rise and Fall of Ziggy Startus by 0:06:42.596 --> 0:06:44.316 David Bowie. You know, I just say things that she 0:06:44.356 --> 0:06:47.436 didn't care about at all, you know. But I remember 0:06:47.476 --> 0:06:50.356 listening to that Chili Peppers record and saying I could 0:06:50.356 --> 0:06:52.116 never be in a band like that. I could never 0:06:52.196 --> 0:06:54.596 be in that band because there's not enough musical variety 0:06:54.676 --> 0:06:57.996 for me. Like it was a strange thing to say. 0:06:58.036 --> 0:07:01.156 She was like, oh, you would never be in that band, okay, 0:07:01.516 --> 0:07:05.036 you know, like it was it seemed like the most 0:07:05.076 --> 0:07:07.036 far fetched thing in the world. That's some record I 0:07:07.036 --> 0:07:09.916 bought at the Big Peaches record store. I'd say I 0:07:09.956 --> 0:07:13.876 couldn't be in That still sticks in my hand. But basically, 0:07:14.036 --> 0:07:18.996 I had a friend in high school who was really 0:07:19.036 --> 0:07:22.116 into the Chili Peppers and he and he'd gone to 0:07:22.156 --> 0:07:24.876 see them at least a couple of times. I remember 0:07:24.916 --> 0:07:26.996 he went and saw them at Fender's Ballroom. That was 0:07:27.036 --> 0:07:30.396 before I was going to see them with Fishbone and 0:07:30.836 --> 0:07:33.076 Faith the More on the Best of the West tour 0:07:33.156 --> 0:07:36.916 and stuff. And he was also into the that License 0:07:37.036 --> 0:07:39.636 Tale album as well. Like he got me excited about 0:07:39.716 --> 0:07:42.076 music that was sort of outside of the spectrum of 0:07:42.116 --> 0:07:44.876 what I'd been listening to lately, music that was more 0:07:44.956 --> 0:07:48.316 like about fun, you know, because I was I'd gotten 0:07:48.316 --> 0:07:52.316 into such a technical frame of mind. And so he 0:07:52.716 --> 0:07:54.836 and I went to see the Chili Peppers at the 0:07:54.916 --> 0:08:00.836 Variety Arts Center downtown. And I'd been very happy at 0:08:00.876 --> 0:08:04.116 previous shows i'd been to, like Adrian Blue and Stanley 0:08:04.156 --> 0:08:06.916 Clark and things. I felt the feeling of joy at 0:08:07.116 --> 0:08:12.076 concerts before, but there was nothing in comparison to seeing 0:08:12.076 --> 0:08:15.996 that band. It was when the original lineup was back together, 0:08:16.036 --> 0:08:18.476 but they hadn't come out with their third record yet, 0:08:19.236 --> 0:08:22.676 and everything I'd heard of them, everything that i'd seen 0:08:22.756 --> 0:08:26.236 on videotape, did not prepare me for the intensity of 0:08:26.236 --> 0:08:29.636 that show. It it was so psychedelic they all had. 0:08:29.676 --> 0:08:32.996 They had the fluorescent paint everywhere on their bodies you 0:08:32.996 --> 0:08:38.196 couldn't see them, and the black lights. It felt so otherworldly. 0:08:38.196 --> 0:08:40.436 It felt like me and the other you know, however 0:08:40.436 --> 0:08:42.716 many people it was a thousand people who were there, 0:08:42.716 --> 0:08:44.636 like it felt like we just all went into a 0:08:44.716 --> 0:08:47.316 dream together or something, you know. It did not feel 0:08:47.356 --> 0:08:51.516 like reality. That I saw two shows where they did that, 0:08:51.636 --> 0:08:55.356 where they wore the paint and never had experienced anything 0:08:55.956 --> 0:09:00.036 where the audience and the performers felt like we were 0:09:00.076 --> 0:09:02.476 all one thing. We were all in the same place together. 0:09:02.596 --> 0:09:06.636 The rest of the world didn't exist. Everybody's completely happy, 0:09:06.716 --> 0:09:10.276 everybody's out of their minds, everybody's jumping around, you know. 0:09:10.276 --> 0:09:12.636 As I say, punk was the music I started with, 0:09:12.676 --> 0:09:14.996 but I was too young. I was into punk when 0:09:14.996 --> 0:09:17.836 I was nine, ten eleven, you know, so I was 0:09:17.876 --> 0:09:21.556 too young to be going to shows. But at their show, 0:09:21.596 --> 0:09:24.196 it was like I was feeling that same energy that 0:09:24.276 --> 0:09:28.156 I remembered imagining about punk shows, you know, where people 0:09:28.156 --> 0:09:29.876 call them mosh pitt Now we called it a slam 0:09:29.876 --> 0:09:32.956 pit pick. Then it was punk roft, the first music 0:09:32.996 --> 0:09:35.436 that you embraced. Well before that, I was into the 0:09:35.476 --> 0:09:39.076 stuff that every other kid in Santa Monica was into, 0:09:39.156 --> 0:09:43.076 you know, we were We liked Aerosmith and Alice Cooper 0:09:43.156 --> 0:09:48.356 and Van Halen and Kiss and like that was just 0:09:48.396 --> 0:09:51.516 the stuff that that any kid who was into skateboards 0:09:51.556 --> 0:09:54.396 and that was what the kids in the neighborhood liked. 0:09:54.756 --> 0:09:56.716 And at one point I moved from Santa Monica to 0:09:57.196 --> 0:09:59.636 mar Vista, and at that point I discovered carol Q 0:09:59.956 --> 0:10:04.876 radio station and Rodney Bingenheimer's show. There was where I 0:10:04.916 --> 0:10:09.676 first heard punk, and so it was definitely a adual thing. 0:10:09.676 --> 0:10:12.516 I remember like being really into Devo and the B 0:10:12.676 --> 0:10:14.916 fifty twos and stuff like that for a while and 0:10:15.676 --> 0:10:19.796 then discovered the Germs and sex Pistols. There was a 0:10:19.796 --> 0:10:22.516 girl lived next stoor to me for a couple of 0:10:22.596 --> 0:10:24.236 months who used to let me go through a record 0:10:24.236 --> 0:10:27.356 collection and tape record things and stuff, so I remember 0:10:27.356 --> 0:10:31.116 I went to her apartment and recorded like never Mind 0:10:31.116 --> 0:10:34.076 the Bullocks by the sex Pistols and more songs about 0:10:34.076 --> 0:10:36.836 buildings and food by the Talking Heads, and so yeah, 0:10:36.836 --> 0:10:39.116 I was basically into like new wave and punk rock, 0:10:39.156 --> 0:10:42.716 and that gradually turned into being specifically into hardcore punk, 0:10:43.396 --> 0:10:45.796 and then from there you moved into more technical stuff 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:47.476 was at the next step. Yeah, it was a lot 0:10:47.516 --> 0:10:51.356 of little phases it went. Punk was what was what 0:10:51.476 --> 0:10:53.916 made me pull the acoustic guitar out of the closet 0:10:53.956 --> 0:10:57.436 and start learning songs, even though it wasn't an electric guitar. 0:10:57.556 --> 0:11:00.396 I'd wanted to play electric guitar years before that, but 0:11:00.996 --> 0:11:03.076 nobody would buy me one, and I just did not 0:11:03.196 --> 0:11:06.156 like the sound of an acoustic so so I put 0:11:06.196 --> 0:11:07.756 it off. But eventually I was like, Okay, if I 0:11:07.836 --> 0:11:10.036 just learned a bunch of punks here, maybe my dad 0:11:10.076 --> 0:11:13.236 will see that I'm dedicated and he'll buy me an electric. 0:11:14.516 --> 0:11:17.396 So I learned how to play like the entire Sex 0:11:17.436 --> 0:11:21.716 Pistols album and a lot of other songs, Black Flag 0:11:21.796 --> 0:11:25.396 and the Germs, and he bought me a stratocaster. And 0:11:25.436 --> 0:11:28.716 when I got the stratocaster, I started reading Guitar Player magazine. 0:11:28.956 --> 0:11:31.276 And I had had a friend at school who really 0:11:31.316 --> 0:11:33.556 liked Jimmy Hendrix prior to that, and I was always 0:11:33.596 --> 0:11:36.716 kind of messing with him, telling him that the Sex 0:11:36.756 --> 0:11:39.876 Pistols were far more important to music than Jimi Hendrix 0:11:39.996 --> 0:11:43.196 was and all this stuff. But we would play tapes 0:11:43.236 --> 0:11:45.916 for each other and stuff, and once I actually had 0:11:45.956 --> 0:11:49.916 an electric guitar, I just became obsessed with Jimmy Hendrix 0:11:50.436 --> 0:11:53.436 and that led me to just being into Jeff Beck 0:11:53.556 --> 0:11:57.236 and Cream. And there was this violence thing about punk 0:11:57.276 --> 0:12:00.076 at that point, this stigma to it, like people would 0:12:00.116 --> 0:12:01.916 find out that I was into punk and they wouldn't 0:12:01.916 --> 0:12:04.076 be friends with me anymore, and it was like their 0:12:04.116 --> 0:12:06.996 parents told them, You're not allowed to be friends with 0:12:07.036 --> 0:12:10.756 that guy anymore, or whatever. That happened to me multiple times, 0:12:10.796 --> 0:12:15.276 and so I moved from punk being the like the 0:12:15.316 --> 0:12:18.516 main thing I was into to being really into sixties 0:12:18.836 --> 0:12:22.836 music and the whole just the peacefulness of the of 0:12:22.876 --> 0:12:25.116 the ideals of it appealed to me at the time. 0:12:25.196 --> 0:12:27.076 For whatever reason, I was trying to get out of 0:12:27.116 --> 0:12:30.996 this angry, sort of violent state of mind that I 0:12:30.996 --> 0:12:34.436 could feel going on inside me. There was definitely a 0:12:34.516 --> 0:12:38.116 minute when punk rock turned like a new group of 0:12:38.156 --> 0:12:41.276 punks joined. It's like the Dead Kennedy's wrote the song 0:12:41.356 --> 0:12:43.196 Nazi Punks Fuck Off, you know. It was about that 0:12:43.716 --> 0:12:47.156 the punk movement, which started as this beautiful, peaceful, fun, 0:12:47.476 --> 0:12:50.516 high energy movement started turning dark for a period of 0:12:50.516 --> 0:12:54.396 time when new people got involved just to fight basically. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:54.396 --> 0:12:56.836 it was really there was a lot of fighting, and 0:12:57.756 --> 0:13:00.116 I felt that violence in myself, Like I liked that 0:13:00.196 --> 0:13:02.836 about it, you know, but I think it kind of 0:13:02.836 --> 0:13:05.236 scared me that I had this other part of me 0:13:05.316 --> 0:13:08.836 inside that was that I wasn't sure what was capable of. 0:13:09.116 --> 0:13:13.196 Always had concerns about was I saying completely or not, 0:13:13.476 --> 0:13:15.956 And there was definitely lots of times in my life 0:13:15.956 --> 0:13:20.276 where I was concerned that I might be crazy, and yeah, 0:13:20.316 --> 0:13:23.676 the violence thing felt like a screwy thing for me 0:13:23.716 --> 0:13:28.196 to be dabbling around with and feeding that part of myself. 0:13:28.276 --> 0:13:32.236 So gradually it was like sixties music. And then from 0:13:32.276 --> 0:13:35.916 there I got into like more already kind of seventies 0:13:35.996 --> 0:13:39.516 music like Brian Eno and Roxy Music and David Bowie 0:13:39.596 --> 0:13:44.956 and and progressive rock like Genesis and Yes and Kim Crimson. 0:13:45.676 --> 0:13:49.716 Kim Crimson, Yeah, like they became my favorite band. I 0:13:49.796 --> 0:13:52.196 got really into Adrian blues guitar playing. I was obsessed 0:13:52.236 --> 0:13:55.996 with him, and so this is all I'm like thirteen 0:13:56.076 --> 0:13:58.996 years old at this point, twelve thirteen years old, you know, 0:13:59.196 --> 0:14:02.036 And so every all the stages went very fast. And 0:14:02.076 --> 0:14:04.316 it's not like I ever stopped liking anything that I'd 0:14:04.316 --> 0:14:06.636 like previously, but I got I would get really excited 0:14:06.676 --> 0:14:09.316 about a new thing and be focused on that at 0:14:09.876 --> 0:14:12.036 So I think when I was about fifteen was when 0:14:12.036 --> 0:14:15.756 I got obsessed with Frank Zappa. And that's any guitar 0:14:15.756 --> 0:14:18.556 player who was related to him. So Warren Coucarulo and 0:14:18.916 --> 0:14:22.196 Steve Ye and Adrian Blue also happened to be in 0:14:22.236 --> 0:14:24.356 his band for a while, but I'd already been into 0:14:24.436 --> 0:14:28.076 him for a while and then yeah, like the Red 0:14:28.076 --> 0:14:30.076 Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys. That was like 0:14:30.116 --> 0:14:33.836 this fun music that I was into, largely through this 0:14:34.116 --> 0:14:36.876 kid that I knew at school. And then when I 0:14:36.916 --> 0:14:39.996 moved to Hollywood when I was seventeen, I realized I 0:14:40.036 --> 0:14:42.196 had to make a switch. I had been into all 0:14:42.196 --> 0:14:44.876 this music that I was into because I thought it 0:14:44.876 --> 0:14:47.356 was going to make me a quote unquote better guitar player. 0:14:47.796 --> 0:14:52.716 And I decided, I'm just gonna start listening to only 0:14:52.756 --> 0:14:54.636 the things that give me the best feelings. I'm going 0:14:54.676 --> 0:14:58.356 to put aside this idea of what's technically good or 0:14:58.396 --> 0:15:03.996 anything like that. I'm gonna just listen to the music 0:15:04.036 --> 0:15:07.836 that gives me the strongest feelings inside. And so at 0:15:07.876 --> 0:15:10.796 that time, that was like the New York Dolls, Susie 0:15:10.796 --> 0:15:15.636 and the Band Cheese, David Bowie, t Rex, stuff like this. 0:15:15.876 --> 0:15:18.676 If I was honest with myself, that was the music 0:15:18.716 --> 0:15:21.316 that I liked the most out of any other music. 0:15:21.636 --> 0:15:24.596 And the Red Hot Chili Peppers was also part of that. 0:15:24.956 --> 0:15:27.036 And in their case, that was somebody who I could 0:15:27.076 --> 0:15:30.156 go see live all the time. So before I was 0:15:30.156 --> 0:15:33.436 in the band, I probably saw them about six seven 0:15:33.476 --> 0:15:36.476 times or something wow, all within about a you know, 0:15:36.596 --> 0:15:38.836 a year and a half or something like that. And 0:15:39.036 --> 0:15:41.636 over that year and a half did they change at all? 0:15:41.676 --> 0:15:43.516 Did you notice, like as a fan, did you see 0:15:43.556 --> 0:15:46.036 them changing? Were they getting better, were they getting worse? 0:15:46.236 --> 0:15:49.796 Anything different? Not that I can remember. They seemed pretty 0:15:49.836 --> 0:15:52.956 consistent to me. Great. There was a couple of shows 0:15:52.996 --> 0:15:55.836 that got shut down and stuff like either after a 0:15:55.876 --> 0:15:58.636 few songs, and you know, their shows got pretty crazy 0:15:58.636 --> 0:16:01.116 at that time. But yeah, they were always great. And 0:16:01.156 --> 0:16:04.356 the other thing is that I would have necessarily known 0:16:05.156 --> 0:16:07.596 details about them because every time I ever went and 0:16:07.636 --> 0:16:10.996 saw them, after the first time, I would tell myself, Okay, 0:16:10.996 --> 0:16:12.916 this time, I'm gonna I'm just gonna watch the show, 0:16:13.196 --> 0:16:15.676 because every time they started playing, I just started jumping 0:16:15.676 --> 0:16:19.756 around in the audience like crazy, and I barely I 0:16:19.756 --> 0:16:22.156 would see little glimpses once in a while. I would 0:16:22.196 --> 0:16:25.836 look up at the stage, you know, or I'd somehow 0:16:25.916 --> 0:16:27.836 wind up close to the stage for a second and 0:16:27.876 --> 0:16:29.796 I'd look up at hill l or whatever you know 0:16:29.836 --> 0:16:32.796 I like, and I and this memory would be etched 0:16:32.796 --> 0:16:35.836 in my brain forever of like one of them from 0:16:35.836 --> 0:16:39.396 that angle. But like people, I would I would bring 0:16:39.436 --> 0:16:42.956 to their shows, those people would actually watch the show, 0:16:43.036 --> 0:16:45.596 so they'd have some thoughtful comments after the show about 0:16:45.596 --> 0:16:47.996 the show. For me, it was that dream state that 0:16:48.036 --> 0:16:49.676 I was talking about at their first show. That's what 0:16:49.716 --> 0:16:52.036 every show I saw of Theirs was for me, because 0:16:52.316 --> 0:16:56.356 I felt so part of the experience that I couldn't 0:16:56.396 --> 0:16:59.116 resist the temptation to just jump around the audience like 0:16:59.116 --> 0:17:03.076 a crazy person. Amazing. So yeah, I didn't have too 0:17:03.156 --> 0:17:06.396 critical of a sense of what was going on up 0:17:06.436 --> 0:17:09.836 there because I would mostly see them in between songs 0:17:10.036 --> 0:17:12.076 when they were talking in between songs, and they were 0:17:12.116 --> 0:17:14.836 so funny at that time. They would always be saying 0:17:14.836 --> 0:17:17.876 funny things in between the songs and stuff. The thing 0:17:17.916 --> 0:17:20.796 you're describing about going to a Chili Pepper show and 0:17:20.916 --> 0:17:25.716 that being taken away is the experience that I have 0:17:26.036 --> 0:17:28.236 when I watch you guys play in the studio or 0:17:28.236 --> 0:17:33.236 in rehearsals, like it feels like we're entering a different 0:17:33.276 --> 0:17:38.196 dimension and the music somehow we get to have this 0:17:38.316 --> 0:17:44.196 transcendent experience where when it's happening, it feels like nothing 0:17:44.236 --> 0:17:46.356 else in the world is happening, but the music being 0:17:46.356 --> 0:17:49.796 played in this moment, and it's different every time. It's 0:17:49.876 --> 0:17:53.556 another part of it. It's not like it's so structured. Yes, 0:17:53.596 --> 0:17:55.796 the order of the things that happen in the song 0:17:55.916 --> 0:18:00.676 might be the same order, but the energetic peaks and 0:18:00.836 --> 0:18:06.036 the trip that it takes us on musically always I 0:18:06.036 --> 0:18:09.236 feel a whole new way thing every time it happens. 0:18:09.116 --> 0:18:12.996 It's an amazing experience, jaw dropping to watch still to 0:18:13.036 --> 0:18:17.396 this day. So I understand exactly what you're talking about. 0:18:17.636 --> 0:18:19.596 It was really important to me when I joined the 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:22.436 band to try to keep that same energy going that 0:18:22.516 --> 0:18:25.796 I that I remember feeling at their shows. And there 0:18:25.916 --> 0:18:28.356 was definitely a thing that appealed to me about them 0:18:28.676 --> 0:18:31.116 in comparison to other artists. They seemed to have more 0:18:31.116 --> 0:18:34.716 conviction than other people like they it seemed to mean 0:18:34.876 --> 0:18:36.676 more to them. And that was the original thing that 0:18:36.756 --> 0:18:40.876 made me like throw away my Kiss records and become 0:18:41.036 --> 0:18:43.596 you know, obsessed with the germs and Black Flag and 0:18:43.676 --> 0:18:46.836 stuff like that. Was I could tell that it really 0:18:46.836 --> 0:18:49.836 meant something to these people and Kiss I got. I 0:18:49.956 --> 0:18:52.116 realized when I was about nine years old that like, 0:18:53.116 --> 0:18:55.116 I felt strongly about them, but I wasn't sure that 0:18:55.156 --> 0:18:58.996 they felt strongly about as strongly about themselves or about 0:18:59.036 --> 0:19:01.076 any kind of connection they could have to a person 0:19:01.156 --> 0:19:04.756 like me, you know, whereas those other people, it felt 0:19:04.756 --> 0:19:06.996 like we were breathing the same air we were. We 0:19:06.996 --> 0:19:09.636 were seeing the music from the same angle, not two 0:19:09.636 --> 0:19:12.276 opposite angles. It wasn't the seller and the consumer. It 0:19:12.356 --> 0:19:16.276 was this thing that we're all clinging to as as 0:19:16.276 --> 0:19:19.356 like a thing that's, I don't know, saving us from 0:19:19.396 --> 0:19:23.116 all the confusion of life. And so I saw that 0:19:23.236 --> 0:19:25.916 same conviction, and you know, I just always got the 0:19:25.956 --> 0:19:28.596 sense that music really mattered to that band, you know, 0:19:29.436 --> 0:19:32.716 and so always wanted that to be the center of 0:19:32.716 --> 0:19:35.956 what we did, that we felt strongly about about the 0:19:36.036 --> 0:19:38.716 music and a better connection to each other. We'll be 0:19:38.836 --> 0:19:41.316 right back with more from John Fushante and Rick Rubin. 0:19:41.516 --> 0:19:48.116 After a quick break, We're back with more from John 0:19:48.116 --> 0:19:51.396 Fushante and Rick Rubin. How did you find out that 0:19:51.436 --> 0:19:53.676 they were looking for a guitar player before you ended 0:19:53.756 --> 0:19:55.916 up joining How did that happen? So when I was 0:19:56.116 --> 0:19:58.356 when I was seventeen, I was living on Yucca and 0:19:58.476 --> 0:20:02.636 Argyle in Hollywood, and I became friends with with a 0:20:02.676 --> 0:20:05.996 girl named Sarah Cox who was from New York, and 0:20:06.076 --> 0:20:11.476 she she introduced me to dh Calego from the Dead 0:20:11.596 --> 0:20:14.596 Kennedy's and so I started playing with him and a 0:20:14.636 --> 0:20:18.316 bass player friend of mine named Robert, and we started 0:20:18.356 --> 0:20:21.596 doing a band that was pretty Chili Peppers inspired. In fact, 0:20:21.756 --> 0:20:24.956 the song Stone Cold Bush was originally that band wrote 0:20:25.076 --> 0:20:28.996 that song Wow. And we never played any shows or anything, 0:20:29.116 --> 0:20:32.796 but but we played together a fair amount and one 0:20:32.876 --> 0:20:35.276 day DH just called me up and Flee had just 0:20:35.316 --> 0:20:39.276 gotten back from their last European tour, and he said, Fleeze. 0:20:39.276 --> 0:20:41.996 He knew I loved Flee, you know, and so he said, 0:20:42.316 --> 0:20:43.836 Fleeze here, you want to you want to come over 0:20:43.876 --> 0:20:46.716 and jam with us? And so I went over there 0:20:47.276 --> 0:20:51.556 and played with him, and we played the Funkadelic song 0:20:51.636 --> 0:20:56.076 Alice and Alice and My Fantasies, and I think we 0:20:56.156 --> 0:20:59.436 even tried to do a cover version of Higher Ground, 0:20:59.476 --> 0:21:01.796 which was what we wound up doing on Mother's Milk. 0:21:01.876 --> 0:21:03.996 But Flee had that idea already at that time, what 0:21:04.356 --> 0:21:07.956 you know, a heavy metal version of Higher Ground and 0:21:08.836 --> 0:21:12.436 Jane and stuff, and I guessfully enjoy jamming with me. 0:21:12.476 --> 0:21:14.636 He gave me his phone number and told me, you know, 0:21:15.076 --> 0:21:18.876 like you know, I'd love to play more. And a 0:21:18.876 --> 0:21:22.076 few weeks later I called him up to see if 0:21:22.076 --> 0:21:24.116 he wanted to jam again, got my nerve up to 0:21:24.116 --> 0:21:26.876 call him up, and he was crying and he just said, like, 0:21:27.396 --> 0:21:29.476 I can't talk right now. My guitar player just died. 0:21:30.196 --> 0:21:33.236 And we got off the phone real quick. Then I 0:21:33.236 --> 0:21:35.116 think he might have gotten in touch with me after 0:21:35.156 --> 0:21:38.316