WEBVTT - John Frusciante Returns, Part 3 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.236 Pushkin. We're back with a third episode and our John 0:00:22.236 --> 0:00:25.956 Fruschante returns series. Over the last couple of months, Rick 0:00:26.036 --> 0:00:28.356 Rubin and John Fushawnte have the Red Hot Chili Peppers 0:00:28.396 --> 0:00:31.636 have come together to tape an ongoing series of conversations 0:00:31.676 --> 0:00:35.876 that dives deep into John's philosophical and practical approach try 0:00:35.916 --> 0:00:38.876 to music and playing guitar. If you haven't heard the 0:00:38.876 --> 0:00:42.876 previous episodes, I highly recommend going to check him out. Today, 0:00:42.956 --> 0:00:45.476 we'll hear John talk about his love of electronic music 0:00:45.716 --> 0:00:47.476 and how he struggled to fall back in love with 0:00:47.556 --> 0:00:51.276 guitar based rock before recording The peppers latest set of albums. 0:00:51.756 --> 0:00:54.916 He also talks about the process of making Californication, and 0:00:54.996 --> 0:00:57.076 near the end of the interview, picks up a guitar 0:00:57.356 --> 0:00:59.516 to play through some of his most well known guitar 0:00:59.636 --> 0:01:06.036 parts from that album. This is broken record liner notes 0:01:06.076 --> 0:01:09.796 for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond is Rick Rubin 0:01:09.836 --> 0:01:13.676 and John Fuschante from Shango La. Have you ever taken 0:01:13.836 --> 0:01:17.876 a principle that you've learned in painting or from another 0:01:17.956 --> 0:01:20.636 art form and brought it into music. I think so, 0:01:20.876 --> 0:01:25.556 but but you know it's it's it's not specific, not conscious, 0:01:25.556 --> 0:01:28.996 not that I can think of anyways. But those years 0:01:29.036 --> 0:01:32.276 that I was just painting and drawing and writing in notebooks, 0:01:33.036 --> 0:01:35.516 that's what made me see how I could make music again, 0:01:35.556 --> 0:01:38.156 because I thought I was done making music. But it 0:01:38.196 --> 0:01:43.436 was through doing that and realizing that I was realizing 0:01:43.516 --> 0:01:46.516 what I was incapable of in that that I was 0:01:46.596 --> 0:01:48.796 capable of in music, like what I wanted to do 0:01:48.916 --> 0:01:51.996 with that I couldn't do. I didn't have enough technic, 0:01:52.156 --> 0:01:55.116 Like I didn't used to appreciate the technical, theoretical and 0:01:55.156 --> 0:01:57.876 all that. But once I realized what I wanted to 0:01:57.916 --> 0:02:01.076 do as a visual artist that I couldn't do it 0:02:01.156 --> 0:02:04.476 in visual art, it was real clear that I could 0:02:04.556 --> 0:02:07.436 do it exactly that in music. And do you think 0:02:07.476 --> 0:02:10.636 it's because you've spent so much time practicing music before? 0:02:10.796 --> 0:02:13.756 Is that why that was? That's why like like had 0:02:13.796 --> 0:02:16.516 you started as a painter, Oh yeah, then I would 0:02:16.516 --> 0:02:19.596 have had that technique. So it's really just the time 0:02:19.676 --> 0:02:22.876 in commitment, previous commitment. It was strange because I just 0:02:23.236 --> 0:02:27.396 I did so much in terms of the thinking, in 0:02:27.476 --> 0:02:30.516 terms of theory and technique that by the time I 0:02:30.556 --> 0:02:33.516 found myself as a guitar player that what I thought 0:02:33.516 --> 0:02:36.596 I was doing was forgetting about all that stuff. Yeah, 0:02:36.636 --> 0:02:39.476 And when I painted, I continued to just be free. 0:02:39.676 --> 0:02:42.716 And then when I realized the things I saw in 0:02:42.756 --> 0:02:44.516 my head, I wanted to be able to do, and 0:02:44.556 --> 0:02:47.956 I knew what aspects of whose styles I wanted to combine, 0:02:48.196 --> 0:02:51.196 and I didn't have the technical ability to do it. 0:02:51.236 --> 0:02:53.836 And I thought, God, with music, I can do that. 0:02:53.956 --> 0:02:57.836 If I want to make something that has like the 0:02:57.876 --> 0:03:00.796 melodic sense of this person and the rhythmic sense of 0:03:00.876 --> 0:03:04.876 this person, and the you know, the sound is this person, 0:03:04.916 --> 0:03:07.236 I knew how to do it. Is that all art? 0:03:07.716 --> 0:03:09.916 I feel like maybe it is like all art is 0:03:10.916 --> 0:03:14.676 all of the different things that we've taken in and seeing, Oh, 0:03:14.756 --> 0:03:17.356 this aspect of what this person does is really interesting, 0:03:17.756 --> 0:03:20.116 and this aspect of what they do is interesting. Yeah, 0:03:20.236 --> 0:03:22.436 and this aspect of what someone else is interesting, and 0:03:22.516 --> 0:03:24.756 no one has put those together before. And that's a 0:03:25.196 --> 0:03:27.756 that's a new form, and it's probably the lineage of 0:03:28.356 --> 0:03:31.836 art has always been built on things of the past, 0:03:32.356 --> 0:03:35.596 shown in a new way that we've never experienced them before. Yeah. 0:03:35.716 --> 0:03:39.596 In playing along with other people's music, I constantly noticed 0:03:39.716 --> 0:03:43.076 that somebody's taken one part of one thing and another 0:03:43.116 --> 0:03:44.916 part of another thing, and they're together. And I don't 0:03:44.956 --> 0:03:48.916 know if the things were conscious, but you see it 0:03:48.956 --> 0:03:52.956 all the time. Yeah, I figure there's just so many combinations, 0:03:53.036 --> 0:03:54.756 and so we're just spinning them out and we get 0:03:54.756 --> 0:03:58.436 them from different places. And sometimes I imagine it happens 0:03:58.476 --> 0:04:02.636 by mistake, where you'll be playing in one style, yeah, 0:04:02.836 --> 0:04:05.356 and then a mistake will lead you into a different style. 0:04:05.596 --> 0:04:07.476 But it works, and then it's like, oh, these two 0:04:07.516 --> 0:04:11.116 styles go together. And I wouldn't have consciously thought that. Yeah. 0:04:11.516 --> 0:04:14.876 Do you remember when you heard that Joe Jackson song? Like, 0:04:14.916 --> 0:04:17.316 did you hear it? Within a year of right? I 0:04:17.396 --> 0:04:18.996 was just listening to that record a lot. I mean 0:04:19.036 --> 0:04:21.036 I knew I was really into his music when I 0:04:21.076 --> 0:04:23.716 was growing up, like, and I was into him since 0:04:23.716 --> 0:04:25.476 I was a little kid, like since I was like 0:04:25.756 --> 0:04:30.476 nine or something. But what's interesting is that, for whatever reason, 0:04:31.036 --> 0:04:33.356 at that moment in time, you were going through a 0:04:33.436 --> 0:04:35.876 Joe Jackson phase. The world was not going through a 0:04:35.956 --> 0:04:38.796 Joe Jackson phase in that moment. No, yeah, you were, 0:04:39.396 --> 0:04:44.436 and that was the information that allowed you into a 0:04:44.476 --> 0:04:49.116 new thing. And I feel like that's where the magical 0:04:49.236 --> 0:04:51.276 part of it isn't that it comes from the Joe 0:04:51.356 --> 0:04:54.876 Jackson song. It's that why were you listening to Joe 0:04:54.956 --> 0:04:58.956 Jackson then? And the theory would be because it had 0:04:58.996 --> 0:05:01.836 the information you needed, even though that's that's not why 0:05:01.876 --> 0:05:03.476 you were looking for. Do you know what I'm saying? 0:05:03.476 --> 0:05:06.676 You weren't listening to it as a reference material. You 0:05:06.716 --> 0:05:09.636 were listening to it because you liked it. No, particularly 0:05:09.676 --> 0:05:12.356 like that record at that time, Beat Crazy that it's on. 0:05:12.436 --> 0:05:14.476 I was listening to it a lot. There were certain records. 0:05:14.476 --> 0:05:17.636 I was really into the new George Michael record as 0:05:17.676 --> 0:05:21.356 well that listened Without Prejudice Volume one. When we were 0:05:21.396 --> 0:05:23.636 writing Blood Sugar, I was listening at all the time, 0:05:23.836 --> 0:05:27.956 like they were just examples of pop music where somebody 0:05:28.036 --> 0:05:31.956 was going in a direction that was different from what 0:05:31.996 --> 0:05:35.236 they were known for. Like Joe Jackson did that even 0:05:35.236 --> 0:05:38.236 more on his following album. But on that album there's 0:05:38.236 --> 0:05:40.316 certain things on it. He has this song called One 0:05:40.956 --> 0:05:44.156 to One that's like a ballot, a really strong kind 0:05:44.156 --> 0:05:46.316 of ballad song. It was just different than the kind 0:05:46.316 --> 0:05:49.356 of power pop. You could tell he was he was 0:05:49.396 --> 0:05:52.636 trying to go in a different direction. So I don't 0:05:52.636 --> 0:05:54.716 know if it was conscious, but it was definitely worked 0:05:54.716 --> 0:05:57.916 out to be related to what we were doing as 0:05:57.956 --> 0:06:00.396 far as you know, with Blood Sugar, Like, I'm sure 0:06:00.396 --> 0:06:04.796 it wasn't conscious. And that's what's interesting. It's like that 0:06:04.796 --> 0:06:09.316 that the way we live in the world impacts the 0:06:09.356 --> 0:06:11.596 things that we make. Yeah, you know, the way we're 0:06:11.596 --> 0:06:15.396 paying attention, what we're paying attention to, yah works its 0:06:15.436 --> 0:06:18.316 way in. Yeah, it's like and it often seems like 0:06:18.356 --> 0:06:21.556 it's the other. We think of causality, that the one 0:06:21.636 --> 0:06:25.596 causes the other, and in actuality, yeah, you often get 0:06:25.636 --> 0:06:27.596 the sense that it's the other way around. That you 0:06:27.636 --> 0:06:29.756 were listening to that thing because you had to write 0:06:29.796 --> 0:06:33.476 that song. Yeah, like just to point out for people 0:06:33.596 --> 0:06:44.156 as far as the space, like the difference is what 0:06:44.236 --> 0:06:46.316 would be the regular way it would have been like this, 0:06:53.436 --> 0:06:55.836 that's the normal, Yeah, that that would have been the 0:06:56.116 --> 0:06:59.436 first ends and you go into the chorus and everybody 0:06:59.476 --> 0:07:02.156 plays on the one. But but because of that song, 0:07:02.236 --> 0:07:04.316 it wasn't just that I wanted the guitar part to go. 0:07:06.356 --> 0:07:08.236 I wanted Chad to do it with me. I wanted 0:07:08.276 --> 0:07:09.876 Plea to do it with me, you know what I mean, 0:07:09.916 --> 0:07:12.596 Like like Anthony's the only one who's saying something on 0:07:12.636 --> 0:07:14.796 the one, which is different from the Joe Jackson, where 0:07:14.836 --> 0:07:17.236 the vocal and the music all are on the two 0:07:17.916 --> 0:07:20.956 of the bar. So I had that realization that it's 0:07:21.036 --> 0:07:25.436 just space basically that I was it's fascinating and interesting 0:07:25.636 --> 0:07:29.316 where where these things come from? And it could have 0:07:29.396 --> 0:07:32.236 also happened in an unconscious way. Like in this case, 0:07:32.236 --> 0:07:34.836 it's conscious because you know that it happened, but it 0:07:34.956 --> 0:07:37.676 also can happen on an unconscious level, where just depending 0:07:37.716 --> 0:07:41.316 on what you're listening to, there's something that your mind's like, oh, 0:07:41.356 --> 0:07:43.676 that's interesting, and then lady, you're writing something, it's like, 0:07:43.676 --> 0:07:45.876 oh that's interesting. Do you know what I'm saying? Without 0:07:45.876 --> 0:07:48.636 it being conscious, it can still happen and it's not 0:07:49.116 --> 0:07:51.836 trying to rip anything off. It's like we are made 0:07:51.876 --> 0:07:54.996 of the things we listen to. Yeah, that's how it works. Yeah, 0:07:55.276 --> 0:07:58.356 that's all we're made of. Yeah, it's not like there's 0:07:58.436 --> 0:08:01.356 other stuff we're adding on top of what we hear. 0:08:02.156 --> 0:08:03.676 Do you know what I'm saying. It's like our bank, 0:08:03.756 --> 0:08:10.356 our reference bank, our files are whatever we heard that 0:08:10.556 --> 0:08:13.796 somehow got stored, whether we knew it was getting stored 0:08:13.876 --> 0:08:17.396 or not. Yeah, Joe Jackson's an interesting artist also to 0:08:17.396 --> 0:08:22.516 talk about, just because even in punk times, I felt 0:08:22.516 --> 0:08:25.796 like he was an outlier, like he wasn't like anyone else. Yeah, No, 0:08:25.916 --> 0:08:28.596 his story's really interesting. He wrote a really interesting book. 0:08:28.676 --> 0:08:31.396 It basically just goes up to where he started having 0:08:31.436 --> 0:08:35.116 a career, and he had a real strange life up 0:08:35.156 --> 0:08:37.556 till then, Like he went to a music school, Like 0:08:37.596 --> 0:08:40.556 he was reading Beethoven scores when he was a little kid, 0:08:40.836 --> 0:08:44.076 like playing in cover groups to make money and pubs 0:08:44.396 --> 0:08:49.436 for years, and had an opportunity to get a record 0:08:49.476 --> 0:08:52.636 contract and had a clear concept of how the band 0:08:52.676 --> 0:08:55.276 would look, what the style of music would be, what 0:08:55.396 --> 0:08:58.996 the songs would be. He had a very calculated approach 0:08:59.156 --> 0:09:01.596 to being a part of what wound up being like 0:09:01.636 --> 0:09:04.956 the new wave, you know, post punk world. But I 0:09:04.996 --> 0:09:07.356 think wrote some of the best pop songs of the time, 0:09:07.476 --> 0:09:11.196 and really, like his book only goes up to that point, 0:09:11.236 --> 0:09:14.596 but it's real. You can't imagine that person winding up 0:09:14.716 --> 0:09:17.756 doing that. But he had a really good idea about 0:09:17.756 --> 0:09:19.756 how to fit in with what was going on at 0:09:19.756 --> 0:09:21.996 the time. You know. Interesting. I think the Police were 0:09:22.076 --> 0:09:25.116 kind of similar. I think they were such good musicians 0:09:25.356 --> 0:09:30.156 that what they were playing was a calculated thing based 0:09:30.196 --> 0:09:33.116 on what was currently going on in England at the time, 0:09:33.156 --> 0:09:35.636 what was cool at the time, and it could either 0:09:35.716 --> 0:09:39.436 be calculated or when you're a kid and there's a 0:09:39.476 --> 0:09:42.836 new music movement and you're into it, it's not unusual 0:09:42.836 --> 0:09:45.116 to morph into it. I know that in my case, 0:09:45.516 --> 0:09:48.156 I was really into punk rock and then hip hop 0:09:48.196 --> 0:09:50.716 came along and I didn't like punk rock any less, 0:09:51.036 --> 0:09:53.076 but there was this momentum around hip hop and it 0:09:53.116 --> 0:09:55.596 was fun to be part of this other new music 0:09:55.636 --> 0:09:58.276 scene that seemed related because they were both about not 0:09:58.356 --> 0:10:00.156 being able to play really, you know, they were both 0:10:01.276 --> 0:10:07.436 more about the content than the virtuosity in both cases. Yeah, 0:10:07.476 --> 0:10:10.956 but there were you know, some people were calculated at 0:10:10.956 --> 0:10:13.716 the time because the punk thing was this new thing 0:10:14.596 --> 0:10:17.396 and it's real crappy music. And in the case of 0:10:17.396 --> 0:10:20.596 the Police and Joe Jackson, their music has tons of heart. 0:10:20.996 --> 0:10:24.476 It's really good music, you know, Like, but I think 0:10:24.516 --> 0:10:28.116 I've heard from quotes of Sting and from Joe Jackson's 0:10:28.116 --> 0:10:31.636 book that it really was like I could do anything 0:10:31.676 --> 0:10:34.996 that I want to do, Yeah, but I'm gonna do 0:10:35.036 --> 0:10:38.996 this specific thing mixed the reggae rhythms with the faster 0:10:39.116 --> 0:10:42.596 punk rhythms like you know, but make pop songs out 0:10:42.596 --> 0:10:45.796 of that, like you know. And in Joe Jacksins case, 0:10:45.836 --> 0:10:48.236 he wrote all the parts for everybody in his band. 0:10:48.316 --> 0:10:51.556 There was no He approached it like a composer where 0:10:51.956 --> 0:10:54.956 everything was written, like like Frank Zapper or something, where 0:10:54.956 --> 0:10:57.836 like he tells each person exactly what to play. I 0:10:57.876 --> 0:11:01.076 didn't mean to speak disparagingly about it being calculated because 0:11:01.076 --> 0:11:03.956 something like The Monkeys was a group that was put together. Yeah, 0:11:03.996 --> 0:11:06.356 and I love the Monkeys and I love those songs 0:11:06.356 --> 0:11:08.756 that yeah, yeah, And there's not a right way to 0:11:08.796 --> 0:11:12.196 do it. It's whatever yields something that you like to 0:11:12.236 --> 0:11:15.156 listen to is fine. Yeah. It's funny how some people, 0:11:15.316 --> 0:11:18.916 you know, like I think Lou Reid's songwriting style that 0:11:18.956 --> 0:11:20.676 he did in The Velvet Underground, a lot of it 0:11:20.756 --> 0:11:23.156 came from that he was working for that Pickwick record 0:11:23.196 --> 0:11:27.156 company where he's just writing songs on a similar to 0:11:27.196 --> 0:11:29.676 like a Tin Pan Alley type situation where they've just 0:11:29.716 --> 0:11:31.676 got a lot of writers. They say, write a surf song, 0:11:31.876 --> 0:11:34.596 write a motorcycle song. You're just sitting there all day 0:11:34.596 --> 0:11:40.236 cranking out imitations of these trendy things from that time. 0:11:40.916 --> 0:11:45.036 And I think when he wrote songs like Heroin or 0:11:45.356 --> 0:11:48.956 Waiting for the Man, he's taking an idea for a 0:11:49.036 --> 0:11:52.156 song and approaching the writing of the song in the 0:11:52.196 --> 0:11:55.036 same sort of calculated way, like that this song is 0:11:55.076 --> 0:11:57.196 about motorcycles, this song is going to be about Heroin 0:11:57.316 --> 0:11:59.556 being a junkie, you know what I mean. Like, I 0:11:59.596 --> 0:12:02.556 don't think without that experience of writing songs on an 0:12:02.596 --> 0:12:06.436 assembly line that he would have ended up writing those 0:12:06.476 --> 0:12:08.796 types of songs that he did. And probably the same 0:12:08.836 --> 0:12:12.996 for the way Andy Warhol eventually made art where it 0:12:13.076 --> 0:12:15.596 was more of a He had the idea for the 0:12:15.636 --> 0:12:18.156 piece and then it would be crafted essentially by the 0:12:18.196 --> 0:12:20.796 people because it would be silkscreened or something. Maybe in 0:12:20.876 --> 0:12:22.556 some cases he would do the silk screen himself, but 0:12:22.556 --> 0:12:25.036 it didn't really matter because it was more the idea 0:12:25.116 --> 0:12:29.036 of the silkscreen piece and the composition. Yeah, so he 0:12:29.116 --> 0:12:33.316 composed it, but he didn't have to physically manufacture. Yeah. Now, 0:12:33.316 --> 0:12:37.596 that idea of music being manufactured, this is inherent in 0:12:37.716 --> 0:12:40.916 the whole, our whole what pop music is to us 0:12:41.556 --> 0:12:45.356 and how it was created. It happened hand in hand 0:12:45.436 --> 0:12:48.916 with the manufacturing of records and hand in hand with 0:12:48.956 --> 0:12:51.956 the selling of sheep music as a product. Like like 0:12:52.036 --> 0:12:57.116 pop music, it changes styles, but it doesn't change its 0:12:57.156 --> 0:13:01.436 basic form. It comes from these things what existed before that. 0:13:01.956 --> 0:13:05.756 I don't think has any real direct relationship to pop music. 0:13:05.756 --> 0:13:08.836 The folk music and stuff like that. Even folk music 0:13:08.876 --> 0:13:11.556 that we think of as like folk music from the 0:13:11.596 --> 0:13:15.076 sixties on pop folk, yeah, is really all derivative of 0:13:15.076 --> 0:13:19.756 old folk music and sort of like appropriated from the past, yeah, 0:13:20.116 --> 0:13:23.876 but presented new to us now we look back at 0:13:23.916 --> 0:13:26.636 sixties is like that was the folk revolution, but it 0:13:26.716 --> 0:13:30.556 really was the folk revival, Yeah, into the recorded medium, 0:13:30.596 --> 0:13:34.956 which was a completely different thing. But Yeah, I've always 0:13:34.956 --> 0:13:37.716 been real conscious every time we've made a record. I've 0:13:37.756 --> 0:13:41.756 always been as we're moving towards making the record, my 0:13:41.796 --> 0:13:44.236 mind is thinking what am I going to play along with, 0:13:44.276 --> 0:13:45.996 which means what am I going to listen to? Because 0:13:46.316 --> 0:13:50.996 I sit around playing along with CDs the way a 0:13:51.036 --> 0:13:53.636 lot of people might sit around reading the newspaper or something. 0:13:53.636 --> 0:13:56.796 It's just it. That's how I relax, And I'm just 0:13:56.876 --> 0:14:00.516 well aware that the final thing is going to carry 0:14:00.556 --> 0:14:03.276 aspects of those things in it. But the fun thing 0:14:03.396 --> 0:14:07.196 is not knowing what but seeing how where where my 0:14:07.236 --> 0:14:11.116 imagination is leading me. It is what things am I 0:14:11.156 --> 0:14:14.236 excited about, what things are giving me intense feelings, and 0:14:15.116 --> 0:14:19.396 also making sure that there's some kind of variety where 0:14:20.196 --> 0:14:22.676 the things have a contrast with each other. It's like, well, 0:14:22.716 --> 0:14:24.516 how am I going to put those things together? But 0:14:24.556 --> 0:14:27.236 it's got to be things that I picked that I'm 0:14:27.276 --> 0:14:29.756 excited about it. I wouldn't be able to do it, 0:14:29.836 --> 0:14:32.676 but it was somebody else's idea on assignment, You couldn't 0:14:32.676 --> 0:14:35.476 do it. That's it's more just like it's what you 0:14:35.556 --> 0:14:37.956 happen to be into. And I know, for anything, if 0:14:37.956 --> 0:14:40.676 you're going to do a deep dive into anything, I 0:14:40.676 --> 0:14:42.636 don't know how it's possible to do unless you're really 0:14:42.676 --> 0:14:45.716 into it. It's not possible. Yeah. Could you imagine listening 0:14:45.756 --> 0:14:48.076 all day to music that you didn't choose to listen 0:14:50.156 --> 0:14:54.596 it'd be crazy making Yeah. Yeah. Actually, when we started 0:14:54.636 --> 0:14:56.916 making the new stuff, I sent everybody a ton of 0:14:57.156 --> 0:15:00.676 music and dropbox, you know, and like, I don't think 0:15:00.716 --> 0:15:05.276 anybody listened to anything. Like everybody's got their own ideas 0:15:05.356 --> 0:15:08.556 about about what they need to hear to get them 0:15:08.556 --> 0:15:13.116 through a career. Yeah, and that's great too, because in 0:15:13.156 --> 0:15:17.116 a way. What makes a band great is not everyone 0:15:17.196 --> 0:15:19.316 being on the same page. It's being able to come 0:15:19.356 --> 0:15:23.396 together on a page. Yeah, but with everyone bringing different, 0:15:23.436 --> 0:15:27.236 you know, aspects of themselves and what's exciting to them, 0:15:28.276 --> 0:15:32.356 yield something more interesting than what a solo project would be. Yeah. 0:15:32.476 --> 0:15:37.436 Just those combined energies, you know, amplifying something bigger. Yeah. No, 0:15:37.596 --> 0:15:39.876 that's the thing. It's like, It's like I know that 0:15:39.956 --> 0:15:43.596 no matter what that combination of things that I'm listening 0:15:43.636 --> 0:15:47.556 to is, I can't predict what aspects of it are 0:15:47.596 --> 0:15:50.196 going to be a parent by the time everybody else 0:15:50.236 --> 0:15:53.676 has done their contributed their part to it. Do you 0:15:53.716 --> 0:15:57.996 ever play along to non guitar based music? Yeah? And 0:15:58.036 --> 0:16:00.676 what does that look like? How does it work? You mean? Example? 0:16:00.756 --> 0:16:03.116 And what would you play? Lots of things. I've had 0:16:03.156 --> 0:16:07.356 periods where I'm like figuring out the harmonies to Beethoven 0:16:07.436 --> 0:16:11.276 and Wagner and things like that, where if I'm listening 0:16:11.276 --> 0:16:13.316 to it and I have a and I can see 0:16:13.356 --> 0:16:15.756 in my head how I would how I could approach 0:16:15.796 --> 0:16:17.556 some of the harmonies in it and get some kind 0:16:17.556 --> 0:16:19.756 of conception of it. I do that, but more often 0:16:20.396 --> 0:16:22.516 I guess, since I was a kid, I used to 0:16:22.516 --> 0:16:25.916 figure out like the heads of jazz tunes and stuff 0:16:25.916 --> 0:16:29.596 like that. But in my adult life, like in the 0:16:29.676 --> 0:16:32.116 Chili Peppers, I think the thing I've probably done the 0:16:32.156 --> 0:16:36.236 most is play along with synthesizers. Whether it's like I 0:16:36.276 --> 0:16:38.916 know how to play all the synth parts on all 0:16:38.956 --> 0:16:42.316 the Depeche Mode records from like from their first album 0:16:42.396 --> 0:16:44.996 up through like ninety four, Like I know every little 0:16:45.036 --> 0:16:46.996 melody that comes in, I know how to play it, 0:16:47.036 --> 0:16:48.636 so I can just play along with the same song 0:16:48.756 --> 0:16:50.916 like four or five times, and every time play it 0:16:50.956 --> 0:16:54.796 differently because I'm playing with different group of parts. And 0:16:55.356 --> 0:16:57.556 so yeah, Like there's lots of synthpop that I play 0:16:57.556 --> 0:17:00.636 along with the synth parts too. There's lots of electronic 0:17:00.716 --> 0:17:04.356 music and rave music that I play along with the samples, 0:17:04.476 --> 0:17:07.196 or I play along with the synth part or the bassline. 0:17:07.556 --> 0:17:10.116 So I've done a lot of that. I've also done 0:17:10.116 --> 0:17:13.316 a lot of playing along with hip hop. When we 0:17:13.316 --> 0:17:16.676 were making Stadium Arcadium, because it was so simple, I 0:17:16.716 --> 0:17:19.356 would I would play it on bass because there was 0:17:19.356 --> 0:17:21.436 a lot of bass, Like bass was there and the 0:17:21.476 --> 0:17:24.076 stuff I was listening to more than other more than 0:17:24.276 --> 0:17:26.876 melodies were. And when I play bass along with it, 0:17:26.876 --> 0:17:28.676 I'd just play with my pinky because I was trying 0:17:28.676 --> 0:17:30.676 to strengthen up my pinkie, so I'd do the whole 0:17:30.676 --> 0:17:34.316 thing with just the one finger, with the weakest finger. 0:17:35.156 --> 0:17:37.396 And then there's certain things that I just make a 0:17:37.436 --> 0:17:40.116 conscious effort. Okay, I'm not going to play along with that. 0:17:40.316 --> 0:17:43.516 I can usually see in my head how you would 0:17:43.556 --> 0:17:47.196 play along with it. But it's nice to have a 0:17:47.236 --> 0:17:49.556 couple of things you just never play along with, ye 0:17:50.236 --> 0:17:52.396 Like I used to really like Rim at the time 0:17:52.436 --> 0:17:55.316 that we did Californication, but I had a rule for myself. 0:17:55.356 --> 0:17:58.276 I just never played along with them. And at the time, 0:17:58.396 --> 0:18:02.036 by the way, I really liked the band Hannary Rocks 0:18:02.116 --> 0:18:04.556 a lot. I was listening to them a lot, but 0:18:04.636 --> 0:18:08.036 I never played along with them, Like I just didn't 0:18:08.076 --> 0:18:12.196 want to do it. Hannah Rox was an interesting out 0:18:12.196 --> 0:18:16.076 of time band. Yeah yeah, because they're just they're more 0:18:16.116 --> 0:18:19.036 like a post glam thing. They're they're not really like 0:18:19.036 --> 0:18:22.836 a too late to be glam yeah and too early 0:18:22.916 --> 0:18:26.596 to be a hair metal yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I 0:18:26.796 --> 0:18:29.676 always thought I like them since I was a teenager. 0:18:29.716 --> 0:18:32.716 There was just like there's something really fun about their music. 0:18:32.796 --> 0:18:35.836 To me, I like the bands that don't fit anywhere there. 0:18:36.196 --> 0:18:41.116 There's always something interesting when either a band it's part 0:18:41.156 --> 0:18:42.876 of a scene that they don't really belong in, Like 0:18:42.956 --> 0:18:45.556 Joe Jackson would be an example. It's not obvious that 0:18:46.076 --> 0:18:49.316 he belonged in that scene, even though he was popular 0:18:49.356 --> 0:18:53.956 in that scene, or where there is no scene associated. 0:18:54.556 --> 0:18:56.716 We're just sort of a fringy thing, like I think 0:18:56.716 --> 0:19:00.236 of them, or albums that don't sound like other albums 0:19:00.276 --> 0:19:03.476 that The Love Forever Changes album It's one of my 0:19:03.476 --> 0:19:05.796 favorite albums, and I don't know any other albums particularly 0:19:05.836 --> 0:19:08.716 like that. It's so nothing sounds, it's so good, and 0:19:08.756 --> 0:19:11.076 it's one of a kind, like how come there's not 0:19:12.236 --> 0:19:16.036 fifty more like that in the wake of that. Yeah, 0:19:16.036 --> 0:19:21.476 it's just a singular thing. Yeah, there's a lot. Jungle 0:19:21.636 --> 0:19:25.516 is probably my favorite kind of music, and I collect 0:19:25.556 --> 0:19:29.436 it and the stuff from like ninety two to ninety six, 0:19:29.476 --> 0:19:35.316 and every so often there's a song there's musical style 0:19:35.396 --> 0:19:37.836 of it. It's there's not one other song that's like 0:19:37.916 --> 0:19:40.636 that one song. You find these weird. A lot of 0:19:40.756 --> 0:19:43.436 it's similar to each other in certain ways, and then 0:19:44.236 --> 0:19:49.436 there's certain songs that somebody could have nab that and 0:19:49.636 --> 0:19:51.836 it could have become a trend, but it just never did, 0:19:51.956 --> 0:19:54.236 and so it just it just winds up being this 0:19:54.556 --> 0:19:59.116 one obscure song that doesn't sound like anything else. That's 0:19:59.116 --> 0:20:03.276 also when you're into something, you notice those differences more. 0:20:03.316 --> 0:20:07.516 You know, to somebody else that forever changes might just 0:20:07.636 --> 0:20:11.556 sound same. Is like a folk rock many other folk 0:20:11.636 --> 0:20:15.396 rock album. You know, like when you really like something, 0:20:15.636 --> 0:20:19.356 I feel like you wind up zoning into the details 0:20:19.596 --> 0:20:22.636 of it that make one thing this similar. Do you 0:20:22.716 --> 0:20:26.836 decide on a new for you old genre music to 0:20:26.996 --> 0:20:30.036 dive into deeply? At times? Does that come up where 0:20:30.076 --> 0:20:33.556 like I'm going to really research a particular style of 0:20:33.636 --> 0:20:37.556 music only if I'm excited about it. Yeah? Yeah, Do 0:20:37.596 --> 0:20:41.756 you remember the last one? The last one and the 0:20:41.796 --> 0:20:44.116 only thing that's popping into my head is ghetto house 0:20:44.316 --> 0:20:49.276 from Chicago? Like it developed into a style called juke 0:20:49.396 --> 0:20:51.516 and then a style called footwork. And I was really 0:20:51.516 --> 0:20:55.316 into footwork when I first heard that, but I wasn't 0:20:55.316 --> 0:20:58.356 aware of the ghetto house that it had come from, 0:20:58.396 --> 0:21:01.156 that the people who made footwork had been listening to 0:21:02.116 --> 0:21:04.476 when they were growing up, you know. But I mean 0:21:04.516 --> 0:21:06.796 I got into it like ten I don't know, seven 0:21:06.876 --> 0:21:09.316 years ago or something like that. Is it a blend 0:21:09.356 --> 0:21:14.076 of rap and house not rap because it's it's repetitive 0:21:14.316 --> 0:21:18.276 and the lyrics are generally kind of funny, dirty sex lyrics. 0:21:18.316 --> 0:21:22.916 But one sample of something repeated, so it's spoken. It's 0:21:22.956 --> 0:21:26.556 not really rapping, but it's it's because there's no flow. Really, 0:21:26.596 --> 0:21:30.276 it's just a sentence or a phrase that keeps getting 0:21:30.316 --> 0:21:33.516 repeated over and over and over. It comes from Chicago 0:21:33.556 --> 0:21:37.116 house music, so you have like Chicago acid and then 0:21:37.156 --> 0:21:40.276 you have this label dance Mania that there was a 0:21:40.356 --> 0:21:44.636 Chicago label that kept developing as the music was developing 0:21:44.676 --> 0:21:46.476 at the time, and ghetto house was one of the 0:21:46.476 --> 0:21:51.516 things that developed into And there's nothing fancy about it. 0:21:51.516 --> 0:21:54.796 It's it's like a real simple version of funk. It's 0:21:54.796 --> 0:21:58.996 like an electronic it's real. It's a really strange kind 0:21:58.996 --> 0:22:02.516 of electronic funk that's very minimal. It'll usually be like, 0:22:03.396 --> 0:22:07.516 you know, a baseline, a simple drum part, maybe one 0:22:07.556 --> 0:22:10.276 simple sent melody, one sam bowl. They get a lot 0:22:10.276 --> 0:22:13.476 of mileage out of very little. And I'm so in 0:22:13.796 --> 0:22:17.156 with my electronic music. I'm so into being fancy that 0:22:17.396 --> 0:22:22.076 I really enjoy listening to people who can who can 0:22:22.116 --> 0:22:26.396 say so much, so simply and with so little effects, 0:22:26.476 --> 0:22:31.636