John frusciante

John Anthony Frusciante (New York, March 5, 1970) is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is currently the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums in the periods 1988-1992, 1998-2009 and 2019-present. He also has a long active solo career, having released twelve albums and 5 solo EPs; His recordings include elements ranging from experimental rock and ambient, to New Wave and electronic music.

Frusciante joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988, replacing guitarist Hillel Slovak, who had just died of a drug overdose. His first appearance was on the 1989 album Mother's Milk, before recording the classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik , which became a hit. The sudden fame and the constant tours made Frusciante leave the group in 1992, and seclude themselves in his house to become addicted to heroin and record a series of solo albums. In 1998, the guitarist successfully completed a rehabilitation process that allowed him to return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers the same year and record with them the albums Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006). He remained a stable member of the group until 2009, the year in which he decided to leave it again to focus on his solo career. A decade later, in December 2019, his return to the group was announced after the departure of Josh Klinghoffer, who had replaced him after his second departure from the band.

After his return, the band released two albums with him in 2022: Unlimited Love in April and Return of the Dream Canteen in October.

He was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine as number 72 on the List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and according to the survey &# 34;The Ax Factor" produced by the BBC in England he has been named the best guitarist of the last 30 years.

Biography

Early Years

John Anthony Frusciante was born in Queens on March 5, 1970. His father, John Frusciante Sr., was a pianist and judge, and his mother, Gail Frusciante, was a vocalist who gave up her musical career to become a housewife. home. Frusciante is of Italian ancestry on his paternal side; His great-grandfather, Generoso Frusciante, was originally from Benevento.The Frusciante family moved to Tucson, Arizona, and later to Florida, where his father is currently a judge. When his parents separated, Frusciante and his mother moved to Santa Monica, Calif. A year later, they moved again, this time to Mar Vista in suburban Los Angeles with John's stepfather. According to him, his mother's new boyfriend "supported" him, and "made him feel good". Already in his adolescence, Frusciante came into contact with the Los Angeles youth immersed in punk rock. At the age of nine, he began to listen to The Germs, and at "ten" he already knew how to play on his guitar almost all the songs on the album (GI) , and he began to receive guitar lessons. At the age of eleven he discovered guitarists such as Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, and soon after heard Frank Zappa for the first time. During his adolescence he would play his songs for up to ten hours a day. At the age of sixteen, Frusciante quit the institute to dedicate himself to music, and moved to downtown Los Angeles (California) to improve his musical techniques.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (88-92)

When Frusciante was fifteen years old, he first saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert, and became a fan of their career, so much so that he learned the bass and guitar parts on the first three albums by the band. By frequenting the band's concerts, Frusciante became friends with guitarist Hillel Slovak, with whom he spoke after the guitarist's last concert: «Hillel asked me, -Would you still like Chilis if they became popular enough to play in concerts? the LA Forum?- I said, -No. It would ruin everything. That's the great thing about the band, that the audience doesn't feel any different from them at all. There was really this vibe to their shows, none of the frustration that runs through the audience when everyone is jumping and everyone else can't. get up from the site I didn't even watch the concerts. I felt part of the band, and I think the rest of the audience did too."

Frusciante befriended former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro, in 1988. They improvised several times together, and Peligro invited his friend Flea (bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) to improvise with them. Frusciante and Flea connected in such a way that Flea later said that it was the first time he ever played the bass riff from the song "Nobody Weird Like Me" (present on the album Mother's Milk, at that time not yet written). drugs of any kind. In an interview, Frusciante said, "I realized that I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs and be with girls, and I wouldn't be able to do that in Zappa's band."

In 1988, Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons left the band, unable to come to terms with his friend's death. bassist Flea and vocalist Anthony Kiedis, decided to continue their career and hired D.H. Danger as drums and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight as guitarist, formerly of Parliament Funkadelic. However, McKnight was not quite convinced by the Flea-Kiedis duo, and they decided to find a replacement. Flea thought of that improvisation with John Frusciante, and they quickly decided to subject him to a auditioning and later accepting him into the band as a perfect replacement for McKnight, since, according to Kiedis and Flea, John played and moved like Hillel Slovak on stage. Frusciante, who was about to join the band punk band Thelonius Monster, accepted without hesitation.

Shortly after Frusciante's arrival in the group, D.H. Peligro, who was beginning to abuse drugs to a great extent, was fired, and shortly after the arrival of Chad Smith to fill his gap caused the Red Hot Chili Peppers to begin writing their next album, Mother' s Milk, in 1989. During the recording sessions, Frusciante wanted to emulate the late Slovak instead of focusing on his own style, something the record's producer, Michael Beinhorn, disagreed with, who wanted him to his guitar sounded in an unusual heavy metal tone. This led to several clashes between Frusciante and Beinhorn, although in the end the producer's point of view won out.

The band's next album was Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and the second with Frusciante in their ranks. The record's producer, Rick Rubin, felt that the recording work had to take place in an unusual location, so the band relocated to an old Hollywood mansion. During the recording sessions, Kiedis, Frusciante and Flea isolated themselves in the mansion and began smoking large amounts of marijuana, especially Flea and Frusciante. Around this time, Frusciante began a project with Flea and Stephen Perkins, drummer for Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros, called The Three Amoebas. Although they recorded between ten and fifteen hours of music, none of this was ever published.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik was a huge hit upon its release on September 24, 1991. The album reached number three on the Billboard 200 chart and sold more than seven million copies in UK alone. the United States. The unexpected success of the work made the Red Hot Chili Peppers superstars, and Frusciante began to feel uncomfortable with his new status. Shortly after the album was released, he began to dislike the band's widespread popularity. Kiedis wrote in his autobiography, titled Scar Tissue , that he and Frusciante would get into heated arguments after concerts. According to Kiedis: John was saying, “We're too popular. I don't need to be at this level of success. I'd only be proud to be playing this music in the clubs you guys were playing two years ago". Frusciante later said that the band's rise in popularity had been "too high, too far, too soon. Everything seemed to be happening at once and I couldn't cope with it.” He also began to believe that fate was taking him away from the band. When the Chili Peppers began their world tour, Frusciante became convinced that he couldn't do it during the tour, so he had to do it now.Frusciante once admitted that it had been a pleasure to live a hedonistic existence; however, “in my twenties I started to behave myself and look at music as an artistic form of expression instead of a way to pick up a bunch of girls. To balance myself, I had to be very modest, very anti-star of rock". In another interview, the guitarist expressed: "It was not a good time, we did not get along as people, it is not fun to be in a band with which you do not enjoy. I don't play for a living, I make music because I love making it and I get from being around people who don't love making music with me." Frusciante refused to go on stage at a performance at Club Quattro in Tokyo on May 7. in 1992, saying that he had left the band. In the end, his bandmates managed to convince him to play that concert, but the next day he left for California. When asked by the band's manager how he could explain his sudden departure to the fans, Frusciante replied: "Tell them I've gone crazy. ».

Drug addiction (92-97)

Frusciante developed a serious drug addiction during his four years as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Apart from his high doses of marijuana, the guitarist became addicted to heroin. He returned home to California and fell into a deep depression, feeling that he could no longer write or play music, and that his life was over. For a long period, he focused on painting and producing four songs. recorded during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions. In order to cope with his depression, he began using even more heroin, and his life was threatened by his addiction. According to Frusciante, his decision to take heroin to cure his depression was clear: "I was very sad, and I was very happy when took drugs; therefore, he had to take drugs all the time. I never felt guilty, I was always very proud to be an addict". The guitarist himself explained that his musical inspiration came from his talks with spirits in the form of voices, waves or astral bodies. In his own statements he said: "Oh, It's where my music comes from, from when I was part of outer space. My music is a representation of beings from other dimensions that appear in my body, speak to me and give me ideas."

Frusciante released his first solo album, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt, on March 8, 1994. Most of the songs on the album were recorded when he was tied up with heroin. at his Hollywood apartment. The album was partially recorded during the sessions for Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and was released through American Recordings.

An article in the Los Angeles New Times newspaper described Frusciante as a human wreckage and skin-covered skeleton, who, at the edge of his addiction, was close to death from a drug. blood infection. His arms were scarred from misinjecting cocaine and heroin, leaving permanent abscesses. He spent the next three years holed up in his Hollywood home, the walls of which were covered in graffiti., Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes, friends of his, went to his house and recorded the documentary Stuff, highlighting his scrawny state. In addition, his house was destroyed by a fire that burned down his entire collection of guitars and injured Frusciante after trying to salvage his guitars. His former bandmate Anthony Kiedis lent him enough money for Frusciante to buy another guitar, his famous 1962 Fender Stratocaster from Guitar Center.

In 1997, Frusciante's second album, Smile from the Streets You Hold, was released. This recording shows the delicate state of health of the guitarist, who coughs during part of the recording. The album served to raise money to pay for his addiction, although it was withdrawn from the market at his request in 1999. The guitarist declared in 2005 that he intended to re-release the album in the future.

Rehabilitation and return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1997-1998)

In late 1997, after more than five years of addiction, John Frusciante stopped using heroin radically, but was unable to break his addiction to cocaine and alcohol. In January 1998, after being Convinced by his friend Bob Forrest, lead singer of Thelonious Monster, Frusciante checked into a rehabilitation clinic in Pasadena called Las Encinas. After his admission, he was diagnosed with a potentially lethal oral infection, which could only be cured by replacing all of his teeth. for false teeth. He also received skin grafts on his arms full of pus from heroin injections, and a month later, Frusciante left Las Encinas to re-enter society.

After recovering from his serious state of health, Frusciante began a new life marked by spirituality and asceticism. After practicing yoga and vipassana, he discovered the effect of self-discipline on the body, and began a healthier and more harmonious life. Also, in order not to be distracted from his musical activity and continue with his spiritual life, he decided to abstain from sexual life: "I'm fine without her." However, Frusciante was immersed in a loving relationship with the singer Emily Kokal, whom he says has brought him out of his crises. All these changes led her to completely change his attitude towards drugs: “I don't need to take drugs. I feel so much better now because of the drive a person can have when doing something they really love. I don't even consider taking them, it's stupid. Between my dedication to trying to be a better musician and my healthy diet and yoga practice, I feel much better than I did a few years ago on drugs. Right now I am the happiest person in the world. Those things don't bother me at all, and I'm very proud of them, you don't know how proud I am. It's such a nice thing to be able to face life, face yourself, without hiding behind drugs; without having to fear anger towards the people who love you. There are people who are scared by losing something, but you don't lose anything for any other reason than if you abandon yourself."

Despite his experience as an addict, Frusciante does not see his drug use as a dark period in his life. He considers it a period of rebirth, during which he found himself and cleared his mind. In addition, in another interview, the guitarist said: «Sooner or later, narcotics make you regress, they depress you. I don't need drugs because I have verified that what these substances give you, you can also achieve without them.” Since then, Frusciante stopped practicing yoga due to his back problems, but he decided to continue trying to meditate daily.

In early 1998, the Red Hot Chili Peppers fired their guitarist Dave Navarro and came close to disbanding. Flea told Anthony Kiedis that the only way to continue with the band was for John Frusciante to return to it. With the guitarist free of addictions and maladies, Kiedis and Flea thought the time was right to ask him back. When Flea arrived at the guitarist's house and asked him to return to the band, Frusciante said tearfully that nothing in the world would make him happier. With the Red Hot lineup complete, the band began work on their next effort, Californication, released in 1999. With Frusciante he returned as a key piece in the band's sound, as well as an injection of morale and a great impact on the composition of his works. Frusciante has said in several interviews that his favorite album is Californication.

During the Californication tour, the guitarist continued to write songs, most of which were released on the 2001 solo album To Record Only Water for Ten Days. a marked departure from its predecessors, by focusing on the avant-garde and with abundant interior monologues. However, the lyrics, like their previous works, are cryptic. The style also breaks away from the alternative rock of Californication, with influences from new wave music and electronic music. Instead of focusing his work on the guitar, he focused on synthesizers, a key piece on this recording.

In 2001, Frusciante began recording his fourth album with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, By the Way. This time is considered by himself to be one of the happiest of his life. He relished the opportunity the album gave him to "write better songs". While writing By the Way, Frusciante composed also most of the songs present in his next album, Shadows Collide with People, as well as the soundtrack of the film The Brown Bunny. Frusciante wanted to emulate in By the Way to Johnny Marr, Andy Partridge and John McGeoch. The album marked a change of mind for Frusciante, towards a more educated conception of a musical group. By the Way was released on July 9, 2002.

2004 and Stadium Arcadium recordings

Frusciante wrote a number of songs during and after the By the Way tour. In February 2004, he started a project with Joe Lally (of Fugazi) and Josh Klinghoffer called Ataxia. In two weeks, the group recorded approximately 90 minutes of music. After two days of studio recording, the band played two concerts at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, spending two more days in the studio before disbanding. Later, still in 2004, five songs by Frusciante appeared on the soundtrack of the film The Brown Bunny.

Shadows Collide with People, Frusciante's fourth solo album, was released on February 24, 2004. The album features guest appearances by friends of the guitarist, including Josh Klinghoffer, Omar Rodríguez-López, Flea and Chad Smith. In June 2004, Frusciante announced that he would release six albums in a six-month period: The Will to Death, Automatic Writing (under the name Ataxia), DC EP, Inside of Emptiness, A Sphere in the Heart of Silence and Curtains. With the Curtains edit, Frusciante made his first music video of 2004, for the song "The Past Recedes". Frusciante wanted to record these songs on cassette quickly and by avoiding modern studios and computer-aided recording.

In early 2005, the guitarist entered the studio to record his fifth album with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium, on which he dominates his guitar on most songs, performing Also the choirs. In the arrangements on the record, Frusciante used a wide range of sounds, ranging from those heard on Blood Sugar Sex Magik to those on By the Way. Several critics, including Frusciante himself, noted the influence of Jimi Hendrix in most of the album's solos, and he expanded the amount of effects on his guitar and used other instruments, such as the synthesizer and mellotron.

Frusciante began working with his friend Omar Rodríguez-López and his band The Mars Volta, contributing backing vocals and playing electronic instruments on the album De-Loused in the Comatorium. with the solos on the album Frances the Mute, and on his album Amputechture playing the guitar on seven of the eight songs on the album. For his part, Omar Rodríguez has worked in various solo works by Frusciante.

On May 29, 2007, Ataxia released their second and last studio album, AW II.

The Empyrean and second outing of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (2009)

As a follow-up to Curtains, Frusciante released The Empyrean on January 20, 2009. Furthermore, according to the artist's own statements, he will not be promoting this album in concert, since he wants to focus on his creativity instead of presenting his music to the people.

On April 9, according to the BBC's "The Ax Factor" he was voted best guitarist of the last 30 years.^{[citation needed ]}

On December 16, 2009, Frusciante, after a year of uncertainty and rumors on the subject, announced on his blog and on his myspace that he had withdrawn from the band a year ago due to the preference of dedicating himself deep into his solo career. The other members of the band accepted it since they believed that the best thing was for John to do what he thought was best for him.

Recordings between 2010 and 2012

On May 1, John Frusciante and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta released a charity album, titled Omar Rodríguez López & John Frusciante, which can be downloaded with a minimum donation of $3 to Keep Music In Schools. A month later, Frusciante collaborated new with Rodríguez-López in Sepulcros de miel, an album that like the previous one can be downloaded for free, from the same page, although it is encouraged to make a donation to Keep Music In Schools.^{[citation required]}

In 2012 there are two new John Frusciante records coming out. The first is an EP titled Letur-Lefr, and the second is an LP titled PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone. Letur-Lefr's tracks are from 2010 and PBX was made in 2011. In Frusciante's words: 'Letur is a compilation, a selected portion of the music I made that year, while PBX was conceived as a album, the songs have been recorded in succession'. He adds 'The records are very different from each other, so before the LP is released, I'm going to make available a free download of a song called Walls and Doors. This song pointed the way to PBX, but it was recorded 7 months earlier. I always took it for granted that Walls and Doors would be part of the record, but it turned out I was better off without it'.

Letur-Lefr was released in Japan on July 4, in North America on July 17, and in the rest of the world on July 16. You can order the EP and LP, which are available on vinyl, CD, cassette, and in 32-bit, FLAC, and digital MP3 formats.

Kimono Kult and Enclosure (2014)

This is not the first time Frusciante and Rodríguez-López have worked together. This partnership has been going on for more than a decade, with the collaboration of the then Chili Peppers guitarist on De-Loused in the Comatorium, the debut album by the Mars Volta, a band for which he would play again. in Amputechture (2004), The Bedlam in Goliath (2007) and Octahedron (2009).

In addition, Frusciante and Rodríguez-López also played together on the solo albums A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One (2004) and Sepulcros de Miel (2010). The most notable fruit of this partnership is Omar Rodríguez-López & John Frusciante (2010).

Now, these two notable instrumentalists and avant-garde musicians have signed another joint project. With the attractive name of Kimono Kult, this new experimental project begins, completed by vocalist Teri Gender Bender (who already worked with López in Bosnian Rainbows), guitarist and keyboardist Dante White-Aliano, bassist Nicole Turley (John's ex-wife) and the multi-instrumentalist Laena Gerónimo.

Hiding in the Light, the band's first EP, was released worldwide on March 4 via Neurotic Yell Records. On February 18, 2014, Frusciante released the first song recorded for his album, & # 34; Scratch & # 34;, written during the sessions for The Empyrean album, and available through the website of The Empyrean. him to download for free.

Enclosure is the eleventh solo album by John Frusciante and was released on April 8, 2014 by Record Collection.

Return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (2019-present)

On December 15, 2019, an official statement was made from the Red Hot Chili Peppers Instagram account, stating the departure of Josh Klinghoffer and the return of John Frusciante.

On February 8, 2020, he made his first live appearance with the band after almost 12 years. The show was during a tribute to film producer Andrew Burkle in Los Angeles, but Frusciante's reunion with the Chili Peppers was not full, since drummer Chad Smith, who was busy with his visual art exhibition, did not participate. Taking Chad's place was Stephen Perkins, from Jane's Addiction, a band that also played at the tribute, plus Frusciante joined the band to play 'Mountain Song'. The band had planned to start a tour with Frusciante in May of that year. But everything was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After spending most of 2021 writing and rehearsing, in 2022 the Chili Peppers released two studio albums for the first time in six months: Unlimited Love, released on April 1, and Return of the Dream Canteen, on October 14.

Personal life

In 2011, he married singer Nicole Turley. They divorced in 2015.

Musical style

Frusciante's musical style has evolved throughout his musical career. Although critics began to recognize his work as early as the early 1990s, it was not until the publication of Stadium Arcadium that critics and audiences began to praise his style on the six strings. Frusciante he attributes this to a change in approach, stating that on the album he had chosen an approach to rhythmic patterns inspired by the intricacy of the work of Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen. On earlier recordings, however, Frusciante focused more on the influenced by underground punk groups and new wave musicians. All of the guitars he has toured and recorded with were made before 1970. His most widely used instrument is a 1962 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst guitar which he has used in all Red Hot albums since his return in 1998, although he uses a different one as he thinks it fits better with the structure of the song he has to record. Frusciante's most prized instrument is a 1955 Gretsch White Falcon guitar, which he used twice per concert during the By the Way tour. He has since removed the White Falcon from his list, saying "there's no place for it."

Frusciante uses a variety of vocals on his solo albums, ranging from the shrieks of the records Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt and Smile from the Streets You Hold to more conventional styles present in the rest of the guitarist's recordings. With the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he uses a falsetto (countertenor) voice in the choruses of the songs, which he used for the first time in Blood Sugar Sex Magik. According to her statements, she enjoys her role as backing vocalist in the band, and believes that backing vocals are a real art form. Despite her work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frusciante believes that her solo work should remain separate from his work with the band. Inwardly, Frusciante acknowledges that his previous drug use increased his inspiration: "Yes, but it's not the only way to connect with this world, there are other ways, like meditation, yoga and body purification. Taking care of yourself, exercising, you can connect with beings from other dimensions, you have to keep your mind open and your body healthy. The pleasure I feel drinking herbs, cava and valerian, is better than the one I have ever felt taking drugs, which is like putting unnecessary chemistry into my body."

Technique

Frusciante's guitar technique is focused on emotion and melody rather than virtuosity. Although some elements of his virtuosity can be seen on some of his recordings, Frusciante himself has stated that he tries to keep them to a minimum. shine. He thinks that the way of playing the guitar has not evolved much since the '60s, especially since Jimmy Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin, retired, and considers that the best guitarists of that decade are unbeatable. During their teenage years, many mainstream guitarists chose to focus on speed. Because of this, he believes many punk and new wave guitarists have been overlooked, which is why Frusciante prefers to focus on his melodic abilities inspired by guitarists like Bow Wow Wow's Matthew Ashman and Joy's Bernard Sumner. Division. Frusciante believes that the style of these musicians has not been fully developed because they have been left out, which is why he prefers to start from that direction. However, he considers himself a fan of technical guitarists like Steve Vai or Randy Rhoads, but he tries to Repressing the desire to imitate them: “People think that by playing faster and creating new techniques you can progress further, but then they realize that emotionally they haven't progressed at all. They don't convey anything to the people who are listening and say they are where Hendrix was three decades ago. Something similar happened to Vai in the '80s." Believing that focusing only on light tones is negative, Frusciante developed his own style that he himself called "dirty." As a result, he believes it is good to "rough up" the guitar and try various forms of distortion in solos.He also says that he tries to break as many stylistic boundaries as he can, in order to expand his musical horizons. Frusciante claimed that many works by contemporary guitarists suffer from a lack of originality, and that many of his contemporaries play by the rules without taking chances.

Over the years, Frusciante has varied his way of writing albums. On his early recordings, he let imperfections creep into the record, however, on later albums like Shadows Collide with People he took the opposite stance: "He just wanted everything to be perfect. I didn't want anything out of place, or out of time, or anything unintended." Frusciante sees songwriting as a progressive development: "If a song wants to come to me, I'm always ready to receive it, but I don't work on it." Many solo songs were initially written on an acoustic guitar or unamplified electric guitar. Frusciante cultivates an atmosphere conducive to songwriting by constantly listening to the music of others and absorbing their creative influence. He also prefers to record his compositions on cassettes or any other primitive equipment, following the line of lo-fi artists, since he believes that the use of old recording material serves to speed up the recording process, and that new technologies applied to recording give only a illusion of efficiency. Frusciante tries to keep the recording process as short as possible, because he believes that music "comes alive when you create it fast". He also welcomes the challenge of recording something in a few takes, stating that when musicians are unable to handle the pressure of having to record something quickly, they sometimes become frustrated or drown in perfectionism.

He expressed "For me, the guitar never progressed since Jimmy Page played it".

Guitars

John Frusciante usually uses guitars in the same vein, mainly Fenders from before 1970. Almost all of his guitars were built before this year, as he believes that the sound achieved by the aged wood and the passage of time makes them excellent. The guitars he currently uses are not the same ones the RHCP started with, as they were destroyed in a fire.

His main instrument is an American '62 Sunburst Stratocaster, with rosewood fingerboard, which he plays in all his concerts.

The second most used guitar is similar but from 1955 and has a maple fingerboard, which is also frequently seen in his hands. The single Around the World contains the sound of this guitar.

After the fire that engulfed Frusciante's house, Anthony Kiedis lent his former partner money to buy another guitar. He got a fiesta red Fender Jaguar from the late 60's. John doesn't use it much live, but rather to play in private and warm up before gigs. In Woodstock ' 99 he played it on Around the World. He also used it in concert between 2003-2004 with his solo and live projects. This was the only guitar he had when he rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1998 until he was able to get hold of a Stratocaster, a gift from Anthony. On the Californication album, she can be heard on Around The World as already mentioned, on This Velvet Glove and the Scar Tissue solo.

For many years, Frusciante considered his 1955 Gretsch White Falcon his most prized possession. He found her in a thrift store by Vincent Gallo before 1999. He also appears in Dani California's video, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers play Elvis Presley and his band.

Frusciante's other Fender regulars include a Red Fiesta '62 Strat he got for By The Way, another Olympic '61 Strat, and a Sunburst 1963 Telecaster, which he always takes on tour as a second choice.

John owns many other guitars, such as a Martin 0-15 acoustic for acoustic tracks or a Gibson SG with a P90.

Influences

Before joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers, some bands that left their mark on Frusciante were Captain Beefheart, The Residents, The Velvet Underground, Neu! or Kraftwerk. In turn, Frusciante himself credits Greg Ginn, Pat Smear and Joe Strummer, among others, as influences in learning to play the guitar. In his teenage years, he began to pay attention to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, as well as other bands such as Public Image Ltd. and Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Another major influence on Frusciante is John McGeoch, for his albums recorded with Siouxsie And The Banshees and Magazine: "John McGeoch is the type of guitar player I want to be. He has a brilliant new idea for every song. I usually play the stuff he does on the Magazine and Siouxsie And The Banshees albums as Juju."

Frusciante also likes musicians like Leadbelly or Robert Johnson, who had a notable influence on the composition of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In Californication and By the Way, Frusciante drew on the technique of creating tonal textures through various patterns by post-punk guitarist Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column and bands like Fugazi and The Cure. However, during the recording of Stadium Arcadium Frusciante veered away from new wave and concentrated on emulating musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. On his first two solo albums, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt and Smile from the Streets You Hold, the influence of the solo compositions of ex-Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, who also went through a process of drug addiction and depression after of leaving his old band, and of whom he considers himself an admirer. With his recent solo work, Frusciante has quoted He has electronic music as his biggest influence, including Ekkehard Ehlers, Peter Rehberg and Christian Fennesz. His interests are constantly changing, since he believes that, without change, he would have no interest in playing: «I am always taking inspiration different kinds of music, and I go into each new project with a preconceived idea of what genres I'm going to mix." On April 9, he was chosen by the survey & # 34; The Ax Factor & # 34; as the best guitarist of the last 30 years.

Discography

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Solo

Ataxia

• Automatic Writing (2004)
• Automatic Writing II (2007)

Collaborations

• Kristen Vigard of Kristen Vigard (1988)
• Height Down of River Phoenix (1991)
• Anytime at All of Banyan (1999)
• Rev by Perry Farrell (1999)
• You Come and Go Like a Pop Song by The Bicycle Thief (1999)
• Fishbone and the Familyhood Nextperience Present: The Psychotic Friends Nutwerx Fishbone (2000)
• Blowback of Tricky (2001)
• American IV: The Man Comes Around of Johnny Cash (2002)
• Dragonfly Ziggy Marley (2003)
• De-Loused in the Comatorium of The Mars Volta (2003)
• We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to the Ramones (2003).
• The Brown Bunny OST of Vincent Gallo (2003)
• Unearthed of Johnny Cash (2003)
• Gallo+Gallo=Funny of Vincent Gallo (2004)
• A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One of Omar Rodríguez-López (2004)
• Frances the Mute of The Mars Volta (2005)
• Music for the Divine of Glenn Hughes (2006)
• Amputechture of The Mars Volta (2006)
• The Bedlam in Goliath of The Mars Volta (2007)
• Hourglass by Dave Gahan (2007)
• Octahedron of The Mars Volta (2009)
• Omar Rodríguez-López " John Frusciante of Omar Rodríguez-López (2010)
• Sepulchres de Miel of Omar Rodríguez-López (2010)
• Man Meat of Swahili Blonde (2010)
• Medieval Chamber de Black Knights (2014)
• The Almighty of Black Knights (2015)
• Paper Gods de Duran Duran (2015)

Complementary bibliography

• Scar TissueAnthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman (6 October 2004). ISBN 1-4013-0101-0.