John Frusciante

At 54 years old, John Frusciante has this physical status:

John Anthony Frusciante (listen); born March 5, 1970) is an American singer, guitarist, and producer.

He has been the lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from 1988 to 2009, and now in December of 2019.

He has released five studio albums with them. Frusciante has had a fruitful solo career, releasing twelve solo albums and seven EPs; his collections include everything from experimental rock and ambient music to new wave and electronica.

Frusciante also released two acid house albums and one EP under his alias Trickfinger.

Josh Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, who appeared on stage with several other musicians, including the Mars Volta, for whom he performed two albums as Ataxia, as well as other live performers; and various collaborations with both Klinghoffer and Omar Rodrpez.

Duran Duran, Wu-Tang Clan, Swahili Blonde, Black Knights, The Bicycle Thief, Glenn Hughes, Glenn Hughes, Ziggy Marley, Johnny Carter, Johnny Marr, Dewa Budjana, and others have all performed and/or recorded with Duran Duran, Wu-Tang Clan, Swahili Blonde, The Bicycle Thief, Glenn Hughes, Glenn Hughes, Benn Hughes, He joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the age of eighteen, first appearing on the band's 1989 album, Mother's Milk.

Early life

Frusciante was born in Queens, New York City, on March 5, 1970. John Augustus Frusciante, a Juilliard-trained pianist who later served as a prosecutor and then a circuit court judge in Florida, is his father. Gail West (Hawthorn) was a promising singer who left her career to be a stay-at-home mother.

Frusciante's family migrated to Tucson, Arizona, and later Florida, where his father served as a Broward County judge until October 2010. His parents were divorced, and he and his mother moved to Santa Monica, California, where they met.

"Really helped me and made me feel good about being an artist," Frusciante and his mother moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles, with his new stepfather, who, he says, "really supported me and made me feel good about being an artist." He became involved in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. He became fixated on The Germs at the age of nine, listening to their album on repeats (GI). He would later perform songs from the album single-finger barre using a non-standard tuning of his own invention.

Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and Jimi Hendrix were among the first students to study guitars at 11. Frank Zappa, who would study for hours, was a student at the University of Florence. He dropped out of high school at the age of 16 with the permission of his parents and after passing a proficiency test. He went to Los Angeles to grow his musicianship with their help. He began taking classes at the Guitar Institute of Technology, but before that, he started punching in but not really attending and was dismissed shortly thereafter.

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Career

About 1984, Frusciante discovered the Red Hot Chili Peppers while his guitar instructor was auditioning as a guitarist for them. At the age of 15, Frusciante attended a Red Hot Chili Peppers show and quickly became a devoted fan. Hillel Slovak, a guitarist who was familiar with virtually all of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first three albums, adored him. He became acquainted with Slovak just months before his death: Slovak's death in Slovak.

In early 1988, Frusciante met with former Dead Kennedys drummer D. H. Peligro. They jammed together, and Peligro welcomed his friend, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, into the family. Frusciante and Flea formed musical chemistry straight away, with Flea later confirming that it might have been the day he first performed the bass riff to the album "Nobody Like Me." Frusciante had intended to audition for Frank Zappa's band but had to cancel as Zappa specifically prohibited illicit drug use. "I knew that I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs, and attract girls, but that I wouldn't be able to do so if I was in Zappa's band," Frusciante said.

In 1988, Slovak died of a heroin overdose. Jack Irons, the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer who was devastated, has left the band. Flea and vocalist Anthony Kiedis recruited Peligro on drums and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, a former Parliament-Funkadelic musician, on guitar. McKnight's music, on the other hand, struggled to connect musically within the group. Flea's auditioning Frusciante, who's keen knowledge of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' repertoire impressed him. Flea and Kiedis auditioned him and decided that he would be a good replacement for McKnight. When Flea called Frusciante to announce his acceptance, Frusciante screamed with delight and hopped on a wall, leaving permanent boot marks on his house. He was considering a job with Thelonious Monster at the time (and had been playing with the band for two weeks), but the Red Hot Chili Peppers' unanticipated unveiling caused him to reconsider his plans.

"I wasn't really a funk player before I joined the band," Frusciante said. I learned everything I needed to hear about Flea by watching Hillel's playing, and I didn't know it was going to leave it." Peligro, the band's new lineup, was kicked a few weeks after the band's success was marred due to heavy drug use, was dismissed. Chad Smith was hired as a drummer and the new lineup's first album, Mother's Milk (1989), was released shortly thereafter. Frusciante's focus was on emulating Slovak's style. Producer Michael Beinhorn disagreed with this strategy and wanted Frusciante to have an uncharacteristic heavy metal sound, which was largely absent from the band's previous recordings. Frusciante and Beinhorn sparred often over guitar tone and layering; Beinhorn triumphed, as Frusciante became compelled by his studio knowledge. "Beinhorn] wanted John to have a high, crunching, almost metal-sounding guitar tone, but before that, there were some interesting acid-rock guitar tones as well as a slew of slinky, sexy, funky guitar tones."

The Chili Peppers collaborated with producer Rick Rubin on their second album, Frusciante, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). Rubin felt that recording the album in an unorthodox setting was vital, and that a visit to an old Hollywood Hills mansion was recommended. For the duration of the recording, Frusciante, Kiedis, and Flea has been isolated. Frusciante and Flea rarely went outside and spent the majority of their time smoking marijuana. The Three Amoebas, Stephen Perkins, and Frusciante began a side project around this time. They gathered about ten to fifteen hours of data that went unnoticed.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik debuted on Billboard's top tennies and went on to sell 13 million copies around the world. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have become rock stars after unexpected success. Frusciante was blindsided by his newfound fame and he didn't know how to cope. He began to have a contempt for the band's fame right away after its release. After shows, He and Kiedis argued: "We're too popular." I don't have to be at this level of success. "I would just be proud to be playing this music in clubs as we did two years ago." The band's ascension to fame, according to Frusciante, was "too high, too late, and too soon." All seemed to be happening at once, and I just couldn't cope with it."

When Frusciante's destiny was pulling him away from the band, he began to feel that destiny was leading him away from the band. "You won't make it during the tour, so you must go now" as the Red Hot Chili Peppers began their world tour. Frusciante confessed to once being enthralled by hedonism; however, "I started doing it properly and looking at it as an artistic expression rather than a way of partying and screwing a bunch of girls." To balance it out, I had to be extra-humble, extra-anti-rock actor" to make it work. During a May 7, 1992 appearance at Club Quattro in Tokyo, he refused to appear, notifying his colleagues that he was leaving the group. He had been promised to perform but he was delayed for California the next morning. "It was just impossible for me to stay in the band any longer," he said. "It had to get to a point where, although they wanted me in the band, it seemed that I was forced out of the band." Not by any members or leadership in particular, but simply the way it was going." Ex Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro was recalled.

Cris Kirkwood said in a 2015 interview that Frusciante auditioned for the Meat Puppets after Frusciante's departure from the band in 1992. "He came out with his guitar and barefoot," Kirkwood said. We were on a big brand back then, we just got signed, and those guys were blown up to where they were parked, and John needed to get out. We're getting ready to play, and John says, 'You want to use my tuner.' 'No, I'll bend it in,' he said.' It was so far out. We jammed, but it didn't come to anything. Possibly he wasn't in the right place and we were a tight little unit. It wasn't quite happen, but it might have worked."

When touring with the Chili Peppers, Frusciante had developed serious drug use; he said that it made him "out of his mind" that Flea was "stoned out of his mind at every show; he was like a pothead." He used heroin and was on the verge of a full-blown addiction. Frusciante's life began in 1992, and he couldn't write or play the guitar anymore. He lived in his Hollywood Hills home for the next three years, the walls of which were badly damaged and covered in graffiti. Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes, along with his brother John Depp, went to his house and shot a short film Stuff depicting the squalor in which he was living. The house was eventually destroyed by a fire that also destroyed Frusciante's vintage guitar collection and several albums.

Frusciante concentrated on painting, recording 4-track recordings he had made while working on Blood Sugar Sex Magik and writing short stories and screenplays. Frusciante's heroin use has increased and spiraled into a life-threatening dependence as a result of his worsening depression. His use of heroin to treat his depression was a conscious decision: "I was extremely sad and I was never happy when I was on drugs; therefore, I should be on drugs all the time." I was never guilty; I was always proud to be a heroin addict."

Frusciante briefly performed with the band P in 1993, alongside Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes, actor Sal Jenco, and songwriter Bill Carter. The band appeared at the Viper Room often, including a performance with Flea on October 30, 1993. The band was performing "Michael Stipe" outside the venue's River Phoenix neighborhood when the sidewalk was having seizures, according to Gibby Haynes. Phoenix died in the early hours of October 31, after an overdose of cocaine and opium at the age of 23. River Phoenix and Frusciante spent the days leading up to Phoenix's death together on a heroin binge, consuming cocaine and opium without sleeping for days, according to Bob Forrest's book Running with Monsters.

In 1994, Frusciante's first solo album, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt, was released. Frusciante denied that it was recorded while on heroin and said that it was announced when he was a heroin addict. The album's initial purpose was a spiritual and emotional expression: "I wrote [the record] because I was in a really big city in my head: it was a huge, spiritual place showing me what to do." As long as I'm following those powers, it's always going to be meaningful. I could be playing guitar and I could say, 'Play something that sucks,' and if I'm in that situation, it's going to be awesome.' And it has nothing to do with me, except in ways that can't be comprehended." On Rick Rubin's label American Recordings, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt were sold. Warner Bros., the Red Hot Chili Peppers' brand, claimed to the album after it was terminated by a clause in Frusciante's band deal. However, Rubin was given the rights over to Rubin, who had released the album at the behest of Frusciante's friends, despite the fact that he was reclusive.

"A skeleton covered in thin skin" who weighed little more than forty kilograms at the beginning of his heroin use and almost died from a blood disease epidemic in 1996, according to a New Times LA article. His arms were extremely wounded by self-harming, improperly shooting heroin and cocaine, resulting in permanent absces. In 1997, Frusciante's second solo album, Smile from the Streets You Hold, became his second solo album. The album's first song, "Enter a Uh," is characterized by cryptic lyrics and hysterical screeches. Throughout the course, Frusciante coughed, showing his deteriorating health. Phoenix appears on "Height Down." Frusciante said he released the album to obtain "drug money" and retweep it from the market in 1999.

Frusciante went cold turkey in late 1996, after more than five years of heroin use. However, months later, he was still struggling with heroin and alcohol addictions. Frusciante, a long-time friend, was pushed into Las Encinas, a drug therapy clinic in Pasadena in January 1998. He was diagnosed with a potentially lethal oral disease that could only be alleviated by removing his decaying teeth and replacing them with dental implants. He also received skin grafts to help him heal the abscess on his swollen arms. Frusciante checked out of Las Encinas about a month later.

Frusciante began living a more virtual, ascetic lifestyle. He modified his diet, becoming more health conscious, and began eating mostly unprocessed foods. He discovered the effects of self-discipline on the body through regular exercise of vipassana and yoga. Frusciante decided to refrain from sexual involvement in order to maintain his increased spiritual awareness and minimize distraction from his music, saying, "I'm very well without it." Since he was first exposed to opioid use, his attitude towards opioid use changed, according to the author.

Despite his heroin use, Frusciante does not see his drug use as a "dark period" in his life. It's a time of rebirth for him and cleared his mind. Frusciante has since stopped practicing yoga due to the back pains it causes, but he still meditates daily.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers fired guitarist Dave Navarro and were on the verge of breaking up in early 1998. "If we had John back in the band, that's the only way I could imagine going forward." With Frusciante free of his drug and other ailments, Kiedis and Flea thought it was time to welcome him back. Frusciante began sobbing when Flea visited him at his house and begged him to rejoin the band, saying, "nothing will make me happier in the world." The band, Californication, debuted in 1999, and it was their seventh album, Californication. Frusciante's return to the band's fame resurfaced a key component of the band's sound, as well as a healthy morale. He carried his deep dedication to music, which influenced the band's recording style throughout the album. Frusciante has often stated that his work on Californication was his favorite.

Frusciante continued to produce new music throughout his Californication World Tour, much of which will be released in 2001 on his third solo album To Record Only Water for Ten Days. The album was stylistically unlike his previous albums, less focused on stream-of-consciousness or avant-garde. However, the lyrics were still cryptic, and its sound was notably cut down. To Record Only Water for Ten Days' songwriting and production were more effective and straightforward than on his previous recordings. The album deviated from the alternative rock he had just written about Californication with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, focusing more on electronic and new wave elements. Frusciante experimented with a variety of synthesizers, a distinctive feature of the album.

Frusciante's fourth album with Red Hot Chili Peppers was released in 2001, by the Way (2002); he said that the time was one of his life's best. He wished that the album had encouraged him to "keep writing better songs." He also wrote most of what would be Shadow Collide with People while on By the Way, as well as the songs for the film The Brown Bunny. He wanted to imitate guitar players such as Johnny Marr, John McGeoch, and Andy Partridge, who were mainly motivated by the desire to imitate guitar players on the album. He wanted to hear these musicians "who weren't just about technique but more about textures," or "people who used good chords" as he put it. The album represented Frusciante's shift to a more group-minded mentality within the Red Hot Chili Peppers, seeing the group as a unit rather than as four distinct entities.

During and after the By the Way tour, Frusciante wrote and recorded a slew of songs. He initiated Ataxia, a side project with Fugazi and Josh Klinghoffer in February 2004. The company was together for about two weeks, during which they gathered nearly ninety minutes of data. They appeared in two shows at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood and two days in the studio before disbanding. Frusciante's five songs appeared on The Brown Bunny soundtrack later this year.

On February 24, 2004, Frusciante's fourth full-length solo album Shadows Collide with People. This featured guest appearances from some of his colleagues, including Klinghoffer, and Smith and Flea. He revealed in June 2004 that he would be releasing six albums in less than six months: The Will to Death, Ataxia's Automatic Writing, Washington, D.C. EP, Inside of Emptiness, A Sphere in the Heart of Silence and Curtains. Frusciante's debut on Curtains was his first music video of 2004 for the track "The Past Recedes." He wanted to record these albums quickly and cheaply on analog tape, avoiding the use of modern studio and computer-assisted recording techniques. "These six numbers were recorded in a span of six months after coming home from touring with the Chili Peppers for one-and-a-half years," Frusciante said. I made a rundown of all the songs I had and estimated that they were worth about seventy. During the break, I had to record as many songs as I could. I was recording some of my best songs back in the midst of all of this, so some of these albums feature as many new songs as old ones. It was certainly the most fruitful time of my life."

Frusciante's fifth studio album, with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium, was released in early 2005. His guitar playing is strong throughout the album, and he provides backing vocals on most of the tracks. Despite generally following a "less is better" style of guitar playing, he began using a full twenty-four track mixer for maximum effect. He incorporates a wide variety of sounds and playing styles in his arrangements, which are similar to the funk-influenced Blood Sugar Sex Magik or the more melodic By the Way. He also changed his approach to playing, preferring to perform solos and allowing songs to appear from jam sessions. Frusciante explained how he approached his guitar solos for their album Stadium Arcadium in a different way from those for their previous albums. Frusciante had a rough idea how he liked his guitar solos to sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication. Nearly every guitar solo was completely improved by Frusciante on the spot for Stadium Arcadium. Several studies have stated that Hendrix's influence is evident in his solos on the album, with Frusciante himself supporting this. He also expanded the usage of guitar effects on the album and used various other musical devices, such as the synthesizer and mellotron. He was involved with Rubin over-dubbing guitar progress, shifting harmonies, and using all of his technical capabilities.

Frusciante started a new collaboration with friend Omar Rodrolf and his band, the Mars Volta, by playing guitar and electronic instruments on their album "Cicatriz ESP" off their album De-Loused in the Comatorium. On their 2005 album Frances the Mute, he appeared on guitar solos. Rodro-López appeared on seven of the eight tracks on The Mars Volta's "Amputechture" in 2006, as well as a giving a guest appearance on Stadium Arcadium.

In 2007, Ataxia's second and final studio album, AW II, was released. Following the Stadium Arcadium tour (early May 2006 to late August 2007, the Red Hot Chili Peppers announced a halt to indefinite duration. Anthony Kiedis finally revealed it in early 2008, blaming exhaustion from continuous work after Californication as the primary reason. Frusciante left the band on July 29, 2009, but did not announce his resignation until December 2009, two months after the band announced their hiatus in October 2009 and began work on their new album with Josh Klinghoffer as their new guitarist.

The Empyrean, Frusciante's tenth solo album, was released on January 20, 2009, by Record Collection. Between December 2006 and March 2008, the album, a concept album, was in production. The Empyan features a number of artists, including Frusciante's Chili Peppers drummer Josh Klinghoffer and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, as well as visiting artists including Sonus Quartet and New Dimension Singers. "I'm really happy with [the album] and I've listened to it a lot for the psychedelic thrill it provides," Frusciante said, meaning that the album is "to be played as loud as possible and is well suited to dark living rooms late at night."

Frusciante, who left the Red Hot Chili Peppers, concentrated on making electronic music. On his blog, he learned to program acid house instruments, but he wrote about it: "My talents at making rock music [weren't] playing no part in it." I had lost interest in traditional songwriting and was eager to discover new ways for creating music." Frusciante founded a multimedia trio with Aaron Funk and Chris McDonald, which was later known as Speed Dealer Moms. On Planet Mu Records, the first EP was released in December 2010.

Letur-Lefr, Frusciante's EP, was released on July 17, 2012. It was released by Record Collection Music as part of his previous solo debuts. It marked a drastic change from Frusciante's previous albums' guitar-driven sounds, with elements of abstract electronica, pop, and hip hop. Frusciante's ninth studio album, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone, was released on September 25, 2012. On April 7, 2013, Frusciante unveiled an instrumental named "Wayne" on his website. Wayne Forman, the former Red Hot Chili Peppers' tour chef, was written and dedicated to the memory of his late friend, former Red Hot Chili Peppers' tour chef Wayne Forman.

Outsiders, Frusciante's fifth EP, was released in August 2013. He produced and appeared on an album by the hip hop group Black Knights in this year. Medieval Chamber was first established on January 14, 2014. Frusciante performed in Kimono Kult, alongside his wife Nicole Turley, Omar Rodrpez, Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes, Bosnian Rainbows), string guitarist Laena Geronimo (Raw Geronimo), and guitarist Dante White (Dante Vs. Zombies, Starlite Desperation). Hiding in the Light was Turley's first EP and was released on her record label Neurotic Yell in March 2014. On January 16, SoundCloud's "Todo Menos El Dolor" album was released. Frusciante's tenth studio album, Enclosure, was released on April 8, 2014. Frusciante's debut came in April 2015 under the name Trickfinger. The album of the same name is Frusciante's first experimentation with the acid house style. In 2012, he first introduced Sect In Sgt under this alias.

Acid Test Records announced on February 15, 2016 that Frusciante will debut Foregrow, an EP of experimental music on April 16, 2016. The EP was released on June 16, 2016, included the title track, recorded for RZA's film The Man with the Iron Fists, as well as three instrumental tracks.

Frusciante's official Bandcamp and SoundCloud pages announced on November 24, 2015, that he would be releasing free unreleased songs dating from 2008 to 2013. He also denied the story about him resigning from the music industry, claiming that his words were taken out of context. The news was made on Frusciante's rarely updated website in a "Hello audience" letter, in which Frusciante's in-depth reaction to the site that, according to him, took his words out of context. "I also have to open something up," he says. I normally don't read my newspaper, but I did hear about this quote, which was taken out of context by some lame website and turned into a headline in which I said, "I have no followers." This has been misinterpreted, and not at fault of the fine journalist who interviewed me for the prestigious publication Electronic Beats. ... I have no doubt that I have a massive audience. I'm aware of them, and they know who they are." "I was reduced to a single sentence, but I would have said that I have no particular audience in mind when making music."

Frusciante, under the alias of Trickfinger, announced on June 13, 2017, on the label Acid Test, he would debut his second studio album Trickfinger II. The six songs, which were never intended to be released, were released in 2007.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers announced on December 15, 2019 that Frusciante had returned to action, replacing Klinghoffer. They had been on a new album with Klinghoffer, but had no progress; Frusciante said: "Flea had put the idea [of returning] in my head, and I was sitting outside with the guitar, thinking that I hadn't written any rock songs in so long."

Could I still do that?"

Frusciante reflected on his time with the band and said he had been too controlling; rather than creating my own visions the center of everything, he said, he should just let them be themselves." It seemed as if somehow any of us died leaving it the way it was intended." "It's absolutely John's place to be in that band," Klinghoffer said in an interview. I'm delighted that he's back with them." "Artistically, in terms of being able to use the same [musical] word, it was much simpler working with John," Flea said.

For the first time in 13 years, Frusciante performed with the Chili Peppers at the Tony Hawk Foundation on February 8, 2020, the son of billionaire Ronald Burkle, was the son of billionaire Ronald Burkle. After having concentrated on electronic music in his solo career for many years, Frusciante said he enjoyed playing guitar again. Unlimited Love, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' twelfth studio album and first with Frusciante in ten years, was released on April 1, 2022. The Red Hot Chili Peppers began their international stadium tour on June 4th.

Frusciante's debuts Look Down, See Us, and She Smiles Because She Presses the Button, as well as the instrumental electronic album Maya, appeared on Frusciante in 2020. He said he had become less interested in writing songs and writing songs, and that he loved "the back and forth with machines and the computer." To a 2021 tribute album to Gang of Four, Frusciante and Flea contributed a cover of "Not Great Men" by Frusciante and Flea. The Problem of Leisure: Andy Gill and Gang of Four.

On five of The Mars Volta's albums, as well as Rodrpez's solo albums Se Dice Bisonte, No Bfalo, and Calibration, Frusciante played guitar (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far). He also appeared as executive producer for Rodrópez's debut film, The Sentimental Engine Slayer. In February 2010, the film premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival. In May 2010, Frusciante and Rodrón López made two collaborative records, as well as filming on the film. The first album is Omar Rodriguez Lopez & John Frusciante, an album starring just the two of them, while the other, Sepulcros de Miel, features Rodrpez, Frusciante, Juan Alderete, and Marcel Rodrpez.

When asked about future collaborations with Frusciante, Omar Rodrpez answered, "Maybe," Omar Rodrpez said in a 2012 interview with Blame Magazine, but John is now in a different location right now. He's in a situation where he has no concern about putting stuff out or about something being a product. He's currently living by different means with a different outlook, so he doesn't want to be a part of something that won't end up being a product. A Mars Volta record does not necessarily lead to a sale.

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