John Frusciante, who released his solo LP Maya today (Oct. 23), discussed his current work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a new interview with Australian radio station Double J.
In the conversation, the guitarist said that the Chili Peppers stopped their rehearsals for several months when Covid-19 hit, “then we went back to rehearsing. We’re moving ahead with what we’re doing, writing new music.”
Frusciante called his musical relationship with drummer Chad Smith newly “interactive” and says that after rejoining the band last year, replacing Josh Klinghoffer, Frusciante felt it was like “just returning to family. I’m extremely comfortable with those people. It was as if no time had gone by at all when we started playing, pretty much, with a couple of minor exceptions, like how Chad and I gradually got our communication together in a new way,” Frusciante explained.
He also explained why he keeps his electronic solo work separate from the Chili Peppers.
“What I found exciting when I started playing with them… is to just see what I can do with a guitar,” he said. “It was that idea of just how many different worlds you can pull out of a Stratocaster.”
“But basically, we’re all just as comfortable with each other as we ever were, and it just felt like that right off the bat.
The interview also touched on his late cat Maya, musical influences and drugs.
“Being on drugs makes your development freeze. You can’t expand your horizons as a person when you’re on drugs, in my opinion,” he said. “A “different person” after he got on drugs, he spoke about a myriad of influential bands, including Fugazi, The Yardbirds, Bow Wow Wow, and Nine Inch Nails, that have shaped him as a musician and person.
