In 1987, one yr earlier than he joined Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers, the then-17-year-old John Frusicante scored an audition to affix Frank Zappa‘s band. {The teenager} was an enormous Zappa fan, who may play each guitar solo on each Zappa album by the point he was 16, however when inside touching distance of scoring a gig with the legendary bandleader, he opted to stroll away.
In a 2004 interview with UK music journal MOJO, Frusciante defined why.
“I do not know if this can be a good factor to print however he was very grumpy,” the guitarist instructed music author Sylvie Simmons. “I watched the best way that he was coping with individuals, ignoring individuals. At that time I used to be doing cocaine – it was part of my life I actually favored – and I knew about his perspective to that. So I used to be sitting there pondering, do you wish to be a rock star and write your personal songs and draw all the ladies and issues like that, or do you wish to be not allowed to take medication, and it is type of a sq. band so there’s not going to be lots of ladies on the exhibits? And I believed, Nah, and I walked out.”
Frusciante got here from a musical household. His father, additionally named John, educated at New York’s prestigious Juilliard College, whereas his grandfather and great-grandfather performed fiddle and mandolin for diners in Italian eating places within the metropolis. From the age of 4, Frusciante instructed Simmons, he heard voices in his head telling him that he would develop into a musician, and upon discovering punk rock in Los Angeles as a 10-year-old, that dream appeared attainable to the teenager.
“Earlier than that I used to be into Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith,” the guitarist recalled. “I had deeply transferring experiences with that music, however nonetheless it was one thing that everyone else was into. However punk felt particularly aimed toward me. It was very actual swiftly and music was not simply this factor carried out by these gods.
“I might examine [Germs vocalist] Darby Crash leaping off Santa Monica pier on 10 hits of acid, and the pier was a spot I noticed on a regular basis, so I felt he may very well be someone I may know. And the music was easy sufficient for me to have the ability to think about enjoying.”
By his late teenagers, the punk-adjacent Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers have been Frusciante’s favorite hometown band. It was former Useless Kennedys’ drummer DH Peligro, briefly a member of the Chili Peppers, who launched Anthony Kiedis and Flea to Frusciante.
At this level, following the June 1988 loss of life of Hillel Slovak, the band have been jamming with Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist DeWayne ‘Blackbyrd’ McKnight, however upon seeing Frusciante audition for his good friend Bob Forrest’s band, Thelonious Monster, Flea determined that the younger guitarist can be the right match for his personal band.
“They requested me if I needed the job and I mentioned, Sure, greater than something on the earth,” Frusciante recalled to Simmons. “That night time they fired Blackbyrd and employed me.”
And the remainder, as they are saying, is historical past. Frusciante made his recording debut with the Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers on 1991’s Blood Sugar Intercourse Magik and helped propel the band to international superstardom. He has subsequently performed upon 5 additional studio albums by the band.
