Photo by Ben Gibbs
In a new interview with Vice, ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante discussed recently releasing albums recorded around the time he left the Red Hot Chili Peppers. When asked about his new album Foregrow (which was recorded in 2009) and his 2015 release with Trickfinger (recorded in 2007), he said they were recorded at a time that he didn’t intend to release the material.
“Yeah, not at all. They were specifically to learn. When a band goes into a studio to make a record, there’s a pressure around it and a consciousness of the fact that you’re doing it for a specific public. When you take that out of the equation, then you find yourself being more adventurous. That’s how it is a lot of the time for musicians before they ever become famous; that’s where the most growing takes place.”
He also said he’s enjoyed his freedom in his years since leaving the Chili Peppers, “The fact that I’ve had such good luck with the business people that have been with me throughout my career has freed me up to not have to think about the mundane aspects of life. At this point in my life, for the last 8 years or so, because of all the good hard work that I did and they did, I’m generally a person who gets to decide what he wants to spend his day doing every day.”
