Guitarist John Frusciante has discussed at length his reasons for leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in 2009.
In an insightful new interview with Billboard.com, Frusciante explained he felt stifled as a musician while in the band and wanted to expand his repertoire: “I had always wanted to do electronic music and I had only dabbled in it throughout the 10 years or whatever it was that I was in [Red Hot Chili Peppers] after rejoining [in 1998].”
He said it was actually RHCP bass player Flea who put the idea in his head during the band’s 2007 ‘Stadium Arcadium’ tour: “…it didn’t really occur to me to quit until Flea came to me at one point and said, ‘I want to take a two-year break after this tour.’”
Frusciante said that once the seed was planted, there was no turning back: “…my mind started thinking, ‘What would I do with that two years if I had two years to just do whatever I wanted?’ And by about four months later I was so excited about quitting the band I didn’t even want it to be a two-year thing anymore. I just knew that I didn’t ever want to be in the band again, you know?”
Around the time he left the band, Frusciante released a statement on his official website explaining his departure from the RHCP’s was amicable and that it was simply time for a change: “…throughout my time in the band, I was very excited about exploring the musical possibilities inherent in a rock band, and doing so with those people in particular. A couple of years ago, I began to feel that same excitement again, but this time it was about making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer.”
Frusciante will release a new solo EP, titled ‘Outsides’ on August 27.
The EP, which consists of three main tracks and a bonus track, will be released via Record Collection in digital, CD, cassette, and vinyl formats.
In a lengthy and very detailed statement, Frusciante described the pieces featured on the EP: “Outsides consists of a 10 minute guitar solo and 2 abstract ‘out’ pieces of music,” he began. “It’s a modern approach to the concepts of harmony found in some late 50s/early 60s free jazz and some 20th century classical.”
He explained that the two, “abstract ‘out’ pieces of music” were particularly classical in both sound and approach: “Both songs have my style of drums and guitar solos, but nevertheless I think of them as my version of modern classical music. They started as just orchestra, but I go wherever music takes me, and I use any instrument to express my feelings, just as I use aspects of any style. For instance, on Shelf, despite the unconventional tonality of the section, I was surprised to find that a blues guitar solo worked well.”
Click here for more details on ‘Outsides.’
Click here for the full interview with Frusciante.