John Frusciante to rejoin Red Hot Chili Peppers
While the Red Hot Chili Peppers are getting ready for a US tour that will also take them to Europe where they will play at several Summer festivals, the Californian band has announced through an Instagram post that the legendary guitarist John Frusciante joins the band again, being his second return to the band after two long absences, thus causing the departure of Josh Klinghoffer, RHCP guitarist for the past ten years.
Before Red Hot Chili Peppers were famous, Frusciante was not yet part of the band. By then he was intending to audition for Frank Zappa's band, although he changed his mind before the final try-out as Zappa strictly prohibited illegal drug use. Frusciante would say about that: "I realized that I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs and get girls, and that I wouldn't be able to do that if I was in Zappa's band." That was 1988.
Shortly after Slovak, RHCP guitarist died of a heroin overdose, and drummer Jack Irons, incapable of coping with Slovak's death, left the group. Remaining members Flea and vocalist Anthony Kiedis regrouped, determined to persevere and Flea proposed auditioning Frusciante, whose intimate knowledge of the Chili Peppers' repertoire had previously impressed him while jamming together in the past.
With Frusciante in the band they released Mother´s Milk (1989) and the masterpiece that made the band world famous (Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991), but also led him to a life of excesses where the wild consumption of marijuana, cocaine and heroin led him to a depression of which he would confess: "I was very sad, and I was always happy when I was on drugs; therefore, I should be on drugs all the time. I was never guilty, I was always really proud to be an addict." Frusciante openly admitted to being a "junkie", believing that drugs were the only way of "making sure you stay in touch with beauty instead of letting the ugliness of the world corrupt your soul."
Obviously John was forced to leave the band, and anyone who has watched the famous interview recorded in his living room that circulates on YouTube will agree that it is not only a miracle that he did not die back then, but also that he got over all his addictions.
Fully recovered and once again healthy, Frusciante began living a more spiritual, ascetic lifestyle. He changed his diet, becoming more health-conscious and eating mostly unprocessed food. Through regular practice of vipassana and yoga, he discovered the effect that self-discipline has on the body. All of these changes in his life led him to a complete change in his attitude toward drugs but despite his experience as an addict, Frusciante never viewed his drug use as a "dark period" in his life, considering it as a period of rebirth.
With Frusciante recovered and the RHCP in crisis that had just throw out of the band Dave Navarro (John's replacement), it was time for him to rejoin the band. Shortly after they released Californication (1999), one of their most acclaimed albums.
In 2009, after releasing the albums By The Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006), and this time due to very different reasons, he once again would leave the band that in 2019, for the joy of all his fans he has decided to rejoin. So if you want to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers with their complete formation, you can do it next summer since they have confirmed their presence at the Ejekt festival (Greece), Firenze Rocks (Italy), Pinkpop (Netherlands) and Felyn Stadium festival (France) festivals.
Cover photograph by Ben Gibbs
