The Red Hot Chilli Peppers have been extremely busy over the past two years. Or how can it be explained that in 2022 two of their albums will be released? The current release is called “Return of the Dream Canteen”, released last Friday (October 14th).
In an interview with the instrument magazine “Guitar World”, the busy guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, reveals some of the influences on the playing techniques on the new record.
He reveals that such disparate names as Genesis, Eddie Van Halen and Kurt Cobain have played their part in the record’s sound cosmos.
The first reviews speak of “a delicious musical banquet”, according to the magazine “Classic Rock”. It’s richer than its predecessor, Unlimited Love. And that’s mainly due to Frusciante’s always imaginative play.
Unsurprisingly, Frusciante mentions Eddie Van Halen. After all, the current single is called “Eddie”. The band pays homage to the late great guitar hero.
“I love guitarists like Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen for the way they could explode the instrument with hand and whammy bar techniques,” Frusciante tells Guitar World.
“But I also appreciate how [Black Flag’s] Greg Ginn or Kurt Cobain played without it being that technical – although there are all sorts of unconventional techniques – but the focus is definitely more on the feel!”
“My concept at the beginning of the studio recording was to build a bridge between these two notions of how to play the instrument. The idea of exploding it with the electricity of human energy coming through the strings.”
Frusciante also reveals that Genesis influenced the album’s third track, “Handful,” comparing keyboardist Tony Banks to the Beatles.
“I love the band Genesis, both their prog and pop stuff,” he says. “And their keyboardist, Tony Banks, to me, is on par with the Beatles when it comes to inventing imaginative chord progressions, everywhere. He really is one of the most masterful chord makers we’ve ever had.”
“He makes these chord progressions that are so fluid they sound more like a melody than a chord progression. In the time that I wasn’t in the band, I definitely picked up that kind of progression.”