Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers at the age of 18 after the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, and first appeared on their album Mother's Milk (1989). His second album with the band, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), was their breakthrough success. Overwhelmed by the band's newfound popularity, he quit in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a period of heroin addiction, during which he released his first solo recordings: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and Smile from the Streets You Hold (1997). In 1998, he completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Chili Peppers, taking them to major success with their albums Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006). He left the Red Hot Chili Peppers again in 2009 to focus on solo work, and rejoined in 2019.
Frusciante's solo work encompasses genres including experimental rock, ambient music and electronica. He released six albums in 2004, each exploring different genres and recording techniques. In 2009, Frusciante released The Empyrean, which features Chili Peppers bassist Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Frusciante also releases acid house under the alias Trickfinger. With Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, he has released two albums as Ataxia.
Frusciante was named one of the greatest guitarists by Rolling Stone and Gibson, and in a BBC poll. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012.
Frusciante's musical style has evolved over the course of his career. Although he received moderate recognition for his early guitar work, it was not until later in his career that music critics and guitarists alike began to fully recognize it: in October 2003, he was ranked eighteenth in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Frusciante attributes this recent recognition to his shift in focus, stating that he chose an approach based on rhythmic patterns inspired by the complexity of material Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen produced. On earlier records, however, much of his output was influenced by various underground punk and new wave musicians.
In general, his sound is also defined by an affinity for vintage guitars. All the guitars that he owns, records, and tours with were made before 1970. Frusciante uses the specific guitar that he finds appropriate for a certain song. All of the guitars he owned before quitting the band were destroyed when his house burned down in 1996. The first guitar he bought after rejoining the Chili Peppers was a 1962 red Fender Jaguar. His most-often used guitar, however, is a 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster that was given to him as a gift from Anthony Kiedis after Frusciante rejoined the Chili Peppers in 1998. He has played this guitar on every album since rejoining the Chili Peppers, and their ensuing tours. He also owns a 1955 Fender Stratocaster, his only Strat with a maple fretboard. Frusciante's most highly appraised instrument is a 1955 Gretsch White Falcon, which he used twice per show for the songs Californication and Otherside. Since 2006, he only uses it for the latter song, saying there was "no room for it", preferring multiple Stratocasters for the Stadium Arcadium tour. Virtually all of Frusciante's acoustic work is played with a 1950s Martin 0–15.
After leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he switched to using a Yamaha SG as his primary guitar for his solo work. "With the Yamaha SG, I could play along with guitar players who were playing, say, Les Pauls, and feel like the sound matched what I was hearing on the record. ... People like Robert Fripp, Mick Ronson, Tony Iommi, and particularly John McGeoch from Siouxsie and the Banshees, who played a Yamaha SG, which is why I bought one in the first place". Frusciante has also noted his increased use of the Roland MC-202 for his electronic music, saying that he was at the point "where I thought as much like a 202ist as I did a guitarist ..." The MC-202 has been his primary melodic instrument in his electronic music.
With the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frusciante provided backing vocals in a falsetto tenor, a style he started on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He thoroughly enjoyed his role in the Chili Peppers as backing vocalist, and said that backing vocals are a "real art form". Despite his commitment to the Chili Peppers, he felt that his work with the band should remain separate from his solo projects. When he returned to the Chili Peppers in 1998, Kiedis wanted the band to record "Living in Hell", a song Frusciante had written several years before. Frusciante refused, feeling that the creative freedom he needed for his solo projects would have conflicted with his role in the band.
Interior Two
John Frusciante Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We're coming out interior two
Why don't you come on over again
Things here will never be the same
We feed the light with shadows of pain
Why don't you come on back again
I hear our song in the wind
I see clouds laughing insane
We'll speak when all the lines are tapped
And endlessly come on back, will you come on back
I hear our song in the wind
I see clouds laughing again
Wherever did we find this night
I'll come back in another life
Why don't you come back over again
Won't you come back over
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
Come back
The lyrics of John Frusciante's song Interior 2 seem to be about the cyclical nature of life and how we fall into certain patterns and cycles that are difficult to break free from. The first line "We fall into the hands of doom" suggests that we are at the mercy of fate or some predetermined path. However, the refrain "Why don't you come on over again?" suggests that there is some agency and choice in this cycle, and that we can choose to repeat certain experiences.
The lyrics also touch on the idea of light and shadows, suggesting that there is a duality to our experiences and emotions. The lines "We feed the light with shadows of pain" suggest that our struggles and pain can actually contribute to a greater sense of clarity or enlightenment. The repetition of "Come back" at the end of the song also reinforces the cyclical nature of life and suggests a desire to revisit certain experiences or memories.
Overall, the lyrics of Interior 2 are open to interpretation and may mean different things to different listeners. However, the song's dreamy, melancholic sound and lyrics suggest a certain nostalgia for the past and a bittersweet acceptance of the cycles of life.
Line by Line Meaning
We fall into the hands of doom
We are powerless against our inevitable fate
We're coming out interior two
We are emerging from a dark place within ourselves
Why don't you come on over again
Please revisit me and the memories we share
Things here will never be the same
The passage of time and change have altered everything
We feed the light with shadows of pain
The happiness we experience is tinged with the knowledge of past suffering
Why don't you come on back again
Please return and bring back moments of happiness
I hear our song in the wind
Memories of our time together remain with me
I see clouds laughing insane
Nature continues to carry on despite our struggles
We fall into forever's lap
We cannot escape the passage of time and the inevitability of death
We'll speak when all the lines are tapped
We will have exhausted all avenues of communication and understanding
And endlessly come on back, will you come on back
Please return to me, even in memory or spirit
Wherever did we find this night
How did this moment of happiness come into our lives?
I'll come back in another life
Perhaps we will find each other in a future existence
Won't you come back over
Please return to me, even if only in thought
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Come back
Please come back
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOHN FRUSCIANTE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind