JOHN FRUSCIANTE
In a year filled with guitar news, perhaps nothing matched the impact of John Frusciante’s long-awaited return to Red Hot Chili Peppers and their release of two albums: Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen. Unlimited Love became their first Number 1 album since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium and took the band on their first U.S. stadium tour.
After 16 years away, Frusciante was ready to return, for personal and professional reasons. He told Total Guitar, “I really wanted that challenge of trying to work in a democratic band with people that I respect and people that I have a chemistry with.
“I felt that to move forward as a soul and as a human being, I had to accept that challenge. I felt that it would be good for me to try to work harmoniously with them, and not have my ego be the thing that was driving me forward, but to have love and respect for them. That was the thing: to try to be a part of a whole.”
Equally inspiring, he said, is the opportunity to bring old and new material to life in front of fans. “It really does feel good to play the old songs again,” he told TG. “There’s been a magic feeling for all of us going back to that material. And, you know, I like improvising on stage. So I look forward to the jamming parts of it, and making up new solos every night.
“[There’s] that reciprocal thing that happens with an audience, where their energy and the pressure of playing in front of them and not being able to rewind the tape and go backwards, it brings something out of you as a musician that there’s no way to recreate as a guitar player sitting in a studio, recording your music by yourself, as I have in the past.
“I look forward to playing under that pressure, and letting go, and letting whatever spirits are with us that night come through me, and trying to match that feeling that gets generated between the band and an audience. You know, I haven’t really played in front of an audience in about 12 years. So it’s as
