In 1989, 19-year-old Red Hot Chili Peppers fan John Frusciante replaced Hillel Slovak, who tragically died of an overdose. Frusciante’s brilliant guitar gave the band the right drive and made them widely known when they released the album Mother’s Milk. Their 1991 release, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, is a classic that belongs in every record collection. Unfortunately, Frusciante fit too well in Slovak’s boots, not just musically, but by duplicating his heroin addiction before dropping out. Former Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro replaced him, but things didn’t work out. Frusciante is back, and the best guitarist they ever had claims to have cleaned up his act with the help of Flea. Californication gives us hope that the Chili Peppers are back for good . . . if they don’t kill themselves before releasing another great album! 
     InsideCx: In a way, John made and broke the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His guitar work influenced your sound and was partially the reason for your success, but when he dropped out, the spirit of the Peppers also seemed to dim a bit.
     Flea: It seemed like a good idea at the time. When Hillel died, I asked John to join us. We had a couple of jam sessions together, I knew he liked us and I knew he was a great guitarist. I still think that he was the missing link. Only with him we were able to create an album like Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
     Chad: But we should have seen it coming, you know. John was 18 or 19 at the time, he had no experience at what’s it like to play in a band, let alone a band like RHCP. I’m a huge Led Zeppelin fan, and I think I would have freaked as well if I had been asked to join them. It was pretty obvious that it couldn’t work out. We just didn’t see it at the time.      John: It was too high, too far, too soon. Everything happened, or seemed to be happening, at once and I just couldn’t cope with it.
    InsideCx: John, it seems strange. I read somewhere that before you joined the Chilies you hardly ever drank, didn’t even smoke pot because you spent 15 hours a day practicing guitar riffs and were afraid it would interfere with your routine. Then all of a sudden you were a junkie. That’s a major jump from one extreme to the next!
     John: I really don’t know how it all happened. There wasn’t a single incident I could put my finger on and say “This was it.” It was just hard for me to cope with it all. You’ve got to remember that I was an absolute RHCP fan, their music meant everything to me, and all of a sudden I was a part of them. They called me “Greenie” because I was the youngest, but that didn’t do it. I don’t know what did it. I probably tried to fit in, make experiences the others made in a long time in a short time.
     Flea: We were never a band that promoted a clean and healthy lifestyle. I had drug problems, Anthony was a junkie, we were all battling with our addictions. It is easy to get sucked into this lifestyle, and I guess that’s what happened to John. He was too young and inexperienced to deal with it. We were older and knew the game and had a hard time dealing with it. But drugs weren’t just a part of the band. We grew up in Hollywood and drugs were part of the whole rock culture; they just suck you in.
     InsideCx: It seems like a second chance for the Chilies
     John: It is a second chance for all of us. There is a weird chemistry between us. The way I play guitar, it only works when Flea is the bassist, and Flea can only write songs the way he does when Anthony sings. In a way we’re all co-dependent and we know it, but we also trust each other.
     Flea: It’s pretty simple. The old magic is back, everything is possible and that’s a great feeling! We've grown as people and musicians, so the music is different. It's a different time, but it’s still great, even better than it was!
     InsideCx: What is the secret of RHCP? The magic you claimed? Apart from the fact that you work so well together, how do you work?
     Flea: We’re jamming and that works really well. We don’t talk much about songs or how songs should be constructed. We just start to play and see what happens, how they develop! We improvise a lot, find a groove, experiment and somehow it turns into music. With Dave (Navarro) it wasn’t possible to work like this; with him it was more like a long thought process, endless discussions and it took a long time. We talked about what riff should be played and all that. With John, it’s completely different. We just play. I don’t mean to diss Dave in any way; he is a great person and he’s a great guitarist, but the way we work is just different. You never know why it happens with some people and not with others; it’s pointless. It’s like asking why you fall in love; there is no real reason, nothing that can be explained or that would make sense.
     Chad: We also found out that we work a lot better if we know what we want before we enter the studio. It took us only three weeks to record the album!
     InsideCx: How do you see the future of RHCP?
     Flea: It might sound funny, but I think we’ve got a very solid foundation, maybe the most solid foundation we ever had. Even Anthony seems to be far more relaxed and confident!
     John: Everything seems possible; it’s a great feeling!