‘Inside of Emptiness’ by John Frusciante

  There are certain people in history that were meant for nothing else than what they did. For some it’s as if they were built and bred to become great. Socrates was born to question life. Edison was born to invent. Orson Wells was born to do… well whatever the fuck he wanted to do really. As for John Frusciante, he was born to be an artist. 

  Many of you know John from his work with the band, Red Hot Chili Peppers. After the death of the RHCP original guitarist, Hillel Slovak, died of an overdose. John eagerly joined the band after being a long time fan. Unfortunately, John left the band after two albums because he was not comfortable with their sudden success after ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ and started with a major drug problem of his own. During this time John started his solo career and made some very challenging albums. Luckily for John and everyone else on the planet, in 1998 he recovered from his serious addiction and returned to the Chili Peppers, who he played with until recently. Between June 2004 and February 2005, John released 6 albums all of very different styles and influences. This album, ‘Inside of Emptiness’ was one of them. 

  ’Inside of Emptiness’ is straight rock’n’roll all the way through. It’s a proper mix of fast and slow and each song has a very unique emotion to it. Weather John is screaming at the top of his lungs or whispering soft subtleties through your headphones, each note is felt. The album cover perfectly visualizes the feel of the album. The blue overtone gives you a sense of the deep thought and feeling of the album while the out of focus, shaky photograph gives you that very rough and raw sensation. With this album you see John a complete artist and not just a guitarist. While the guitars are amazing as always, the lyrics, composition and especially the way he sings, shows that his abilities go far beyond that of a guitarist and into a musician and artist. 

  In fact for me, John Frusciante is much more than all those things. Johns work, specifically ‘Otherside’ by RHCP, is what got me into music in the first place as well as literally saved my life. For that, John and the Chili Peppers will always be very special to me. I know you probably don’t want to hear more of my personal bullshit, but I feel it ties in. Back in 6th grade, my manic depression was very bad. Mainly because I didn’t know I had it yet, therefor I couldn’t take steps to prevent it from getting bad. Regardless, I felt in 6th grade (as I do from time to time still) like I had nothing to live for and was just wasting space. At this time in my life I had no real friends and wasn’t good at anything I knew of. Nothing interested me. I just felt out of place, unaccepted and ostracized. Within the school year I attempted suicide 3 times. On the third time, I was one cut down when ‘Otherside’ came on over the airwaves. I froze in place. I can’t explain what it was but I knew this music was for me. After the song was over I turned off the radio, cleaned up and walked to the library to check out any CD labeled rock. Without that track, I’d be dead. 

  Needless to say I’ve never been the same and it’s in part thanks to this guy. He will always be someone who makes my short list of heroes that I would love to meet and thank for all the incredible music they’ve made. It’s albums like ‘Inside of Emptiness’ that inspire kids to pick up a guitar and start bands. It’s like a rock’n’roll recruitment film for an army of musicians I’m proud to be a part of.

Song: ‘666’