You went a couple of years in the mid-’90s, while battling heroin addiction, without making any music, correct?
Around 1997, I had made a couple of attempts at recording music that failed miserably. I expected to be able to do music just because I was me and because I had written these songs. I had basically been writing in notebooks and looking at art books for five years. And then I just expected to be able to go in and play music like it was 1991. And that wasn’t in the cards. What I needed to do was take some time and play along with records for a good six months before I was capable of doing any kind of recording. It’s no coincidence the albums the Chili Peppers have made since you rejoined the band (1999’s Californication and 2002’s By The Way) have had a more accomplished melodic sense, compared to the more aggressive punk-funk sound of the earlier records. Yeah, but not just on Californication or By The Way. On (1991’s) Blood Sugar Sex Magik, you had “I Could Have Lied,” “Breaking The Girl,” “Under The Bridge,” all these things. It’s funny when people think I seem to be more of an influe
