On December 16, 2009 John Frusciante announced his departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
John Frusciante has been with the Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1990. After a widely reported addiction to heroin, Frusciante left in 1992 and was briefly replaced by Dave Navarro. Frusciante returned to the Peppers in 1998 and recorded “Californication,” “By The Way” and “Stadium Arcadium” with the band.
Aside from the RHCP, Frusciante has released a number of solo albums (my favorite being To Record Only Water for Ten Days, 2001) and put out his most recent album, The Empyrean, in January 2009.
The following is a reprint of Frusciante’s words taken from his MySpace blog:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
“When I quit the band, over a year ago, we were on an indefinite hiatus. There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding. They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways.
To put it simply, my musical interests have led me in a different direction. Upon rejoining, and throughout my time in the band, I was very excited about exploring the musical possibilities inherent in a rock band, and doing so with those people in particular. A couple of years ago, I began to feel that same excitement again, but this time it was about making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer.
I really love the band and what we did. I understand and value that my work with them means a lot to many people, but I have to follow my interests. For me, art has never been something done out of a sense of duty. It is something I do because it is really fun, exciting, and interesting. Over the last 12 years, I have changed, as a person and artist, to such a degree that to do further work along the lines I did with the band would be to go against my own nature. There was no choice involved in this decision. I simply have to be what I am, and have to do what I must do.
Sending love and gratitude to you all.”