In the Chili Peppers I'm a part of that world in a pretty big world and that's just the way it is.

Because I'm pure inside, the music that comes out of me is a life-giving thing. Like water.

So I use a tape recorder a lot to record ideas.

What really helps me is being able to record my albums at home - I have more fun experimenting that way, as opposed to working with an engineer, in which case I have to deal with the humiliation of doing take after take, and that can get frustrating.

And this whole period of time of gradually working at being a better guitar player and songwriter have gradually led me to the point where I feel I'm doing a clearer representation of the thing that I've been feeling inside me since I was four years old.

I write lyrics. I play the guitar. If the rest of the band had to do my schedule, they would be dead

Even if my songs are a bit low-spirited, they make me happy. I become happy when I hear sad songs. When you sing about sad things in a beautiful way, the atmosphere turns upside down