LiveDaily: Funny, this doesn't sound like a guitar soloist's album.
Dave Navarro: Up until this project, I've been primarily a guitar player. It's what I've done as a form of expression. I think that as a result of having the ability to write the words and the concepts behind the music, I relied less on that instrument as being my main outlet of expression. So I think in terms of being a guitar-oriented record--it really isn't. There's a lot of computer programming and sampling. You know, I was able to paint soundscapes with different elements, [like] the voice, which was a new undertaking for me.
How did you write the material?
The majority of the songs, even the harder ones, were written either on an acoustic guitar or on piano. I just kind of came up with the parts and the melodies and pieced them together. There's actually an original version of this album which is primarily acoustic. I ended up adding and adding and editing, and it ended up becoming what it is now. That process was more or less a result of working with guys like [engineers] Mark Plati and Danny Saber--and, of course, [producer] Rich Costey--who are very gifted with their computer-musical abilities.
You do a lot of double-duty--guitar and bass--playing on "Trust." Who else is on the album?
In terms of musicians on the album, there's really only a few. There's Matt Chamberlain, who plays drums with Fiona Apple. We also worked with [drummer] Roy Mayorga, who has played a little bit with Ozzy and Soulfly. I believe that Jon Brion, who produced the last Fiona album, played a few things here and there, like on "Mourning Son." But for the most part, like bass and guitar and a lot of that stuff ... I just played. And it wasn't because I thought I could do it best, it's just--I was available, you know.
I don't think the intention behind this was to make it a big band and take it on [the road], you know. It kind of became its own thing. And so now I've got to put musicians together ... for shows and so forth, which is going to be fun. I have had an opportunity to play with a room full of players and piece these songs together for live performances, and that's been great.
And some of these songs are pretty dark, like [the first single] "Rexall." What is that about?
It was actually inspired by a drugstore in Hollywood, my hometown. In that drugstore, there is a photo booth. The interesting thing is that this is the particular drugstore where my parents met. Their relationship was good for several years, but you know, they broke up. And as I became an adult and went and visited this particular drugstore, my experience was that, anyone I ever took a picture in that photo booth with ... eventually was no longer in my life. So then I had this bizarre theory that the photo booth at Rexall drug store was in a sense a vehicle to end relationships. So that's what this song is essentially talking about, being at the end of a relationship and having the magic be gone, and what do you do from there? Unfortunately, I don't think I'm necessarily offering any solution. I'm asking the question, as I do quite often.
What inspired "Mourning Son"?
"Mourning Son" means, you know, the sad child, and that was me. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's about my mother, who passed away when I was 15. She and my aunt were murdered by my mother's boyfriend at the time, which can also give you an idea where this whole running "fear of love" concept comes from. With "Rexall," we're talking about how my parents met and later divorced when I was seven. And then the next profound relationship my mother gets into is with a guy who ends up killing her. ...
The reality is, I hadn't seen [love] work, but I had seen it cause great pain. So that's why I was running from it. You know what I mean? The song is just essentially me trying to deal with the inner demons that went along with me losing my mother in a very tragic way.
You go from the Rexall photo booth to putting one in your own home and publishing a book of the pictures. How do the concepts from the album and book mix?
A lot of the content and lyrical concepts tend to focus on the negative aspects of relationships. Negative aspects of life, love, trust and fear. And what I like about the duality between the book and the record is that the record seems, in my opinion, to ask the questions in a figurative sense. Whereas the book provides at least me with the answers in a literal sense. So they kind of become counterparts and bookend each other somewhat, and life happens in the middle.