Bell A carillon, which is a musical instrument consisting of at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells, is tuned so that the bells can be played serially to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A traditional carillon is played by striking a baton keyboard with the fists, and by pressing the keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key. In
Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt sure you stay in touch with beauty instead of letting the ugliness of the world corrupt your soul." During a 1994 interview, a visibly intoxicated Frusciante noted that he wrote the album in order to create "interesting music", which he felt no longer existed. He felt contemporary artists were not writing material he deemed worth listening to and the mainstream population were settling for mediocrity. Drugs were another significant topic on which Frusciante based "Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt". According to Frusciante, he "was stoned for every single note [he] played on the album." He increased his drug