Jane’s Addiction – ‘It’s The Drama of Life and Death’
The legendary Jane’s Addiction shouldn’t need an introduction at this point. This wild bunch formed in LA back in ’85, and instantly shook the music scene like it was a cheap cosmo – circa. 2001. Their blend of punk, metal, and psychedelic rock made them just at home on stage with the Chilli Peppers as the Ramones.
Their breakout hits, like ‘Jane Says’, ‘Been Caught Stealing’, and ‘Stop’ are as synonymous with the ‘90s as are Nirvana and heroin. On the eve of their appearance down under, alongside Smashing Pumpkins at The World Is A Vampire festival tour, we had the privilege of catching up with vocalist Perry Farrell, bass player Eric Avery, and drummer Stephen Perkins supported by iconic manager, Michael James, to discuss all things Jane’s Addiction.
So Perry, when Billy was putting this whole tour together, did he come and chat to you about you know, how to organize such a thing? [Perry created Lollapalooza] It’s a big deal for Australia. It is not something we’re sort of used to, you know, wrestling and lots of bands and stuff like that – did you guys chat about getting that all together?
Perry: We had, we had one dinner. But that’s the extent of it and whatever he’s doing from there. You know, we’re, we’re excited to be down going to Australia. We’re excited to be playing with Amyl and the Sniffers. And we love Australia, and we haven’t been there. It’s been too long.
Yeah, I was trying to figure out when the last tour was, but for the life of me, I cannot recall. My brain is fried.
Perry: Well, Eric, Eric remembers, Eric.
Eric: We were there in 2010 or 2011. Maybe 2010.
Yeah, it sounds about right. Eric, you’ve quite famously been in and out of the band throughout its history. How does it work coming back into the band after some time off and locking into Stephen’s drumming? The rhythm section of a band is just so important to its fundamentals do you guys just click or is natural for you?
Eric: Oh, well, it is natural, for sure. There is something that Stephen and I have that just makes immediate sense. When he starts something, it makes sense to me – what I’m supposed to do, and vice versa. In the lead-up to coming back in, I had worked out some bass lines and stuff, just to have some ideas for the palette going into record. But it was the morning before, just before like probably two hours before going into the studio. When I played along with a recording of Stephen’s drumming, he was just doing a drum clinic online or something. And I just grabbed his playing and that was the song that we recorded, and seems to be working the best right now for us.
Perry: Was that ‘Imminent’?
Eric: Yeah, yeah
Perry: That became ‘Imminent’? Wow!
Eric: And it was like that morning, I just sat there, listening to Stephen, and then just started going, and then went in [to the studio]. And yeah, started playing it without Stephen knowing about all that. I start playing it and then Stephen just started playing, and it just clicked, and it was just there, you know? It was entirely effortless. It was amazing.
That’s what you want. I mean, that’s where the real sort of beauty of it comes from is when it just flows out like that. So that’s just great.
Stephen: Yeah, and also came without speaking any words but also what’s kind of been new and very nice, is working together and examining and microscopes our parts and talking about it, and coming back the next day and trying to… not perfect it, but just make it better and have it grow. And that’s a success, the growth. So I’m really enjoying this new partnership that me and Eric have to not only let things happen free form, but to examine what’s happening and like talk about it. You said it perfectly the other day, Eric, it’s a haiku, you pick a few notes, a few words, you don’t change it. That’s what they are. And it’s, you know, take it or leave it, but let’s make some of it if you like it. And I love that idea of like making something and forming a union between the rhythm section like you just asked, you know, it’s such an important piece.
Absolutely. And it’s great to hear, because I think, that that relationship, that unspoken relationship in any band, between all members is so important. And it’s how beautiful music happens.
Stephen: Well, I’m so I’m so reflective of everybody. When Perry says something I react. And so that’s good and bad, but we’re all listening to each other. It’s not bad. But we have to be aware if someone’s having a conversation about a part, you know, what the possibilities are, where it could go from there. Because we’re listening.
Unreal.
Perry: I was just going to make a joke, something like, as the great Dee Dee Ramone has shown us because you’re wearing the Ramones t-shirt. You know, it is simplicity there but there’s definitely innovation. So just to add to what you guys are saying, there’s original creation and original creation is simple. And then with that comes innovation. And that’s what you were talking about little Steve, where, you know, the original creation is simple, yet elegant. And then you start to examine it. And through the examination comes innovation. That’s how we’re writing these days. And it is a wonderful way to write.
Yeah, I think that’s really well put, and that’s what makes music stand the test of time, is that it’s not always about how intricate and how complicated it is. It’s about what’s beneath the surface.
Perry: So what’s your music like?
My music? A bit of everything, you know, like, I grew up in that sort of late ‘90s scene. So you know, things like Nirvana and Sublime. They all sort of like, really were important in my formative years and then as I grew a bit older more punk and metal and stuff. So everything from the Ramones, to Sepultura, to you guys. Yeah, it’s all my thing. And the faster the better. But yeah, Dee Dee Ramone is just one of my favourite bass players, I like lots of 8th notes played really fast.
Perry: Yeah, he’s amazing. He was, he was the shit! You know our first tour or second tour was with them?
Oh really? That would have been awesome.
Perry: Our formative years, I think 1988, when we were doing Nothing’s Shocking. We opened for them.
How awesome. What was that like?
Perry: I mean, man, I think all of us can attest that all we would do at every show is just watch. You know, like these days, if you’re on tour with a band, you might check them out for a couple of nights that you’re on tour. And then you might not do that again for a while, I mean, but in those years, those are formative years for us. I wanted to know how the crowd reacted to them and even more important, how they reacted to the crowd. So we would just be on the side of the stage watching every move.
Eric: And I also remember, I mean, for me, those first couple of tours it was we opened for Iggy, we opened for the Ramones. Yeah, you know, so for me at that age anyway, I thought I was on the top of the mountain.
Perry: Or the top plateau anyway. At the time I wanted to like, participate as an audience. Every time they got up there because, as you know, you’re a musician. Every time you get up there is a fresh and exciting story, a chapter in a book. You know that show if you do it right. Each and every show is unique. It’s like a life. It’s like really living out your life right then and there. It’s the drama of life and death. And, I definitely picked up that from the Ramones.
Stephen: Yeah, you know, touring with Iggy and we also did some Love and Rockets and the band X. And these guys have had so many shows under their belt. And we were just as fresh as can be maybe a year and a half old. I remember hanging backstage with Johnny Ramone for a minute. And he said, (doing a Johnny Ramone impression) ‘So wait, where are you guys from in New York?” And we said “Oh, we’re a California band”. And he goes “Oh, fuck that. No, California band opening for us in New York”. We had, like 10 days on the East Coast.
Perry: Yeah, but I was from the neighbourhood. I grew up on Long Island near them.
Stephen: I don’t remember that. His voice…
Perry: Yeah, he was a strange one. My favourite was definitely I mean, I love Dee Dee, Joey. I got close to Joey. Dee Dee was hard to get close to.
Eric: Yeah. Because Dee Dee wasn’t really there. So you couldn’t get close to him.
Perry: But how does a guy who’s not really there, end up to doing that on a stage though? He was present but in his own way. My favorite acceptance speech of all time of any acceptance speech was when Dee Dee went up there for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and said, (doing a Dee Dee impression) “I’d like to thank Dee Dee”
*everyone laughs*
Legendary
Stephen: Yeah, and I love his face. The determination on his face on stage. He’s just determined to get it right. Yeah. And that’s what’s great about when we’re playing our songs. There are moments when you feel like… you know, you’re discovering the Ramones for the first time. So Jane’s Addiction makes me feel young. And like, there’s still hope for punk rock and rock and roll.
Perry: Fuck yeah!
Stephen: It feels right. You know, it feels good. It feels good to play. The Ramones that they showed that shit every night!
I get it. That’s it. That’s what you want you want to be feeling when you’re on stage. And when you’re playing, like I didn’t care if I’m playing in my room or playing in front of a crowd, I want to have that!
Perry: Or my deathbed.
Stephen: Yeah!
Perry: It doesn’t matter.
Speaking of your live shows, something that’s really interesting about the way you guys play is quite often this sort of extravaganza going on. You’ve had live dancers and stuff, and even part of the core aesthetic of the band has always been sort of quite sexualized, but quite sex-positive as well. How have you navigated the territory with discussions around the male gaze and misogyny and the music industry? Have you approached your live shows any differently?
Perry: Well, it was made apparent to us that we have to be watchful of the Me Too movement to not come off misogynistic whatsoever. Now, the good news about our show is, the dancers are right, that side of it is run by Etty Lau Ferrell, who’s my wife, and she runs that part of it.
She’s an accomplished ballerina, who’s danced with Madonna. So she’s a fierce dancer. The way we’re approaching it is, it’s women’s power, women’s liberation.
We’ve literally developed a dance court dance, where we’re using an apparatus that we built, we’ve designed it to look like a kind of jungle gym monkey bars that you would see in a children’s playground. But then they do acrobatic things with it. And the two women that are dancing with that, they’re acrobats. So it’s sexualized, as you say, but it’s very liberated women, and they go out there with a lot of energy. So, yeah, I think it’s really, in the end, it’s art, and that’s where we’re at.
And that’s great. I think it’s easy for the lines to get blurred in a way, you want to keep it positive. But, you know, you also want to make sure that everyone’s comfortable as well, I guess, as much as they can be at a rock show.
Perry: Yeah, but you can’t you can’t guarantee everybody’s going to be comfortable at a rock show. What if somebody steps on your feet when they’re moshing
Agreed. Oh, here’s a fun little icebreaker question. I like to ask what is everyone’s favourite shark and why?
Eric: Favorite shark? Yeah. Oh, wow. That’s one I’ve not heard before. I mean, thresher, I love the long tail. The relationship between the body and the tail. White tip reef sharks have beautiful, streamlined, perfect machines, but, but a great white has got to be the winner. I mean, it’s just such an amazing, amazing animal.
Perry: Oh, I’m gonna go outside the box. I’m going to say that my favourite sea creature that is kind of in the family right now is [the] Leviathan for spiritual reasons, because the mystics associate the Leviathan with the deepest recesses of our soul.
Stephen: I’m gonna go with the hammerhead.
Perry: Good answer!
Stephen: How it’s like, you almost see a stingray from a hammerhead. And I love stingrays and manta rays, the big manta rays. I just think they’re just beautiful to watch. So yeah, I’m hoping to have some wildlife experiences. I remember years ago [in Australia], they took us to a wonderful spot where we met some great animals in a great safe zone where they’re being protected. And so are the people that were touching them. So that might be kind of fun to do if we get a chance.
I hope you do. We do have a lot of beautiful wildlife in Australia. So I do hope that you get to do that while you’re on tour. Check out the country and hang out with some cool exotic animals.
Eric: Flying foxes. They’re some of my favourite creatures in the world. I remember the first time I saw one. I was jet lagged, in 1990, and I came out on the balcony and it was dawn over Sydney and I just saw these enormous beautiful mammals flying in the air. Just blew my mind. Yeah.
Stephen: We were in Austin, Texas. And it wasn’t overwhelming by any means. But me, Troy and Eric had a chance to go look at the bat cave. We saw maybe we saw three bats, but it was a good time to hang out.
That’s awesome. Alright, what is the status of the band’s new music? Well, you know, you mentioned you recorded some stuff already. Where are we at?
Perry: Well, I can say that you’re keeping us from making more music because you’ve requested our presence in Australia. As soon as we get home. We get into it. And we’re looking to do another album. And the start is, as Eric told you earlier, the start is that first track, and it’s called ‘The Imminent Redemption’.
Beautiful. Yeah. And how are you feeling about you know, your vocals and singing and writing are you locked in?
Perry: Yeah, I am just now. I’m my zone is what are we? What are we saying? What are we going to say? What are the words? And I also have melodies too. But you know the poetry is to stand up to and ride upon that great music, that great rhythm section I’m really excited about. I get up in the mornings now and I just get into it. I zone into it. I read about the subjects that I want to speak about and do poetry with and it’s going to be beautiful.
I have such a good feeling about this record. First and foremost, because we are all tight, like we’ve never been before. So we can get a lot accomplished this way.
When you’re fighting, it’s very hard to make great music. Because people start to close off and partition, you know what I mean? The best way to make great music is because working on an art form that is a communicative art form. And if you’re not communicating with your fellow artists you know what?
It’s not gonna work.
Perry: It’s not going to work. But it’s going to work now. I believe… we have an open dialogue. We’ve opened our hearts to each other. We really are starting to understand each other on a level that we never have before. So I think that the music, we will exhaust to the last drop of life to make a great record. I know these guys are amazing.
Interview by Dave Mullins
See Jane’s Addiction at these shows!
The Smashing Pumpkins – The World Is A Vampire Festival
with Jane’s Addiction, Amyl & The Sniffers, Redhook, Battlesnake and more!
Saturday, April 15 : Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane QLD – NEW SHOW
Sunday, April 16 : Sandstone Point, Bribie Island QLD
Tuesday, April 18: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney NSW ALL AGES SOLD OUT
Wednesday, April 19: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney NSW ALL AGES NEW SHOW
Saturday, April 22: PICA, Port Melbourne VIC NEW SHOW (moved from Hastings)
Sunday, April 23: Kyral Castle, BallaratVIC
Wednesday, April 26: Adelaide Entertainment Centre SA ALL AGES
Thursday; April 27: PICA, Port Melbourne VIC SOLD OUT
Saturday, April 29: Newcastle Entertainment Centre NSW ALL AGES
Sunday, April 30: Broadwater Parklands, Gold CoastQLD
For ticketing and event information visit
oneworldentertainment.com.au