JANE'S ADDICTION: NOT AS SHOCKING, STILL AS GREAT

photo credit: Maria Ives

A week ago, I went to see Jane's Addiction play at the State Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey. My head is still vibrating from the experience.  They were amazing.

I did a review of the concert for CBS New York as a preview of their concert last Friday night in Brooklyn.  But I had to be professional when writing for CBS.

It's hard to explain how radical they were back then. The combination of sexuality and intelligence, power and sweetness, loud and quiet, classic rock and punk rock and heavy metal, it was just different, scary and thrilling.  Plus you knew that all of the guys in the band were probably living dangerous lifestyles, it really added to the danger.

These days, the guys probably live a bit more sensibly.  Perry was drawing from a flask and from a wine bottle throughout the night, but you never felt the show would go off the rails: Jane's meant business.  They seemed determined to bring the same power and vibes that they did back in they day.  They were, in fact, really powerful.  Perry Farrell hasn't lost any of his shaman-like frontman super-powers. Dave Navarro's guitar playing still rips your face off.  I know people criticize him for his celebrity status outside of music... but really, when he hits the stage, it's all about his playing.  He is still amazing. Stephen Perkins brings a weird tribal thing to heavy rock drums, it's perfect for this band. Chris Chaney has a difficult job filling in for Eric Avery, but he holds it down, without standing out too much. I saw them with Avery in the band a few years ago, and that was unbelievable.  But this show held up to the original lineup.  That's saying a lot.

photo credit: Maria Ives 

At first, I wasn't too sure about their recent album, last year's The Great Escape Artist.  It may not be as classic as Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking or Ritual de lo Habitual, but some of the songs really held up live:  "Underground" and "Splash A Little Water On It." A song from their last album Strays (which also featured Chaney), "Just Because" was one of the highlights of the show.

No, they aren't as dangerous as they were then. But other than The Stooges, who is?  Perry is a dad and a businessman, and Dave has responsibilities.  And anyway, they don't need to be as dangerous as they used to be, they just need to be as great.  At the State Theater, they were. I can't wait to see the next tour.

JANE'S ADDICTION IN NOLA: A HALLOWEEN CLASSIC

Last Halloween, Jane's Addiction played the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans.  The vibe must have been amazing if you were there - but if you weren't, you should check out this DVD, Live Voodoo. It's one of the last times that they played with original bassist Eric Avery, who has since quit the band again. I saw the band last summer, and they were incredible.  I had seen them with Flea on bass, and with Chris Chaney, and both shows were great, but there's just something about the chemistry of the original four guys playing together.

This performance in New Orleans, a place where Jane's definitely fit in, makes you forget about the bad solo albums, side projects and reality shows.  Perry Farrell is the shaman, Dave Navarro is a guitar god playing with a sense of danger that few other virtuosos can muster, and Stephen Perkins, known to play some kinda hippiesh stuff in his band Banyan, reminds you that he has the power of Bonham and Moon. Perry doesn't sing the way he used to - but he still has his charisma. It's a great performance.

So as I mentioned, Eric Avery has left the band again, Duff McKagan joined and quit, and now they're looking for a new bass player (they have two gigs booked in December).  It's really a bummer, but I do think Perry, Dave and Stephen can make good music together (their 2003 album, Strays was really good). But this DVD reminds you how great the band is with the original four guys.

But see for yourself: watch the live version of "Stop!" here.

BUMMER! ERIC AVERY QUITS JANE'S ADDICTION - AGAIN

Actually, I guess technically this is the first time that Eric Avery has quit Jane's Addiction: it's just that until recently, he never participated in any of the band's reunions. I saw one of the shows on their summer tour and it was incredibly powerful.  I'd seen Jane's reunions with Flea on bass and also with Chris Chaney, and both shows were awesome, but Avery is a unique player and his style totally fit the band. Eric announced it on twitter just a few days ago. Dave Navarro seemed to indicate on his twitter feed that the band are sticking together, and there are rumors that Duff McKagan will be playing bass for them. In fact, Navarro linked to a youtube video that shows Duff and Stephen Perkins jamming together and Rolling Stone says that Slash sort of hinted that Duff was doing something with Jane's. I really liked the one Jane's album that they did without Eric, Strays, which featured Chris Chaney, but it lacked the menace of their earlier work.  I guess that's inevitable no matter who is on bass though.

JANE'S ADDICTION REUNITED

I didn't even want to write about this, because for some reason I didn't think it was going to happen, but the other night, Jane's Addiction reunited for a club gig in L.A. The full band: Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and even bassist Eric Avery, who hadn't participated in the band's reunions until their recent performance at the NME Awards. Dave Navarro wrote about the gig on his blog, giving credit to the other guys who have played bass for Jane's over the years, but saying that it isn't really Jane's without all four guys.

Without getting my hopes up too much, I gotta think this will lead to something else. Then again, if money is thrown into it, Eric may just split. I give him credit: clearly he is interested in making a buck: I bet his gig in Alanis Morissette's band pays well, and he tried out for Metallica. He just doesn't want to mess with the memory of his band. Still, I'd love to see the band with him back in it, and so would lots of other people. I can see them doing Coachella and Lollapalooza this year, but hopefully, they'll come to NYC as well.

NEW MUSIC: THE BREEDERS, JAMIE LIDELL, ERIC AVERY, ASHES DIVIDE AND MORE

As usual, I've been picking up a bunch of singles at the iTunes store. Here's my take on some new stuff I've been listening to:

The Breeders: I loved Pod, Safari and Last Splash. I didn't like the last one, Title TK, it took like a decade, and felt like it was a record to say "remember us?" I thought Kim Deal would be re-energized by the love she got on The Pixies' reunion tour. It's not well known, but The Pixies recorded two new songs during the reunion: one was for a Warren Zevon tribute album, the other, "Bam Thwok," was written by Kim for the Shreck soundtrack. They didn't use it, but the band released it (on iTunes) and it was a lot of fun. Anyway, though, I'm sorry to say that based on "We're Gonna Rise" and "Bang On," I'm not really feeling the new Breeders record.

Jamie Lidell is a guy with a modern take on classic R&B. Which is music industry speak for "the press and industry will love him, until they realize that he won't sell records, and then they'll move on." He had a great song called "Multiply" that I really loved, and I also like his new one, "Little Bit Of Feel Good."

Ashes Divide is a new project by Billy Howerdell, the guitar tech guy to many an alternative rock band, who went on to found the great project A Perfect Circle with Maynard James Keenan of Tool. Lots of it is Perfet Circle-ish, which is natural, but it's hard not to think of Maynard when you hear the songs. That's the way I feel.

I've written about how I have been looking forward to hearing Eric Avery's solo debut, Help Wanted. I have two songs - "All Remote And No Control" and "Belly Of An Insect." His vocals are kind of like Ian Curtis from Joy Division. It's pretty cool, but like his first post-Jane's Addiction project Deconstruction (which featured Dave Navarro) I don't know that these are songs that I'll go back to very often.

Ike Reilly is a great singer/songwriter who I discovered only due to a former boss of mine - he had me do a feature on him for VH1 News, surprisingly. I'm glad I discovered him, and hearing his new songs "Hip-Hop Thighs #16" (which sounds like it starts out with a voicemail message from Joe Strummer) and "Fish Plant Rebellion" remind me that I need to check out more of Ike's music.

Was (Not Was) reunited a few years ago, and just released their new album, Boo! Even when I don't love their music, I just find them interesting. You've got two really wacky musicians with two straight up R&B singers, and when it works, it's really fun. "It's A Miracle" should be a hit (but probably won't be) and "Mr. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" has a very interesting back story: Don Was, David Was and Bob Dylan wrote it together in the late '80s, hoping to get it on a Paula Abdul album. Ms. Abdul turned it down, and it languished in song purgatory until now.

Annie Lennox's performance of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers To Cross" from American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" show was pretty powerful. I don't hate on Idol the way other people do - I'm not going to try to defend it either, but Annie could sing nearly anything, and she does a great job on this timeless classic.

JANE'S ADDICTION: GODLIKE GENIUSES

British magazine NME is going to be honoring the almighty Jane's Addiction at the NME Awards, being held in the U.S. for the first time. They are getting the aptly titled "Godlike Geniuses" award.  Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins will perform, but no word yet on whether or not bassist Eric Avery, who has never participated in any of the band's reunions will show up.  His solo debut, Help Wanted, came out earlier this week though. 

To me, Jane's were one of the great bands of my generation, a shoo-in for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the minute they are eligible. Here's hoping that the guys can get over their differences: the last Jane's reunion (which saw them record a really good album, Strays, and headline the last Lollapalooza tour) supposedly ended badly, allegedly due to issues having to do with spouses. 

I don't know if I want to see Jane's reunite again; they've done it three times already. On the other hand, they've all proved time and time again that something about the chemistry of the band is much greater than the sum of their parts. 

ERIC AVERY RETURNS!

If his name sounds familiar, it's because he was the bassist for one of the best bands of all time - Jane's Addiction. In April Eric Avery will release his solo debut, Help Wanted. You have to respect the guy for not being involved in any Jane's reunions. The tours were great - and I really liked their reunion album, Strays (one of the better reunion albums ever, in my mind). But the guy didn't feel it was the right thing to do, and he turned down a lot of money, you have to respect that. The stuff he's done since then has been... interesting. His one-off post-Jane's project with Dave Navarro - Deconstruction - was so weird, it's not that fun to listen to (although maybe I should try to revisit it). I haven't heard his Polar Bear project. On the other hand, he tried out for Metallica, and has played in Alanis Morissette's band.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing what the album is like. His contributions to the Jane's Addiction albums were incredible: it was truly a band that was way more than the sum of it's parts (as evidenced by most of the stuff they've done since they first split up).