Since the beginning of Jane's Addiction activity they were told to be the band that would "mix up" at the musical stage. Even in Los Angeles, which was complaining for lack of rock attractions and where such stars like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone started their career, the quartet immediately became sensation. The vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins offer the audience things that no one before offered: explosive mix of wild energy, crazy Farrell's dance and perfect sound. It made the Jane's Addiction to be on the everybody's lips.
Band members:
- Perry Farrell - vocal
- Dave Navarro - guitar
- Stephen Perkins - drums
- Chris Chaney - bas
Farmer members:
- Eric Avery - bas
- Martyn LeNoble - bas
- Flea - bas
Jane's Addiction is an American rock band founded in 1985. The band was formed out of the ashes of frontman Perry Farrell's previous band, Psi-com and Eric Avery's Flower Quartet. Few times they performed together as Illuminotics. They had only bas and vocal so their activity was focused only on jams. Soon the band's name was changed to Jane's Addiction - in honour of Jane Bainter who lived with the guys from the band (she was a great fan of their work). Musicians tried guitarist Chris Brinkman from the previous band of Eric (Scrunge) and the drummer Stephen Perkins. Stephen suggested Dave Navarro as the candidate from his previous band Disaster. In 1986 Jane's Addiction worked in that settled team.
History
The band owes their unique character of the different personalities of its members and their musical tastes. Writing lyrics, many and more and more popular performances meant that the band was evolving. The band gained interest from a variety of record labels. After the unforgettable concert in Roxy the band finally signed the contract with Warner that offered them large artistic freedom.
The year 1987 brought the band phonographic début. First version of "Pigs In Zen" was released on the Scream Club, then "Mountain Song" was used on the soundtrack to the movie "Dudes". In September their first album "Jane's Addiction" was released. It was a record of their performance in January at Roxy in Hollywood released by Triple X label.
In 1988 new album „Nothing Shocking" was released and it was a sensation not only because of the music but also because of the cover image designed by vocalist. Features a pair of nude female Siamese twins sitting on a sideways rocking chair with their heads on fire was recognized by "Rolling Stone" as one of the 100 best covers. The picture was provocative which was suitable to the band's musical presentation. Of course some music shops refused to distribute the album. The band has also a problem with "Mountain Song" - MTV refused to air the song's music video due to a scene containing nudity.
The fortune of Jane's Addiction was very stormy in the beginning. For the first time, during recording the début album, the band almost broke up over financial royalties. Perry Farrell wanted high percent of the royalties leaving the rest of the band members with little percent each. Not long after the royalty's dispute, Farrell and Avery had a falling out. This was the result of Avery's newfound sobriety as well as an incident where Farrell believed that the bassist had drunkenly tried to pick up his girlfriend. The band had a problem to record new album because Farrell and Avery didn't want to work together. So they decided to work separately. Dave Navarro said that in his mind "recording that album took only five minutes".
Finally, the album "Ritual De Lo Habitual" from 1990 had excellent reviews. The album was quite good sold. Next year the band was on tour after which the artists said that they wound up unable to stand one another. But thanks to the concerts the rock fans became interested with the band. Such songs like "Been Caught Stealing" - became a hit at Top40 and "Stop!" became a hit as well. Even that didn't change much in the band. During one performance Farrell and Navarro got into a fight onstage after the two had begun violently bumping each other mid-song. The band however, continued the tour.
The record label wanted Jane's Addiction to go on tour again and during that Lollapalooza - one of the most famous festivals - was created by Perry Farrell. During the first edition Jane's Addiction was the star, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T, Living Colour, Pixies, Butthole Surfers also performed there as well. Despite the success of the tour, the band's activity was at the end. In September 27, 1991 after giving two concerts in Hawaii the band officially finished its activity.
In 1991 Eric Avery and Dave Navarro decided to leave Jane`s Addiction. The band broke up and its members started new projects. Farrell and Perkins found the Porno for Pyros. The band was an artistic success but less commercial. They released two albums, a few singles and they went on few tours. Avery and Navarro created Deconstruction and in 1993 Navarro joined Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
There were some gossips about Jane's Addiction re-activation. Porno For Pyros started to play "Mountain Song" in the end of their concerts. Perry Farrell with Stephen together with Dave and Flea recorded a song for a movie "Private Parts". The song "Hard Charger" was a re-activation of Jane's Addiction. Finally, in the beginning of 1997, Perry Farrell announced the reunion. Flea replaced Avery as a bassist. Soon new album "Kettle Whistle" was released that coincided with the band's "Relapse" tour in 1997, and included new recordings, unreleased demos and live tracks.
A fiew years later musicians decided to go on tour but without Eric Avery - he declined to be a part of the band. The bassist - Martyn Lenoble joined the band. It's good to mention that before they went on tour Dave and Perry had released their solo albums. The tour called Jubilee Tour was a great commercial success and the band decided to record new album - "Strays". The quarrel started again. During the work on their new album Martyn Lenoble was replaced by Chris Chaney who recorded bass for all songs. Bob Ezrin was a producer. "Strays" was released in 2003. The band intensively was promoting their album through the video clips, singles, interviews and concerts of course. Then, the band went on tour to Europe and next they came back to USA to perform few times. Following the 2003 tour Jane's Addiction broke up once again. During their second major split, the band was involved in a number of other projects. Navarro, Perkins, and Chaney formed a new band, The Panic Channel with singer Steve Isaac and Satellite Party formed by Perry, Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Ferlazzo, Tony Kanal and Kevin Figueiredo.
But it turned out that the musicians can't live without each other and in April 2008 the band performed together at NME Awards. During the next months the band gave few concerts.
Discography:
- Jane's Addiction (1987)
- Nothing's Shocking (1988)
- Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)
- Live and Rare (1991)
- Kettle Whistle (1997)
- Strays (2003)
- Up from the Catacombs: The Best of Jane's Addiction (2006)
Internet users about Jane's Addiction:
Climatic music, interesting vocal, nothing more to say only to listenJ it's great the guys play together again.
Roveristo, 03.09.2006, forum http://www.nuta.pl/
Perry Farrell - the angel voice - the silver, pure ecstasy....
Sister_ray, 16.06.2007, forum http://www.nuta.pl/