9/21/07 - Amphitheater at Clark County, Ridgefield, WA

[Mike]

Positively Perry Farrell

Friday, September 21, 2007
BY ALAN SCULLEY for The Columbian

Within the space of three days in 2004, Perry Farrell suffered what were probably the two biggest setbacks of his career. His band, Jane’s Addiction, broke up for good after a short-lived reunion, and Lollapalooza, the groundbreaking touring alternative rock festival he pioneered, was canceled because of poor ticket sales.

Farrell was shaken.

“I thought that my time had been served as a promoter,” Farrell said in 2005. “Then I find three days later that my band had decided to leave me. So not only did I not have my lovely Lollapalooza, but I had lost also my beautiful Jane’s Addiction. I didn’t know what to do.

“I was hugely embarrassed and also, I must say, I was frightened,” he said.

But Farrell didn’t react by crawling into a shell to grieve over his losses. Instead, almost immediately he fired up his musical gear and began formulating and writing music for his next great adventure, Satellite Party. Lollapalooza, meanwhile, was reborn in 2005 as an annual three-day concert in Chicago.

Now, three years after those events, Farrell has finally released the debut CD by Satellite Party. Called “Ultra Payloaded,” the album did not make the kind of seismic impact one might have expected from a group spearheaded by the man responsible for Jane’s Addiction, one of the most influential alternative rock groups ever.

But as the start of an American tour was approaching, Farrell, in a recent phone interview, said he sees signs that Satellite Party has begun to make its presence felt.

“It’s funny, I just got off the phone with my publicist,” Farrell said. “We’re about to start an American tour. She said even magazines that at first weren’t too receptive now want to do features on us. We’ve given people a chance to sit with the music for a little while and see what we’re about.”

What Satellite Party is about is pretty ambitious, even by Farrell’s standards.

For one thing, the group’s music represents a significant step away from the guitar-centered mix of punk and art rock of Jane’s Addiction. The rock attitude and energy is still there in Satellite Party (particularly on tracks like “Kinky” and “Wish Upon A Dog Star”), but there’s also a prominent electronic/dance dimension that gives the music a whole new feel.

The music on the CD is the work of a wide-ranging cast of musicians. Farrell is joined by his core band — guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, drummer Kevin Figueiredo, bassist Carl Restivo and vocalist (and Farrell’s wife) Etty Lau Farrell.

(Bettencourt and Figueiredo recently left the group and have been replaced by Nick Perri and Jordan Plosky, respectively.)

Several notable guests contribute to the CD as well, including bassist Flea and guitarist John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie and New Order’s Peter Hook.

Then there’s the contribution of Doors singer Jim Morrison. On the dreamy closing track “Woman In The Window,” the late singer croons what are thought to be among the last lyrics he recorded before his death in 1971.

‘Heavenly host’

Farrell was a bit vague about how he found this never-before-heard vocal track, but he had it specifically in mind for “Woman In The Window.”

“I’ve sung with the Doors on occasion when they needed a lead singer to fill in for their legendary, great lead singer,” Farrell said. “So when I wrote this project, I went to them and I told them I was looking for a heavenly host. I played them the music and I explained the story, and they found the story to be beautiful and positive, and they wanted to participate.”

The key line in Morrison’s lyric — “Don’t try to stop us/We’re going to love” — could sum up the positive vibe that Farrell is trying to create with Satellite Party.
Farrell even created a song, “The Solutionists,” around the idea of inspiring a movement of people who celebrate life, create a sense of community and try to improve the world around them one person at a time.

“We want to put on shows around the world, and we want these shows to count and matter, leaving in their wake a more beautified world,” Farrell said.
Although his ambitions are big, Farrell said he knows it will be a tall order for Satellite Party to inspire a generation of fans and influence music the way Jane’s Addiction did.

“There’s always that pressure, but what are you supposed to do?” he said. “I love playing the old stuff. We play back catalog stuff (at Satellite Party concerts). We do Jane’s material. We do Porno (for Pyros) material. So no one’s trying to ignore the past. In fact, I embrace the past. It’s just I like to buy new clothes.”

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[Mike]

Review: Alternative rock icons mix old and new at amphitheater

Saturday, September 22, 2007
By Matt Wastradowski, Columbian Staff Writer


It's not too early to feel nostalgic for the 1990s. That was the sentiment of the fans who packed the The Amphitheater at Clark County Friday night to see a pair of '90s alternative rock heavyweights.

Performing for nearly two hours, the Smashing Pumpkins were the evening's main attraction. The grunge rock group is touring in support of its seventh album, "Zeitgeist." The album is the band's first since taking a hiatus from 2000 to 2005.

The same fans who made songs such as "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" their personal anthems when they were teenagers, still regard the Smashing Pumpkins' hits with exuberance. On Friday night, they sang along with every word of the chart-toppers, including an acoustic guitar-driven solo rendition of "1979" and the show-closing song, "Today."

The group's new material received a more tepid reaction.

Lead singer Billy Corgan earned his reputation as a cultural cornerstone with personal and emotional lyrics. With "Zeitgeist," he offers more of a world-weary perspective.

The band opened the concert with "United States," a song in which Corgan repeats the word "revolution" and asks, "The end draws nigh, Who's side are you on?" With these lyrics, it's obvious Corgan is banking on speaking to angst-ridden fans who are frustrated with the Bush administration.

Those fans applauded the new material, but saved their most emphatic reactions for the group's hits.

Corgan is approaching 20 years as a Smashing Pumpkin. In the fast-moving world of pop culture, that's a long time to try to exploit teen angst. Shortly before closing the show, Corgan told the crowd about the Smashing Pumpkins' fourth show ever, which took place in 1988. At that concert, the group opened for Jane's Addiction.

At the time, Jane's Addiction was promoting its first studio album, "Nothing's Shocking." Jane's Addiction broke up in 2004, and on Friday, the alternative metal group's former frontman, Perry Farrell, led his new band in a show-opening set.

Satellite Party released its debut, "Ultra Payloaded," earlier this year. But the fans, much like they would do later in the evening, gave a comparatively lukewarm reception to the new material. Instead, they favored hits from the late '80s and early '90s.

The Jane's Addiction hits "Mountain Song" and "Been Caught Stealing" garnered the largest applause until Farrell closed his group's hour-long set with the anthemic "Jane Says."

Neither of the group's new albums have connected with long-time fans the way their earlier material did. By and large, Farrell and Corgan's fans have stopped waiting for the band leaders to deliver another round of classics.

But for those in attendance on Friday night, the new material served as a precursor to several chart-topping trips down memory lane.

Matt Wastradowski can be reached at 360-759-8053 or matt.wastradowski@columbian.com.

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