Rolling Stone Exclusive Interview w/Perry

[hydro]

Exclusive: Perry Farrell Opens Up About New Dave Sitek-Produced Jane's Addiction LP
Jane's frontman also explains why Eric Avery and Duff McKagan left the group
By Andy Greene
January 12, 2011 5:05 PM EDT




Perry Farrell says that the next Jane's Addiction LP — tentatively titled The Great Escape — sounds unlike anything else the group has ever created. "It's a strange mixture of that post-punk Goth darkness that Jane's had with what's going on today with groups like Muse and Radiohead," he tells Rolling Stone. "As much as I want to appease fans and make old Jane's fans love me, I just can't help myself from moving forward."

Photos: A Brief History of Jane's Addiction

The band has been working on the album at a Los Angeles studio since early December with TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek handling production duties. "The first time we got together was in my garage," says Farrell. "I played him music and explained to him how I've been working the last few years on music. He was so for it. He was a proponent of my message and I was a proponent of the way he works, so we just decided to get together. Now he's a real important person on my life."

Sitek, who plays bass and some guitar on the disc, has spent hours jamming on loose ideas with Jane's guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins. "Then he'd go back and make clips using bits and pieces from the jams," says Farrell. "That requires hours of listening to jams, which I'm not up for. I enjoy writing lyrics and melodies, but I'm not a great instrumentalist, so I leave it up to the professionals."

Photos: Lollapalooza: The Life, Death and Rebirth of America's Storied Rock Festival

Farrell has spent a lot of time at his home studio, honing ideas away from the rest of the band. "I spend five to eight hours straight," he says. "I like throwing ideas down, recording, taking shots, taking more shots, taking a break, having a drink and stepping outside of the process...We already have enough material for three albums."

The songs all relate to the general theme of The Great Escape. "It's conceptual," Farrell says. "It could be escaping to the outdoors, or the great escape could be in your mind. We might even be able to escape the expectations of the old Jane's fans and come out with another great record." Farrell hopes to have a single out in March, and the album on store shelves sometime in the summer.

A tour will follow, but it's unclear who will play bass. Sitek is the fourth person to play bass in the past year for the band. In the summer of 2009 they reunited with original bassist Eric Avery, but he quit after an Australian tour in early 2010. "Eric did not want to record," says Farrell. "So we took him out of the equation. We couldn't live with not recording." (For Avery's side of the story, see video interviews with him here.)

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan replaced Avery, but he left playing a handful of shows with the band. "I couldn't really tell you what his problem was," says Farrell. "You can ask him. He's calling it 'creative differences.' I know he didn't like the idea of electronics at all. That was his complaint. We've got our gripes too, but what's the point?"

Chris Chaney, who played bass with Jane's on their 2003 disc Strays, sat in for a recent New Year's Eve show, but Farrell says he probably won't rejoin the group on a full-time basis. "I've got some ideas," says Farrell. "Amongst them would be Dave Sitek. He's not a guy that likes to go on tours though, so we haven't decided who it will be yet."

Even if Sitek doesn't join the band on tour, Farrell is confident that his contributions to the the new LP will be enough of a gift to the fans. "I want our songs to have a groove impact and hit you like an atom bomb," he says. "We've been doing that, so I feel like I'll die happy after this record."

Jane's Addiction have had countless public spats over the years, and they've broken up three different times — but Farrell says that things are relatively smooth these days. "Dave and Steve and I are like brothers," he says. "I've got children and my kid smacked my other kid in the head this morning, but at the same time they hate being separated. On a plan one will say, 'I wanna sit with my brother.' That's how I feel about Dave and Steve. I hope they'd tell you the same thing."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... p-20110112

[helicine]

In the summer of 2009 they reunited with original bassist Eric Avery, but he quit after an Australian tour in early 2010. "Eric did not want to record," says Farrell. "So we took him out of the equation. We couldn't live with not recording."

[pyro99]

In the summer of 2009 they reunited with original bassist Eric Avery, but he quit after an Australian tour in early 2010. "Eric did not want to record," says Farrell. "So we took him out of the equation. We couldn't live with not recording."

Yes, pretty much. I really do hope this album is good. I really want to like it.

[Jasper]

In the summer of 2009 they reunited with original bassist Eric Avery, but he quit after an Australian tour in early 2010. "Eric did not want to record," says Farrell. "So we took him out of the equation. We couldn't live with not recording."

.
Yes, pretty much. I really do hope this album is good. I really want to like it.

I will still judge the album on its own merits and nothing else, but the above blatantly-false claims by PF are really difficult for me to overlook. What's worse is that he was doing such a good job making the album sound so promising, and then in one stroke he completely undercut his credibility. WHY?! It's a slap in the face to all of us who know better, and who have been telling people to give Perry and the album a chance. I just...aaaaagh. WHY DO THAT?!?!?!

[helicine]

To play devil's advocate here, it is possible that Perry's words were taken out of context, which happens. But yeah, on the bare surface, his comments are skewed. From hearing what (little) has been said about it from Eric, Dave and now Perry, it is probably more that Eric didn't want to write/record the way the rest of the band did - but who knows. Bottom line is, yes, let the music be judged for what it is.

[hydro]

id have to agree with you Erik,that was a vague statement about Eric not wanting to record and could of been takin out of context.

but I do like the sound of this

"It's a strange mixture of that post-punk Goth darkness"

"As much as I want to appease fans and make old Jane's fans love me, I just can't help myself from moving forward."

I feel for Perry here,he is a kind, loving soul who wants to love and be loved.I do think he is hurt over the fans reactions.At the same time he is an artist who has his own ideas and wants to keep up with the times.He wants his music to progress and not regress.We already have the sounds of Jane's Addiction that we grew up too decades ago.
Im excited for a new sound,new ideas.
I have faith in Perry

[bman]

All he meant is that Eric didn't want to record the songs that Perry was coming up with..so in a way, perryz right..eric wasn't into it...We all know this.

[Jasper]

Look, we all know that Eric was trying to record with Jane's, trying very hard, and that he was even willing to tackle one of Perry's ideas about which Steve and Dave were hesitant. You could make a weak attempt to say "well, we weren't there in the room with them, so we don't know exactly what happened," but of course there are recordings of this stuff w/ Eric playing on them, including a rough version of the song I just mentioned, the name of which I forget...maybe it was Embrace the Darkness. Eric wanted to record, and was trying to. The touring, which was not Eric's idea, was proposed when they were in the process of writing and recording. Further, anybody who was reading interviews and tweets and such at that time will recall how Perry made a number of comments about how he didn't want to make an album, that he thought that maybe they could just release a free single every so often, but they might HAVE to make an album because of a contract issue. So the story of how recording is so important to the other three, with Eric holding them back, is just flat-out laughable.

What really jumped out at me was the line about "so we took him out of the equation," which is 100% inarguable bullshit.

Anybody who knows me knows I don't spend my time bashing Perry, but I don't let my loved ones in my close personal life spew lies right in my face, so I'm definitely not going to sit there and accept it from Perry.

[Jasper]

Jeez, I wrote a freakin' book. Bottom line, I don't like being bullshitted. It kind of sets me off.

Anyway, I was thinking about what Hydro wrote, and I think that most of the old Jane's fans like or love Radiohead, and many of them like Muse. I don't think anyone has any kind of issue with Jane's 2011 having different sounds. I know I don't. I just want to the music to be artistic and high quality. Make the music good and people will give you love.

I have a lot of faith in Sitek. No matter what the other three do, the production will at least be interesting, so in that sense, at least, I think the album will be superior to Strays. If the other guys are in the right mindset, (and they might be, considering that they brought in someone like Dave Sitek) the album should not only blow Strays away, but be in a completely different category.

In the end what I really believe in results. Give me good music and I'll believe it's good music. I might even let you get away with bullshitting me a little.

[TrevorAyer]

most media is bullshit, so i'm not sure why eveyone is so offended. perry saying eric didn't want to record was perrys polite way of not calling eric a douche bag instead. kudos for perry. eric is out, end of story, who cares. the notion that eric's presentation is more 'honest' is laughable. writing and recording is all about catching a vibe or a wave and riding it with a little grace intact. u cant go back to the same spot on the beach and expect the same wave everytime. everything that makes a record good is in constant flux. i like the goth reference. that was definately a huge missing factor on strays. if anything perry gave dave and stephen too much writing on that record and it came out metal. perry was very goth and eric understood goth enough to play off of that side of perrys art. and it allowed stephen to bring out his tribal style as opposed to his metal influences. pete was great with playing off of perrys acoustic instincts. it is sad but true that with daves complacency to perform bar band classic rock covers there may be a huge factor in leaning toward the modern rock writing style, but it seems clear that they all are trying to hold that influence at bay and try to create something new. it will be worth a listen for sure. dave has even been playing better music on his dark matter show lately (ooh that reminds me that a new one is probably up) .. more alt goth and less fucking iron maiden and judas priest .. ugh (sorry headbangers) .. all good signs