Life of the Satellite Party [Interview]

[Mike]

Life of the Satellite Party

Alt-rock icon Perry Farrell invites the world to his latest shindig

~ By MATTHEW SINGER ~

Even when he used to sing about junkies, disfigured bodies and pissing on himself in the shower, Perry Farrell was alt-rock’s ultimate party host. Only, back then, the party he appeared to be hosting was the end of civilization. In the early 1990s, Jane’s Addiction were the Dionysian pagan-gods of Alternative Nation, and Farrell was their head hedonist, a dreadlocked, omnisexual Ichabod Crane — all skin and bones and pointy nose — caterwauling over the band’s bruising amalgam of post-Zeppelin guitar thunder, backbreaking funk and doomsday psychedelia in a pinched nasal whinny of a voice. Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, the twin classics released during the group’s first run, were filled with images of death, decadence and societal decay. And yet, both records were far from being downers. In fact, Farrell often sounded utterly ebullient on them. He seemed to be reveling in the world’s quickening destruction, hastened by jingoistic leaders and an accelerated media selling sex and violence to the masses, and as such, appointed himself to a crucial position: MC for the apocalypse.

The world hasn’t changed much since, of course. There are wars in the Middle East, a Bush in the White House, televised freak shows posing as news programs, etc. And on Ultra Payloaded, the debut album from Farrell’s newest project Satellite Party, the 48-year-old former Peretz Bernstein is still the shamanistic ringmaster he has always been. Except now, instead of celebrating the degradation of mankind, he is trying to save it, literally — through his environmental and human rights work — and musically.

Conceptually, Ultra Payloaded tells the story of the Solutionists, a gang of revolutionaries aiming to solve the Earth’s problems by, in essence, turning the planet into one gigantic Burning Man festival. Farrell’s goal with the real Satellite Party is much the same: to foster a sense of individual expression and creative independence in people around the globe. And, according to the frontman, we’re almost there already.

“We’re living in a do-it-yourself world where we don’t need big business, corporations, executives, bean counters, the G8 — we don’t need these people,” Farrell says. “It is a level playing field today with the Internet and digital media … We can promote ourselves, market ourselves, sell ourselves, we can go out into the streets and perform, we can reclaim this world, and we can reflect upon the world and offer the world solutions and refashion this world. Riding on a bus as we travel to the next city, and that evening we can go into that city and perform for people and create community. That’s what this group does, and that’s what the story’s about.”

As hopeful as this all sounds, Satellite Party was born at a time of great strife for Farrell. When he began working on the project three years ago, his professional life was in shambles: the reunited Jane’s had just re-broken up, his relationship with guitarist Dave Navarro proving to be irreparably fractured; and his baby, Lollapalooza — the traveling music festival he co-created and nurtured into a behemoth in the 1990s — had tried and failed (rather miserably) to revive itself. Originally, the project wasn’t meant to be more than a near-wordless experiment with electronic beats. As he got deeper into it, “it really started to take on a life of its own,” Farrell says. “People started to contact me that were friends of mine that wanted to write and co-write songs, and I added them into the admixture.” Those friends included New Order bassist Peter Hook, Flea and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie and, strangely, the ghost of Jim Morrison — through his friendship with the surviving Doors, Farrell wound up in possession of one of Morrison’s last recordings, which became the basis for the dreamy “Woman in the Window,” among the first Satellite Party tracks released to the public.

For most fans, though, Farrell dueting with a guy who has been dead for 36 years was a lot less weird than who he recruited to play guitar: Nuno Bettencourt, a former member of Extreme, purveyors of the slick, safe corporate rock Jane’s Addiction helped euthanize 20 years ago. (Farrell claims not to have known anything about Bettencourt’s history when they initially hooked up, which is probably true — it’d be amazing if he remembered anything about the ’80s, let alone the guitarist for a semi-popular pop-metal band.) As it turns out, those who doubted the success of the collaboration were right: In July, two months after the release of Ultra Payloaded, Bettencourt quit (taking drummer Kevin Figueiredo with him), saying he “always felt uncomfortable” with the lineup and the band’s live show. Farrell admits he and Bettencourt clashed over the conceptual direction of the group.

“This project is music and more. It is a hybrid — it is light and it’s flexible and it has a lot of vitality,” he says, adding, “Sometimes a veteran might not be the one you need. You might need a young, enthusiastic person who is eager and willing to pay his dues and get out there and bust their hump and enjoy themselves under less-than-ideal conditions … My parties are sexy, they’re unisexual, they’re revolutionary, they’re wild, and I like to keep them that way.”

Farrell did replace Bettencourt with a younger musician, Nick Perri of Philadelphia-based blues rockers Silvertide, cementing a touring lineup that includes new drummer Jordan Plosky, bassist Carl Restivo and Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau, as backup singer. (“Having women at a party is a requisite,” he explains. “It’s a must. To not have women around, it’s definitely something else. If you want to have your club filled with guys, go ahead. Me, if you don’t have four girls to every two guys, you’re not coming in.”) However, for Farrell, Satellite Party remains more of an idea than a traditional band. He isn’t sure what form it will take next — he is considering adapting Ultra Payloaded into a film or stage play — but “if it ever turns into an album,” he says, “it sure is not going to be pressed up on a CD.” In an effort to preserve natural resources, Farrell tried to convince Columbia Records to make the band’s debut available exclusively through the Internet, but the label refused. As a result of that and several other disputes, Farrell recently left Columbia and started his own imprint, Bells Are Ringing. From now on, he promises all his business conducted digitally. “I’m done with CDs,” Farrell says.

What Farrell isn’t yet finished with, however, is his past. Live, Farrell continues to perform reimagined versions of Jane’s Addiction songs, as well as material from his first post-Jane’s ensemble, Porno for Pyros. Although he is hosting a different kind of party today, Farrell says he will never completely leave behind the one that made him famous.

“I’ve got a beautiful thing I can offer people. I can go in and sing a song that they love and they know, and I don’t want to look at that as anything other than a blessing,” he says. “When I sing the Jane’s songs, they go someplace in their minds, and for them, they love it. That’s why they’re there in the first place, because I’m the guy who can sing it. I love the fact that in my lifetime I can actually do that. That’s the ambition of all musicians: to have a song they can break out and send people to a place in their hearts and their heads where they’re happy.”


10-4-07

http://www.vcreporter.com/article.php?i ... sueNum=144

[hydro]

Life of the Satellite Party

“I’ve got a beautiful thing I can offer people. I can go in and sing a song that they love and they know, and I don’t want to look at that as anything other than a blessing,” he says. “When I sing the Jane’s songs, they go someplace in their minds, and for them, they love it. That’s why they’re there in the first place, because I’m the guy who can sing it. I love the fact that in my lifetime I can actually do that. That’s the ambition of all musicians: to have a song they can break out and send people to a place in their hearts and their heads where they’re happy.”


10-4-07

http://www.vcreporter.com/article.php?i ... sueNum=144

im still stuck in that some place in my head!The feelings Perry is giving all of us is magical!!!THANK U PERRY!!!
it truly is a blessing to be 32 and still feel 16 in your heart and soul!

Punks not dead!!!!!......just evolving

[hydro]

Life of the Satellite Party



For most fans, though, Farrell dueting with a guy who has been dead for 36 years was a lot less weird than who he recruited to play guitar: Nuno Bettencourt, a former member of Extreme, purveyors of the slick, safe corporate rock Jane’s Addiction helped euthanize 20 years ago. (Farrell claims not to have known anything about Bettencourt’s history when they initially hooked up, which is probably true — it’d be amazing if he remembered anything about the ’80s, let alone the guitarist for a semi-popular pop-metal band.) As it turns out, those who doubted the success of the collaboration were right: In July, two months after the release of Ultra Payloaded, Bettencourt quit (taking drummer Kevin Figueiredo with him), saying he “always felt uncomfortable” with the lineup and the band’s live show. Farrell admits he and Bettencourt clashed over the conceptual direction of the group.

“
10-4-07

http://www.vcreporter.com/article.php?i ... sueNum=144

buh bye Nunno Benunno it wouldnt be the same with you
i couldnt imagain being at a perry show with 80's Extreme fans wearing mullets and nascar T-shirts and cowboy boots on,werent they the ones that always made fun of us"freaks"haha

[bman]

I'm 33 and have been blasting JAnes/Perry music since 1990 (Pissing off more than a few friends)..
Perryz music is the only music that makes me shake my bones and get excited with hope..

Gimme some more dates Perry!!!!!

[Alisa]

Oh god yes I know how you feel... been listening to his work since I was about 12 yrs old, wow thats 17 yrs now...
I was lucky enough to meet Perry in Vancouver before his show at the Commodore, had him sign my ticket, he was giving away tix to the show that night to ppl he would meet, (I could not believe it was not sold out) had bought my tic in advance!
I talked to him about silly things but he made me feel okay with that, it was like talking to an old friend I had not seen for some time.
Perry Thank You so much, I personally don't know where I'd be without Jane's and Perry in general.