A few random ramblings…

I’m loathe to quote song lyrics or anything quite so trite… but this really suits my mood at the moment.

And why is this?

Simple. For the first time in 17 years, the original lineup of Jane’s Addiction has performed together… and even better, they are touring and recording…

But where it goes from being great to being a moment worthy of a post-come down cigarette is this… they are touring with Nine Inch Nails, and recording with Trent Reznor producing in the studio.

Admittedly, my interest in Jane’s Addiction has waned a little over the past couple of years. Their last album, Strays, was good… but I see it as a step backwards from the epic works of art like Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual. Much has been written about the art, majesty and pure genius that was Jane’s Addiction in their heyday. And rightly so, since few before and since have so effortless glided from theme to theme, topic to topic, style to eclectic style.

I’ll readily admit that when Nothing’s Shocking first came out, I was completely oblivious. Despite being raised in a musically eclectic household, where records (and I do mean vinyl LP’s) by Jean Michel Jarre played as often as those by Jimi Hendrix, my musical awakening didn’t occur until nearly 2 years after this albums release… and even then, that was to bands like New Order, Depeche Mode and The Cure.

Ironically, bands like The Cure and New Order’s predecessor, Joy Division, were major influences for Jane’s Addiction… so I guess you could say that it was good preparation for what was to come.

And in Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction created a dynamic sonic landscape that drifted from songs about surfing and homelessness to serial killers, wilting summer days and drug addicted hookers.

As a major label debut, it is a brilliant effort, but like many debut albums, it was years in the making. In fact, much of the material for it’s successor, Ritual de lo Habitual, was penned around the same time as the songs for Nothing’s Shocking.

Ritual de lo Habitual is a watershed album… and there is little doubt in my mind that when combined with Nothing’s Shocking, represent the reason and the ultimate trigger for this reformation… receiving the NME’s Award for Godlike Genius.

Previous recipients of this award include, strangely enough, New Order… so in my opinion, Jane’s Addiction are well deserved of being included in this crowd. Of course, the aspect that fans are discussing most is not whether or not they deserved it, and believe me there is much debate on THAT topic, but whether or not Eric Avery would finally reunite with Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins.

Thankfully, he did… and most of all, for the right reasons. Not for fame, not for money, and not, as he put it, to be a bad 20-years-older parody of himself in what many consider his peak of creativity… but to honour the legacy of a band that almost singlehandedly brought alternative music to the masses and lead to the creation of numerous other musical acts.

At the end of the day, a lot of BS gets tossed back and forth about the motivations of the members of Jane’s Addiction. One of the myriad reasons for the bands original demise was the commercial aspect, in the form of how to split royalties, and many fans and detractors still accuse them of being commercially focussed. Personally, I look past all that at their creative output and let the art speak for itself.

With Deconstruction’s self titled album, born of the aftermath and Dave and Eric’s attempts to deal with the disillusionment that arose, you have a great example of art for it’s own sake. It is, to use the term, a cult classic. Porno for Pyros, the band created by Perry and Stephen, also launched well with some excellent tunes and some commercial success.

Dave would ultimately join the Red Hot Chili Peppers, release one album, slide in and out of drug addiction and release a dark and revealing solo album in the form of Trust No One, before returning to Jane’s Addiction.

Perry Farrell released Songs Yet To Be Sung, DJ’d and along with Stephen Perkins and a host of different musicians in P4P, released a second album before disbanding.

Stephen Perkins would form Banyan, a musicians collective with no real agenda beyond playing great music. He would also work as a session musician with acts too cool and numerous to mention.

And Eric, he would ultimately hold his ground and work in the way that he’d always said he’d wanted to… for the art, the music. Of course, it didn’t mean that a paycheck didn’t have to accompany all that, and to that end he would find the yin of his solo work, culminating in Help Wanted, balanced by the yang of music street cred in playing as touring bassist for the band Garbage.

Meanwhile, Jane’s always sat in a special place in the hearts of fans and band members alike. Anthony Kiedis (RHCP’s vocalist, as if you didn’t already know) has stated that when he saw the change in Dave Navarro on stage with the reformed (relapsed) Jane’s Addiction near the end of his tenure with the Peppers, he knew that Jane’s would always be Dave’s true home. Likewise, reactions from fans to post-Jane’s projects has always been divided and relatively lukewarm.

It made perfect sense when Warner decided to release Kettle Whistle, a collection of unreleased demo and live tracks, accompanied by two new tracks (actually old tracks, never before recorded, only previously available on bootlegs), that Jane’s Addiction would reunite… or so 3 members thought. Sticking to his guns, and maintaining that his reasons for leaving had not changed, Eric Avery declined and was replaced by Flea (of RHCP fame). The DVD Three Days was recorded during this time and shows the band on the road in all it’s raw darkness and glory.

Eventually, the three original members would find the lure of new material and the studio too much to resist. With newly recruited full time member Chris Chaney, they would record Strays, and tour the world once more. Luckily, I finally got to see them live at the one opportunity I would have to do so, before they would ultimately break up again in 2004, citing the same frictions and issues that caused the first break up.

Since then, Dave, Steve and Chris formed The Panic Channel with ex-MTV VJ Steve Isaacs, releasing the album (One) to mostly ambivalent reviews. Early bootlegs of live gigs were promising, but the finished product shows that an artist should learn to recognise when too much work ruins the art. It is the one album in Dave Navarro’s back catalogue I do not own.

Perry would go on to form Satellite Party with Nuno Bettencourt (from the band Extreme) and release UltraPayloaded. Like (ONe), it is an album that promised more than delivered and was ultimately relegated to ‘future bargain bin purchase’.

And so, in 2008, NME recognised what fans all had known for decades… that the collective genius that was Jane’s Addiction will never be recreated by it’s individual members… that the whole in this case is most definitely greater than the sum of the parts… that true vision is rarely appreciated in it’s time, and posthumously lamented after that time has past.

And finally, as fates would play out… so too would the original members all recognise that they can create more music together that honours the past, not sacrificing it in a sell out to the highest bidder.

And what better way to do it than with the help of one of their biggest fans, Trent Reznor.

The chinese have an old saying… “May you live in interesting times”.

Guess we’re already there…. and bring it on, I say!

I wanna be as deep as the ocean… mother ocean.