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Dave Navarro Interview, Jane’s Addiction


The legendary alt-rockers are back with a new album and tour, and according to guitarist Dave Navarro, the band has ‘moved forward.’

By Ed Condran

Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Oct. 19, 2011

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Rock band reunions 
are tricky. 


“They’re usually about one thing,” former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson once said, “money. I doubt that you’ll ever see a Replacements reunion but if you did, it would be all for money.”


For a reunion to work, much is required. A band should look, sound and deliver the energy it provided during its peak. It’s a bonus if the band members get along and it’s laudable if the act releases a decent album.


Jane’s Addiction is one of the few bands to reunite that meets all of the aforementioned criteria.


During a reunion show three years ago at the Austin music confab, South By Southwest, Jane’s Addiction delivered a blistering set at an abandoned supermarket at three in the morning. It was obvious that as a live act, the band wasn’t far removed from the height of its powers back in the late 1980s.


“I remember that show well,” guitarist Dave Navarro tells Atlantic City Weekly. 


“We were playing the Playboy party and people were really into it. We just went out and had a great time together. It was like we had been playing together every night for years. We were locked in.”


It was obvious that Jane’s Addiction still had something to offer, at least as a touring act. 


“We knew that,” Navarro says while calling recently from his Los Angeles home. 


“There’s been a lot of ups and downs in life, but we’ve been able to go back to this band a few times.”


However, the group has rarely found itself in the studio. Jane’s Addiction, which will perform Friday, Oct. 21, at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, is touring behind only its fourth album in its long history. The Great Escape Artist, which dropped Tuesday (Oct. 18), combines the power of early Jane’s Addiction with modern sonic touches. 


“I think we have moved forward in new directions, but we’ve also have some of the common threads that go back to our early days,” Navarro says. “It worked out well in terms of a balancing act.”


Three quarters of the on-again, off-again act are present. Navarro will be flanked by long time co-conspirators, vocalist Perry Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins. Chris Chaney is the group’s latest bassist.


“We feel really good together right now,” Navarro says. “There’s no reason for us not to stick around for awhile. We really had fun making this album. We definitely have something special here.”


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1. JneSays said... on Oct 20, 2011 at 09:29AM

“new album rulez!!!”

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