Dave Navarro recently was interviewed by Kyle Meredith to talk about the latest Jane’s Addiction reunion, which finds alt-rock legends joined by original bassist Eric Avery for the first time in over three decades. Jane’s Addiction formed in 1985 and became one of the first bands to lead the alternative rock movement of the ’90s. The band penned a variety of chart-topping hits including “Been Caught Stealing,” “Just Because” and “Jane Says.”
The band parted ways on a couple of different occasions throughout its nearly 40-year history, with its latest full-band break-up taking place in 2004. Since then, original members of Jane’s Addiction have dropped in and out of the group.
Dave Navarro opens up on Jane’s Addiction
Navarro discussed how the original members of Jane’s Addition came back together, what it means to be making new music again, and how they’ve grown as people while retaining what makes them special as a band.
The guitarist also about the errors he feels they’ve all made throughout recent decades, and the distractions of fame. Alternative Nation transcribed his remarks.
“I appreciate that because I think that we were doing it. If I can be so bold, I really, the past 20 years or so. I don’t think we’ve been doing it the right way. You know, I think we’ve been a little bit too showbiz. I think that we’ve been a little too production-oriented. I think that we’ve had to me, you know, distractions. And, now that we brought the original lineup back together and really feel like what it feels like to make this music, we don’t need any of that stuff that we had because this, this is what people cared about in 1988.
Dave Navarro added:
“And it’s what they should care about now. They want to come and see us, you know what I mean? It’s like, I don’t. If someone says, ‘you see the James E. Chinchot, they had this and they had that and they had fire and they had smoking. Like, Rammstein, you know what I mean?’ Which I f***ing love their production. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against production. And those guys do it f***ing right. But, you know what I mean? That’s what we would have put it for somebody who walked away from our shows going, did you see the the ferris wheel they had with the guy? Like, I’m just like, no, ‘you you’ve taken away the wrong thing, man. I mean, that’s not the thing that we’re presenting you with.’ That’s just some guy we hired to do a little, acrobatic display of whatever behind us. And if you walk away talking about that, we’re not doing our job right. And job, yeah. Well, so, but yeah, this feels totally different. And so I would I would I appreciate you saying that it matters because I do think, in hindsight, that we have taken a lot of wrong turns to get where we are.”
“You know, listen, I contributed myself by like going on TV shows and doing this and just
getting distraction and like, you know, becoming, the Inkmaster Guy and not the musician guy, like, so the whole band would be in the airport and people would run onto me and go, you know, ‘Inkmaster Guy’ and I have no idea that there’s music that, the episode of Inkmaster goes away once you’ve seen it. We have spent our lives working on music that’s here forever and you just don’t even know that. I don’t fault them for it, you know what I mean? But I will take accountability for being one of the wrong turns along the way in addition to some of the collective wrong turns we’ve taken. And I think that we’re all kind of on the same page about not repeating those mistakes.”
Dave Navarro said:
“Well, I think also, I thought, I think also, like, you know, having a little bit of volatility remain within the band is what makes it feel original. Because in the beginning, it was volatile. And right now, it gets all at all. Not all the time, not like it used to. We’ve grown up, we’ve let go of egos, we’ve let go of a lot of like, petty little bullsh*t, we’ve let go of like, who gets the spotlight or whatever, you know, all about the shit that when you’re a f***ing, you know, teenager, like, you really think matters. We didn’t know we don’t care about that shit, but we still clash in a lot of ways, you know, and more behind the scenes really, not even in an entertainment level. But I think, unfortunately and unfortunately that component is a key magical piece to the formula of Jane’s Addiction because if we are all going on jet skiing trips over the weekend together, I don’t think you’d get the same show.”
The band dropped their latest single, “Imminent Redemption” on July 24. Jane’s Addiction returned in mid-June with news of co-headlining North American tour dates with Love and Rockets which kicked off on August 9 in Las Vegas, NV, and will run through September 26 in Indianapolis, IN.
