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For More On Jane's Addiction Visit: |
Jane’s
Addiction released their fourth studio album titled “The Great Escape
Artist” in October and plan on hitting the road to support the album on
February 22nd on
the Theatre of the
Escapists Tour. It’s been eight years
since their last studio album and it was well worth the wait.
SO:
On
October 18th you
released your latest album titled “The Great Escape Artist.” This is
your first studio album in eight years. Did it feel good to be putting
out another album with Jane’s Addiction?
Stephen/JA:
It really does because we’ve only made four studio records in three
decades, so we obviously take our time. We do it when it feels right. I
appreciate bands that power through and carry on when they go through
changes and go through some tragic stuff. In Jane’s Addiction, we feel
like if we are not completely on the same page and we are not having a
great time with it, then we do not commit to a record or a tour because
at the time if we are not getting into it and we don’t really love each
other, then it is hard to show up at the studio, make great music and
really stand behind it. That’s why we don’t make that many records
because when we feel it, we go for it and when we don’t, we pull back. With Jane’s Addiction, when you hear us together, it
truly sounds like us, but when you hear our projects that are separate
it really doesn’t sound like Jane’s Addiction. Perry’s music, David’s or
mine is all quite different from what Jane’s would do. It’s really the
chemicals and the chemistry when we get together that makes that sound.
When we are committed to each other, I think we can make beautiful music
and great live shows. When we are not, let’s call it quits and not fake
it or do it for the money. You can get a million bucks if you go on tour
all year, but we’re not liking each other, so f___ it! It really felt
good to be in the position, not even to make new music, but in the
position where we can look at each other and say “Yeah, we want to make
new music with each other. Let’s commit.”
It is a great thing to make a new record. It’s a great
thing to go through it, learn and figure out what works and what doesn’t
in the environment of today’s music and what we still want to do as far
as being a dangerous band. To me, there are a lot of different types of
music, but it doesn’t have the sense of danger even if it’s jazz or pop
or even classical. If they weren’t pressing the envelope at the time,
it’s a bore. I think it’s really important to move forward and not go
back. Dave and I have been playing since we were thirteen and I met
Perry when I was seventeen, so these guys are my partners for life in
music, but how do you move forward because you have old habits? Even if
the old habits are ethic and I love old habits because that is what made
the sound in the old days, how do you move forward and stay committed to
great songwriting and that sense of danger where even if you fail, at
least you tried. I feel like a lot of bands today,
producers, record labels and the whole machine would rather have it
safe. If it’s an Oreo cookie, why change it? But at the same time, if
you are a cookie, you don’t want to be the same cookie everyday. You
want to grow a lot. So it was very exciting to make a new record and it
was very exiting to have Navarro in my life everyday, which we used to
have in the high school days. Seeing my friends daily is a great
experience because you start to make art together and of course you have
the business side where you have to make decisions about money and
contracts, but we are older now, so we can look at things a little more
evenly. We know what is right and wrong.
Even if we are doing the wrong thing, at least we
are aware of it. Back in the day we weren’t even aware of what we were
really doing, we were just going for it. Now we know how to run the
business better and run the friendships better. It makes the whole
machine a little more lubricated so that no one can f___with us while we
are being creative because we know how to take care of our business now. We started the idea of making new music when Eric, the
original bass player was still in the band during the Nine Inch Nails
tour, and like I said earlier we knew it was a major commitment whether
it was a month or a year and we could not start it and not finish it. So
I don’t think Eric was ready for that. Then we had Duff from Guns N Roses in the band and he
was a wonderful experience, but he also was probably seeing what I was
talking about with it being a commitment that me, Dave and Perry are
committed to. He has a huge career in other bands, so he probably saw
the writing on the wall that this is going to take a while. I appreciate
that he wasn’t ready for that. Both are great musicians and great
people, but at the same time to commit to Jane’s Addiction was not in
their books. We were very fortunate to find Rich Costey, who helped
produce the record and he introduced us to Dave Sitek the guitar player
and mastermind with TV on the Radio. Dave Sitek, Dave Navarro and I spent a couple months
together without Perry just making noise. Dave Sitek brought keyboards,
basses, guitars, amps, turntables, drum machines, pedals and a whole
assortment of things. Navarro and I are there with some of our old
habits, but beautiful habits and then he showed up and that helped us
create what is the new record. It’s Navarro and I rubbing elbows with
Dave Sitek, Rich Costey and of course Perry as well. It was really
exciting for me to go through the process. Dave Sitek is ultra aware of new music, new rhythms
and the way people make those rhythms, which is usually with a finger on
an iPad or computer. So I would lay down a tribal beat, he would sit
there with a drum machine doing something he was working on and all of a
sudden we have a hybrid and on and on it went. It was organic. We never
ignored technology, but we never let it stir the pot to the point where
it didn’t sound like us anymore.
SD: Is
there an underlying theme to the record? Is it written about the LA
underground scene?
Stephen/JA:
Well to me, lyrically and musically, I think each song has its own
universe and its own solar system. They all connect because of the
musicians and Perry’s poems. They all seem to be interconnected through
his life experience. I wouldn’t say that it is song per song connected
and threaded together in a purpose. I think each song should be born,
matured and then put on the record before you go for the next song. In
the end, musically and lyrically, they all start to work together
because you work on this thing for a year and they are all together on
the same canvas.
I’ve done so much work on the music that it has been a
while since I’ve listened to the record. Once it’s done, and a lot of
musicians and actors will say the same thing, once they are done with
the project, they don’t go see the final project or if they do they
don’t go watch it over and over or listen to it over and over. I feel
the same way with all of our records. It’s an achievement, it’s a piece
of art, but I have to move forward. The new record is definitely that.
When I hear it I can hear what happened to get there. It is hard to hear
it as a song because I made it. When I listen to a Jane’s song I
remember the part’s that we put into it, the time we wrote it and where
we rehearsed it. It’s beautiful to listen to the record; it’s not
fragmented, but its memories. It’s like postcards from the last year for
me.
SD: Did
Perry design the album cover?
Stephen/JA:
Perry did the album cover as he usually does and there were also many
ideas that went into that. When working with a label, there are
deadlines and other things that go into the music, production, artwork
and the fonts, you know, the size of the words on the record. Everything
has to be chosen, not like in the old days where you really had to do it
homegrown. We had a chance to at least present it as a final product. Now things are so different and things have to get
done hand in hand with the people at EMI and Capitol. It’s a combination
of a bunch of people working on a project now. The band did the music,
Perry did the lyrics and it was a great experience. Then you put in
Capitol’s hands, which is so odd nowadays that labels have any strings
at all. We still owed Capitol Records from
Strays because
Strays
was a two record deal. We gave them
Strays
and then broke up, so we actually owed them a record. If we were going
to make a Jane’s record, it had to go to Capitol. So now we are at the
point where this is our final record with EMI and Capitol for better or
worse. It is a strange cookie cutter combination of these
labels not wanting to grow and change, but they need to. They make a lot
of money at Capitol with the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and the Beatles
catalog as well as with their new bands Katy Perry, Coldplay and some of
the newer bands that give them a little bit of credit as far as cash
flow. As far as Jane’s Addiction, they don’t know what the
f___ to do with us. We are not a band that you put out like the Chili’s
where you know the stations are going to play the record. You’ve got to
work us and we’ve got to go out and work a tour. It’s an odd little
combination with us and Capitol, but we are getting through it. We try
to keep a level of coolness as far as where we are playing, who we are
playing with and what we are doing.
SD: Do
you still prefer going out and buying actual CD’s or do you like to get
your music digitally?
Stephen/JA:
I haven’t bought a CD in a long time to be honest, but on tour you end
up in some cities that still have CD shops. If you are in I’m accepting the way it works. I used to love to be
at Tower Records and in record shops. It was definitely a way to present
your music. Now it’s just like anything else, it passes by and people
don’t pay too much attention to music. You do have a certain core
audience that loves bands and they will still exist forever, but it’s
kind of lost that art and that magic. You have to make great music and
great choices with that music. If you are going to place it in a movie,
make sure it’s a Scorsese movie. It’s not really about making money in
the corporate world, it’s really about making art. With the Jane’s
records, that is why we have only made four. If we really wanted to make
money, we could cash in and keep making them. Warner Bros. did do a lot of what I consider Greatest
Hits Jane’s records. They compiled a bunch of old demos and all this
stuff, but we never had hits though, so basically they are just
compiling some great stuff. If people love our band, they can hear
everything we ever did. If you are not infatuated with Jane, then those
records don’t really mean much. We didn’t sweat over them like we did
this one.
SD: I
watched your video for “Underground” on Playboy.com. First of all, what
a great video, it flowed with the song so well. What was it about the
video that made it unfit for YouTube? Was it the brief one second shot
of nudity?
Stephen/JA:
Yeah, there are a few rules that we have to deal with. If you are
implying things like rape or cocaine use or whatever the hell they think
it implies. That is where they draw the line. It’s a realistic view of
what is going on in some people’s worlds. I love the fact that you can
walk by people’s houses and you have no idea what is going on behind the
windows. If you had a camera with Jane’s Addiction on tour, it
would be a lot sicker than anything we could produce. I don’t know what
this tour is going to call for because we leave in a month, but
something fun and unusual always starts to unravel as you get out there
with your boys on a bus and you are seeing new people everyday. You are
playing your music and you are becoming more in touch with art and less
in touch with the bullshit that you live with when you are out in the
world. You start to become a little looser, not that the lines start
getting erased, but you start realizing there were never any lines
anyways. I think it is important as an artist to get to that point.
SD: You
guys will be heading out on the Theatre of the Escapists Tour come
February 22nd.
What’s different about this tour is you will be playing in mostly
classic theatres.
Who will be on the tour with you? Can you give us
a little insight on what the stage show will be like?
Stephen/JA:
We’ve got some great ideas as far as different acts. We are still
dealing with a few different decisions on who is the right fit, for
where and when. I think what we have planned for the onstage performance
is really exciting and in true Jane’s Addiction fashion. I think the
theatres are a perfect fit for what we want to do. It’s nothing too big
and nothing too small. It’s a great spot where everyone in the house can
see what’s happening and hear it perfectly. We are excited to play the new
stuff, the old stuff and make up some new _____. We are hungry to get
out there and do a different type of tour. When we get to the big stage
in England and we are on a f_______ festival with thirty other bands,
you play a certain way. We you are in a tiny little club in
If you’re old enough, check out the
latest Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”, it’s on Playboy.com due
to its risqué nature.
While
you are at it take a look at Stephen’s art work that he does using his
drumsticks at
http://www.theartofstephenperkins.com/
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It
took almost a year to make the record, so that is a commitment that me,
Dave and Perry made to each other to make a great record. We could make
music overnight, but would it be the next Jane’s record? Would it stand
next to
Ritual or
Strays
or Nothing’s Shocking? That to me
is the commitment because if we went in tonight and made a song, it
might be a cool song, but I don’t know if it would be the next Jane’s.
We knew we would have to bite and chew and chew and chew. It took blood,
sweat and tears to get there and that’s what make’s it a real Jane’s
record. We went through the same pain, suffering, pleasure and the
actual rejoicing of having new music for the first three records.
Producing
this video and trying to make it dangerous and classy at the same time,
I think we did a cool job and I love it. I really dig the “Irresistible
Force” video. I think my favorite was the “End to the Lies” video, the
first one we did. I think we did some great stuff with this record. It’s
artistic, it’s unusual and to me that is really where we are at. It’s
Jane’s Addiction at the point where me and Navarro are 44 and Perry is
52, but I still feel like we can f___ the hell out of the world. We
still look great and we have a great time with each other and I think
that goes into the music. You can actually hear that we are f_______
enjoying this. |
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