JANE'S ADDICTION Guitarist Says Performing New Songs Has 'Ignited A Sense Of Urgency'

Lina Lecaro of LA Weekly recently conducted an interview with JANE'S ADDICTION guitarist Dave Navarro. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

LA Weekly: The band has such a long and sometimes tumultuous history. In making a new record, were there differences that had to be worked out or was it all smooth sailing?

Navarro: I get asked this so many times and I always fail to come up with a good answer. I've been with this band almost 25 years and I've worked with all these guys in one way or another over the years on different projects. Also keep in mind we'd done extensive touring with NINE INCH NAILS in Europe in 2009. We'd essentially been a working band for two years prior to even thinking about this. Relationships were well established and we just went in and did it. It was pretty natural and a lot of that comes from intuition. You gain that by spending a lot of time together.

LA Weekly: What about the writing and recording process?

Navarro: There was a number of ways we went about it but that's the way JANE'S ADDICTION's always worked, in terms of not having a formula. Some came from jamming, some from working on multi-track... It's difficult for me to describe a process which is primarily felt.

LA Weekly: What made you decide it was time for some new music?

Navarro: At that point, after doing the NAILS tour and the European dates, we were really enjoying the band and being on the road and playing shows. It was about keeping our fans satiated and we wanted to keep going. It's like any relationship. If you're in a relationship and you and your partner don't create new experiences and have new things to bring into it, it's gonna die. I think that another tour just playing "Mountain Song" and "Jane Says" wouldn't be of interest to us, and wouldn't be of interest to anybody else. It's evolve or die. We love playing the old songs, don't get me wrong, but we've added the new stuff, and already it's ignited a sense of urgency and made the flow of the sets feel fresh and new.

LA Weekly: Tell me about your bass players. Eric Avery is the original of course, and you've had Duff McKagan, and even Flea for a little bit. Now it's Chris Chaney. Is he the permanent bassist at this point?

Navarro: He pretty much always was. The only reason he wasn't on the NINE INCH NAILS tour was because Eric came back for that. Chris has been and is a member of JANE'S ADDICTION.

LA Weekly: How has having different bass players affected the band's music?

Navarro: There's only been two, Chris and Eric. There's no recorded music with Duff. As for playing live, I believe that having different influences on stage helps one become a more well-rounded player. I've played with hundreds of different musicians, just with CAMP FREDDY alone. And don't forget Martyn LeNoble played with JANE'S for a couple years too.

Read the entire interview from LA Weekly.