WARRANT Touring Bassist ROBBIE CRANE Says JANI LANE 'Looked Fantastic' And 'Healthy' Shortly Before His Death

In a new interview with Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru, bassist Robbie Crane, who has had stints with Vince Neil's band, RATT and LYNCH MOB, before joining BLACK STAR RIDERS as a full-time member, reflected on his friendship with late WARRANT singer Jani Lane. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[Jani and I had] been friends forever. So prior to his death [in 2011], he moved right up here into Hidden Lake with a publicist gal. He was staying at her place. And I know he was married and he had a wife in Redondo Beach or something, but I didn't really get into it, the whole thing. And he was staying up here, a mile and a half from my house, not even. And so he would come down this way to go to his accountant, who's down right over here in Woodland Hills. And he would always come by my house and knock on my door. I'd look on my Ring camera or through the thing, and my wife would go, 'Jani's at the door.' I'd open the door and [say], 'What's up?' You know that Jani Lane smile. 'Hey, dude, what's up?' He goes, 'Dude, can I borrow a dinner jacket? I'm going to a thing, and I don't have a dinner jacket.' 'Yeah, come in.' 'No, no, I don't wanna come in.' I go, 'Get the fuck in here.' I'd get a jacket and he'd try two or three of 'em on. He'd go, 'Thanks, brother.' And he'd hug me. He sat here with me and my wife and my daughter, and we sat and talked in the weeks prior to [his death. And then about a couple weeks before he passed, he bought an Audi, a new Audi, and he had brought it over to show it to me. And then he came over. The last time I saw him was about a week before he passed. He borrowed a keyboard from me. And that was it."

Asked if Lane seemed to be struggling with his health at that time, Crane said: "Not at all. He looked fantastic. He looked healthy." Robbie then clarified: "I grew up around alcoholism with my family, but I'm a definite victim of not seeing the telltale signs of alcoholism or of drug addiction. I'd never gotten into the heavy drugs. I've tried things, but I've never been a big drug guy. And because of that, I never had that sense, so I never had the thing for it. So if someone would've told me, 'Oh, my God. He was high as hell.' Like, I dated girls for years that were heroin addicts, and I didn't know. I was, like, 'Really? You were a heroin addict?' 'Oh, yeah, I was on heroin the whole time.' 'What?' Or meth or whatever. 'Really? I just thought you were really cheery.' 'Cause I never had a nose for that kind of crap, so I never knew the telltale signs. And so, yeah, he looked great to me and he seemed really happy and seemed very content. And I think if you see the video footage of him — there's some video footage of his last interview or something — he looks great. Obviously he had done some damage to himself with the drinking."

Lane died in August 2011 at age 47. Paramedics found his body in a Comfort Inn motel room in Woodland Hills, California, which is near Los Angeles. Lane had battled alcohol abuse for years.

Reflecting on the day of Jani's death, Robbie said: "When he died, the maid [at the motel] found him, and the guy they called — [Jani] had his number in his pocket — and that guy we all know very well. And they called the number. And I was out of town when it happened. And the guy who they called, who went there to identify him or whatever, called my house. I have it on my phone in the house. He called and was, like, 'Robbie, I'm here with Jani and I think he's dead. Can you come here?' And I was out of town, so I didn't get the message till a week later."

Lane recorded several albums with WARRANT in late 1980s and early 1990s but left the group several times. The band's seventh studio LP, "Born Again", was released in 2006 and featured Jaime St. James as the lead singer. In 2008, Lane returned to WARRANT temporarily and toured with the group. In September that year, WARRANT announced that Jani had left again. The band replaced him with Robert Mason and released its eighth studio album, "Rockaholic", in 2011.

Crane, who has been playing shows with WARRANT as the band's touring bassist when Jerry Dixon is unable to make the gigs, went on to say that he has fond recollections of his late friend.

"I loved Lane and he was always very good to me," Robbie said. "I don't have the history that the WARRANT guys do, and I'd never get into their business; it's not my business. And so he was always very good to me, and he was a sweet dude, man. And he's missed."

He added: "The WARRANT guys pay such a wonderful tribute to him every night. And it made me cry when I first saw it, because [when they perform the song] 'Heaven', they dedicate the song to him, and the screen is a zoomed-in shot of his eyes from the 'Heaven' video, and it slowly pulls out. And it's such a wonderful thing. And he was such a great songwriter. And to play his songs is very inspirational every night. And he's fantastic. It's great to see his music living on in other generations. And those guys do a fantastic job. I think Robert Mason's amazing."

WARRANT's latest album, "Louder Harder Faster" — featuring Mason on vocals — was released in 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl.