Bassist Eric Avery Officially Leaves Jane’s Addiction
The reunion of Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking-era lineup has officially come to an end: bassist Eric Avery, who rejoined his bandmates in 2008 after their initial breakup 17 years prior, revealed on his Twitter that he has left the band. As Jane’s recent tour of Australia concluded, Avery wrote, “That’s it. With equal parts regret and relief, the Jane’s Addiction experiment is at an end.” Avery had previously fueled rumors that he was on the outs with Jane’s after tweeting in January that he was not participating in the band’s writing sessions. “Yes, Eric Avery has left the band. More to come but we wish him all the best!” Dave Navarro confirmed on his Twitter yesterday.
Chart Jane’s Addiction’s history in photos.
Avery never seemed completely sold on Jane’s fresh start, and when Rolling Stone talked to him in 2009, he said he had always been opposed to reunions. “I just didn’t like the idea of doing reunions, period. I could only see it as I’d just be going over the same old ground. I’m only years older and fatter and I’ll just do an older, fatter version of me,” Avery told RS, adding that he changed his stance when the NME Awards honored the group with a Godlike Genius Award. “Later I thought more about it and I thought, ‘This isn’t really different. They aren’t asking me to relive some days gone by. They are just saying let’s honor the past.’ I decided to do it.”
The reformed Jane’s Addiction went on to rock SXSW, tour with Nine Inch Nails and headline Lollapalooza, but Avery told RS that the clash of personalities that tore the band apart just two albums into their career still remained. “People make it a lot about the interpersonal relationships and there is that sort of tension there, but for me its just about ‘Are we good?,’ ” Avery said. “We’ll take it a step at a time. If we all hate each other, but we’re doing great work, okay. I could probably get it done. As long as the work at the end of the day is great. We’ll see.”
Jane’s live: check out photos from the band’s NIN/JA tour.
Though Avery is out of the band, it appears Perry Farrell, Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins will continue performing together as Jane’s Addiction, as they did for 2003’s Strays. In fact, the group reportedly have already recruited a big-name bassist to fill in for Avery, adding Guns n’ Roses/Velvet Revolver musician Duff McKagan. When Rolling Stone spoke to Slash about the state of Velvet Revolver, the guitarist said, “I think Duff [McKagan] is doing something with Jane’s Addiction right now so we’re all sort of all over the place doing whatever until we can all regroup.”
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