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Stephen Perkins
(August 2003 Issue)
The Return Of Jane's Addiction The candle that burns
twice as brightly burns half as long. That
saying seems appropriate
when discussing the flare-out of a staggeringly influential band like
LA's alternative rock
pioneers Jane's Addiction. "We had a moment in
1986 when music was ready for a change, and we were happy to do
it,"
says Stephen Perkins, who joined Jane's when he was just eighteen. In
1991, after a year-long tour supporting its
acclaimed sophomore
release, Ritual De Lo Habitual, the band burned itself out
creatively. "At that time, there was no
chance of going into the studio
again," Perkins explains. "There was no steam left, and we didn't know
how to
refuel."
Twelve years later, original Jane's Addiction
members Perry Farrell (vocals), Dave Navarro (guitar), and
Perkins
returned to the studio with new bassist Chris Chaney, whom Stephen met
when they both toured with Tommy
Lee's Methods Of Mayhem. Hypersonic, the group's unexpected comeback, revisits the percussive tribalness
that's both Perkins' calling card and the core of the Jane's Addiction sound.
This summer,
Jane's Addiction hits the road with 2003's version of
Lollapalooza, the alternative rock festival founded by Farrell in
1991.
If anyone could bring Lollapalooza back, says Perkins, Jane's Addiction
was the band to make it happen. "When
we put the feelers out and the
best bands came back to us, we thought, 'Okay, this must be right.'"
The
Festival's line-up features Audioslave, Incubus, Queens Of The
Stone Age, and The Donnas.
At this point in his
career, Stephen admits nothing's better than
having Jane's Addiction back together as a working band. "The band
is
so powerful now, it's like driving a Ferrari. We took thirteen years
off, and now people are ready for us again. It's
a wonderful time!"
Gail Worley
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