Jane’s Addiction drummer, Stephen Perkins, is opening the doors to decades of musical history, offering a collection of personally played drums, percussion, and touring gear, with a portion of proceeds supporting the Watts Conservatory of Music.

For more than four decades, Stephen Perkins has built a musical life around rhythm, exploration, and the belief that drums can connect people. Now, for the first time, Perkins is opening a remarkable part of that history to the public.

On September 10, a collection of drums, percussion instruments, touring cases, and other pieces from Perkins’ personal archive will be offered through a special ArtistFirst auction, giving musicians, collectors, and fans an opportunity to own instruments and artifacts connected directly to different chapters of his career. Advertisement

But for Perkins, this is about more than parting with equipment. It is an opportunity to give these instruments a new life, and to use a portion of the proceeds to help create musical opportunities for others through the Watts Conservatory of Music, where Perkins serves as a board member, teacher, and performer.

A Life Told Through Drums

Born in Los Angeles in 1967, Perkins picked up his first pair of drumsticks at eight years old. What followed became one of the most distinctive drumming careers to emerge from the Los Angeles music scene.

In 1986, he became a founding member and drummer of Jane’s Addiction, alongside Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, and Eric Avery. Perkins’ combination of explosive rock drumming, deep groove, percussion, improvisation, and musical curiosity became an essential part of the band’s sound. Advertisement

But his musical path continued well beyond Jane’s Addiction. Perkins played with Infectious Grooves in the early 1990s and went on to form Porno for Pyros with Perry Farrell, Peter DiStefano, and Martyn LeNoble in 1993. He later created the experimental project Banyan, working with musicians including Mike Watt, Nels Cline, and Mark Nishita, and co-created The Panic Channel in 2006. His career has also included touring with Tommy Lee’s Methods of Mayhem in 1999–2000, and other projects including HELLRIDE, The Halloween Jack, THINK, and Banyan, as well as with a wide range of other artists.

Across those decades, the instruments traveled with him. They entered studios, crossed stages, survived tours, and became part of performances and recordings that defined different periods of Perkins’ musical life. That history is what makes this collection different from simply acquiring vintage or high-end drum equipment. These are pieces of a working drummer’s story.

Inside the Stephen Perkins Collection

The ArtistFirst collection spans multiple eras of Perkins’ career and includes an extraordinary selection of DW drum kits, percussion instruments, road cases, and personal touring equipment. Among the collection is a 1992 DW Porno for Pyros kit in orange, connecting directly to the period surrounding the formation of the band. Other drum kits include a 1997 DW Champagne Sparkle Short Stack, a 2006 DW Jimmy Page Custom in Sunburst, a 2008 DW Tribes Kit from the Exotic Series, a 2010 DW Jazz Series kit in Titanium Satin, and a 2011 DW Custom kit in Black Gun Metal Sparkle. The collection of instruments also reaches into Perkins’ percussion world, including 1993 Meinl Marathon Congas, a Remo Mondo Conga Snare, and mini congas. Advertisement

For Jane’s Addiction collectors, several road cases from Perkins’ archive are also included, these are objects that carry the marks and history of life on the road. There are also more unusual pieces, including acrylic kits, a DW Trashcan Raw Kit, rolling baskets, and additional touring equipment.

Taken together, the collection offers something much larger than a group of individual lots. It provides a physical timeline of a drummer whose career has moved constantly between alternative rock, funk, experimental music, improvisation, percussion, and collaboration.

Giving the Instruments Another Chapter

For musicians, instruments accumulate memories. A drum kit can become permanently associated with a particular tour, recording session, band, or period of a player’s life. Eventually, though, even the most meaningful instruments can spend more time in storage than being played. Advertisement

This auction gives Perkins the opportunity to change that. Rather than allowing these instruments to remain hidden away, they can move into the hands of musicians, collectors, and fans who understand their history, and potentially they can begin creating new stories of their own. At the same time, the collection creates an opportunity for Perkins to support a cause that reflects another increasingly important part of his life: music education.

Supporting the Watts Conservatory of Music

In 2024, Perkins became a board member and music teacher at the Watts Conservatory of Music, an organization dedicated to making high-quality music education accessible regardless of age, background, or financial circumstances.

Founded by David Moss, Flea, Norwood Fisher, and Julie Harelson, the Conservatory spent years working through significant challenges before finding a home at Verbum Dei Jesuit High School and beginning its programs in the Watts community. Today, it provides free music lessons to anyone who wants to learn an instrument. For the organization, however, teaching notes and technique is only part of the mission. The larger vision is to use music as a way to create opportunity, build relationships, cross barriers, and connect communities and generations. Advertisement

Perkins now serves on the Conservatory’s board alongside David Moss, Fernando Pullum, Julie Harelson, Becki Barabas, and Norwood Fisher, while also contributing directly as a teacher and performer. A portion of the proceeds from the ArtistFirst collection will benefit the Watts Conservatory of Music and its mission.

The Conservatory’s long-term goal is to establish a permanent location in Watts where its programs can expand, allowing more young people and adults throughout Los Angeles to learn, practice, perform, collaborate, and develop as musicians.

The organization also hopes to eventually establish partnerships and exchange programs with music schools, educators, conservatories, and community organizations around the United States and internationally. For Perkins, the connection between the auction and the Conservatory creates a natural cycle: instruments representing decades of one musician’s life can help create opportunities for the next generation. Advertisement

More Than Memorabilia

Perkins’ career has earned Grammy nominations, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a member of Jane’s Addiction, and a permanent place in the history of Los Angeles rock. But his relationship with drums has never existed only on records or stages. Throughout his career, Perkins has participated in drum clinics, master classes, drum circles, instructional projects, and educational events. He has hosted the Guitar Center Drum-Off seven times and has consistently treated percussion as something to be shared rather than simply performed.

The ArtistFirst collection extends that philosophy in a different way. For collectors, these pieces represent tangible artifacts from an extraordinary career. For drummers, they are instruments that were selected, played, toured, and lived with by one of modern rock’s most recognizable rhythmic voices. And through the Watts Conservatory of Music, their next chapter can help someone else begin theirs.

Auction September 10

The ArtistFirst Collection from Stephen Perkins will be offered September 10 through ANALOGr.com. Modern Drummer will be taking a closer look at several of the instruments in Perkins’ collection in the weeks leading up to the auction, sharing the stories behind selected kits and the moments in Stephen’s career they represent. Advertisement

Sometimes a drum kit is more than just wood, metal, heads, and hardware. Sometimes it is a piece of musical history. And this time, that history has the opportunity to help create what comes next.