Eric Avery: Foundational Redemption

When initially formed in 1985, Jane’s Addiction rose to prominence thanks to their distinctive sound made up of eccentric parts: the unfamiliar, unique bravado in Perry Farrell’s poetic and emotive vocals, the tribal and non-linear drumming of Stephen Perkins, and the bold and headstrong playing of guitarist Dave Navarro. But the musical catalyst and the heart of the band was always Eric Avery, whose propulsive and gritty ostinato bass lines fueled every song from Jane’s early catalog. As chief songwriter, Avery shaped the DNA of Jane’s Addiction, which became obvious when he departed the group in 1991.

Despite a brief stint back in 2008, Jane’s searched for a suitable replacement for Avery, which included cameos from Flea, Duff McKagan, and Martyn LeNoble, before they enlisted studio ace Chris Chaney to take the helm for over a decade. But fans rejoiced when rumors began to spread of Avery rejoining the band in 2020, which was eventually confirmed through social media posts of the original lineup working on new music together. The celebration was refrained when Navarro was diagnosed with long COVID, which required the services of Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens Of The Stone Age, A Perfect Circle) and Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam) for touring in his absence. Now in 2024, the original lineup is back together again, and their core identity has been restored.

Reinvigorated in rejoining the group he founded, Avert didn’t have a difficult time getting ready for the road, as he was nothing close to dormant in his time away from the band. His notable work with Jane’s led to him playing with Alanis Morissette, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, rock supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, and Garbage, and he occupied short-lived stints in Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails. Additionally, he released three albums as a solo artist and scored the film The 11th Hour.  

Avery’s playing is unmistakable even to casual listeners, with his heavy picking and entrancing fretboard movements at the forefront. Jane’s recent single, “Imminent Redemption” — their first with this lineup in 34 years — is driven by Avery’s steady hand, allowing Navarro to riff as he pleases and Perkins to lay into his toms in a battle-march manner. With the drama and personal differences that plagued them aside, there’s a new breath of life in Jane’s that feels as authentic as it does exciting. And there’s no mistaking that the restoration comes from the heart of the band returning back to its place.

Your return to Jane’s Addiction started in 2020 and took a couple of years to manifest. What made you decide the time was finally right?

A lot of it had to do with the shared love of [Foo Fighters drummer] Taylor Hawkins. He was a friend to all of us and our biggest supporter. When he died, I heard from Perry’s manager, who called me out of the blue and said that Perry wanted to meet with me. I was more receptive to it given the timing, because I thought that it might be about Taylor. I met with him, and he talked about a comeback plan that featured new music, which was a point of contention when I came back in 2008. They had a long-term plan that aligned with what I wanted to be involved with. I told him, “With history being the precedent, I don’t know that all you’re saying right now is what’s going to be delivered, but I’m happy to take the next step whatever that is.” That began a lot of small steps, and it was crucial that I spoke with Dave about it. I asked him, if he theoretically felt 100 percent healthy tomorrow, would he be in Jane’s Addiction? He said absolutely. That was good for me. If Dave had said he wasn’t into it, I don’t think I would have agreed.

So the goal of making new music and keeping things forward-facing was important to you.

Absolutely. I wasn’t into signing on for Jane’s Addiction 2008. There were some things that had to be different for me to feel inspired to do this. I’ve always felt differently about participating in Jane’s, because this is my music. I have a different set of criteria for myself, emotionally and creatively. I had clear ideas about what I wanted and needed, which included how we would sound and how we would look.

Your relationship to touring has oscillated throughout your career. At this point, what’s it like for you being out on the road?

The grind gets different when it’s your own work. Playing in your own band and playing in someone else’s isn’t comparable. When I would go out and play other people’s music, it felt good, of course, but it was very different. This goes to the core, because this is my life and my legacy and my experience. This last run of shows has been the most live musical experience of Jane’s Addiction ever, from 1.0 up to now; everybody is plugged into each other onstage, we’re trying different things every night, and everybody is feeling good together. It’s different from any point in this band’s history.

What’s it like having Dave back as the last piece of the original lineup?

That’s such a long answer, because we had amazing players in his place, with Troy and Josh, who are both great people and great musicians. But as soon as Dave came back in the early writing sessions, it just sounded like Jane’s Addiction. Everything locked into place and made sense. From a musical and writing standpoint, it’s what we all needed: intuitively knowing how to jump in and fit with Stephen and Perry and myself. In Jane’s 1.0, Dave was the most naturally gifted musician of any of us, but I feel like we took that for granted because it was all so easy for him. Cut to this year, and he’s such a mature musician now. He truly appreciates what’s going on, and he’s focused and wants to be better. He’s involved in being a musician in a way that’s new and very inspiring. And then, of course, I love the guy on a personal level.

How does it feel playing these songs that you wrote decades ago?

It’s like spending time with old friends. There is a personal nostalgia for the simplicity of the choices I made back then. Obviously, I’m a completely different musician now, but in many ways I try to stay similar as a bass player. I feel like the mission is still the same, and there are moments when I learn from my younger self. Now I look back and think, Oh, that’s funny — that’s not diatonic. Those things sound odd, but they have character, and I need to remember that and beware of the guardrails. I have affection for the naïve and simplistic nature of what I wrote back then. A lot of times when we’re playing live, I feel transported temporally. It feels like a very personal and special moment. Conversely, these songs feel alive in a different way now because of how much I’m listening to what’s happening onstage. In those moments, it’s nostalgic in the best sense, and it makes me remember the arc of my life and my boyhood. I was a teenager when we started this band, so it brings so much back. And now I’m an old man. It’s a cool way to reflect on one’s life.

How difficult was it to work together on new music for the first time in 34 years?

We tried in 2008, and it was highly unsuccessful; it felt like pulling teeth, and it didn’t sound like us. It’s always been about something initial that generates the song, whether it’s from Perry or me. Especially back in the day, Perry and I were shapers of Stephen and Dave, whereas now everybody is a grownup and has been doing it for a long time and knows what their voice sounds like. So far, in this current iteration, it’s been me generating the musical ideas. I’ve been trying to supply the guys with basic structures of songs through grooves and changes and then going in and having everyone have a conversation. We have about three songs that I would feel good about people hearing tomorrow. We easily have an album’s worth of song ideas on top of that. It’s a promising amount, but I want to keep writing, and I’d much prefer to be approaching the album from an editing perspective rather than having to come up with ideas to fill it up.

The first single, “Imminent Redemption,” is a very bass-driven song. How did you write that?  

I had been writing some ideas in anticipation of getting back with the guys, and I found it all really flat. When you’re sitting in a room self-generating, it only sounds like 120 BPM and whatever it is you naturally do. I found a video online of Stephen doing a drum clinic, and I downloaded the audio from that and put it into Logic and wrote that progression to his actual drumming. Then I went in and played with him live, and as soon as he started playing, it came to life and just locked. It was just Stephen and Eric doing what we do, with me being repetitive and him being expressive. We recorded this at a home studio, and Perry was in the den next to me singing and writing down words; everybody was just in their lane, and it came together very effortlessly. This was one of those afternoons when the real meat-and-potatoes of the songs happened. We effortlessly locked like cogs in a machine. At that point, I was just over the moon. I knew this was the test case and that we could still do it. We could be vital and sound like the band we started as, without sounding like a cover band.

What can we expect from the rest of the new batch of songs?

For me, my aspiration is to find a voice that feels fresh for Jane’s. Personally, I’d like to incorporate more interesting sonics. It’s a personal mission of mine to figure out ways to integrate other sounds into what we do without introducing other players to the stage. I’ve been messing with floor pedals like the Moog Taurus, and I’d like to use that stuff. I have a sensitive muso fuse, and when I’m looking for potential producers or engineers to work with, I’m looking for people who have experience with integrating tasteful use of synths and samples in a way that isn’t jive. That’s a challenge. And I certainly never want to lock us down to playing along to something that is meter-specific.

So Jane’s likes to stay away from click tracks?

One of the things that I love about Jane’s Addiction being led by Stephen is the energy of his drumming, which is so wild, and his lack of reliable tempo is a strength. If you want somebody to play very straight rock drumming on your record, maybe don’t ask Stephen to do that. But what you get with him is wild power. He brings excitement and dynamism and all of those things. I would never want to take from that in focusing more on meter.

His drumming is almost tribal in a sense, which connects with your rhythmic playing so well. It almost blurs the rhythm-section roles. 

I feel like I am responsible for keeping time in this band more than I am in other contexts. Stephen would be the first to say that, too. I play purposefully repetitive lines; I consciously resist the temptation to do other things that would be more entertaining to me, but that wouldn’t ultimately be in the service of the music. Stephen makes it so that my playing something simple and steady is very entertaining. It’s almost like there’s a reversal of our roles, where I become a listener of what’s going on because I’m playing something simple that I don’t have to focus on too much. Then ultimately, it’s all physical.

What do you love about playing ostinato bass lines?

I started focusing my personal voice on the instrument shaped around ostinato work like Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, and the English music of the ’80s. I was talking with Dave and Stephen over breakfast two weeks ago, and Dave was asking Stephen who his favorite drummer was currently, and all of that. I realized that one of the formative aspects of playing with the two of them is that maybe — and this is only speculating — when I was first playing with Jane’s early on, I was just figuring out some way to get it done. I wasn’t much of a player, I never took lessons, and I was going totally by feel. I started to do that foundational thing, with Stephen and Dave being such busy and dynamic players; I might have gotten more skilled and could have done more, but the room was filled already and I couldn’t really move out of that — or didn’t need to. Their busyness kept me in my place, in a way.

Your playing is highly recognizable because of your attack. Tell us about your technique.

I’ve always thought of myself as being a remedial bass player. My left hand really doesn’t do much in regard to what other players are capable of doing. Years ago, I was trying to do a failed project with Jon Theodore [Queens of the Stone Age], whom I love, and Brent Hinds [Mastodon] and Ben Weinman [Dillinger Escape Plan], and we were working in Venice with producer Ross Robinson. We were in a session going back and forth with a simple idea, and Jon stopped and said, “Wow, I just got it. It’s all about your right hand.” I had never actually thought about my right hand because the left hand gets all of the attention. From that point I started to notice that what I play is simple, but what’s happening is in my right hand — putting in grace notes or not, and how I attack the strings. That’s at the core of my playing. Now I listen a little more closely to what’s happening with my right hand. Being a pick player, I’m aware of whether I want to hear pick noise in certain spots. There are little nuances that heavily impact what I’m playing.

How would you say you’ve evolved as a bass player in the span since you last rejoined Jane’s 16 years ago?

I was actually thinking this morning about how, generally speaking, most of us musicians spend our time somewhere between studying as a composer and studying as an athlete. I’ve definitely spent the lion’s share of my life studying as a composer and very little of my life studying as an athlete. I do have some confidence in my playing from the forward aggressiveness, born from years of having some increase of athletic musical ability, but largely I spend my time learning about the structures of music, and that doesn’t change my playing much. My playing is still foundational, certainly in the context of Jane’s Addiction, and the primary mission is the same: to afford the space for everyone else to be themselves. That is often our lot in life as bass players in any band, really. I don’t know that the choices I make in my bass playing have substantively changed much over the years, but certainly things that I try as a composer are informed by my education over the years.

What still makes Jane’s Addiction so popular and relevant in 2024?

If you are as idiosyncratic and unusual as we were, then you stand a better chance of being remembered and recognized by any age cohort at any point as being valuable in some way. When you do something that they haven’t heard, it will stick with them. On this last run we were playing one of the less glamorous festival slots where it was four in the afternoon and the sun was raking the stage, and you just feel every moment your age, and it feels so un-fucking-romantic. I remember feeling this real sense of pride in this moment when I was supposed to start “Three Days,” and I had the thought looking out at all those faces: All right, you motherfuckers are going to hear this song and it’s the only time you’re going to hear this today. You’re not hearing another thing on this bill that’s going to sound like this next song. We have that going for us, and a lot older bands have on their side that we came up at a time when music was more alive onstage. It was more dynamic and real and in the moment. We all believed in the greater power of music. When you’re younger and you experience that, it’s unusual. I think a lot of us older bands have the ability to present something different, and we care about what we’re doing in a way that seems different. Music was the center of culture when we were growing up, and some of us have that still in what we do, and you can feel that.

Why bass? How does the instrument and its role resonate with your personality? 

It’s funny because the first thing that came to mind is that the reason I gravitate towards the bass is the same reason I love vanilla milkshakes, Budweiser, and old cars. I like things that are foundational and solid and without frills. There’s something intrinsic in me where I don’t need bells and whistles. Choosing the bass is one of those expressions.

Hear Him On

Jane’s Addiction, “Imminent Redemption” [2024]

Gear

Bass Fender American Vintage II 1960 Precision Bass

Rig Fender Bassman 800, Fender 619 Pro and 215 Pro

Pedals JHS A/B used to divide: “dry channel” (TC Electronic tuner, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Past FX New Division Chorus, MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, MXR Micro Amp, Boss EQ, MXR Micro Amp, Dunlop volume pedal) and “wet channel” (JHS Electronics Amp Splitter)

Strings Dunlop Mediums (.045–.100)

Picks Dunlop Tortex Heavy with custom art

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