‘This Band’s Over With’: Jane’s Addiction Tech Goes on Record About Band’s Issues, Claims Farrell Assaulted Navarro Again Backstage
“This ended on nobody’s terms. It feels like losing someone in a car accident.”
Longtime Jane’s Addiction guitar & bass tech Dan Cleary claimed that vocalist Perry Farrell once again attacked guitarist Dave Navarro following the on-stage incident earlier this month.The September 12 incident put an end to the first tour of the band’s classic lineup in over a decade, while Navaro later suggested that the band was done for, as he posted on social media that fans will “likely never hear” their new song “True Love” performed live.In a new interview on the “Rare Form Radio” podcast, Cleary, who’s been teching for Jane’s Addiction for 17 years, said that the altercation continued after the band abruptly stopped their Boston show.
According to him, Farrell took another swing at Navarro backstage, this time allegedly hitting the guitarist’s face. Cleary also shared audio footage from that night. As Variety reports, Farrell could be heard complaining to his wife Etty Lau Farrell that other members were “trying to fuck my show up.” Footage from the show apparently captured Farrell singing out of sync with the rest of the band.
Etty Lau previously stated that “the stage volume had been extremely loud, and his voice was being drowned out by the band”, adding that Farrell had been suffering from “tinnitus and a sore throat.”
The audio also features Navarro apparently saying to Farrell, “What the fuck was that, you motherfucker?” Cleary describes the sounds of a scuffle which followed as “Perry punching Dave, and that one, he actually connected with… You can hear it, the right hand to the left side of Dave’s face.”
Issues preceded the US tour
Both Cleary and podcast host Todd Newman, a friend of Navarro’s, suggested that it felt like Farrell “quit the band” before the ill-fated tour properly began, adding that Farrell was allegedly talked into coming on stage for the opening Las Vegas show at the last minute. “Management earned their keep that day,” says Cleary.
Countering Farrell’s wife, who claimed that the vocalist had reached a “breaking point” on September 13 due to a combination of technical difficulties and his health issues, Cleary and Newman assert that Perry Farrell was already at a breaking point as the US tour began. However, they add that Jane’s Addiction was acing the shows when Farrell was “sober-ish” and when everything else clicked.
Cleary further claimed that the classic lineup members agreed to act as a “democracy” even before the European leg, and agreed they’d have no additional visual effects nor dancers on the stage. Perry Farrell then proposed to have a video of his wife and other women dancing projected in the background, which the rest of the band refused. Cleary said:
“The Farrells sort of couldn’t let go of this thing, to the point that before the first show, Perry quit the band.”
Newman who was present for the Las Vegas opener, claimed that Etty Lau Farrell was “out in this public area yelling about how Perry is going home and the tour is over, and this is in front of our Live Nation reps, who are the people that basically promote the tour and front the bill for the tour.” He went on:
“And when they start hearing that people are going home before the first show, obviously they get very squirrelly and very concerned.”
Farrell was “clearly” not well
Cleary added that “from that point, Perry did kind of pull away from his bandmates” and there was “no joyful interactions, no talk… But even after that kind of weirdness, the band did continue to support Perry through the entire tour.”
“If there was ever parts where… he wasn’t quite sure what part of the song they were in, they would go and say, ‘Here we are.’ If he had a great show, they were the first people to be like, ‘That was fu**ing awesome. You’re amazing.’… There was some talk of the fight that ended up happening in Boston was brought on by sound issues on stage, and I have to push back on that in a big way, because… this one’s tough to talk about, because it has to do with: Are there other factors involved than just stage stuff?”
The tech added:
“The three worst shows, this man was clearly fu**ed up, and we knew it from the moment we saw him earlier in the day.”
Cleary agreed with the scathing reviews of some of the shows, adding how the band’s first of two NYC shows was “the worst show I’ve ever seen in my life.” He went on:
“I’m not saying just with Jane’s; it was the worst show I’ve ever seen… He didn’t know where he was in the songs. He didn’t know the words. He was singing words from other songs. These are not sound issues. … And also, he had a bunch of fantastic shows throughout the tour. The sound doesn’t change — we’re the same all the time.”
Cleary said that it wasn’t alcohol that caused Farrell’s allegedly erratic behavior, but claimed it was due to a combination of “emotional issues” and, possibly, “substances.”
Details behind the ill-fated Boston show
The band allegedly entered a heated argument after the first NYC show, but eventually talked things out and Navarro reportedly told Farrell: “I love you, let’s go kick some ass.” During the September 13 Boston show, Cleary says Navarro told Farrell he’d take a shot at his solo again.
Cleary suggests that Farrell was having fits of “paranoia” as he saw Navarro, bassist Eric Avery, and drummer Stephen Perkins huddling about how to proceed with the show, adding:
“And it sucks, because these guys just want to have a great show, all four of them. If Perry has a rough night, they’re not happy; they want him to kick ass every night… (Farrell) thinks they’re talking about him, which they are, but not in the way he thinks. They’re trying to figure out how to fix this stuff… So he goes over and starts screaming lyrics at them, which was just strange.”
Describing the moment when Farrell went after Navarro as the band was performing “Ocean Size”, the video of which was widely circulated on the internet, Cleary began:
“I’m tuning a guitar when I see the push. Guitar comes right off and I make a beeline for both of these guys — and here is where it gets real sad… I love Dave [and] it felt like seeing a little kid getting bullied on the schoolyard for something he didn’t do… To see that happen just triggered something in me: ‘I’m not gonna let this happen to this guy.’ Eric [Avery]had the same feeling.”
Referencing Eric Avery, who put Farrell in a headlock and then punched the singer in the stomach, the tech added how the bassist “said, ‘I didn’t know how to get his attention. I had to get his attention to get him to try to stop him from going towards Dave again.’”
Cleary describes their actions as being “like clowns at a rodeo… trying to divert Perry’s attention from Dave”, claiming that, contrary to Etty Lau’s accusations, Avery didn’t want to hurt Farrell. “We were all trying to protect Dave”, he said.
“It didn’t end there”
Cleary said that the altercation “didn’t end there”, before playing the audio of what he describes as Farrell “being consoled” backstage. He added:
“Eventually Dave walks up to ask what the fuck happened, and Perry punches him again… So any of of this talk of cheap shots… [But] I feel for him, because something is going on mentally. He looked crazed.”
The tech further said:
“I enjoy Perry. I’ve had great talks with him. He sent me a beautiful text the other day — basically an ‘I’ll miss you’ kind of text. He’s a good dude, most of the time. And then there’s times when it’s kind of this, but we’ve never seen this crazed version before. Which is what makes it so scary.”
Newman, who discussed the issue with Navarro, said the guitarist “was shocked by the look in Perry’s eyes that he’s never seen before… ‘Like I was seeing something demonic going on.’ And that’s where the shocked look from Dave came from.”
“I know this band is over with”
Saying how “no one’s trying to villanize Perry”, Cleary added:
“He did do this, and I know this band is over with, but I really do hope that he’s able to figure [things] out… I think that Perry’s apology that was posted on Instagram was heartfelt — and I know that for sure because I’ve checked in and I know that he’s hurting. I feel if I could take that away, I’m sure we would all love to take that away.”
“He’s gonna go through that for a while and it sucks, but I do hope he gets the help. And I appreciate all that he and Etty have done… and what the band has done. I just hate that, at the moment, this is what Jane’s is going to be known for. … This ended on nobody’s terms. It feels like losing someone in a car accident.”
