Dan Cleary is the guitar and bass engineer for Jane's Addiction. And it has been for 17 years. He told in an episode of the podcast Rare Form Radio what he saw firsthand and his point of view on the inglorious end of Jane's Addiction. Which, he says openly, “no longer exist”.
His story given to Todd Newman, who is a very good friend of guitarist Dave Navarro, starts from the fact that when the original quartet reunited again with Navarro, who had recovered with great effort and commitment from long Covid, the three musicians of the band did not want that the Jane's Addiction concert was a show with dancers, as singer Perry Farrell wanted.
It is voted by a majority, three to one, that it will be a traditional rock concert, with only four musicians on stage. After the European tour and before the American one, however, Farrell returns to the office asking to reconsider the idea of using dancers including, Cleary states, the singer's wife, Etty. The conflicts between the three musicians and the singer continue until the start of the tour in Las Vegas and also concern the video part to be projected behind the band.
“During the soundcheck in Las Vegas the four begin to argue heatedly,” says Cleary. There are very few hours left until the concert. «Perry, but I would say both Farrells, don't give up and before the show Perry leaves the band».
In the end the singer is convinced by the manager to stay and the tour starts. From that moment on, however, an even deeper rift was created between the frontman and the three musicians, “who however continued to give him their support”. Some concerts follow which are «the worst I've seen in my life, and I'm not just talking about Jane's, but in general».
This brings us to Boston where Navarro asks to redo a solo because Farrell made a mistake and sang over it. This irritates the frontman. When the three musicians talk to try to move forward Farrell is in “a state of paranoia” and thinks they are plotting something against him. “He starts shouting song lyrics in their faces, which is kind of weird.”
Cleary compares the singer's behavior to transforming into a werewolf. “He was out of control.” The idea that everything arises from amplification problems is “bullshit” for Cleary. «In Tampa, New York and Boston, I'm sorry to say, Perry was out. He no longer understood what part of the song they were playing, he couldn't remember the words and maybe on one piece he sang the lyrics of another song.”
Cleary explains that, after the fight of which the video was shot, Farrell threw a punch at Navarro backstage which landed. All with audio files recorded that day, both of the arguments and of Farrell's tremendous singing. «Fuck these motherfuckers!», shouts the singer, taking it out on the band. “I'm close to him, because he was going through a bad time, but Perry was acting crazy.”
