Why did Jane's go dormant after Relapse?

[Hokahey]

I'll fill in the details with what I remember and what I was told.

I remember they were widely rumored to be playing Lollapalooza 1998 (which obviously never happened).

Then there was Gobalee and Perk pissing off Perry at some custody type hearing regarding Yobel.

Dave was working on his solo stuff too.

Goldenvoice had been hounding them to do Coachella in '99, offering them 1 million which Perry turned down, further straining his relationship with Perk who had taken to selling his autograph to fans on Ebay.

Sometime during the year 2000 they all turn lame.

Gobalee became SYTBS, and Spead became TNO, and neither was as interesting as they first seemed or were.

Then Jubilee (originally described as the new Enit if you will) which was OK at best.

But now we're too far ahead. So what happened in 1998-99? These guys finally had the band back together. Their return was being trumpeted from all across the music press and alt fans alike. They had a chance to make the original break-up less painful (even sans Avery) and take the world by storm the way the original line-up was supposed to.

Hardcharger, Kettle Whistle and So What were all great and hold up well. They were certainly still capable of doing good thing musically and tarnishing the Jane's name.

It's just amazing to me how badly they've squandered every opportunity they've ever had to take over the world the way they were so capable of and poised to.

But this one always baffled me the most because it seems the least documented in terms of why they didn't headline Lolla '98 and keep going back then instead of disappearing for 4 more years, only re-uniting to seemingly pimp their solo work.

[clickie]

I dont know, my only guess is that Perry's mind was miles away from caring about that type of commitment otherwise he would have.

[Matz]

an album either right before the Relapse tour or after would have been unbelieveable. With Flea, they were unbelieveable musicians at the time so it's a shame they didn't get more down on tape than they did. If only that had happened I don't really care what would have followed

[Hokahey]

an album either right before the Relapse tour or after would have been unbelieveable. With Flea, they were unbelieveable musicians at the time so it's a shame they didn't get more down on tape than they did. If only that had happened I don't really care what would have followed

Speaking of, I wonder if there is anything in the vault they recorded additionally with Flea. I'm guessing not as I seem to recall they had to hammer out So What and Kettle Whistle rather quickly.

[clickie]

i feel like the late nineties is when perry finally put his head back and let everything that he accomplished in the last decade soak in.

[JOEinPHX]

Easy.

HEROIN

Dave became a full-on junkie on the relapse tour.

He tried to go back to write the follow up to OHM and was a total mess.

He got booted from the Chili Peppers in 1998 because of it.

For like a year or 2 after that it was all the events that went into his book "Don't Try This At Home"

Sometime in 99 or 2000 he hooked up with Carmen, got clean (which I believe he credits to her being in his life), and resumed working on his solo album. Which came out in 2001. Same year as SYTBS. With Dave clean and Goldenvoice trying to relaunch Coachella after some past issues getting people to show up, they offered up the big payday to Jane's again and they accepted.

Dave did some solo touring, Perry might have too, and then at the end of the year they launched the big 2001 tour with Martyn, which included the mini acoustic set in the middle where Dave and Perry each did some of their solo material.

Then 2002 was writing for Strays. and 2003 was when they brought back Lollapalooza as a touring entity.

[S&M]

Things move so fast in that world...Add drugs and ego's....They did alright...regrets opened the door for another run and ended up bringing everything that killed it back in the first place...just took a while for everything to bloom and die again before they landed back on their feet ...and than money and slipping fame woke them up again...relapse was amazing and could of been a great jumping point.....really enjoyed that period...I was hungry for it.

[crater]

Perk who had taken to selling his autograph to fans on Ebay.

I don't remember him doing the Ebay thing, but I do know that he was selling autographed items from his short lived website. I bought some Go-Jo Bag's off of there and for some reason a signed CD-R from a San Francisco show was included in the package.

[someguy]

an album either right before the Relapse tour or after would have been unbelieveable. With Flea, they were unbelieveable musicians at the time so it's a shame they didn't get more down on tape than they did. If only that had happened I don't really care what would have followed

Speaking of, I wonder if there is anything in the vault they recorded additionally with Flea. I'm guessing not as I seem to recall they had to hammer out So What and Kettle Whistle rather quickly.

I want to say they were working on a song called "it's my party" when they were recording kettle whistle, I'll have to find where I read that.

[trevor ayer]

i thought flea kinda sucked in janes .. finger plucking sounds like ass on janes songs .. and they didn't even play the thumpers like idiots rule .. i enjoyed the remake of kettle .. flea did good on that and if they continued they could have made an interesting record .. so what was kinda lame .. i like the downbeat addiction remix better .. dave junked out on relapse .. wrote a love letter in blood for fiona apple .. fucked up the band for a while .. i spoke to perk about gobalee at his drum clinic .. perky said perry acted like perk was gonna do another band with him but then perry just called him into the studio and asked him to do a few fills and splashes over his electronic shit .. perk was like .. "fuck you" and left .. that was the end of gobalee .. jubilee could have been a lot better but it was decent .. i taped the show i saw .. been meaning to upload it but shared it a few times way back when so maybe it is in circualtion .. the parachute pants on kettle was a definate highlight .. and martyn has tons of cred in my book .. too bad strays sucked so bad .. dave cant write with perry .. didnt even write a lot of the original songs as they were written before he was in the band .. janes is like the whore perry accidentally murdered and is now trying to dress her up and take pictures before the cops get there .. somebody lock this guy up before he pulls out his viagra stash

[zendo]

i thought flea kinda sucked in janes .. finger plucking sounds like ass on janes songs .. and they didn't even play the thumpers like idiots rule .. i enjoyed the remake of kettle .. flea did good on that and if they continued they could have made an interesting record .. so what was kinda lame .. i like the downbeat addiction remix better .. dave junked out on relapse .. wrote a love letter in blood for fiona apple .. fucked up the band for a while .. i spoke to perk about gobalee at his drum clinic .. perky said perry acted like perk was gonna do another band with him but then perry just called him into the studio and asked him to do a few fills and splashes over his electronic shit .. perk was like .. "fuck you" and left .. that was the end of gobalee .. jubilee could have been a lot better but it was decent .. i taped the show i saw .. been meaning to upload it but shared it a few times way back when so maybe it is in circualtion .. the parachute pants on kettle was a definate highlight .. and martyn has tons of cred in my book .. too bad strays sucked so bad .. dave cant write with perry .. didnt even write a lot of the original songs as they were written before he was in the band .. janes is like the whore perry accidentally murdered and is now trying to dress her up and take pictures before the cops get there .. somebody lock this guy up before he pulls out his viagra stash

[Mescal]

I so don't agree that Flea sucks in Jane's.

He has this groove, he can play one note and it'll swing like a tit. Whether he uses his fingers or a pick. Jane's needs/needed that groove. Listen to the Hammerstein show goddammit. Ok ok, it wasn't Janes 1.0 and Ok Avery wasn't in it, but the whole show just grooves. And that is in a big part thanks to Flea.

That's why it's not really working with the bass player they have now, don't remember his name, Chris something. He is an accomplished bass player, but he doesn't groove. Same with Duff, he didn't groove. Avery grooved, and Flea grooved, and that's something JA needs.

[Warped]

True.

And Flea does enjoy it a lot, just look at how he is sucked into the music. I love that. And it adds a lot to the overall outcome of the show. Watching him and Dave on "Summertime" or "Ted" during Relapse gives me musical orgasms...

It's a matter of personality and Chris just does not have that. Good player without a doubt but on stage you can place a robot there, it would be no difference.

[Matz]

He has this groove, he can play one note and it'll swing like a tit. Whether he uses his fingers or a pick. Jane's needs/needed that groove. Listen to the Hammerstein show goddammit. Ok ok, it wasn't Janes 1.0 and Ok Avery wasn't in it, but the whole show just grooves. And that is in a big part thanks to Flea.
.

excellent point, Flea possibly locked in even better than Eric

[Mescal]

And Flea does enjoy it a lot, just look at how he is sucked into the music. I love that. And it adds a lot to the overall outcome of the show. Watching him and Dave on "Summertime" or "Ted" during Relapse gives me musical orgasms...

Absofuckinlutely.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The summertime and Ted on Hammerstein are just perfect, you can so feel the energy when you listen to those songs. Also, Ted is a little slowed down, which just adds to the groove. Flea is a genius

[trevor ayer]

i like flea .. and the peppers .. and the relapse nyc had its moments .. i think jane could have come up with decent stuff with flea writing .. but his plucking really took away from what should have been erics pick grinding away at the rhythms .. it just doesnt work .. sure if u ignore the bass i guess the band sounded ok on the relapse .. far better than they do now .. but if u cannot hear a HUGE difference between picking and plucking the bass lines than i am probably wasting my time trying to point out the difference .. it just sounds wrong to me in every way .. the janes bass lines were very significant to their sound .. it was that old droning goth sound that is specifically defined by the pick scraping across the strings .. with avery it is even more significant because he has such a heavy hand and you can hear it digging into the strings and grinding out this deep growl that makes janes what it was .. the popping of fleas style is not suitable on most janes songs .. he could have used a pick .. but he chose not to .. which does not really serve the songs .. its like nuno playing daves parts .. the talent is there but it does not suit the music

[bman]

Here's what happened. Lollapalooza was hoping that Jane's would headline a summer 1998 tour. Perry was into it. Dave a total mess and didn't want to tour again. Dave spent a year working on TNO and his book project.

[tcrock]

judging by what those guys looked like behind the scenes on that tour, i think that speaks for itself. Dave was obviously effed up, and Perry seemed pretty gone too during that tour. I remember in Three Days, Flea looked frigging exhausted after just 2 months or so from dealing with these guys. I'd go so far as to say if they did tour in '98, one of those guys would be dead now, most likely Dave.

[Hokahey]

judging by what those guys looked like behind the scenes on that tour, i think that speaks for itself. Dave was obviously effed up, and Perry seemed pretty gone too during that tour. I remember in Three Days, Flea looked frigging exhausted after just 2 months or so from dealing with these guys. I'd go so far as to say if they did tour in '98, one of those guys would be dead now, most likely Dave.

But how did they lose the plot so badly in just 4 short years? I understand they got clean, but they went from being an amazing Janes 2.0 to generic crap.

I can only imagine how amazing it would have been had they continued as a band after Relapse, but after a relatively short hiatus they came back and were like different human beings. Did getting clean affect their artistic abilities THAT much?

Eric got clean and didn't start sucking. Whether you like his work away from Jane's or not, dude has always remained credible.

I'm starting to think the remaining 3 were replaced by lame aliens. Martyn caught wind of it and they fired him.

[Xizen47]

But how did they lose the plot so badly in just 4 short years?

Etty

She's a horrible muse

[Essence_Smith]

I would be inclined to chalk it up to DRUGS as well... as for Flea in Jane's...we can debate on this forever, but imo as a player and also in terms of who he is and how he related to the others in the band, I think Flea would have been a better fit in Jane's than Navarro was in RHCP...

[Noonesshocking]

I found a pretty interesting article on JA.org written before relapse got going (includes a significant portion on Eric which is also interesting): http://janesaddiction.org/gallery/artic ... mber-1997/

It seems like the motivation behind the tour was pretty pure at this point: to have a good time and do it while they still can. Doesn't seem like a money/self promotion thing like coachella 2001-onward was. This is probably a big factor in the drastic difference four years later.

[Hokahey]

But how did they lose the plot so badly in just 4 short years?

Etty

She's a horrible muse

I don't believe they got serious until Jubilee.

[SR]

I found a pretty interesting article on JA.org written before relapse got going (includes a significant portion on Eric which is also interesting): http://janesaddiction.org/gallery/artic ... mber-1997/

It seems like the motivation behind the tour was pretty pure at this point: to have a good time and do it while they still can. Doesn't seem like a money/self promotion thing like coachella 2001-onward was. This is probably a big factor in the drastic difference four years later.

Great interview(s).

[Matz]

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