Eric leaves NIN or "the breakdown of nyrexall"

[Tyler Durden]

Seriously, this pisses me off more than Eric leaving Jane's after NINJA. I don't know why, but it does.

Nahhh...Jane's Addiction (w/Eric) blowing their chance to record a new album with Oscar/Golden Globe/Grammy winner Trent Reznor at the helm is one of the biggest missteps in music history. Those guys thought they fucked things up by disbanding in '91...that was nothing compared to this. Good god.

[JOEinPHX]

I do have to say though, this is now the 2nd time Eric has lost a chance to work with Trent.

I'm not sure what's going on in his personal or professional life but you'd think putting some stuff on hold may be worth what comes of it.

[perkana]

I guess I'm old and I just don't feel affected by this at all?
I think he was pretty clear with his reasons and it's his life so really...

[Hokahey]

Seriously, this pisses me off more than Eric leaving Jane's after NINJA. I don't know why, but it does.

Nahhh...Jane's Addiction (w/Eric) blowing their chance to record a new album with Oscar/Golden Globe/Grammy winner Trent Reznor at the helm is one of the biggest missteps in music history. Those guys thought they fucked things up by disbanding in '91...that was nothing compared to this. Good god.

Truth.

Oh the torture we've endured as fans of this band.

How often I lamented the lost opportunity by breaking up in '91, only to have them finally reclaim the opportunity to fix it at the last possible moment in their careers, and then dick it all up again.

[Pandemonium]

I do have to say though, this is now the 2nd time Eric has lost a chance to work with Trent.

I'm not sure what's going on in his personal or professional life but you'd think putting some stuff on hold may be worth what comes of it.

"Working with Trent" in this situation meant a long, grueling tour, which is apparently shaping up to be even longer than originally planned. If it was going straight into a studio and recording a completely new album especially locally in the LA area, yeah there's a solid reason artistically to work with Reznor despite the possible temporary sacrifices to his own career and maybe even personal life versus likely cranking out a song or two for the upcoming "NIN Best Of" record and a no doubt intense, worldwide tour spanning months at a stretch playing the NIN oldies. Under those conditions, I can see Eric's stated reasoning for not doing it, especially after coming off a long worldwide tour with Garbage.

What continues to puzzle me is why he agreed to do it in the first place. Eric clearly knows Trent's work ethic and I'm sure it was made clear from the beginning that Reznor wasn't putting together a bold new incarnation of his band just to play some festival dates over Summer 2013. At this point, I hope Reznor gets someone really unique on bass for this lineup.

[SR]

True, but Reznor is also notorious for working on new material while touring nails. Saul Williams and Atticus can vouch for this.

[Essence_Smith]

a rotund fan

That was unnecessary.

Agreed...I was actually thinking the other day how easy people found it to talk shit about Sonny after he "pulled the plug"...in retrospect I think what he did actually made things work for the better as I have yet to see anything even close to the shit slinging that people did at xiola here on this board...dude paid for us to have a playground for years, which led to a lot of us meeting and becoming friends. At the very least people should appreciate that.

[JOEinPHX]

True, but Reznor is also notorious for working on new material while touring nails. Saul Williams and Atticus can vouch for this.

Exactly.

I think Eric may have gotten overwhelmed at Trent's musical plans, which probably involved practicing old songs, playing them at shows, and recording new stuff. All on the same day.

Eric probably just decided that he likes to sleep more than 3 hours a night.

[JOEinPHX]

a rotund fan

That was unnecessary.

Agreed...I was actually thinking the other day how easy people found it to talk shit about Sonny after he "pulled the plug"...in retrospect I think what he did actually made things work for the better as I have yet to see anything even close to the shit slinging that people did at xiola here on this board...dude paid for us to have a playground for years, which led to a lot of us meeting and becoming friends. At the very least people should appreciate that.

People weren't mad at sonny for closing the playground. People were mad at sonny for demolishing it in the night and putting up a sign that basically said "Your playground used to be here, but fuck you. I'd rather destroy it and keep the land than sell it to someone who would allow you to keep playing"

He thumbed his nose at us doing it the way he did. No warning. No "would anyone like to be the successor?"

He just held onto it so he could deprive all his supposed "friends" while simultaneously hosting nothing but a quote that shat on Perry.

He's the guy who brought the football to the park, gathered 50 people to play, then took his ball and went home early even though no one else was done.

(i really love metaphors)

[Tyler Durden]

Agreed...I was actually thinking the other day how easy people found it to talk shit about Sonny after he "pulled the plug"...in retrospect I think what he did actually made things work for the better as I have yet to see anything even close to the shit slinging that people did at xiola here on this board

It was Sonny who created, funded, enabled, and sometimes even encouraged the culture of "hate" that existed at xiola.org in the first place.

[Pandemonium]

Agreed...I was actually thinking the other day how easy people found it to talk shit about Sonny after he "pulled the plug"...in retrospect I think what he did actually made things work for the better as I have yet to see anything even close to the shit slinging that people did at xiola here on this board

It was Sonny who created, funded, enabled, and sometimes even encouraged the culture of "hate" that existed at xiola.org in the first place.

"Culture of hate" ..... nahhh. We're all adults and responsible for our conduct there or here. I didn't need Sonny to encourage my negative or positive behavior and attitude any more than any anyone else did or does. And just because Sonny was the owner and moderator of his board, didn't mean he has to keep his (often controversial and polarizing) opinions to himself. His former passion for the band worked for but eventually against him objectively running his site. IMO, he deserves a lot of credit for mostly letting his board police itself. You just have to look at JA.org to see what a chilling effect heavy handed moderation can do to a message board.

The only negative thing I can say about the guy was he seemed to be a victim of his own impulsive feelings and would get too drama queen-ish when he'd have his predictable annual meltdown resulting in shutting the site down for a few days. The last year or so, it was clear it was only a matter of time before someone else would have to put together a decent JA board.

I think the fact that it was more or less a group effort that resulted in ANR speaks volumes to the fact most of us feel more vested in the group we've managed to keep together and have a lot more tolerance and respect for each other now.

[creep]

Agreed...I was actually thinking the other day how easy people found it to talk shit about Sonny after he "pulled the plug"...in retrospect I think what he did actually made things work for the better as I have yet to see anything even close to the shit slinging that people did at xiola here on this board

It was Sonny who created, funded, enabled, and sometimes even encouraged the culture of "hate" that existed at xiola.org in the first place.

"Culture of hate" ..... nahhh. We're all adults and responsible for our conduct there or here. I didn't need Sonny to encourage my negative or positive behavior and attitude any more than any anyone else did or does. And just because Sonny was the owner and moderator of his board, didn't mean he has to keep his (often controversial and polarizing) opinions to himself. His former passion for the band worked for but eventually against him objectively running his site. IMO, he deserves a lot of credit for mostly letting his board police itself. You just have to look at JA.org to see what a chilling effect heavy handed moderation can do to a message board.

The only negative thing I can say about the guy was he seemed to be a victim of his own impulsive feelings and would get too drama queen-ish when he'd have his predictable annual meltdown resulting in shutting the site down for a few days. The last year or so, it was clear it was only a matter of time before someone else would have to put together a decent JA board.

I think the fact that it was more or less a group effort that resulted in ANR speaks volumes to the fact most of us feel more vested in the group we've managed to keep together and have a lot more tolerance and respect for each other now.

sonny kept saying how difficult it is to run a message board and warned hoka and i that we would fuck it up. basically this place is run by neither of us doing shit. it seems to work.

[Artemis]

Well, we are all more mature now. I think that makes things easier.
I know sometimes I can get a little carried away with my sock and matress threads, but otherwise, things seem pretty mellow here.

[Juana]

Well also when it was needed a lot of us chipped in to help keep it running with the pay pal deal. I think the big key is that while we can have bickering we're all pretty civil in most things. So Creep and Hoka really don't have to do too much.

[CaseyContrarian]

Can we please get back to talking about how Eric Avery is an idiot for spending a year touring with Garbage (one of the most featherweight, faux-alternative, manufactured bands of the '90s) but wimps out on the reinvention of one of the most potent bands of that period (in a lineup where the singular awesomeness of the players rivals most groups working today)?

Because it's fucking lame. I swear, if I hear he's touring with Alanis or Garbage or whatever at any point in my natural born life, I'll... I'll... I'll write my Congressman!

[creep]

Can we please get back to talking about how Eric Avery is an idiot for spending a year touring with Garbage (one of the most featherweight, faux-alternative, manufactured bands of the '90s) but wimps out on the reinvention of one of the most potent bands of that period (in a lineup where the singular awesomeness of the players rivals most groups working today)?

Because it's fucking lame. I swear, if I hear he's touring with Alanis or Garbage or whatever at any point in my natural born life, I'll... I'll... I'll write my Congressman!

maybe etty knows something and he was asked to leave. this makes more sense. he isn't a technically great bass player and maybe he was having trouble keeping up. remember when he was going to work with the smashing pumkins...didn't that last a week?

[CaseyContrarian]

I think he's scared. Trent has a vision and knows how to execute. Eric makes middling "electronic" music that would've sounded weak 15 years ago. Have fun with the film soundtracks.

God, I'm starting to see Perry's point of view.

[Artemis]

I must admit I was really surprised. Careerwise, I think it's a fool move. Sure, his reasons sound reasonable , but I think it's a wasted opportunity.

Adrian Belew is into it...I've been reading his posts on fb.

Adrian Belew
April 29
today started with an excellent conference call with trent and the entire band. it was all about our work method and how we will manage the monumental work load. it will be a TON of head scratching, but worth every minute!
back in the lab: the red panda particle pedal is an instant winner for anyone looking for an intergalactic lovefest kind
of sound. I can see it doing well somewhere in our show.
more boxes are arriving daily. I'll keep you posted...

Adrian Belew
8 hours ago via mobile
for those who care about such guitar trivia: after one week of rehearsal I have determined a drop D tuning will be my standard tuning. it fits NIN music better than standard tuning. I have also developed an alternate tuning for what I call "swarm guitar", the big humming guitar sound Trent often favors. that tuning will remain secret for the moment. back to work!

[CaseyContrarian]

I must admit I was really surprised. Careerwise, I think it's a fool move. Sure, his reasons sound reasonable , but I think it's a wasted opportunity.

There's nothing reasonable about touring Garbage and quitting NIN. I mean, Trent is gonna record. They're reinventing repertoire. Adrian fucking Belew.

It's one thing to bail on Jane's. Perry is an out-of-touch goofball who dresses like Liberace and can't perform his old material (or write much new of any worth). He wants to put on flaky caberet shows with his wife pole dancing. He thinks he's got brilliant ideas about the music industry, which amount to "viral" videos of his rich guy lifestyle and chintzy marketing opportunities that further diminish an already weakened brand.

Trent, on the other hand, is still near to the top of his game, is an academy award winning composer, commands the respect of his peers, sells out wherever he performs and follows through on some pretty revolutionary experiments in music distribution.

But maybe Butch Vig will call again in another five years.

[Juana]

Sure he pissed away an opportunity but it was his to piss away. Would I have walked away, probably not but everyone is different. And not everyone can handle working with someone like Trent. IE: Maynard with the tapeworm project.

[CaseyContrarian]

Sure he pissed away an opportunity but it was his to piss away. Would I have walked away, probably not but everyone is different. And not everyone can handle working with someone like Trent. IE: Maynard with the tapeworm project.

That doesn't mean it's not fucking pathetic and stupid. He won't have the opportunity to perform or record with musicians of this caliber (and renown) ever again in his lifetime, I guarantee it.

It was sad that the JA 1.0 lineup couldn't have gotten its shit together, but it probably wouldn't have been very good anyway, for reasons I surely don't have to get into.

This lineup of NIN, however, will be not only interesting, but probably redefining for an act at this stage in its career. Eric could've been a part of that. I get that Trent is intense, but he's had a number of long-term collaborators. I'm pretty sure that if he wanted Eric's bass aesthetic, he knew what to do with it.

Maybe Eric ISN'T technically up for it. Lord knows there's nothing he's recorded in this latest batch of songs that impresses me musically or sonically.

[Pandemonium]

remember when he was going to work with the smashing pumkins...didn't that last a week?

Eric and Billy? Hmm. I'm probably the only one here who isn't familiar with this deal. What, did Billy want Eric to wear a women's dress and no top? Anyone care to elaborate?

[creep]

remember when he was going to work with the smashing pumkins...didn't that last a week?

Eric and Billy? Hmm. I'm probably the only one here who isn't familiar with this deal. What, did Billy want Eric to wear a women's dress and no top? Anyone care to elaborate?

who knows but from eric

i explored the time with the pumpkins as a possible new member. i wasnt interested in learning songs and touring. when it turned into that we parted ways. money, as it always does, only clarified what we all wanted and didnt want. i know this is a little cryptic but i am concerned about peoples privacy, and about presenting only one side of a story in such matters. the short answer is billy was not looking for someone like me for that job.

[someguy]

remember when he was going to work with the smashing pumkins...didn't that last a week?

Eric and Billy? Hmm. I'm probably the only one here who isn't familiar with this deal. What, did Billy want Eric to wear a women's dress and no top? Anyone care to elaborate?

who knows but from eric

i explored the time with the pumpkins as a possible new member. i wasnt interested in learning songs and touring. when it turned into that we parted ways. money, as it always does, only clarified what we all wanted and didnt want. i know this is a little cryptic but i am concerned about peoples privacy, and about presenting only one side of a story in such matters. the short answer is billy was not looking for someone like me for that job.

This might provide some more clarity on Eric working with people- from bass player magazine October 2005:

On why he didn't join Peter Murphy's band in 2000:

"Generally I'm interested in being either a hired gun- where I'm playing bass the way I would build a chair- or a creative element in the band, where I'm involved in a substantial way. I'm not interested in the middle ground, which is what Peter was offering. I told him, if he wanted to write and be creative with me as a peer, then sure, I'm in. If he wanted a bass player, then he could finds someone else. More power to him- that's fine, but I'm not in."

No middle ground for him... I can totally see Corgan offering him that kind of gig. I think Trent knows better that to spin it that way, and Eric knew what he was getting himself into

[kv]

i wasnt interested in learning songs and touring.

could be the same thing here again