ERIC AVERY AGREES TO REUNITE WITH JANE’S ADDICTION FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1991; LEGENDARY BAND TO BE HONORED AT FIRST-EVER U.S. NME AWARDS IN LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2008 – After much speculation in the previous week, Eric Avery has agreed to join former band mates Jane’s Addiction for a one-night-only performance at the first-ever U.S. NME Awards. The iconic foursome will be crowned with the Godlike Genius Award during the ceremony and performance, to take place at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, April 23. Jane’s Addiction is joining the likes of The Clash, New Order, Primal Scream and Manic Street Preachers, who are among the acts to have picked up the Godlike Genius prize at the UK awards. Here’s Hoping this Buries an Ax in the Skull of The Panic Channel and All Other Jane’s Side Projects That Do Not Include Perry Farrell.Continue reading Eric Avery to Reunite with Jane’s Addiction→
“One is the loneliest number…” Dave Navarro, Chris Chaney, Stephen Perkins and Steve Isaacs are The Panic Channel
If you have a few minutes to gloat, take a peek at AMG’s review of the new Panic Channel CD, Oneand tell me I didn’t call it two months ago.
Review of The Panic Channel’s One
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Love ’em or hate ’em, there’s no denying that Jane’s Addiction was one of the pivotal bands of the alt-rock revolution of the early ’90s. They were one of the first to pull metal and underground rock fans together, first with their 1988 major-label debut, Nothing’s Shocking, and then as the creators and headliners for the first Lollapalooza tour.
Last night I went to see this new band called The Panic Channel, which is three members of the most recent incarnation of Jane’s Addiction, minus Perry Farrell, plus a new singer who’s a former VJ from MTV back when MTV still showed videos. Can you even remember that far back? It seems like a million lifetimes ago.
Anyway, there were Stephen Perkins, Dave “Nipple Rings” Navarro, Chris Chaney and Steve Issacs (!) on the stage of Avalon – which used to be The Limelight – and they were all rocking “the look” and obviously trying to be less than a total mortifying horrorshow of lameness, but all I kept thinking was, “Gee wiz, what a fucking waste of Stephen Perkins drumming talents!”
Because The Panic Channel is not a good band.
I can’t quite put my finger on why three awesome musicians and a pretty boy don’t add up to some kind of kick ass force of nature…but it just wasn’t happening. They reminded me of Stone Temple Pilots right about the time Scott Weiland got busted for smack for the third of fourth go-round and the other three members formed the band Talk Show so they could forget about their pain. If The Panic Channel were even a fraction as awesome sounding as their website would lead us to believe, they would sound like Led Zeppelin plus The Beatles plus the original Alice Cooper band or something. But no.
Another thing that made me sad was seeing how the new owners of Avalon have completely destroyed all the dark charm and wild spirit of the former Limelight, a righteous dance club built in an old gothic church on Sixth Avenue, where I spent many Sunday nights dancing my cares away to the songs of Siouxsie and The Banshees, LA Guns and Soundgarden, and feeling like some kind of god. Good times. Now the former “Rock & Roll Church” looks like a bowling alley or a free clinic or god knows what. How very very tragic. At least I got in for free.
