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Indie Outing: Jane’s Addiction

Indie-Jam Connection: In truth they are more “alternative” than “indie” but Jane’s Addiction is still a godfather of the current wave of indie rock blog bands. Jane’s Addiction also influenced a slew of jambands with their trademark mixture of hard rock, glam, pop, funk and punk. Phish and the Disco Biscuits have even paid tribute to the band by covering “Been Caught Stealing” and “Three Days,” respectively. But Jane’s Addiction has deep roots in the jamband scene, too. The group’s most direct connect to the jamband scene is drummer Stephen Perkins. His brother Morgan Mark Perkins was a huge Deadhead, who taught Perkins about his scene from a young age. Though Morgan has since passed away, his love of improvisational music influenced his brother’s loose, world-informed style of drumming. Perkins continues to play more freeform improvisational music with his band Banyan, a rotating group that has featured Joel Cummins (Umphrey’s McGee), Nels Cline (Wilco), Rob Wasserman (RatDog), Steve Kimock, Willie Waldman and many others over the years. Perkins also performed with Kimock, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Mike Gordon and many others as part of The Rhythm Devils in 2006.

Notable Jamband Moments: Many Deadheads first heard about Jane’s Addiction when they covered “Ripple” for the benefit album Deadicated in 1990. The studio track—one of the last songs the original band recorded before their breakup—also teased “That’s It For The Other One” and “Bird Song.” Perry Farrell reentered the jam-scene in 2004 when he sat in with STS9 in Colorado while on a snowboarding/DJ trip. A few weeks later, he joined String Cheese Incident and the Soulive Horns onstage at the 2004 Jammy Awards for a version of “Idiot’s Rule.” Farrell planed to bring SCI, STS9, Wilco, The Flaming Lips and a slew of other bands on Lollapalooza in 2004 but the festival was cancelled (and later reborn as a weekend event). Farrell and String Cheese collaborated once again in 2005 when the singer sat in for a string of songs at Denver’s The Fillmore. Farrell also sat in with moe. for a version of “Ocean Size” at moe.down in 2007 and recorded with the Israeli-inspired jamband Soulfarm.

More recently, Jane’s Addiction co-headlined Gathering of the Vibes last month. In addition to stating their affinity for the Dead, the group riffed on material by The Who, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan.

Lot Talk: “You know, joints are softer than glowsticks,” Perry Farrell, Gathering of the Vibes