Can TVOTR’s Dave Sitek Successfully Reboot Jane’s Addiction?

Can TVOTR’s Dave Sitek Successfully Reboot Jane’s Addiction?: "

It’ll be a while ’til we find out, though he certainly seems to be giving it his best shot. When it was announced that Sitek would be playing bass for Jane’s Addiction, the conventional wisdom was to wait five minutes and see if it was still true, as he’s the fourth dude to spank a four-string for the band in the past year alone (after original bassist Eric Avery “did not want to record,” then Duff McKagan had “creative differences,” then Strays-era Chris Chaney sat in for just a New Year’s show). The TV on the Radio guitarist and consummate producer has more to offer than mere low end, however, and the band, eager to rediscover the glory that’s long since slipped away, has apparently grown quite receptive to the former-indie trailblazer’s contribution. “He’s a real important person on my life,” singer Perry Farrell told Rolling Stone recently.

“It’s definitely been a good writing experience and a good changing experience,” drummer Stephen Perkins told Billboard about recent studio sessions with Sitek, adding that Sitek has ”opened up my eyes to a lot of new ideas as a drummer.” Perkins says he hopes the band will rediscover its forward momentum “just like in the old days. We want to capture that danger and excitement again, and it’s worth taking our time to do that.” Guitarist Dave Navarro also considers Sitek a “nice, solidifying element to the lineup,” stating, “This is one of the most enjoyable journeys that I’ve been on in many, many, many years, and as a result I’m really not all that concerned about timetables and rushing to get this stuff out.”

So what exactly was it about JA’s new direction that turned Duff McKagan off? “I know he didn’t like the idea of electronics at all. That was his complaint,” Perry Farrell says. By and large, I’d say McKagan has a right to be wary of what electronics can do to a hard rock band, though it’ll be interesting to see how Sitek’s influence addresses the idea. The record is tentatively titled The Great Escape, and though no release date has been set, there are vague intentions to get it out by this summer, and allegedly an abundance of material already in the can. “We probably have more material for this record than we’ve ever had for any record, which is a pretty great place to be,” says Navarro. Farrell describes this amount as “three albums’ worth.”

While the band has been reluctant to make any attempt at specific description, they have also so far managed not to make any grandiose claims of being “better than ever” or implying that they can top their salad days. The chatter so far has been more about “recapturing” than surpassing, which is a refreshingly judicious approach to publicity, for however long it lasts. Here’s to the awesomeness of yore:

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