Jane’s Addiction made rock headlines around the world recently for all the wrong reasons following an onstage altercation between singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. Video of the incident went viral, the band would go on to cancel the remainder of their tour, and their future remains very much in doubt.
On a new episode of “Rare Form Radio,” Jane’s Addiction guitar tech Dan Cleary, who has been with the band for 17 years, shared details of backstage drama and another fight that took place after what fans saw.
“Management earned their keep that day,” Cleary said. The guitar tech said that Farrell wanted videos of his wife and other women projected onto the band’s backdrop while they were performing. The singer was apparently agitated when his bandmates shot down the idea. His wife then allegedly went “out in this public area yelling about how Perry is going home and the tour is over.”
Cleary said that Farrell was “f*cked up” that night. “The three worst shows, this man was clearly f*cked up, and we knew it from the moment we saw him earlier in the day,” he said.
Cleary said Farrell suffered from “paranoia” when he saw the rest of the band talking with each other. “He thinks they’re talking about him, which they are, but not in the way he thinks. They’re trying to figure out how to fix this stuff… So he goes over and starts screaming lyrics at them, which was just strange.”
Cleary described watching Farrell go after Navarro on stage saying it “felt like seeing a little kid getting bullied on the schoolyard for something he didn’t do.” Cleary went on to say that Farrell punched Navarro again backstage. “Eventually Dave walks up to ask what the f*ck happened, and Perry punches him again. I feel for (Farrell), because something is going on mentally. He looked crazed. I know this band is over with, but I really do hope that he’s able to figure things out.”
