Jane's Addiction Recording History
a comprehensive log of Jane's Addiction's studio recording sessions.
written by Gavin Bachner [defgav at yahoo dot com]
created 10/18/00
last updated 1/4/05
"the pre-Dave demo"
Date: January 1986
Location: Radio Tokyo, Venice, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Ed (last name unknown), Stephen
Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell and Ethan James
Tracks recorded:
Jane Says
My Time
Had A Dad
Idiots Rule
Pigs In Zen
Mountain Song
Additional notes: First profession recording of Jane's Addiction. The
songs were basic, without the strong guitar presence Dave brought later. "My
Time" differed the most from later versions, having no guitar or harmonica.
None of the tracks recorded at this session have been released officially, nor
widely bootlegged. Perry wasn't all that impressed with how the songs turned
out. I don't think they bothered distributing the tape to any record labels,
probably just gave it to a few friends and clubs to book shows.
"first real Jane's demo"
Date: March 1986
Location: Radio Tokyo, Venice, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell and Ethan James
Tracks recorded:
Jane Says
Pigs In Zen
Mountain Song
Had A Dad
I Would For You
Additional notes: The first Jane's demo with the solidified line-up.
Funny thing about it is that it's actually 5 songs from the previous demo, but
with Dave doing his thing over them. Seems the band didn't have enough money
to pay for studio time to do a whole new demo.
"I went in," Dave told Phil Hayes, "booked a session with my own money and re-did
the guitar parts. The power chords for the songs stayed the same and so did the
melodies, but the solos were mine." Agrees Stephen, "In the first demos, I wasn't
even really playing with Dave!".
This was the tape that the band distributed around town, and eventually got them
a record deal with Triple X Records (which wasn't actually a record label at the
time, rather more of a management company). Four tracks recorded at this session
have been widely bootlegged, and in fact also officially released. The version
of "Pigs In Zen" was the first-ever officially released Jane's track when it appeared
on a Scream compilation album later that year. "Mountain Song" soon followed,
showing up on a soundtrack to a movie called Dudes in early 1987 (this
version would also later appear on the Kettle Whistle rarities album).
"Had A Dad" and "I Would For You" were both released as b-sides in 1990. (The
"Had A Dad" demo also had a very low budget music video made for it during the
Triple X days). The version of "Jane Says" has remained relatively obscure, having
only appeared on a bootleg 7" (One Hit Is All It Takes), a bootleg double
12" (Mephisto Demos), and a very hard-to-find bootleg CD (Janes Addiction
+ Psi-Com Demos - Pigs In Zen). But the most puzzling thing about the "Jane
Says" demo is that it's apparently the same recording as the version on the Triple
X live album, only without the overdubs (no crowd noise in the beginning, and
no "don't know, don't know" backing vocals) and it fades out about 15 seconds
earlier. So if it was recorded live at the Roxy on January 26, 1987, how the hell
can it be on a demo tape recorded in early 1986? Good question! One theory would
be that the demo was originally just the other 4 songs, but after the Roxy show
they tacked "Jane Says" on and 're-issued' the demo to shop it around to the major
labels, sensing the song's commercial appeal. So that would mean the 4 song demo
got them the Triple X deal, and the revised 5 song demo got them the Warner Bros
deal. Or maybe the original tape had a different version of "Jane Says" (perhaps
the pre-Dave demo version) and they
thought the Roxy version was better, so they switched it on later copies of the
tape. Or maybe the "Jane Says" on the live album isn't really live, rather the
demo made to seem like it was live.
Plus there are still more questions from this session: What happened to "Idiots
Rule" and "My Time" from the 1/86 demo? My guess would be Dave couldn't think
of what to do on them, or perhaps the rest of the band wasn't impressed enough
with the new 'Dave-ized' versions to put them on the revised demo. And when was
"I Would For You" recorded? Dave plays keyboard, not guitar, on the song. Was
it from the original session and Dave overdubbed the keyboards later? Maybe the
band went back to the studio to record the song together.
"WB/publishing demo"
Date: May 1987
Location: Lillian Way Studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Idiots Rule
Classic Girl
Up the Beach
Suffer Some
Thank You Boys
Summertime Rolls
City
Ocean Size
Stop!
Standing in the Shower... Thinking
Ain't No Right
Three Days
Additional notes: Right after the band signed to Warner Bros, they figured
they should put to tape all the songs of theirs that were unrecorded up to that
point. This was done for publishing reasons, and also as a way for WB to get an
idea of which songs they liked and wanted on the album. The songs were recorded
live in the studio, without overdubs. This session has been widely bootlegged
(Song List, Classic Versions), however no tracks have been officially
released. One song recorded here, "Suffer Some" had not been officially
released in any form until 2003, when the revamped incarnation of the band dusted
it off (and reworked it a great deal) for inclusion on their comeback album Strays.
Note about "June Street Studios": Many bootleg collectors
list this recording as being from June Street Studios. This is one of the
biggest fallacies regarding Jane's Addiction bootlegs. The bootleg company that
first released it, Totonka, casually mentioned June Street Studios in the small
print on the back of the bootleg CD, Song List. Since no other location
info was given, some fans assumed that was where the recording was from. But
actually, June Street Studios was the name of Totonka's headquarters, where they
put their bootleg CDs together. Just look on the back of another of the
company's releases, Live And Profane (which consists of some live Jane's
shows). First of all, the shows are mislabeled, bringing the company's
credibility into question. And near the bottom is reads, "mixed + cut @ June
Street Studios with Diatonic Processing." So hopefully that clears things up.
Again, Jane's Addiction never recorded at June Street Studios, it's just the
home of a bootleg company.
"additional WB/publishing demo"
Date: September 1987
Location: Hully Gully Studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Ted, Just Admit It...
My Cat's Name Is Maceo (aka "Macio")
No One's Leaving
Additional notes: This session was probably done as kind of an addition
to the WB/publishing demo to record three newly written songs. While the band
probably didn't spend too much time on the songs ("No One's Leaving" was recorded
on the first take, and the others might have been as well), "Ted" and
"No One's Leaving" do have some additional guitar and backing vocals
overdubbed on them. "Macio" is the only track from this session to be widely bootlegged
(Paraphernalia). It was later touched up with overdubs (saxophone, backing
vocals) and officially released on the Kettle Whistle rarities album in
1997.
In a press release for Kettle Whistle, Stephen had this to say: "'Macio'
is a really cool track that was named after Perry's cat, but also after (one-time
James Brown horn player) Maceo Parker. It's a silly song, and was recorded at
Lillian Way studios as a demo. WB paid for a session for us to record all of
the songs Jane's Addiction had ever written so they could decide which ones
they liked."
But I'm rather certain "Macio" is not from the original WB/publishing session.
The liner notes to Kettle Whistle state it was recorded at Hully Gully
Studios, not Lillian Way. So in that interview, Stephen must've forgotten it came
from the additional three song session.
"production demo"
Date: January 1988
Location: Capital Recording Studio, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Ocean Size (version 1)
Ocean Size (version 2)
Additional notes: In a press-release for Kettle Whistle, Stephen
said: "Warners was trying to find a producer for us on the first record, but
we said, 'No, we want produce it ourselves, at least co-produce it.' So they
agreed to put us into a studio and let us produce a track ourselves. We did
this cool sounding version of 'Ocean Size' and when Warners heard it, they gave
us the thumbs up to CO-produce the next record. Unfortunately no one remembers
the studio where we recorded it, and no one can find the multi-track, so we're
using the cassette version of it for the new record."
The liner notes say Capital Recording Studio, so I guess someone eventually
remembered after this interview took place. The two versions of "Ocean Size"
sound nearly identical. The first version is the one that made it onto Kettle
Whistle.
The band put the two versions of "Ocean Size" and the three songs from the additional
publishing demo on a tape and gave it to Warner Bros.
"the sunshine demos"
Date: late 87/early 88
Location: ?, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Perry Farrell, ?
Tracks recorded:
? (90 minutes of various songs & works in progress)
Additional notes: Possibly the most mysterious Jane's recording, not much
is known about the Sunshine Demos. Nothing from the tape is known to have circulated
so far. Here's what long-time Jane's fan Gavin Murphy had to say about it:
Dave Jerden said that there is basically nothing left in the vaults except
for alternate takes and a few odds & ends. he did say that there is an awesome
take of Perry reading "had a dad" in a slow poetry fashion that he has in
his personal collection.. Then Dave said "you want to know what is the best
Janes Addiction unreleased tape that no one has?? that is the sunshine demo
tape they gave me before we started working on NShocking. that tape was 90
minutes of various songs & works in progress. the sound and performance on
that tape is amazing and there are songs on that tape that have never appeared
anywhere!!" Jerden did clarify through questioning that the sunshine demos
were NOT the scratch demos (AKA "song list") that appeared on bootlegs. The
sunshine demos were given directly to Jerden to give him an idea of EVERYTHING
they were working on.
..Wow! sounds pretty cool, huh? But if it's so great and there are unreleased
songs on it, why weren't any released on Kettle Whistle? Murphy later
told me Jerden said the tape was not filled with only complete songs.. There
were some instrumental jams, and song fragments, along with finished songs.
Murphy speculates that the name "Sunshine Demos" could possibly indicate
"So What!" is included in some form on the tape (noting the lyrics:
"early morning, the sun is yawning"). The song, newly recorded for
Kettle Whistle in 1997, is rumored to have evolved from an old unfinished
idea, so it's a conceivable theory.
Murphy adds, "My friend Randy from Fullerton heard a full blown finished
version of 'Kettle Whistle' (the song) played over the soundsystem of the Coconut
Teaser (a club in Hollywood) in spring of '90. Jerden was elusive about this."
Perhaps the track was from the Sunshine Demos? Maybe from the "preliminary ritual
sessions" (below)
"early nothing's shocking session"
Date: February 25, 1988
Location: El Dorado Studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Dave Jerden and Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Had a Dad
Idiots Rule
Summertime Rolls
Mountain Song
Additional notes: A session early in the recording of Nothing's Shocking.
Though no tracks from this recording have been officially released, it has been
widely bootlegged (Paraphernalia). The songs don't vary too incredibly
from the finished versions. "Idiots Rule" is without horns. The vocals in "Summertime
Rolls" are sung much lower, possibly meant as backing vocals. "Mountain Song"
has slightly different sounding vocals (again, perhaps meant as backing vocals)
and a different, weirder guitar lead.
I don't mean to imply that this session was the only preliminary Nothing's
Shocking session, but likely just one of many sessions done early in the recording
of the album. This one just happened to leak out somehow.
"nothing's shocking sessions"
Date: January 1988 through April 1988
Location: El Dorado Studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Additional Musicians: Christopher Dowd, Angelo Moore, Flea (all 3: horns
on Idiots Rule)
Producer: Dave Jerden and Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Up The Beach
Ocean Size
Had A Dad
Ted, Just Admit It...
Standing in the Shower... Thinking
Summertime Rolls
Mountain Song
Idiots Rule
Jane Says
Thank You Boys
Pigs in Zen
Additional notes: The sessions for Nothing's Shocking. No additional
songs were recorded, although "Trip Away" and "Whores" were briefly considered.
Multiple versions of the songs were most likely recorded, but the band has said
they wanted to keep them sounding fresh, so they kept the number of takes to a
minimum, even so far as to leave in some mistakes. Not counting the 2-25-88 session
mentioned above, only one outtake from Nothing's Shocking has been released
or bootlegged, that being a textured version of "Had A Dad" which was rejected
by Warner Bros at the time, but later appeared on the Kettle Whistle rarities
album.
I've been reminded about the "Jane Says" demo which is listed on the
Live & Rare import cd. But as anyone who's heard it can tell you, there's
no way it's really a demo, rather just the album version.
"preliminary ritual sessions"
Date: mid 1989
Location: Track Record, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Dave Jerden and Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Been Caught Stealing
?
Additional notes: The preliminary recording for Ritual de lo Habitual.
Things were not working out, so recording was halted, additional studio time
which was already bought was canceled, and the band went on a long break. Perry
vacationed in Mexico, Eric messed around in a side band called Daisy Chaimber,
Dave tried to deal with his drug addiction, and Stephen hung out. They would
later try it again around Spring of 1990. One track from these early sessions
has been released: a casual, loungey version of "Been Caught Stealing" that
appeared on the Kettle Whistle rarities album. And I think the "my sex
and my drugs and my rock n roll" thing that became the intro to "Ain't No Right"
might have been taken from these sessions, but I'm not sure about that. It's
unknown which other tracks were recorded during this time, but it's a safe bet
that most of the songs that ended up on the album were at least sketched out
here. I've been told by a source close to the band that they actually attempted/planned
to come up with some new songs during this time, but heavy drug use and animosity
between band members prevented it. So they decided to stick to songs they had
previously written. Only "Of Course" was put together specifically for Ritual
by Perry, and even that is said to have originally been based on an old idea
the band had lying around.
"ritual sessions"
Date: early 1990
Location: Track Record, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Additional Musicians: John Phillip Shenale (strings on Three Days), Charlie
Bisharat (violins on Three Days and Of Course), Geoff Stradling (piano on Three
Days), Ronnie S. Champagne (bass on Of Course)
Producer: Dave Jerden and Perry Farrell
Tracks recorded:
Stop!
No One's Leaving
Ain't No Right
Obvious
Been Caught Stealing
Three Days
Then She Did...
Of Course
Classic Girl
Additional notes: The recording of Ritual de lo Habitual. Incidentally,
it was recorded on 32 track digital tape, an odd format that's not used very often.
Again, no additional songs were recorded. Multiple takes of each song were most
likely recorded. But since the songs were often pieced together (the band members
came in either alone or two or three at a time to do their parts), there probably
aren't many 'finished' outtakes. The exception to this setup is "Three Days,"
for which the band all came together to play, and successfully recorded on the
first take, with overdubbing done later. Besides the aforementioned "Been Caught
Stealing" outtake from the 1989 sessions, no demos/outtakes from Ritual
have been uncovered. There was, however, a rare bootleg vinyl 7'' that surfaced
around the time Ritual was released which included rough mixes of "Three
Days", "Ain't No Right", "Stop!", and "Obvious" . The songs sound virtually identical
to their official counterparts, only much worse quality. These tracks are sometimes
erroneously listed on bootleg collectors' lists as "Ritual Demos".
"ripple session"
Date: Fall 1990
Location: Konk Studios, North London
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Eric Avery, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins
Producer: Ralph Sall and Perry Farrell
Track recorded:
Ripple
Additional notes: While on tour in the UK, the band took a moment to record
a Grateful Dead song for the tribute/benefit album, Deadicated. The
session, done at The Kinks recording studio, was the last time Eric Avery
recorded with Jane's.
"new kettle whistle session"
Date: early August 1997
Location: Mount Mehru Studios, Venice, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, Flea
Producer: Perry Farrell and Harry Gregson' Williams
Track recorded:
Kettle Whistle
Additional notes: New track recorded for inclusion on the Jane's rarities
album, at the time called It's My Party, later renamed after the song.
Additional new song fragments may have been recorded here, but I'm not sure.
"so what! session"
Date: mid September 1997
Location: Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, Flea
Additional Musicians: Dave Fridmann (keyboards), Kevin Haskins (programming/samples),
Christine Cagle (backing vocals)
Producer: Dave Fridmann and Perry Farrell
Track recorded:
So What!
Additional notes: Second new song recorded for Kettle Whistle. Basic
tracks recorded on September 9th, with overdubbing and such done over the following
couple weeks. Again, additional new song fragments may have been recorded here
as well.
"hypersonic/strays sessions"
Date: early March 2002-early 2003
Location: Henson Recording studios, Los Angeles, California
Musicians: Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, Chris Chaney
Additional Musicians: John Shanks (mandolin); Scott Page (saxophone); Bob
Ezrin (keyboards, percussion); Aaron Embry (keyboards, kalimba); Zack Ray
(keyboards); Mike Finnegan (organ); Brendan Hawkins, Joe Bishara, Brian Virtue
(programming); Donna Brooks-Jackson, Kim Hill (background vocals); Martyn
LeNoble (bass.. though his parts were all re-done by Chris Chaney on the
finished version.)
Producer: Bob Ezrin and Brian Virtue
Tracks recorded:
True Nature
Strays
Just Because
The Price I Pay
The Riches
Superhero
Wrong Girl
Everybody's Friend
Suffer Some
Hypersonic
To Match The Sun
..plus a few more... possibly:
Bring The Mood
Additional notes: The 2001 Jane's tour (w/ Martyn LeNoble on bass) was a
success and inspired the guys to head into the studio to work on new material.
Midway through recording, Martyn left the band and was replaced by Chris Chaney.
Perry said the tracks were all recorded "live band" with overdubs done later.
According to MTV News, Jane's "completed around 20 songs for the album. They're
currently [Dec '02] mixing the completed tracks, then they'll pare down the
material to an album's worth of songs. Leftover cuts may surface on future
soundtracks or compilations."
The album had tentatively been called Hypersonic,
but was later changed to Strays. Some early mixes leaked to the net
months before the CD release. Notable differences include an ending section to "True
Nature" that was taken off the finished version. Inversely, the leaked version
of "The Riches" is shorter, missing the ending that's on the finished CD. There are
smaller differences to many of the other tracks as well: different guitar solos,
extended intros / outros, different mix, etc. One album cut, "Wrong Girl", was not
among the initial leaked tracks.
Other recording sessions
(I don't really count these as actual sessions, but they're worth mentioning)
early 1986 - Dave's House (acoustic 4-track demo of "Kettle Whistle" recorded.
The tape was then played on some college radio stations, but never really distributed
much. It can be assumed the band recorded similar 4-track demos of other songs
as well.)
early 1987 - The Edge, Los Angeles (overdubs recorded on the Roxy 1/26/87
live show which was then released on Triple X Records as their first album. I
believe a purely studio version of "Chip Away" was also recorded here, possibly
along with other songs.)
mid 1991 - ? ("Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" recorded with Ice-T and Ernie
C for Gift video.)
September 1991 - New Zealand (while touring down under, the band was rumored
to record a song for SPCA [society for the prevention of cruelty to animals] called
"Skinny Puppy", but it has yet to surface and there is not much proof that the
recording ever actually happened. This info comes from someone who told sonny
about a Jane's tour itinerary which mentioned it. I suspect that it was not a
Jane's session at all, rather a band member (likely Stephen) or even a crew member
was scheduled to work on a track by the band called Skinny Puppy, who was
known to be active in animal rights causes.)
fall 1997 - Media Ventures, Santa Monica (overdubs recorded on "Maceo"
and "Slow Divers" for release on Kettle Whistle.)
Radio sessions
(not really demos, just recordings done in radio station studios.)
August 1986 - KXLU, Loyola Marymount College Radio, Los Angeles (The band
played 4 songs acoustically ["My Time", "Jane Says", "Sympathy"{w/Michael
B. on tambourine}, "Ain't No Right"])
1986 through 1987 - Los Angeles (I assume the band did other college radio
sessions around the LA area in the early years.)
Late 1988 - Sherman Oaks (Perry and Dave do "City" for the Soul Kiss
video and are interviewed for the "Words And Music" promo. Not really
a radio session, but close enough. Interview by Roy Trakin, produced by John Brumbach,
and edited by Marc O. Graue.)
1988 through 1989 - various (throughout the Nothing's Shocking tour
the band would sometimes stop at radio stations to chat and occasionally play
a song acoustically. Though I haven't come across any recordings yet, I've been
told they sometimes did "City." Maybe "Jane Says" and/or "Ocean Size"
as well?)
Late 1990 - BBC Studios, England (the band played "Been Caught Stealing"
for BBC TV.)
That's it. If any in-the-know person reads this and can
help out with any additions or corrections, please drop me an email! Thanks.
© Gavin Bachner [defgav at yahoo dot com]
some divers whistle