Guitar techs: they see everything. New details are emerging about what went down between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro at the Jane’s Addiction show in Boston earlier this month, which ended abruptly when the singer threw a punch at the guitarist onstage, ending the tour and calling the band’s entire future into question. In a lengthy podcast conversation, the band’s longtime guitar and bass tech Dan Cleary says that Farrell took another swing at Navarro after all band members went backstage. Unlike the missed stage punch, this one landed on Navarro, according to Cleary, who adds that Jane’s Addiction is in all likelihood finished.

Cleary sets the stage for the entire conflict, telling host (and friend of Navarro’s) Todd Newman that Farrell had “quit the band” before the US tour’s opening night in Las Vegas but had been talked into continuing by management.

Cleary adds that the band had been in agreement before the European leg of their reunion tour that the show would not include backup dancers or singers, as “old school music speaks for itself. … And I do know that there was immediate pushback from Perry on that issue.” (Perry’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, who shared a statement following the ill-fated Boston show, has been a dancer with the band since 1997.)

As Cleary tells it, Farrell kept pushing for dancers at Jane’s Addiction’s shows amid some back and forth about whether to feature dancers in pre-recorded video (as opposed to live onstage). Farrell reportedly approached the rest of the band before their Las Vegas show with footage “of Etty and… some other women in the desert dancing.”

Cleary says:

No dancers on the stage, but now you want to put ‘em behind us dancing — it’s kind of the same thing… It’s 2024, it’s a bit of a different time. You know, having scantily clad chicks on stage or on video, I don’t think it’s as empowering as maybe the Farrells might think it is… The Farrells sort of couldn’t let go of this thing, to the point that before the first show, Perry quit the band.

Right, so it sounds like Farrell wanted his wife to be involved in the show’s production and is overall in favor of sexy backup dancers at a rock show — even if the whole concept is a bit outdated. Full disclosure: I saw Jane’s Addiction at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022 and not only were there sexy backup dancers, but Farrell made some comment about his dick (“Any day you can get an erection is a good day”). I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

Meanwhile, Newman, who was at the Vegas show, observed:

[Etty Lau Farrell was] out in this public area yelling about how Perry is going home and the tour is over, and this is in front of our Live Nation reps, who are the people that basically promote the tour and front the bill for the tour. And when they start hearing that people are going home before the first show, obviously they get very squirrelly and very concerned.

They don’t want to disappoint the fans, and they were a few hours away from showtime, so they collectively decided, well, we should just go and play anyway. And ideas were being thrown out, like, do we know any people who would know the songs that are in Vegas? Or do we just play instrumentally and say, “If you know the words, sing along, we’re having a problem with the lead singer”?

Cleary continues, noting how the Vegas show friction set the stage for problems for the rest of tour.

From that point, Perry did kind of pull away from his bandmates… no joyful interactions, no talk… But even after that kind of weirdness, the band did continue to support Perry through the entire tour. If there was ever parts where… he wasn’t quite sure what part of the song they were in, they would go and say, “Here we are.” If he had a great show, they were the first people to be like, “That was fucking awesome. You’re amazing.”… There was some talk of the fight that ended up happening in Boston was brought on by sound issues on stage, and I have to push back on that in a big way, because… this one’s tough to talk about, because it has to do with: Are there other factors involved than just stage stuff?

One thing Cleary did point out was that Farrell likely wasn’t struggling with public drunkenness. “He isn’t drinking a shitload of wine on stage,” the tech says, instead citing “emotional issues” with the possibility of “substances.”

After laying out a full blow-by-blow of what he witnessed during “Ocean Size,” Cleary says, “I want people to understand it didn’t end there.” Playing some audio of Farrell backstage “being consoled,” Navarro walks up to ask “what the fuck happened, and Perry punches him again… So any of of this talk of cheap shots… (But) I feel for him, because something is going on mentally. He looked crazed.”

Cleary also says in Farrell’s defense:

I enjoy Perry. I’ve had great talks with him. He sent me a beautiful text the other day — basically a ‘I’ll miss you’ kind of text. He’s a good dude, most of the time. And then there’s times when it’s kind of this, but we’ve never seen this crazed version before. Which is what makes it so scary…

Meanwhile, Newman offers a point of view from Navarro (the two are very close friends).

I was having a conversation with Dave that just reminded me of that, talking about the footage… He said to me, “You see where I’m playing, and then I kind of put my hand out after he kind of body checks me, and then he throws that punch. And you see the look of shock on my face.” And Dave is saying … “It’s weird because I wasn’t shocked that he body-checked me.” He wasn’t shocked that he threw a punch at him. He was shocked by the look in Perry’s eyes that he’s never seen before… “like I was seeing something demonic going on.” And that’s where the shocked look from Dave came from.

Cleary ultimately concludes:

No one’s trying to villainize Perry. He did do this, and I know this band is over with, but I really do hope that he’s able to figure (things) out… I think that Perry’s apology that was posted on Instagram was heartfelt — and I know that for sure because I’ve checked in and I know that he’s hurting. I feel if I could take that away, I’m sure we would all love to take that away. He’s gonna go through that for a while, and it sucks, but I do hope he gets the help. And I appreciate all that he and Etty have done… and what the band has done. I just hate that, at the moment, this is what Jane’s is going to be known for. … This ended on nobody’s terms. It feels like losing someone in a car accident.

Listen to the whole conversation below.

Listening to this podcast where Janes Addiction’s guitar tech brought in Perry’s mic audio from the fight and it is some of the best shit I have ever heard pic.twitter.com/LqtiNnHHsS

— Gavin of /r/megadeth (@490Freak) September 27, 2024