Jane’s Addiction is taking a cautiously optimistic position about its first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, according to guitarist Dave Navarro.
“We’re super excited, but it’s hard to talk about because it’s a nomination. The jury’s still out,” Navarro tells Billboard. “Of course it’s very much an honor and we’d love to be in the Hall, but we don’t want to jinx it. We’re a three-time Grammy-nominated band that has never won the Grammy, and here we are now with another nomination. It’s hard to pull the trigger of excitement just yet, but we’re secretly psyched to be nominated.”
The quartet recently wrapped its Sterling Spoon Anniversary Tour, celebrating its sophomore album, Ritual de lo habitual, and the 25th anniversary of Lollapalooza. They’re one of 19 acts nominated for the Rock Hall’s Class of 2017. And if anyone can feel like a winner just being nominated, Navarro sounds like he means it.
“The company we’re in, it’s pretty spectacular,” he says. “They’re all bands that I either grew up with or grew up listening to. So it’s a pretty big deal for me to see the MC5, the Cars, Journey, Pearl Jam and Jane’s Addiction all being mentioned. It’s pretty surreal. And ELO, I think that’s a slam-dunk. I don’t think they should even bother nominating ELO, they should just be in and let everyone figure out who else gets in. So it’s all pretty hard to digest, to be honest with you. To be considered one of those bands just makes me want to cry.”
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After getting the news of the nomination, Navarro spoke with drummer Stephen Perkins, a friend since high school. “We kind of reminisced on, as they say, the long, strange trip that we’ve been on,” Navarro says. “We were 13 years old, and here we’re almost 50, and look where we are.” And while the Rock Hall is nominating the original quartet — with frontman Perry Farrell and bassist Eric Avery — Navarro makes clear that “both of our bass players,” including Chris Chaney since 2011, “were monumental parts of this band.”
While Jane’s Addiction waits for the early December announcement of the Rock Hall’s five inductees, the group is releasing a Sterling Spoon vinyl box set on Oct. 21, whose six LPs include a set of rarities as well as a live show from 1990. The group also filmed its Sterling Spoon Tour finale on Sept. 23 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre for a concert film whose release date has not yet been determined.