Eric Adam Avery (born April 25, 1965) is an American musician. He is best known as the founding bass guitarist and co-songwriter of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded two studio albums. From 2005 to 2022, Avery was the bassist for Garbage, which he joined as sideman and with whom he recorded three studio albums.
A core member of Jane's Addiction during its initial lifespan, Avery co-founded the band in 1985 with frontman Perry Farrell, and recorded two studio albums, Nothing's Shocking (1988) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990), before the band's acrimonious break-up in 1991. Following Jane's Addiction's dissolution, Avery and guitarist Dave Navarro formed Deconstruction with drummer Michael Murphy, releasing one studio album in 1994. The following year, Avery began a solo project named Polar Bear, which he focused on between 1995 and 2000. Declining to take part in Jane's Addiction's 1997 and 2001 reunions, Avery eventually rejoined the band in 2008. The original core line-up of the band embarked on a co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails, with Avery departing in 2010 due to ongoing tensions with Farrell. In 2022, Avery rejoined Jane's Addiction after a twelve-year absence, in advance of a co-headlining tour with the Smashing Pumpkins.
To date, Avery has released two solo studio albums under his own name, Help Wanted (2008) and LIFE.TIME. (2013).
Career
Avery and Dave Navarro met as classmates at St. Paul the Apostle Grammar School in West Los Angeles, a Catholic parochial school founded by the Paulist Fathers. Eric went on to St. Monica High School of Santa Monica, California, and Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. Dave was classmates at Notre Dame with Stephen Perkins. Stephen met Eric's sister, Rebecca Avery, and they dated. Rebecca suggested that Eric and Perry Farrell audition Stephen as the drummer for Jane's Addiction after Perry and Eric cofounded the band.
Avery participated in the Deconstruction project with Navarro immediately after Jane's Addiction's breakup, but initially declined invitations for Jane's reunions. "I've asked him," said Farrell before 2001's Jubilee Tour, "but he says he wants no part of it. What else can you say but, Good luck to ya?"[1]
Avery has recorded tracks for, toured with and briefly dated Alanis Morissette, as well as creating another side project, Polar Bear, in 1994. He was once suggested as the replacement bassist for Tool by former Jane's Addiction and then-current Tool manager Ted Gardner. Eric declined the invitation, saying he wanted to concentrate on Polar Bear.[citation needed]
Avery worked briefly with the revived Smashing Pumpkins, but ultimately did not join the band. He was not paid for his work, but said the sessions were a lot of fun: "I went into [the Pumpkins] with the same mentality I took with me when I auditioned for Metallica – I expected to have a good story to tell my wife. I had no expectations. I had heard nothing but bad things about working with Billy, but I went, and I found it to be a really inspiring time."[2]Billy Corgan ended up playing bass on what would become 2007's Zeitgeist and hired Ginger Reyes for live performances.
In 2007, he contributed original music to the feature film documentary The 11th Hour. He also released his debut solo album Help Wanted in April 2008 through Dangerbird Records.
He finally performed with Jane's Addiction – for the first time since 1991 – at the NME Awards in 2008. Jane's played secret club shows in October and November 2008.[4] On March 19, 2009, at South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, the quartet performed a 45-minute set at an abandoned Safeway grocery store.
Jane's Addiction's official website was updated in February 2009 stating that there was to be another club show soon. Photos of Avery, Perkins and Navarro, taken by Trent Reznor, appeared on Nine Inch Nails' official site, which led to speculation that Reznor was helping Jane's record new material.[4] The relationship led to the booking of the "NIN/JA" (Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction) tour, on which Avery played, and which evoked the first Lollapalooza tour of 1991, starring Jane's and Nine Inch Nails.
On March 1, 2010, after a ten-date rescheduled tour in Australia, Avery stated on his Twitter page: "the janes addiction experiment is at an end." Rumors were already spreading around a few weeks before, as Duff McKagan was said to be the new bassist for Jane's, but Avery had kept his position for the remaining few dates of the 2009/2010 tour.
In February 2012, Justin Meldal-Johnsen commented on the talkbass.com forum that Avery would be joining Garbage on their upcoming tour.[5] In early May 2012 Garbage uploaded a video from their rehearsal, performing the song "Battle in Me", with Avery playing bass.[6] Avery has since performed in the two Garbage tours that followed, the band's 20th anniversary tour[7] and the one for the album Strange Little Birds, in which Avery plays bass in six tracks.[8]
Avery released his second solo album, entitled LIFE.TIME., on February 15, 2013.
On February 25, 2013, Trent Reznor named Avery as the new touring bassist of Nine Inch Nails. Avery was slated to perform in the Twenty Thirteen Tour from Summer 2013 into 2014, but announced his withdrawal on May 15, 2013, stating that after a year travelling with Garbage he did not feel like going on another extended tour.[9][10]
In May 2023, Garbage officially announced Avery's departure from the band after 18 years as its touring and recording bassist.[12]
Style
A self-taught bassist, Avery has singled Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order as his major influence on bass playing,[13] considering that British bassists were deeper with the instrument as "American rock bass is kick drum, it's just kick drum and then the root note of what the guitar player is doing." In Jane's Addiction, Avery stated that in the early phases the basslines would end up as a replacement rhythm guitar, "sort of built on that so Dave can riff on it and Stephen also can riff on it". On his solo career, Avery only played the bass at the final stages of Help Wanted, instead "focused on gadgets and keyboards and guitars and vocals and lyrics and other things like that". While playing with Garbage, Avery was for the first time "playing a more traditional bass role in a rock band" as his bass would only try to match Butch Vig's drumming.[14]
"Nothing's Shocking influenced me a lot, especially with what Eric Avery proposed from the bass," says Nick Oliveri, of Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and Mondo Generator. "Eric had written the music on his own, the guitars and the drums came later. So he inspired me on that side"[15]
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN, stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross. Reznor was previously the only permanent member of the band until Ross was officialized in 2016. The band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was released via TVT Records. After disagreeing with TVT about how to promote the album, the band signed with Interscope Records and released the EP Broken (1992). The following albums, The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999), were released to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Jane's Addiction is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985. The band consists of singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from the early 1990s alternative rock movement to gain commercial success.
Nothing's Shocking is the debut studio album by American rock band Jane's Addiction, released on August 23, 1988 through Warner Bros. Records. Nothing's Shocking was well received by critics and peaked at number 103 on the Billboard 200. The single "Jane Says" reached number six on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in 1988. Rolling Stone ranked Nothing's Shocking at number 312 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It received a nomination for the 31st Grammy Awards in the category for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental.
Strays is the third studio album by American rock band Jane's Addiction, released on July 22, 2003, on Capitol Records. Released 13 years after Ritual de lo Habitual (1990), the album marks the band's longest gap between full studio albums, although the group had recorded and released two new songs six years prior on the compilation album Kettle Whistle (1997). Strays is the first album to feature bassist Chris Chaney. Regarding the decision to record a new studio album after such a long hiatus, drummer Stephen Perkins stated that the band had already completed two reunion tours performing old material, and that Jane's was ready for "a new challenge."
David Michael Navarro is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Between 1993 and 1998, Navarro was the guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers, recording one studio album, One Hot Minute (1995), before departing. He has also released one solo album, Trust No One (2001). Navarro has also been a member of Jane's Addiction-related bands Deconstruction and the Panic Channel.
Perry Farrell is an American singer, songwriter, and musician referred to as the "Godfather of Alternative Music". Farrell began his career with Psi Com in the early 1980s, before becoming the frontman of the band Jane's Addiction. He became well known for his success with Jane's Addiction; the band quickly became a key act in the '80s Los Angeles music scene, blending punk, metal, and psychedelic rock to create a unique sound. Their daring live performances and experimental approach resonated with disillusioned youth, contributing to the rise of alternative music as a form of rebellion and self-expression.
Jane's Addiction is a live album by American rock band Jane's Addiction, released on May 15, 1987. Its basic tracks were recorded live at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles on January 26, 1987, with additional overdubs and corrections recorded at The Edge Studio in Los Angeles. An audience applause dub from a Los Lobos concert was overlaid onto the final mix.
Stephen Andrew Perkins is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he currently plays with Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros, Banyan and Hellride. His style blends rock, jazz, swing, African, Indian and Latin drumming styles together.
Daniel Patrick Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle. In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Nine Inch Nails.
Kettle Whistle is a compilation album by alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, released November 4, 1997, on Warner Bros. Issued to coincide with the 1997 "Relapse" tour, the album – originally titled It's My Party – includes new, alternate, unreleased and live tracks.
Alessandro Cortini is an Italian musician best known for his work with modular synthesizers, and being the keyboard, guitar, and bass player in the American industrial band Nine Inch Nails. As a member of Nine Inch Nails, Cortini is the first Italian inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Polar Bear was an American alternative rock band that was active in the late 1990s, formed and led by bassist Eric Avery.
Deconstruction was an American alternative rock band formed by bassist/singer Eric Avery and guitarist Dave Navarro, both formerly of Jane's Addiction, with drummer Michael Murphy. They released their sole album in 1994.
Nine Inch Nails, an American industrial rock band fronted by Trent Reznor, has toured all over the world since its creation in 1988. While Reznor—the only official member until adding Atticus Ross in 2016—controls its creative and musical direction in the studio, the touring band performs different arrangements of the songs. In addition to regular concerts, the band has performed in both supporting and headlining roles at festivals such as Woodstock '94, Lollapalooza 1991 and 2008, and many other one-off performances including the MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to their 2013 tour, the band had played 938 gigs.
Deconstruction is the only album by the band of the same name, released in 1994. It was released by Rick Rubin's label American Recordings and charted at number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart. Deconstruction disbanded shortly after the release of the album, with Eric Avery forming the band Polar Bear and Dave Navarro joining Red Hot Chili Peppers. The pair would later reunite as bandmates in Jane's Addiction in 2008.
NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler is a free compilation EP by Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction and Street Sweeper Social Club as part of the Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction 2009 NINJA tour. It was released on March 20, 2009 for free, on the tour's official website. Both of Street Sweeper Social Club's songs that appeared on the album, "Clap for The Killers" & "The Oath", later appeared on their self-titled album. The two Nine Inch Nails tracks, "Not So Pretty Now" and "Non-Entity" were both originally recorded during the With Teeth sessions, but did not make it onto the final record. The two Jane's Addiction's songs are re-recorded versions of songs that had originally only live versions, from the band's first official record.
The Great Escape Artist is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, released October 18, 2011 on Capitol Records. The album was the band's first since its 2003 release Strays and features TV on the Radio's multi-instrumentalist Dave Sitek contributing bass guitar alongside Chris Chaney. The album's release was preceded by singles "End to the Lies," released as a free download on April 7, 2011, and "Irresistible Force ," released August 3, 2011. Regarding the album's title, vocalist Perry Farrell said "I love being able to escape my past, even though my past was great. I just love the future even more."
The Twenty Thirteen Tour was a concert tour by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails to support the album Hesitation Marks. It marked the return of the band for live performances after a four-year touring hiatus. It began on July 26, 2013, and ended on August 30, 2014.
Joshua Leeds Eustis is an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the current sole member of electronic music act, Telefon Tel Aviv, since the death of bandmate Charles Cooper in 2009. He served as a touring member for industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails in 2013 and has collaborated heavily over the years with Maynard James Keenan's solo project Puscifer, for which he also served as a touring member. Eustis' solo project is Sons of Magdalene, of which he began releasing music under in 2008. He is also a founding member of the band The Black Queen.
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