Eric Avery

Eric Avery
Eric Avery (left) and Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Eric Adam Avery
Born	April 25, 1965 (1965-04-25) (age 44) Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres	Alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Bass guitar, Vocals
Years active	1985 - Present
Labels	Warner Bros., EMI/Capitol,
Associated acts	Jane's Addiction Deconstruction Polar Bear Garbage

Eric Adam Avery (born April 25, 1965) is an American musician and bass player for the rock band Jane's Addiction. Avery played in Jane's Addiction initially from 1985 to 1991, and rejoined the band in 2008.

Biography

Eric and Dave Navarro first met as students at St. Paul the Apostle Grammar School in West Los Angeles, a Catholic Parochial School founded by the Paulist Fathers. Eric and Dave were classmates together. Eric went on to Loyola High School (boys only) of Los Angeles and Dave went on to 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. It was Rebecca who suggested that Eric and Perry audition Stephen as the drummer for Jane's Addiction.

Avery kept a fairly low profile after the first demise of Jane's Addiction, participating in the Deconstruction project with Dave Navarro immediately after Jane's Addiction's breakup, but declining all invitations for Jane's reunions, until 2008. The only reason Avery has ever given for his repeated rejections is that he feels the reunions are motivated purely by money. He has also recorded tracks for, toured with and briefly dated Alanis Morissette, as well as creating another side project, Polar Bear in 1994.^[1] Tool's Maynard Keenan invited Eric Avery to replace bassist Paul D'Amour. Eric Avery 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 his band Polar Bear. As seen in the film Some Kind of Monster, Avery also auditioned to become the bassist for Metallica, after the departure of former bassist Jason Newsted.^[1] The job didn't quite fit right for Avery; instead the band went with Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo.^[1] Avery toured with the band Garbage during the promotion of their 2005 Bleed Like Me album. ^[1]

Avery worked briefly with the revived Smashing Pumpkins, but ultimately did not join the band.^[1] Avery was not paid for his work with the newly revived band, but did say 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."^[1] Billy Corgan ended up playing bass parts on what would become their 2007 album Zeitgeist and hired Ginger Reyes for live performances.

Eric released his debut solo album Help Wanted in April 2008 through Dangerbird Records.

After refusing to perform with Jane's Addiction several times, Avery performed alongside his former bandmates at the NME Awards in 2008. Jane's Addiction played secret clubs shows in October and November 2008.^[2]. On March 19th, 2009 at South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, the original Jane's Addiction lineup 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 will be another club show soon. The new website also has an unfinished "In The Studio" blog which has led to rumors that Jane's Addiction are currently in the studio. Photos of Eric Avery, Stephen Perkins, and Dave Navarro, taken by Trent Reznor, have recently appeared on Nine Inch Nails' official web site which has led to speculation that Reznor could be helping Jane's Addiction record new material.^[3]. This relationship led to the booking of the "NIN/JA" (Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction) Amphitheater tour, in which Eric Avery is playing on a major Jane's Addiction tour since 1991, and also recalls the first Lollapalooza tour of 1991 in which Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails were the top two billed acts.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2009)

• John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers stated on the Stadium Arcadium commentary that his guitar playing style is majorly influenced by Avery's spacious and heavily melodic playing.
• Eric Avery is also contributing original music to the 2007 feature film documentary The 11th Hour.
• His father is the actor Brian Avery; he has played numerous television roles since the late 1950s, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Graduate, playing Carl Smith, the character Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) stops Elaine Robinson (Katharine Ross) from marrying in the film's climax.

Discography

Jane's Addiction

• 1987 Jane's Addiction
• 1988 Nothing's Shocking
• 1990 Ritual de lo Habitual
• 1991 Live and Rare (Compilation of B-Sides and the Remix of "Been Caught Stealing")
• 1997 Kettle Whistle (Compilation of live tracks, demos and unreleased material)
• 2006 Up From the Catacombs (Greatest hits album)
• 2009 A Cabinet of Curiosities (Box set)

Deconstruction

• 1994 Deconstruction

Polar Bear

• 1996 Self-titled 12" ice blue vinyl
• 1997 Chewing Gum EP
• 1999 Why Something Instead of Nothing?

Solo career

• 2008 Help Wanted

References

External links

• Polar Bear Band Site: Gavin gets direct updates from Eric Avery on this site.
• JanesAddiction.org: Extensive Eric Avery discography.
• ericavery.blogspot.com: Eric's official blog
• Website: Official Eric Avery Website
• An interview with Avery on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe where he tells the audience about his skeptic beliefs.
• Rehearsal Space: Eric Avery