"We're Never Reuniting," said the Band Currently on Tour

Founding members of Oasis, Soul Coughing, Jane's Addiction, and The Smiths prove they're unreliable narrators

If you’ve been on the internet in the last 48 hours, you’ve likely seen the footage already. At a gig in Boston last Friday, for the reunited Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell lost his shit. He full-on attacked guitarist Dave Navarro, coming at him like an overcaffeinated spider monkey.

Not ringing any bells? Take a look at what you missed!

It raises a lot of questions. Is Perry okay? Was he drunk or stoned? Exactly how many illegal substances were in his system? Is this the end of the band? Does this mean they should change the pronoun in “Jane Says” so it’s now “he can’t hit”?

I had a different reaction. It immediately reminded me of a 2011 interview I did with Navarro for Vanity Fair, in which he insisted that the band’s punching days were long behind them.

Eric Spitznagel: I heard that during one of the original Lollapalooza shows, you and Perry Farrell got into a physical altercation onstage. Do you remember what that fight was about anymore?

Dave Navarro: No, we were kids and we were volatile. We had different forms of expression than we do now. I’m sure that some of those altercations were chemically induced in one way or another. I have very little recollection of what that was all about.

ES: When you’re playing with the band today, do you ever feel like giving Perry an upper cut in the middle of a song?

DN: Why?

ES: I don’t know. For old times’ sake? You and Perry could be like alt rock’s Sunshine Boys. “Remember when I used to fucking hate you back in the day?”

DN: Back in the good old days when we used to fistfight?

ES: Even with all the punching and drug abuse, you must occasionally feel sentimental about that tour, right?

DN: That is definitely not something I’m ever nostalgic about. We’re very much about living in the moment right now.

Revisiting this interview got me thinking. Aren’t there a few bands on tour right now, whose former members told me, in no uncertain terms, that there was no goddamn way they’d ever play on the same stage together again?

Sure enough, it didn’t take much digging into my archives to find those very interviews.