As any cosmology textbook will tell you, the massive stars that burn brightest self-destruct most intensely. Somehow, Eric Avery survived the rock ’n’ roll supernova of Jane's Addiction. The band – which Avery formed in 1985 alongside singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, and drummer Stephen Perkins – mixed melodic bass guitar with soaring vocals and thrashy guitars and drums to concoct the sonic soup that nourished the nascent alternative rock revolution.
“The music of Jane's Addiction revolves around Eric's bass playing,” Flea told Bass Player . “He is no virtuoso at putting down fancy speed chops, but conceptually he is absolutely incredible, melodically and groove-wise. There'll never be anything like it again.
It's one-of-a-kind bass playing. Eric is one of the greatest rock bass players ever. I'd put him in the top five or 10, for sure.
" With Avery's earthy bass hooks driving hits like Been Caught Stealing , and stellar album tracks such as Three Days and Mountain Song , Jane's Addiction had a wildly successful run before internal tension first tore it apart in 1991 – and again, albeit more publicly , in 2024. In between his stints with Jane's, Avery stayed busy. He formed two bands of his own, Deconstruction and Polar Bear, before touring with Alanis Morissette.
Avery also appeared on Morissette's Maverick albums Under Rug Swept and So-Called Chaos. When Metallica was searching for a bass player to replace Jason Newsted in 2003, Avery was one of.
