Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction talks about saying the right thing

Perry Farrell has being a rock star down. After all these years, the public face of being in a rock band is second nature to the Jane’s Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza auteur.

“I learned something from Tim Leary,” he confides and we sit up prepared for something juicy from the psychedelic guru.

Not so, Leary it seems was all about the business.

“He told me that really what you’re after is a sound byte,” says Farrell. 

We are?

“If you can have one sentence, a 30-second sound byte that sticks in people’s minds, then you’ve done your job.”

We have?

“That’s what everyone is looking for, that’s what the interviewer wants. So, when I speak to people it’s almost like I’m writing poetry, like I’m writing a sound byte that will be memorable!”

Have we had ours, we wonder as we’re now halfway through the interview?

“I think we did something pretty remarkable, talking about the Walk of Fame and the RF chip,” interjects Farrell.

He’s right; earlier Farrell talked about Jane’s Addiction’s inclusion in the 2013 inductees to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has an on-trend interactive idea for Jane’s star — and perhaps the future of the famous sidewalk stretch.

“I’d like to put an RF [radio frequency] chip in our star, so that when people walk over our star they can hear music or see pictures on their phone. I’ve got to approach the board about it, but it would revolutionize the Walk of Fame.”

Theatre of the Escapists

The third leg of the North American Theatre of the Escapists tour takes Jane’s Addiction out of theaters and into bigger and often outdoor venues.

“The plan was to tour the great theaters of America,” says Farrell. “Along the way we got offers to do festivals and we took a couple of bigger gigs along the way. Theaters are expensive to play with this full production, so this offsets some of the cost.”