Founed: 1992 Band Existence: 1992-1997 Original Lineup: Perry Farrell, Stephen Perkins, Peter DiStefano, Martyn LeNoble Past Members: Martyn LeNoble, Mike Watt Activity: Defunct
Afer the breakup of Jane's Addiction, the members of Jane's Addiction went their separate ways. Stephen Perkins said that when he spotted Perry Farrell at an Infectious Grooves concert, he knew that he would be working with Perry again soon. That soon was less than a year after Jane's Addiction played their final show.
Perry Farrell and Stephen Perkins formed Porno For Pyros with Peter DiStefano and Martyn LeNoble. The quartet began writing, recording and performing together. They even played the second stage at a handful of Lollapalooza 92 shows. Due to the unexpected breakup of Jane's Addiction, the musical world was anxious to hear what Porno For Pyros would have to offer. They were, whether they wanted it or not, poised to be the next Jane's Addiction.
There were extremely high expectations for Porno For Pyros, by fans and industry pundits alike. This brought a lot of pressure on the band to release an album and tour. When their debut album hit record stores, it was met with mixed reactions. Some loved it while others hated, but it was not, much to the dismay of some, a Jane's Addiction album. While it had a similar edge, it was a very different album.
Porno For Pyros was stuck in the shadow of Jane's Addiction. What didn't happen matters much more was the fact that a number of songs appearing on the Porno For Pyros album were initially Jane's Addiction tracks. Comparisons between the bands were inevitable. However, besides these high expectations and the lackluster response by the mainstream to the band's album didn't stop them from building their own loyal fan base. The band does receive some moderate success with the track Pets, which remains their biggest hit to this day.
Porno For Pyros joined the twenty-fifth anniversary Woodstock 94 concert. One of the band's most memorable and most bootlegged performances took place at this show. The band performed quite drunk at this show, therefore it wasn't really their best performance. However, this was due, in part to Perry's relationship with Casey Niccoli finally coming to and end around this time, something that clearly affected Perry's performance. This show also marked the beginning of Perry's flavor for elaborate stage shows.
Porno For Pyros takes a step away from their debut effort with the follow up Good God's Urge, a more spiritual and earthy album, however recording it turned into a larger undertaking than the band had anticipated.
Just before the band began to write and record, Peter DiStefano was diagnosed with testicular cancer; this forced him to take some time off for surgery. Thankfully Pete's surgery was successful and no other traces of cancer were found. This came on the heels of him having to deal with his father's cancer. Unfortunately for Pete's father, his battle with cancer was not won.
In the early stages of writing and recording, Martyn LeNoble announces that he is leaving the band to address some of his personal issues, rumored to be drug related. This left the band in a lurch, without a bass player, getting the album recorded took a bit more time. The door was never officially closed to Martyn, therefore instead of finding a permanent replacement, the band looked to find people to fill in his absence. A number of guest artists appear on Good God's Urge including members of Love and Rockets, Flea and Dave Navarro as well as Mike Watt.
The inclusion of Mike Watt was not simply a guest appearance on the album. Mike performed a few tracks on the album and joined the band for the majority of the Good God's Urge tour. Watt's presence meshed extremely well with the band, and the four became good friends, Mike and Steve especially. The two would later collaborate on a number of projects.
The Good God's Urge tour was also the first time in years that you could hear Perry sing Jane's Addiction songs. What became a great surprise for those who did not hear about it before hand, Porno For Pyros would play classic Jane's Addiction tunes such as My Time, I Would For You and Mountain Song in front on an ecstatic crowd. It was clear that Perry and Steve did not feel the need to shut the door on their past.
Perry and Porno For Pyros try to rekindle the magic that was Lollapalooza with the Enit festival. Enit took the original idea of Lollapalooza and took it a little further and turned it into something a bit more. Perry had ideas of including a tree planting and other more earth friendly events to take place at the shows. Unfortunately, it turned into a logistical nightmare and nearly half the original dates were scrapped. In the end, it turned into just another summer festival unable to drum up the spirit of what was found in 1991.
This swelled into something more in 1996 when Flea and Dave Navarro joined the band to record the song Hard Charger for Howard Stern's Private parts movie. Mike Watt had left the band to concentrate on his other projects, so Dave and Flea joined up for the last few show dates and all promotional appearances for the Private Parts movie. This would eventually grow into the Jane's Addiction relapse.
What is the future for Porno For Pyros? No one is quite sure. Martyn LeNoble recently hooked back up with Perry and Steve, yet this time as the bassist for Jane's Addiction. Peter DiStefano is working on his Venice Underground project. Clearly, if Jane's Addiction tours and works together more, any more work for Porno For Pyros will have to take place afterward, but there has been no indication that Porno For Pyros will never work together again, and considering that many felt Jane's Addiction was over permanently in 1991, it doesn't seem unreasonable to be optimistic about this band.
Source: http://one-percent.com
