In May, Dave Navarro rejoined Jane’s Addiction live after being sidelined from the road for over two years due to the effects of long COVID. Not only was his long journey back to the stage hampered by his health, but Navarro was also dealing with the emotional impact of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins‘ death.
Navarro played with Hawkins and former Jane’s bassist Chris Chaney in the band NHC. The trio launched in September 2021 and put out an EP in February 2022. Speaking with Guitar World, Navarro shares that NHC had more music in the works when Hawkins passed in March 2022.
“I just completed making a record with Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney,” Navarro recalls. “We mixed and mastered it, and then, we lost Taylor. That was in the middle of COVID, and it was actually very painful for me to pick up the guitar after that.”
Navarro estimates that he “didn’t pick up the guitar for about a year” after Hawkins’ death.
“[Hawkins] was such an inspiring artist,” Navarro says. “Not only was he a phenomenal drummer, but he was also an amazing songwriter and lyricist, and he was just one of those humans that everybody loved. Everybody loved him.”
Eventually, Navarro did get back into the guitar, sharing that he “started playing some cover songs, and just kind of got used to the instrument in my hand again.”
With Navarro returning to Jane’s, the band’s classic lineup of him, frontman Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins are playing live together for the first time in 14 years. They’re launching a U.S. tour in August and are dropping a new song, “Imminent Redemption,” on July 24.
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