As Jane’s Addiction gear up for their much-anticipated “Theatre of the Escapists” tour launching February 22nd in classic theatres, they will premiere their new video for “Underground”. The song, which is the opener of their acclaimed album The Great Escape Artist (Capitol Records), takes on an alluringly dark dimension in the video, for which the band joined forces with esteemed director Robert Hales. An explicit version of the video will debut at Playboy.com this Friday, January 27 at 10:00 AM EST.
Shot in Los Angeles at the club Fais Do-Do, originally a speakeasy from the 1920’s with a New Orleans ambience, the video shows frontman Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins, along with Chris Chaney on bass performing while a cast of vaudevillian characters lurk around the dark, smoky setting.
Farrell described the video: “There are Siamese Gargoyles, séances, card games and a man in a white fedora who was also on the cover of In Through the Out Door (a Led Zeppelin album). People get made love to and murdered in the backrooms while the band plays on.” Director Robert Hales (Nine Inch Nails) said he set out to create “a video that really immerses itself in what the band is all about–that off-kilter vibe, kinky imagery, and ‘lust for life’ spirit that’s embedded in their music.”
The now-buzzing-at-radio track “Underground” surges and soars, with Farrell singing the provocative lines “I try and get some love from up high/There just ain’t enough to go around” as the band lifts the song into the stratosphere. As Jim Fusilli wrote about the album and “Underground” in the Wall Street Journal: “Dave Navarro issues several searing guitar solos, but some of his best work is in his flat-picking, giving the sound its high, glittery tones. In the opening track, “Underground,” he excels with terse fills long before he solos at the song’s fade. As always, Stephen Perkins proves to be one of rock’s great drummers, and his interplay with Mr. Navarro, his high-school marching-band buddy, is one of the disc’s savory treats” (October 11, 2011).
Meanwhile, Jane’s Addiction upcoming North American tour of classic theatres has instantly become a hot ticket, with several shows already sold out in anticipation of a chance to see the pioneering alternative rockers in intimate venues. Jane’s Addiction are poised to deliver an “immersive” theatrical experience as only they can. “We chose to play as many of the great theatres that we could find because we wanted to immerse the audience in a unique experience unlike any they have ever seen at a rock show,” says Farrell. “Expect an orgy of musical and visual delights. We like orgies, and hope you do too.”
