Eric Avery - Biography

Biography

Eric Avery was born in Los Angeles, California. His father is the actor Brian Avery perhaps best known for his work in The Graduate, playing Carl Smith.

Eric and Dave Navarro first met as students at St. Paul the Apostle Grammar School in West Los Angeles, a Catholic Parochial School founded by the Paulist Fathers. Eric and Dave were classmates together. Eric went on to Loyola High School (boys only) of Los Angeles and Dave went on to Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. Dave was classmates at Notre Dame with Stephen Perkins. Stephen met Eric's sister, Rebecca Avery, and they dated. It was Rebecca who suggested that Eric and Perry audition Stephen as the drummer for Jane's Addiction after Perry and Eric co-founded the band.

Avery kept a fairly low profile after the first demise of Jane's Addiction, participating in the Deconstruction project with Dave Navarro immediately after Jane's Addiction's breakup, but declining all invitations for Jane's reunions, until 2008. He has also recorded tracks for, toured with and briefly dated Alanis Morissette, as well as creating another side project, Polar Bear in 1994. Avery was once suggested as the replacement bassist for Tool by former Jane's Addiction and then-current Tool manager Ted Gardner. Eric declined the invitation, saying he wanted to concentrate on his band Polar Bear. As seen in the film Some Kind of Monster, Avery also auditioned to become the bassist for Metallica, after the departure of former bassist Jason Newsted. The job didn't quite fit right for Avery; instead the band went with Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo. Avery toured with the band Garbage during the promotion of their 2005 Bleed Like Me album. Avery has also performed with Peter Murphy, both on tour and on Murphy's 2004 release, Unshattered.

Avery worked briefly with the revived Smashing Pumpkins, but ultimately did not join the band. Avery was not paid for his work with the newly revived band, but did say the sessions were a lot of fun: "I went into with the same mentality I took with me when I auditioned for Metallica — I expected to have a good story to tell my wife. I had no expectations. I had heard nothing but bad things about working with Billy, but I went, and I found it to be a really inspiring time." Billy Corgan ended up playing bass parts on what would become their 2007 album Zeitgeist and hired Ginger Reyes for live performances.

In 2007, he contributed original music to the feature film documentary The 11th Hour. He also released his debut solo album Help Wanted in April 2008 through Dangerbird Records.

After refusing to perform with Jane's Addiction several times, Avery performed alongside his former bandmates at the NME Awards in 2008. Jane's Addiction played secret clubs shows in October and November 2008. On March 19, 2009 at South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, the original Jane's Addiction lineup performed a 45 minute set at an abandoned Safeway grocery store.

Jane's Addiction's official website was updated in February 2009 stating that there will be another club show soon. The new website also has an unfinished "In The Studio" blog which has led to rumors that Jane's Addiction are currently in the studio. Photos of Eric Avery, Stephen Perkins, and Dave Navarro, taken by Trent Reznor, have recently appeared on Nine Inch Nails' official web site which has led to speculation that Reznor could be helping Jane's Addiction record new material. This relationship led to the booking of the "NIN/JA" (Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction) Amphitheater tour, in which Eric Avery is playing on a major Jane's Addiction tour since 1991, and also recalls the first Lollapalooza tour of 1991 in which Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails were the top two billed acts.

On the 1st March 2010, after a brief 10-date rescheduled tour in Australia, Eric Avery officially stated on his Twitter page that "the janes addiction experiment is at an end." Some rumors were already spreading around a few weeks before, as Duff McKagan was said to be the new bass player for Jane's Addiction, but Eric Avery kept his position within the band for the remaining few dates of the 2009/2010 tour.

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers stated on the Stadium Arcadium commentary that his guitar playing style is majorly influenced by Avery's spacious and heavily melodic playing.

Avery is currently a member of the Giraffe Tongue Orchestra along with guitarist Brent Hinds of Mastodon, guitarist Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, and drummer Jon Theodore, formerly of The Mars Volta.

In February 2012, Justin Meldal-Johnsen commented on the talkbass.com forum that Avery would be joining Garbage on their upcoming tour. In early May of 2012 Garbage uploaded a video from their rehearsal, performing the song Battle In Me, with Avery playing bass.