Porno for Pyros' Former Bassist Says Perry Farrell Is the "Worst Frontman"

"And I've worked with some 'difficult' singers. All kinder, better, and more talented."

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Sep 30, 2024

Last week, the Jane's Addiction guitar tech shed a little more light on the whole onstage brawl where Perry Farrell attacked Dave Navarro, explaining that the frontman also punched the guitarist backstage after the fact. (The incident went down in Boston amid the North American reunion tour of the band's original lineup, promptly ending the show and the remainder of the tour, and cueing speculation that Jane's are done for good.) 

It's safe to say that Farrell's (current?) bandmates aren't his biggest fans right now, and that truth can be extrapolated more generally: Martyn LeNoble, former Porno for Pyros bassist, has slammed the singer and his wife in a series of tweets.

LeNoble joined Porno for Pyros when Farrell formed the offshoot in 1992, playing on both of the band's studio albums. The bassist proceeded to back the vocalist on some subsequent solo records, and actually was involved in the recording sessions for the Jane's 2003 reunion album Strays — bassist Eric Avery did not return for that album — before being fired. When Porno for Pyros reunited for a farewell tour last year, LeNoble did not take part.

"I can say, unequivocally, that Perry has been the worst frontman I've ever worked with," the musician wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter last night (September 29). "Always a kind word, followed by shitty actions. The fist rots from the head down. I still don't understand how he channelled some of those great lyrics & vocals on the first two Jane's records."

LeNoble went on to note that he's worked with "some 'difficult' singers," but that they were all "kinder, better, and more talented" than Farrell. "Perry doesn't show up for rehearsals, sound checks [sic], writing, etc.," the bassist continued. "He jumps in late with shitty lyrics. Some I had to tell him were terrible. Unprepared, wild eyed, not present, high. Motherfucker does it over and over again."

"And Etty is a horrible person," he added of Farrell's wife, who has been outspoken in this whole debacle (and was seemingly part of its catalyst, with Farrell having tried to quit the tour when the rest of the band didn't support having background dancers, which she had been with Jane's since 1997).

See LeNoble's tweets in full below.

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