The live return of the classic era lineup of Jane’s Addiction this past May was a triumphant moment for fans, but even more so the band themselves. While bassist Eric Avery returned to the fold back in 2022, the group were unfortunately short of another key player of their roster: guitarist Dave Navarro.
His status in the multi-platinum outfit had become a question mark due to his battle with long COVID. Jane’s Addiction hit the road for several runs with fill-in guitarists in Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Troy Van Leeuwen and Josh Klinghoffer (ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers) during the height of Navarro‘s illness. However, the bitter irony was unshakeable that just as the one key piece of the Jane’s Addiction puzzle had finally returned, another was forcibly sidelined.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Navarro has spoken about his struggles with the disease, which he contracted back in December of 2021. As his symptoms persisted, Navarro soon realized he was unfortunately one of the victims of ‘long haul COVID’, leaving him debilitated for numerous months.
When asked by Rolling Stone of how his health was at the time, he commented:
“Just overall fatigue. Really just not feeling like I had recovered, which led to being home quite a bit, which led to isolation, which led to depression, all those kinds of things. And it was just a pretty miserable experience for several years. And going to different doctors, trying different methods, holistic methods, Western methods. Some doctors claim that they’re specialists. Others claim that there is no way to test for long Covid, and then there was still a lot of skepticism about it being a real thing, at the time.
So I just had to stick it out, man, and I’m in a lot better place right now, with it all. It still rears its head once in a while, but what am I going to do? In fact, last tour, in Europe, I caught a flu or something, and I went and played some shows anyway. So if I can do that…”
As for how he felt about his bandmates returning to the road without him during the more severe times of his illness, he commented:
“I definitely had mixed feelings. Part of me was disappointed to not participate, of course, because this is the band I was in since I was a teenager. But I have to say that was overshadowed by the relief I had that I didn’t have to prevent these guys from working.
I would much rather be able to have my brothers do what they need to do, and be who they need to be, and do what they were put on this planet to do, instead of waiting for me. So the fact that they found people to step in for me was a big relief, because I think that if they didn’t go out, I would feel much more guilt than disappointment.”
In addition to focusing on recovering, Navarro told the aforementioned publication that he rode out much of his illness housebound, focusing on his art. He also stated that he has yet to watch any of the band’s performances that took place with the aforementioned fill-ins, but not because of jealousy or the like.
Instead, he cited fears that their take on his parts may worm their way into his own playing, thus diluting his original vision. With such a big question mark hanging over his health, Rolling Stone asked if he was worried that he might not be able to make it back onstage, he stated:
“Of course. It was, ‘Maybe, I’ll never get to do this again. Maybe this is my life for the rest of my life.’ You can’t help but lay awake at night and think up scary thoughts. And you just kind of have to pull yourself down to earth.
That involved a lot of meditation, a lot of staying in the present, a lot of journaling, a lot of internal work, just to say, ‘I don’t know the answer to the future, and I’m not going to sit here and try and predict it… If anything, I should put into the universe, positivity, and try and pull some kind of manifestation effect, wherein I am able to do it again.’ That’s just such a hard thing to force the brain to do when it’s looping on negativity.”
Navarro, who has had a long-checkered past with addiction, also shot down conspiracy theories that his absence from the band and spotlight was drug-related, asserting at one point that you could ask the “10 doctors” he saw while trying to get his health back on track from COVID. Navarro revealed that he is now living much healthier in terms of exercise, diet and more. As for how he feels now, he offered:
“I feel pretty good. It’s hard to say a hundred percent, but I don’t think I could put a number on it. Really, the reality is it’s a day-to-day thing. Some days, I wake up and I’m like, ‘Let’s go.’ Other days I wake up, and I’m like, ‘Fuck this, I’m going back to bed.'”
In addition to releasing their first new song (“Imminent Redemption“) last month since reuniting with their early lineup, the group also have another new track recorded to serve as the b-side for an upcoming vinyl release of “Imminent Redemption“. Those two tracks represent the first new material from the classic lineup of the band in 34 years.
You can find more from Navarro on the Jane’s Addiction reunion, how hard losing Taylor Hawkins hit him, and his future on TV, over at Rolling Stone.
