“I was just looking for a story to tell the grandkids. It was Flea who said that I might get the gig”: Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery recalls his 2003 audition for Metallica

As any cosmology textbook will tell you, the massive stars that burn brightest self-destruct most intensely. Somehow, Eric Avery survived the rock ’n’ roll supernova of Jane’s Addiction.

The band – which Avery formed in 1985 alongside singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, and drummer Stephen Perkins – mixed melodic bass guitar with soaring vocals and thrashy guitars and drums to concoct the sonic soup that nourished the nascent alternative rock revolution.

“The music of Jane’s Addiction revolves around Eric’s bass playing,” Flea told Bass Player. “He is no virtuoso at putting down fancy speed chops, but conceptually he is absolutely incredible, melodically and groove-wise. There’ll never be anything like it again. It’s one-of-a-kind bass playing. Eric is one of the greatest rock bass players ever. I’d put him in the top five or 10, for sure.”

With Avery’s earthy bass hooks driving hits like Been Caught Stealing, and stellar album tracks such as Three Days and Mountain Song, Jane’s Addiction had a wildly successful run before internal tension first tore it apart in 1991 – and again, albeit more publicly, in 2024.

Jane’s Addiction – Mountain Song (Official Video) – YouTube

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In between his stints with Jane’s, Avery stayed busy. He formed two bands of his own, Deconstruction and Polar Bear, before touring with Alanis Morissette. Avery also appeared on Morissette’s Maverick albums Under Rug Swept and So-Called Chaos.

When Metallica was searching for a bass player to replace Jason Newsted in 2003, Avery was one of the few players granted an audition. “I was basically looking for a story to tell the grandkids,” he told Bass Player.

“It was Flea who first planted the idea that I might actually get the gig. I was talking to him a few days before I went to audition, and he was like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t you get the gig?’ I said, ‘I’m not that guy. I’m not Metallica’s new bass player.’ Flea was like, ‘Why not? They write rad music, and you’re a great bassist.’

“Up to then, I hadn’t really even considered it. I was just looking at it as a chance to go play Master of Puppets with Metallica for an afternoon.”

“I remember being at a small dinner party with some friends the night before the audition. They were like, ‘So, are you excited? Tomorrow you could become Metallica’s bass player, you’ll become a millionaire!’ My friend said she could see it all beginning to dawn on me, and I got this deer-in-the-headlights look, and I receded from the conversation in terror. It was a shocking realisation, but it turned out to be an amazing day.

“They flew me up and gave me the red-carpet treatment, which was really charming. When we started playing, I was shocked that it was just guys with amps facing each other as if we were in a garage. It was like hearing Metallica as if they were playing in their garage and we were all 20. We played through Master of Puppets, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Fuel. It was a lot of fun.”

Metallica Bass Player Auditions – YouTube

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With Metallica selecting Robert Trujillo as the band’s new bassist, Avery joined the Smashing Pumpkins for a spell, before being snatched up by Garbage. “Out of the blue, I got a call to meet with them,” said Avery, who got the gig without having to play a single note.

“They got a good personal vibe from me, and when Butch Vig, Garbage’s drummer/producer called me the next day, he said, ‘We’re not going to make an audition day happen. Chances are pretty good that you know how to play bass!’”