Jane’s Addiction Release Swooning New Single, ‘True Love,’ Days After On-Stage Fight & Tour Cancellation

Just days after the future of the band was thrown into question following singer Perry Farrell‘s on-stage attack on guitarist Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction dropped a swoony new song on Wednesday morning (Sept. 18). The moody, ballad, “True Love,” fits firmly in the briefly reunited group’s signature dreamy ballad mode, with lyrics chronicling the first, exciting shoots of passion.

“When I first felt true love/ I was very young,” Farrell sings over Navarro’s chiming, hypnotic guitar in the nearly four-minute track that taps into the group’s classic shamanic rock vibe. “I tried to describe it to my friends/ You’re floating over something that’s way over your head/ Wading in the waters of true love/ Basking in glory of true love.”

The release comes three months after the group issued the charging “Imminent Redemption,” single, which marked the first new song from the original band lineup in nearly 35 years. It also comes in the shadow of an ugly scene last Friday in Boston when Farrell, 65, appeared agitated on stage before shoving Navarro and then punching his longtime bandmate in the chest in a shocking scene that led to the cancellation of the reunited lineup’s first tour in 14 years as well as the announcement of an indefinite hiatus.

At press time a spokesperson for the band had not returned Billboard‘s request for information on whether “True Love” was another one-off from the legendarily quarrelsome alt-rock group — which also features drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — or another preview of a what would be their first new studio album in 34 years.

In the wake of incident in Boston, the band issued an apology to fans, followed by a statement from Navarro, Perkins and Avery citing what they deemed the “mental health difficulties” affecting Farrell, as well as a personal mea culpa from the singer, who called his behavior “inexcusable.” In addition, Navarro apologized to opening acts Love & Rockets and Crawlers on Tuesday, specifically calling out the former band made up of ex members of Bauhaus for the “terrible outcome” of the tour that launched in August and was slated to run through mid-October.

The two new songs appeared to presage a return to form for the 1990s alt-rock group who released two classic studio albums during their short late 1980s-early 1990s run, 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking and 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual. Jane’s broke up following a farewell tour as part of 1991’s first Lollapalooza festival, with Avery long acting as a hold-out in subsequent reunion tour; he was replaced by Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea on a 1997 tour and Martyn LeNoble and Chris Chaney on subsequent outings. The original four members got back together for a 2008 world tour, though Avery split again in 2010 before the release of the band’s fourth studio album, The Great Escape Artist, before returning to the fold again in 2022.

Listen to “True Love” below.

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