The now-famous onstage altercation between Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell at a Jane’s Addiction performance has been discussed by KISS icon Paul Stanley.
Farrell attacked Navarro on September 13 after tensions had risen in the days before as a result of the singer’s poor live performances. Farrell had been slurring his words, singing at the wrong times, and reciting the wrong song lyrics.
The band had to postpone the rest of their tour dates and go on hiatus as a result of the altercation that broke out backstage after the event was cut short.
Although conflict amongst band members is not uncommon in rock music, it is uncommon to witness such outbursts of rage onstage. It also bothers Stanley, who recently expressed his displeasure with the way things transpired to Jackass star Steve-O.
One important rule that all artists should follow, even when they disagree, was disclosed by Stanley as a guest on Steve-O’s Wilde Ride! podcast: “You don’t hit.”
He goes on to say, “And you don’t bring your problems onstage,”
He reassesses as he says, “But you leave your anger and your resentment at the bottom of the stairs.” “You leave your ego — well, that’s more difficult,” he judges.
As the “Starchild” recounts, “And we would go onstage and have a great time sometimes playing and then walk offstage and not be talking to each other,” he has been forced to do this in KISS.
“The audience doesn’t deserve that,” Stanley remarks, alluding to watching interpersonal conflicts unfold on stage. “The crowd made a payment. That relates to the same idea that [KISS] is the band we never saw.
“People get one opportunity to see you, perhaps on a tour. Not holding back, Stanley said, “That’s disrespectful to the people who paid. It doesn’t matter about last night or the night after — that’s their night, and for them to see you not interacting with your bandmate, that’s kid shit.”