Perry Farrell is sitting at home in front of the iconic photograph in which Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie is looking into a mirror, his reflection staring straight into the camera. The image was taken by legendary rock snapper Mick Rock in March 1972, in a flat in Beckenham, just over a mile from where this K! writer is currently located, speaking to Perry via Zoom, It is, if anything, an illustration of how everything is connected and things go full circle.
Take, for instance, the reemergence of Porno For Pyros, the band Perry started in the wake of the first split of Jane’s Addiction back in 1992. Born into a Los Angeles aflame from the city’s race riots, Porno For Pyros released two albums, 1993’s self-titled debut and 1996’s Good God’s Urge, chronicling social upheaval and the beauty of nature alike, before going on a 26-year touring hiatus. But now they’re back, in similarly charged times, with an environmentally conscious new song, Agua, and a 16-date U.S. tour. It’ll be a case of saying goodbye as well as hello, however, as the jaunt in February and March 2024 – entitled Horns, Thorns En Halos – will be the band’s last.
In anticipation of this farewell to fans, K! catches up with Perry about surfing, smoking crack, toting guns and spiritual awakenings, all delivered in his inimitable dreaming style. “I’m that peripheral person who likes to kick back and watch things unfold,” he tells us. “But then I like to get into the mosh-pit myself from time to time, you know?”
You’re busier than ever, so the obvious question is: after a 26-year touring hiatus, why bring back Porno For Pyros now to say goodbye and make your job even harder?
“No, but it makes my job easier because it all comes from music. If the music was to go silent, it seems like all forward motion would start to cease as well. They say these days it’s all about the algorithm… some of my friends are putting out albums’ worth of material – an obnoxious amount of music – looking to stimulate their algorithms. This is not that whatsoever.”
When the band first started, in the ’90s, it was a turbulent time characterised by the racial tensions of the LA riots. Did you also feel a need to return now in the similarly combustible times we find ourselves in?
“It’s astute to see the cycle coming full circle. When Porno For Pyros were coming up, that was the era of crack cocaine flooding into the streets of Los Angeles and then the world. We were running those streets wild with the LA riots. It was the era of Rodney King and Desert Storm.”
What can you tell us about your newly-released song, Agua?
“We wrote it in Tahiti, the same time that we wrote Tahitian Moon [from Good God’s Urge]. I always loved to sing it when we’d pick up acoustic guitars and bongos and stuff. Fast forward to now, the song has taken on a slightly different, more urgent meaning.”