A couple of years ago when I saw guitarist Dave Navarro play in some small clubs with the Panic Channel I noticed his Louis Vuitton guitar strap. For years it's been as much a part of Dave's act as his penchant for nail polish and taking his shirt off. But now, as Dave says on his blog 6767, it looks like it's the end of an era. He has received a rather stern letter from the Vuitton legal team saying in part that: "We have no doubt that this copying has been willful and is intended to trade upon the fame and cachet of the LV Trademarks to elevate the status of the infringing Guitar Strap, and of Jane's Addiction."

Vuitton has been positively militant about brand protection the last few years, suing a dog toy company for their mock "Chewy Vuiton" dog toys and taking on Britney Spears for using a a pink Vuitton-upholstered dashboard in a music video. Apparently Spears and Navarro don't project the sort of image that Vuitton wants for their brand. It seems to me that these sort of moves work against a brand that has experienced a tremendous financial benefit by being seen on the arms of all sorts of Hollywood types and thereby becoming objects of desire for the masses.

how do i talk about it all? how do i mention speculating without creating, at the very least, some wild speculation over the coming months. am i considering something with the boys of janes addiction? yes. do i think something of a deserving quality is possible? not as convinced. not yet at least. do i know what it would look like? i have absolutely no idea. would we play a few live shows? would we try to write something? i havent even spoken yet to dave, let alone any other band members, about any of this. but what has changed is that i am considering it all. and not only that, it feels good to consider it.

the other night at the nme was good fun. it felt pretty positive all around. i enjoyed playing those old bass lines (some of which i hadnt even privately played in sixteen or seventeen years). it was a pretty complete pleasure to do on a personal level. i was left with some concerns though musically. our ability as a foursome to focus, to challenge ourselves concerns me. can we bring the urgency to the songs that made them so dynamic in the first place? i dont know. how do we best do that? i am thinking about it. if i can become convinced that we can do that then i am open to trying. but until that point, i can only speculate. it is only the very beginning of a glimmer of a start to this process. it is an idea that could die on the vine, which is precisely why it has taken me this long to post anything, but it is also an idea that is pretty pregnant with possibility. that feeling of possibility in itself is a sea change for me. we will just have to see.

ok. so...short story is that ive decided to do a few songs with janes addiction at the nme awards show. they are honoring the legacy of janes and therefore i have decided to participate. i have kept silent this past week about it because i was concerned that if it got out that i was even considering it, that in itself would have been considered an answer and i didnt want to set this in motion until i had really decided either way. so i am sorry for the lack of response to your questions on the blog here.

i went to do dave navarros internet tv show today thinking that i might get some clarity about all this from talking to him. i had only spoken to two other folks about this up to that point. i was really conflicted and i am still unsure that this is the right answer (if there is such a thing) but i am happy to be a part of honoring janes. i am humbled that we are being put into the company of the others who have received this honor from the nme. and finally, i must admit that it has felt really good so far in both heart and mind; just sounds like a cool night. amazing.

now then, i have some basslines to figure out and rehearse.

Jane's Addiction to win NME Godlike Genius award
Band will be honoured at first US NME Awards

Jane's Addiction are set to be named Godlike Geniuses at the US NME Awards.

Members of the legendary band will come together to receive the award at the ceremony on April 23, which will be held at Los Angeles' Goldenvoice El Rey Theatre.

"When we were in the planning stages of bringing the NME Awards to America, Jane's Addiction were always in our thoughts," explained NME Editor Conor McNicholas of the award. "They are exactly the sort of once-in-a-lifetime, inspirational, aspirational, no-holds-barred, genre-busting, risk-taking, pioneering group which sums up what the NME Awards is all about.

"Breathtaking live, phenomenal on record, they blazed a trail for alternative music from which others have truly benefited over the past 20 years, and it is with the very greatest pleasure that we acknowledge and honour their contribution to making music which makes the world a better, more exciting place to live in."

Jane's Addiction are joining the likes of The Clash, New Order, Primal Scream and Manic Street Preachers, who are among the acts to have picked up the Godlike Genius prize at the UK awards.

NME has decided to give the band the award this year - the first time the awards are being held in the US - to recognise the fact that Jane's Addiction have done more than any other band to introduce American alternative music to the mainstream, founding the touring Lollapalooza Festival and giving what frontman Perry Farrell refers to as the "alternative nation" a real cultural focus and voice.

For more on US NME Awards head to NME.COM/awardsusa now

In August 2006 Dave Navarro told Jimmy Kimmel on national TV , "Here's the thing about Jane's Addiction: As much as I love it and it was a huge part of my life, we have reunited three times in our career. When enough's enough, you kind of pack it up."

Apparently the guitarist spoke too soon, because the band is getting together once more to play the NME Awards at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on April 23 (no plans for a full tour have been announced). According to NME's publishing director, Paul Cheal, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins are all confirmed for the show, though neither original bassist Eric Avery nor reunion bassist Chris Chaney have signed on yet. The band will also be presented with the NME Godlike Genius Award for Extraordinary Services to Music at the ceremony, which is being held in the U.S. for the first time in twenty-five years.

Jane's Addiction first split up in 1991 after releasing 1988's Nothing's Shocking and 1990's Ritual de lo Habitual, then reunited briefly in 1997 for the Relapse tour. They got together again in 2001 for the Jubilee trek, which featured Porno for Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble and resulted in the 2003 album Strays, on which Chris Chaney handled bass duties. The band headlined Farrell's resurrected Lollapalooza tour in 2003 with Chaney, but wasn't booked for 2004's version of the tour, which was ultimately nixed due to poor ticket sales and resulted in Farrell developing the festival into a successful two-day destination fest in Chicago. After Jane's parted ways again in 2004 - Farrell later blamed Navarro's commitment to his reality show with Carmen Electra - Navarro, Perkins and Chaney formed the Panic Channel with frontman Steve Isaacs and Perry Farrell assembled Satellite Party with his wife Etty and Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt (who left the band last summer), a cross-genre band that released the poorly selling Ultra Payloaded in May 2007.

Amy Novak

JANE'S ADDICTION ANNOUNCED AS NME'S GODLIKE GENIUS

Legendary Los Angeles band Jane's Addiction has been voted Godlike Genius at the inaugural American leg of the NME Awards, to be held at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on 23 April..

Formed in 1985 by singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery, Jane's Addiction has been chosen to receive the Godlike Genius Award in recognition of the fact that the band has done more than any other to introduce American alternative music to the mainstream, founding the touring Lollapalooza Festival and giving what Perry Farrell refers to as the "alternative nation" a real cultural focus and voice.
Their four albums: Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking, Ritual De Lo Habitual and Strays, set the marker for expansive, explosive and intellectually restless rock while their legendarily incendiary live performances have seldom been matched in the intervening years. They are, according to NME, truly Godlike.

NME Editor Conor McNicholas said today: "When we were in the planning stages of bringing the NME Awards to America, Jane's Addiction were always in our thoughts. They are exactly the sort of once-in-a-lifetime inspirational, aspirational, no-holds-barred, genre-busting, risk-taking, pioneering group which sums up what the NME Awards is all about. Breath-taking live, phenomenal on record, they blazed a trail for alternative music from which others have truly benefited over the past 20 years and it is with the very greatest pleasure that we acknowledge and honour their contribution to making music which makes the world a better, more exciting place to live in."

The Godlike Genius Award - presented to those who have made an extraordinary contribution to the musical landscape -is traditionally the centrepiece of the UK NME Awards with past recipients including U2, Paul McCartney, The Clash, New Order, Primal Scream, Ian Brown, Michael Eavis (owner of the Glastonbury Festival) and legendary Deejay John Peel.

Jane's Addiction are the first American beneficiaries of this prestigious award.