Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navaro explains how he almost joined Guns N’ Roses

Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navaro has explained how he almost joined Guns N’ Roses, but didn’t show up to the audition.

Following the break-up of Jane’s Addiction in 1991 and the departure of Izzy Stradlin from Guns N’ Roses, frontman Axl Rose apparently “really wanted” Navaro to join his band.

Speaking to the Appetite For Distortion podcast, Navaro explained how they “talked nearly every day about ideas and the way the band could work with me.

“At that time in my life though, I just wasn’t present enough to do it,” he added.

Navaro then went on to say how he missed his audition to join the band “because I was immersed in my drug addiction and I just simply couldn’t show up in that shape. But it happened the way it happened”. Check out the clip below:

Navaro went on to join Red Hot Chili Peppers for their 1995 album ‘One Hot Minute’ before he was replaced by returning guitarist John Frusciante. He also got to work with Rose on the Guns N’ Roses track ‘Oh My God’, which soundtracked Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1999 supernatural action horror End Of Days.

In the interview Navora also spoke about how both RHCP’s Flea and GNR’s Duff McKagan joined Jane’s Addictions at different points in their reunion. “So at this age now, it’s all water under the bridge and we’re all part of this collective musical family and we all played together a myriad of times. But the degrees of separation with those guys and us are way less than six,” he said.

Navaro recently launched the supergroup NHC alongside Foo Fighter’s drummer Taylor Hawkins. So far the band have released four songs, ‘Feed The Cruel’, ‘Better Move On’, ‘Devil That You Know’ and ‘Lazy Eyes’, with an album expected in 2022.

During their first headline show the group were joined by fellow Foo Fighters member Pat Smear and special guest drummer Shane Hawkins (Taylor’s 14-year-old son) for a rendition of the David Bowie classic ‘Ziggy Stardust’.