“Taylor wanted to write a song for a friend of ours who was going through a bad time”: Perry Farrell on the time him and Taylor Hawkins teamed up to record a track for a pal

Perry Farrell and Taylor Hawkins
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Perry Farrell has rarely sat still over a career stretching back over four decades. He’s best known as the singer and flamboyant frontman of Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros, as well as time spent as an artist, activist, surfer, escort and more. He’s done it all has Perry. Jane’s Addiction are currently gearing up for a bout of touring that will kick off in May but, speaking to this writer back in 2021, Farrell was in a state of what he called “divorce from the music industry”. He seemed to be enjoying the split and his new project at the time was Perry Farrell’s Kind Heaven Orchestra, a collective that included the late, great Taylor Hawkins. He explained how the pair had come together to write a song for one of their pals.

 “Taylor is one of my best friends,” Farrell said. “He’s got Foo Fighters and I’ve got Jane’s Addiction, but we still like to write on side-projects. I wouldn’t call Kind Heaven Orchestra a side-project, it’s my hard focus. Taylor came by and he had this groove and he had an idea. He wanted to write a song for a friend of ours who was going through a bad time. The world was newly-quarantined and this guy was losing his wife and kids, they were moving out, they were leaving him. And he's a great man and a great musician as well. And so is she. So we wanted to cheer him up. You know, we met up with him. And he was just in a bad way. The situation was fresh, he didn't quite know what to do, he was coming down to earth, he was drinking too much, and everything else too much, getting into fights. So we thought we'd write a good song for him to kind of settle him down.”

Farrell was tight-lipped on the intended recipient of the song but, reading between the lines, you’d hazard a guess it was for Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, a pal of both Farrell and Hawkins and who matches the description above – Homme and ex-wife Brody Dalle, singer and guitarist with The Distillers, separated in 2019. The song, titled Mend, was released in 2021 and Farrell said whoever it was written for appreciated it. “I hear that he liked it a lot,” said the Jane’s Addiction man. “We actually wanted to get him on the track. But he wasn't in shape to do it. So we went on but I hear that he likes it a lot. I'm happy and hope he's happy.”

You may like

Listen to Mend below:

Niall Doherty

Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleagues Ted Kessler and Chris Catchpole. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more. Radiohead was only for eight minutes but he still counts it.

Read more
Jane's Addiction
Eric Avery working on new music with Jane's Addiction bandmates – but there's no mention of singer Perry Farrell
Jane's Addiction press short, torn
The blow that ended it all: How the return of Jane's Addiction was floored not by musical differences, but by a punch thrown by their singer
Jerry Cantrell Press Pic 2024
"While I survived the 90s, not all of me did." Alice In Chains icon Jerry Cantrell on riffs, extreme metal and the best rock record to come from Seattle
Steven Tyler and Nuno Bettencourt share a mic
"This is one of my favourite songs in the whole world": Watch Steven Tyler return to the stage with Nuno Bettencourt and Mick Fleetwood
Nice Cave, Flea
“There was no malice intended; it was just the sort of obnoxious thing I would say back then.” Nick Cave once famously dismissed Red Hot Chili Peppers' music as “garbage”, now he's working with Flea on a song with “arguably the greatest lyric ever”
Them Crooked Vultures posing for a photograph in 2009
“I’ve always embraced my musical schizophrenia, and this is just another room in that mansion of personality”: How Them Crooked Vultures became modern rock’s greatest one-and-done supergroup
Latest in
Foreigner at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2024
Foreigner will complete their Historic Farewell Tour with four different singers – and one of them has recorded Spanish versions of their hits
The cover of Classic Rock 339, featuring Pink Floyd
"It's the father and mother of The Dark Side Of The Moon!": The full inside story of Pink Floyd's Live At Pompeii - only in the new issue of Classic Rock
Asia
"The haters won’t stop us from doing what we do": Geoff Downes on Asia's new lineup and the band's future plans
Fleetwood Mac group portrait
"The soundtrack to the greatest rock'n'roll soap opera ever": The mightiest Fleetwood Mac line-up albums in one handy box
Pete Townshend - The Studio Albums cover art
"This collection embodies both the best and worst of Townshend the artist and arch conceptualist": An overview of the solo career of Pete Townshend, the man who never meant to have a solo career
Linkin Park 2024
Linkin Park launch "the best song we've ever made" Up From The Bottom
Latest in Features
Asia
"The haters won’t stop us from doing what we do": Geoff Downes on Asia's new lineup and the band's future plans
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
Rick Astley and Rick Wakeman
“Rick Wakeman’s solo albums were just brilliant… when I heard he was doing Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace, I bought 12 tickets”: Prog is the reason Rick Astley became a singer
Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Jim Morrison and Joe Strummer onstage
The greatest gig I've ever seen: 24 writers pick the most memorable live show of their lives
Marillion in 1984
From debauched prog revivalists to pioneers of the internet age: The Marillion albums you should definitely listen to
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire