The Panic Channel Review
The Panic Channel
(ONe)
(Capitol)
A more fun way to look at this is not as Dave Navarro’s project, but drummer Stephen Perkins’ latest attempt to revive Jane’s Addiction and force his way into rock history.
Perkins, ex-Jane’s drummer, has sided with Perry Farrell in Porno For Pyros, the Jane’s reunion with both Perry and Dave, and now Dave’s band. (Bassist Eric Avery was the only member of the band with integrity, apparently.) The Panic Channel, with former MTV VJ Steve Isaacs singing and hanger-on bassist Chris Chaney (bands of Tommy Lee, Alanis Morissette, and Taylor Hawkins), is yet another attempt to cash in on alterna-rock prestige — Navarro is surprisingly topless in the liner notes — and a dead end. Pseudo grunge of the worst degree is proliferated throughout the obnoxiously scripted (ONe), and for all the band’s exotic pedigree, it sounds completely manufactured and generic. Is “Teahouse Of The Spirits” a discarded Foo Fighters track? Navarro, long ago a hipster icon, has lost any and all desire to behave like an artistic musician and instead goes through the motions track after track after track.
— Steve Forstneger
