AVERY ABSTAINS

Also on the reunion front, bassist Eric Avery opted to stay out of the Jane’s Addiction reformation.

“I’m just basically so interested, focused and excited about what I’m doing now and what the next six months of my life will be like,” Avery says.

What he’s so excited about is his current band, Polar Bear, a partnership with former Ethyl Meatplow drummer Biff Sanders and guitarist Thomas Von Wendt. The band, he says, is in negotiations for a major-label record deal. (Polar Bear plays at the Alligator Lounge on Aug. 16.)

But he confesses that he wouldn’t have been too tempted to be part of the new Jane’s even if he didn’t have this project on his plate.

“That was then and this is now,” he says.

Will Avery go see one of the Jane’s shows?

“No.”