The Jane's Addiction fan community — a dedicated lot if there's one — is trying to digest a persistent rumor that has emerged from Perryland this past weeked: bassist Eric Avery is out and (shocker!) Guns n Roses' Duff McKagan is about to take his place.

For those of you whose memories of Guns N Roses have faded with time, Duff is not the biracial one whose mom dated David Bowie, or the ginger one who likes Elton John and cornrows (and owns the rights to the name), or the one on reality TV who sneaks into bathrooms to smoke crack behind Dr. Drew's back. No, Duff is the really blonde one with his shit together who writes about finance for Playboy and buys real estate with earnings from soulless marketing project Velvet Revolver. (He's also responsible for the punk edge in The Spaghetti Incident?, which WCS has a very soft spot for.)

The saga can be followed in the posts and forum of insane devoted JA fan community xiola.org (motto: “we loved jane's addiction, we hate everything else”–no, really, that's their actual motto…).

On Jan. 14, xiola reported that Jane's frontman Perry Farrell had the following exchange with a Facebook fan:

“William Rennie Renshaw: It's time to get the band together… And release a new album… Brings back Good Memories.

Perry Farrell: We are William. Monday we get together to write new music and craft a future.”

Then, a week later on Thursday the 21st, xiola reported that bassist Eric Avery had left the band:

i know it's all very shocking huh? it's all been speculated on and discussed, but we finally recieved the announcement via eric avery's twitter: “fyi, to answer the question directly, i am not writing with janes addiction.” he couldn't say it any clearer than that. i don't think any respectable jane's addiction fan thinks for one second eric avery is gonna be a touring bassist only. eric rejoined the band for one reason only, to see if there was anything left to do with this band. it would appear there is nothing new on the front.

On Friday the plot thickened:

one day later and we have some more information on the future of jane's addiction as a band. according to perry farrell's twitter account, the band is writing. this includes dave navarro, stephen perkins, and a “new writing partner”. no word yet who that is. i have asked, so hopefully we will find out soon. at least there is some realization that a writing partner is needed. i hope this all works out for all parties involved, but i'm not quite convinced there is a real future, just yet. i'm sceptical fan i know, but i've been running a website for nearly 10 years about a band that might as well be called “reunion addiction” or “jane's revolving bassists” by now.

On Saturday xiola revealed who this mysterious “new writing partner” might be and collective panties got all in a bunch. Behold the wrath of aging, sensitive Team Jane fanboys who suffered through high school the abuse of glammed-up Team GnR fanboys:

wow, so it's been an active 3 days or so. duff mckagan might be the mysterious writing partner/bassist, that perry spoke about. Jane's Addiction got together in perry farrell's garage on monday without eric avery, but with a new writing partner. we assumed the writing partner would also be a bassist to fill in where eric is leaving.

if yr not familiar with duff mckagan, he was the original bassist for guns n roses. i personally haven't kept up with him beyond that, but i've always thought he was a great bassist and his song writing is also decent for rock/punk genres. i personally like duff, he seems like a nice guy and he just may be a good fit with dave and stephen's metal/rock roots. so i'm not completely opposed to this.

here's what i am opposed to: calling it jane's addiction. i realize jane's addiction carries more weight than any band the 3 core members have ever been in and it will definitely bring in the cash. the truth is though, with duff on board, this is gonna be even more rock sounding than strays was and maybe that's the point. i realize bob ezrin was brought in to make jane's addiction rock. what seperated jane's addiction from guns n roses, motely crue, bon jovi, was the fact that there was a softer artistic, feminine touch. perry's and eric's influences merged with dave and stephen's influences made the band unique.

so go ahead abandon yr roots, abandon the very thing that made jane's addiction a once mighty band. rock yr arse off, but drop jane's addiction off and resist relying on nostalgia to sell tickets and downloads. do the right thing by all of yr loyal fans and stop raping the jane's addiction name.

but then again, does it matter? perry farrell's twitter: “I have to remember: Those that matter don't mind, and those that mind don't matter.” my suggestion, stop quoting drivel and write something brilliant, or none of it's gonna matter.

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