Perry Farrell
From Jane's Addiction Wiki
Perry Farrell | |
| Birth Name | Perry Bernstein |
| Alias(es) | Perry Farrell, DJ Peretz, Peretz |
| Born | March 29, 1959 Queens, NY |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Credit | I'll Hit You Back |
| Spouse | Etty Lau Farrell |
| Children | Jobel Ari Farrell Hezron Wolfgang Farrell Izzadore Bravo Farrell |
Perry Farrell (b. Perry Bernstein, March 29, 1959, Queens, NY) is the co-founder of Jane's Addiction along with original bassist Eric Avery. He is also the co-founder and current visionary of the Lollapalooza festival. Perry is also known as the front man for Porno For Pyros, for his solo work and through his DJ moniker DJ Peretz. Peretz is Perry's Hebrew name, it means "voice of the land". He is currently the front man for Satellite Party.
Perry married former Jane's Addiction live dancer Etty Lau Farrell in 2004. The couple have two sons, Hezron Wolfgang Farrell and Izzadore Bravo Farrell. Perry's third and oldest son, Jobel Ari Farrell, is with Christine Cagel, the woman featured on the Porno For Pyros album Good God's Urge.
Perry has three brothers and sisters, one of whom has passed away. One of his brothers names is Farrell and one of his sisters is named Stacey.
Contents |
Real Name
Perry's birth name is Perry Bernstein. His legally changed name too Perry Farrell years ago. The name is a play on the word "peripheral" and has been pronounced as both "fu-rell" and "fair-ell". There is a common misconception that Perry's real name is "Simon Bernstein", this is unequivocally false. This longtime rumor appears to have been started by Dave Thompson's Saga of a Hypster.
In an interview with Option Magazine, Perry stated:
There's a book going around some guy wrote about my family and myself. He's absolutely off. I wish this guy would just shut up. He's called me Simon Bernstein. My last name was Bernstein, but I'm not Simon! I don't know where he gets it from. How could he write a book and not even know my name? I guess he just grabbed a bunch of articles to make a quick buck. Now I walk through crowds of kids and people say, "Simon, Simon! Can I have your autograph?" [1]
Tattoos & Piercings
Perry has a tattoo of a praying mantis on his upper right arm. A good picture of this can be found in the book Punk and Neo Tribal Body Art where Perry discusses his tattoo, piercings and body scarification. Over the years, Perry has removed most of his piercings, including his septum ring. Additionally, many of his scars have faded.
It has been said Perry has a tattoo of the word Ritual on the back of his neck in red lettering, but this appears to simply be rumor.
AIDS
The rumor that Perry had AIDS has its roots in the original cover of Ritual de lo Habitual. On the right lower middle part of the cover, there is a piece of paper with the word "positive" stamped in large print on it. It was assumed that this was a positive AIDS test of Perry's. This is, however, totally untrue. That piece of paper actually belongs to Casey Niccoli, and it is a positive pregnancy test. There are two schools of thought on this. It is either of a failed or aborted pregnancy of Casey's, or was the test Casey's mother took prior to her birth.
Perry addresses the AIDS rumor in the September 1991 issue of Spin magazine. The following is Perry's reply when asked about the rumor:
I'll let you in on a little secret straight from the rumor mill. I was tested for AIDS. The results were negative. As for the mysterious clinic report on the cover of Ritual De Lo Habitual, it is not an AIDS test, but a pregnancy exam that came out positive.[2]
Perry further elaborated in an interview with Warp Magazine. Perry said the following in their June 1995 issue:
AIDS: For a while, a rumor circulated that Farrell had AIDS. Analyzing a record cover, one writer mistakenly thought a positive pregnancy test was a positive AIDS test, and wrote an article claiming Farrell might have the disease. The rumor angered Farrell, yet also caused him concern. "I felt like I had it," Farrell remembers, "I still feel like I have it, because, put it this way - it's like a person who says, 'Hey, I think so-and-so raped somebody.' Forever you've kind of thrown something called 'rape' on them, whether they did it or not. It's kind of how I feel. It really sucks, so now I get tested every six months. And the last tests were negative. "AIDS is one of our biggest fears," Farrell says, "and psychologically the only benefit I can see from it is that it might bring romance back. In other words, love may grow from it. People won't be blindly fucking, because when you blindly fuck it can result in a lack of love." Farrell pauses to collect his thoughts, and adds, "When you have sex outside of love you begin to have the potential to be cursed. You follow me? I'm just looking at what I see, and thinking about why it is happening. So what are we doing wrong?" He pauses again. "We're doing something wrong spiritually." [3]
Sex Tape
In 1998, a company calling itself Spy 7 launched their public website. They were basically an online porn site. In efforts to draw traffic, membership and publicity they began to advertise that they had legally obtained a copy of a home video of Perry Farrell taking drugs and having sex. They said they were going to give the tape away to anyone who subscribed to their service. They were not selling the tape; they were giving it away as a promotional gift for opening an account. Perry and his lawyers quickly sought and won an injunction against Spy 7, barring them from releasing the video. The company quickly removed all mention of the tape from their site and ceased to exist soon afterward.
This infamous tape did, however, make its way out before the court injunction, and has since surfaced in trading communities. It is not a very highly sought after item because the tape is basically a piece of garbage, and many feel it is simply an invasion of Perry's private life, not to mention something that is simply not pretty or erotic to watch.
The video depicts Perry in a limo with a pair of women, described as having the likeness of what you would picture crack whores to look like. Perry is clearly strung out on heroin, and Perry's words are practically indecipherable. The so-called sexual acts on the tape are pretty much just oral sex. The camera work is completely worthless and there is nothing sexy or erotic about the video; it was never meant to be seen by anyone other than the people who made it.
Associated Acts
Filmography
- The Doom Generation - as the Stop-N-Go Clerk (1995)
References
- ^ Ali, Lorraine. "Close encounter! A Conversation wtih space alien Perry Farrell". Option. March/April 1996.
- ^ Spin. September 1991
- ^ Woodlief, Mark. "Perry Farrell: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". Option. March/April 1996.
