Dave Navarro has already secured his place in Rock lore with his work with Jane’s Addiction. Outside of Jane’s he’s recorded with the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Alanis Morissette, and plenty more. There was almost a time where he could have added a MAJOR name to that list.
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That band… Was Guns N’ Roses.
Navarro sat down with the Appetite for Distortion podcast and shared a story about the time he almost joined Guns N’ Roses. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin had left GNR in 1991 at the height of their popularity as the band searched to fill his vacancy.
Axl Rose was a fan of Navarro and tried to recruit him to join Guns N’ Roses. “Axl really wanted me to join the band,” Navarro said. “And we talked nearly every day about ideas and the way the band could work with me in it.”
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The timing seemingly would have worked out too. Jane’s Addiction had broken up in 1991 making Navarro available for work.
“At that time in my life, I was just simply not present enough to do it,” Navarro admits. “I had an audition with the band that I actually didn’t show up to because I was immersed in my drug addiction and I just simply couldn’t show up in that shape. But it happened the way it happened.”
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Navarro did end up working with GNR in the future as he contributed to their 1999 song “Oh My God” as part of the End of Days soundtrack. Funny enough, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan ended up joining Jane’s Addiction as their bassist for a 2010 tour.
“At this age now, it’s all water under the bridge,” Navarro said. “We’re all part of this collective musical family and we all played together a myriad of times. But the degrees of separation with those guys and us are way less than six.”
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