Eric Avery

Avery worked briefly with the revived Smashing Pumpkins, but ultimately did not join the band. He was not paid for his work, but said the sessions were a lot of fun: "I went into [the Pumpkins] with the same mentality I took with me when I auditioned for Metallica – I expected to have a good story to tell my wife. I had no expectations. I had heard nothing but bad things about working with Billy, but I went, and I found it to be a really inspiring time." Billy Corgan ended up playing bass on what would become 2007's Zeitgeist and hired Ginger Reyes for live performances.

Avery released his second solo album, entitled LIFE.TIME., on February 15, 2013.

On February 25, 2013, Trent Reznor named Avery as the new touring bassist of Nine Inch Nails. Avery was slated to perform in the Twenty Thirteen Tour from Summer 2013 into 2014, but announced his withdrawal on May 15, 2013, stating that after a year travelling with Garbage he did not feel like going on another extended tour.

In February 2012, Justin Meldal-Johnsen commented on the talkbass.com forum that Avery would be joining Garbage on their upcoming tour. In early May 2012 Garbage uploaded a video from their rehearsal, performing the song "Battle in Me", with Avery playing bass. Avery has since performed in the two Garbage tours that followed, the band's 20th anniversary tour and the one for the album Strange Little Birds, in which Avery plays bass in six tracks.

On March 1, 2010, after a 10-date rescheduled tour in Australia, Avery stated on his Twitter page: "the janes addiction experiment is at an end." Rumors were already spreading around a few weeks before, as Duff McKagan was said to be the new bassist for Jane's, but Avery had kept his position for the remaining few dates of the 2009/2010 tour.

He finally performed with Jane's Addiction – for the first time since 1991 – at the NME Awards in 2008. Jane's played secret club shows in October and November 2008. On March 19, 2009, at South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, the quartet performed a 45-minute set at an abandoned Safeway grocery store.

Jane's Addiction's official website was updated in February 2009 stating that there was to be another club show soon. Photos of Avery, Perkins and Navarro, taken by Trent Reznor, appeared on Nine Inch Nails' official site, which led to speculation that Reznor was helping Jane's record new material. The relationship led to the booking of the "NIN/JA" (Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction) tour, on which Avery played, and which evoked the first Lollapalooza tour of 1991, starring Jane's and Nine Inch Nails.

To date, Avery has released two solo studio albums under his own name, Help Wanted (2008) and LIFE.TIME. (2013).

In 2007, he contributed original music to the feature film documentary The 11th Hour. He also released his debut solo album Help Wanted in April 2008 through Dangerbird Records.

Alongside his work with Jane's Addiction, Avery is a former member of Alanis Morissette's backing band, and has been a touring and session musician for Garbage since 2005, contributing to the albums, Not Your Kind of People (2012) and Strange Little Birds (2016). Avery unofficially joined The Smashing Pumpkins to work on new material in the early days of their reunion, and was briefly a member of the rock supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra. In 2013, Avery joined Nine Inch Nails in preparation for their extensive Twenty Thirteen Tour, before ultimately parting ways with the project.

As seen in the film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Avery auditioned for Metallica, after the departure of bassist Jason Newsted. The role didn't quite fit Avery and the band went with Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo. Avery toured with the band Garbage to promote 2005's Bleed Like Me. Avery has also performed with Peter Murphy, on tour and on 2004's Unshattered.

Avery kept a fairly low profile after the first demise of Jane's Addiction, participating in the Deconstruction project with Navarro immediately after Jane's Addiction's breakup, but initially declining invitations for Jane's reunions. "I've asked him," said Farrell before 2001's Jubilee Tour, "but he says he wants no part of it. What else can you say but, Good luck to ya?"

Declining to take part in Jane's Addition's 1997 and 2001 reunions, Avery eventually rejoined the band in 2008. The original core line-up of the band embarked on an extensive co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails, with Avery ultimately departing in 2010 due to ongoing tensions with Farrell.

Following Jane's Addiction's dissolution, Avery and guitarist Dave Navarro formed Deconstruction with drummer Michael Murphy, releasing one studio album in 1994. The following year, Avery began a solo project named Polar Bear, which he focused on between 1995 and 2000.

Avery has recorded tracks for, toured with and briefly dated Alanis Morissette, as well as creating another side project, Polar Bear, in 1994. He was once suggested as the replacement bassist for Tool by former Jane's Addiction and then-current Tool manager Ted Gardner. Eric declined the invitation, saying he wanted to concentrate on Polar Bear.

A core member of Jane's Addiction during its initial lifespan, Avery co-founded the band in 1985 with frontman Perry Farrell, and recorded two studio albums, Nothing's Shocking (1988) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990), before the band's acrimonious break-up in 1991.

Eric Adam Avery (born April 25, 1965) is an American musician. He is best known as the former bass guitarist of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he recorded two studio albums. He is currently the touring and recording bassist for Garbage, whom he joined in 2005 as a sideman.