Perry Farrell says that the next Jane's Addiction LP — tentatively titled The Great Escape Artist — sounds unlike anything else the group has ever created. "It's a strange mixture of that post-punk Goth darkness that Jane's had with what's going on today with groups like Muse and Radiohead," he tells Rolling Stone. "As much as I want to appease fans and make old Jane's fans love me, I just can't help myself from moving forward."

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The band has been working on the album at a Los Angeles studio since early December with producer Rich Costey (Muse, Interpol) and TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, who plays bass and is co-writing songs with the band. "The first time we got together with Dave Sitek was in my garage," says Farrell. "I played him music and explained to him how I've been working the last few years on music. He was so for it. He was a proponent of my message and I was a proponent of the way he works, so we just decided to get together. Now he's a real important person in my life."

Sitek has spent hours jamming on loose ideas with Jane's guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins. "Then he'd go back and make clips using bits and pieces from the jams," says Farrell. "That requires hours of listening to jams, which I'm not up for. I enjoy writing lyrics and melodies, but I'm not a great instrumentalist, so I leave it up to the professionals."

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Farrell has spent a lot of time at his home studio, honing ideas away from the rest of the band. "I spend five to eight hours straight," he says. "I like throwing ideas down, recording, taking shots, taking more shots, taking a break, having a drink and stepping outside of the process...We already have enough material for three albums."

The songs all relate to the general theme of The Great Escape Artist. "It's conceptual," Farrell says. "It could be escaping to the outdoors, or the great escape could be in your mind. We might even be able to escape the expectations of the old Jane's fans and come out with another great record." Farrell hopes to have a single out in March, and the album on store shelves sometime in the summer.

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