Appetite for Distortion · Appetite For Distortion

Dan Cleary talks Jane's Addiction breakup and touring with Guns N' Roses | Ep. 545

December 17, 2025·57 min·5 clips

Dan Cleary recounts the moment Perry Farrell attacked Dave Navarro on stage, ending Jane's Addiction and his own 17-year job.

Brando starts with podcast survival. There is a small iHeart loading hassle, an old coworker clocking that he is still doing the show, and then the simple answer: it is still fun. Dan Cleary understands that right away. The conversation moves into the working language of touring, where enough nights beside someone can make the job feel almost telepathic. Cleary talks about Navarro that way. He could read cues before anyone needed to say anything, the kind of body language that only makes sense after doing the work over and over. Duff was different. Cleary did not come in with the same shorthand, so rehearsals and McBob's preparation mattered in a very practical way. Somehow, it all sounds smooth. Cleary keeps coming back to how painless the tour felt, then gives Duff a lot of love. Not only for the bass parts, but for the work ethic and the way the person looked bigger up close. Brando fanboys, which is half the fun here. Saratoga tickets, the Public Enemy opener, and the Flavor Flav aside all spill into the conversation like normal fan-brain traffic. Cleary has a setlist story ready, and the Mexico City mention gives the tangent a little spine. Then they stumble through the McBob and Tom correction with the tape still rolling. That is the show. It leaves in the crossed wires, the corrections, the holiday chatter, and the promise of future baseball arguing. By the end, Brando is already half-planning the next round: Colorado, new songs, happy holidays, and an Axl Rose Chinese Democracy reference all taking the same exit. The episode works because it stays loose. Two music lifers talk about road trust, fandom, and why people keep doing this when nobody is making them.

As heard by us

Road stories, rehearsal detail, and earned Duff McKagan praise keep the conversation moving.

Dan Cleary's turn on Appetite for Distortion plays like a loose, fan-first conversation about time with Guns N' Roses. The most compelling passages come from rehearsal, reading the room, and the sense of how quickly the tour settled once everyone understood the setup.

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Why you'd press play

You want the road-story version of a Guns N' Roses run, told by someone who had to learn it fast.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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