PERRY STYLE

After the rambunctious Jane’s Addiction reunion tour two years ago, Perry Farrell quit doing drugs, pursued serious study of Jewish mysticism and devoted himself to his young son. Now he’s getting ready to reemerge and is shopping for a new record deal, having gotten out of the remainder of the Warner Bros. contract.

Now represented by the powerful HK Management company, Farrell is talking with several traditional labels, including Virgin, as well as the Internet-focused ArtistDirect, which is run by his Lollapalooza co-founders Geiger and Muller.

Farrell, who recently previewed his electronica-tinged new material at a very colorful House of Blues benefit for the Jubilee 2000 campaign to end Third World debt, won’t discuss his label search. But he says he hopes to release his new music in about six months, driven by his embrace of the biblical concept of Jubilee, a process in which all debts are supposed to be forgiven every 50 years to redeem and renew humanity. The time for such efforts in the pop world, he says, is right.

“There was a calm before the storm for a few years where it seemed nothing was happening,” says the singer, who now prefers to use his Hebrew name, Peretz. “But now every time I turn around I’m invited to be part of a benefit or awareness-raising event. I’ll be working as hard as I can to bring this to the world with the best music I can.”

And how will the world receive it?

Farrell remains a high presence on alternative-rock radio--Jane’s Addiction’s “Jane Says” and “Been Caught Stealing” continue to rank among the most-played “classics” at KROQ-FM (106.7), and though a new generation of rockers is emerging, one major-label executive (who is not negotiating with the musician) says, “He’s still just one right song away from being very high profile again.”