NME reunites Jane’s Addiction

Los Angeles alternative-music icon Jane’s Addiction will re-form for a one-off performance Wednesday night at El Rey Theatre as part of the inaugural NME Awards USA ceremony. It will be the first time all four original members -- Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins -- have shared a stage since 1991.

The band will receive the Godlike Genius Award for its contribution to pop music at the event, which was designed to boost the profile of the UK music magazine among U.S. readers.

The magazine’s editors unanimously selected the group to receive the award. “It was important that it was an American band we admired,” said NME editor Conor McNicholas. “There’s a sense of intelligence to what they do.”

Mick Jones of the Clash, Big Audio Dynamite and, currently, Carbon/Silicon will receive the Inspiration Award, with the Classic Album Award going to the Lemonheads’ “It’s a Shame About Ray.” Both Carbon/Silicon and Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando will perform at the ceremony, which will be streamed live on MySpace.com.

MySpace and Goldenvoice are partnering with NME on the event.

Recently, NME has seen a decline in print readership and last year posted the lowest circulation figures in its 56-year history. On the other hand, McNicholas claims more than 3 million discrete online users in March 2008 for its website, www.nme.com.

“NME as a brand celebrating rock ‘n’ roll culture is actually bigger than ever,” said McNicholas, citing the launch of a digital TV channel, NME TV, in November and the recent creation of NME Radio. And he hopes to capitalize on the growth among American online users by making the NME Awards special.

“It has to be a rock ‘n’ roll party first, awards show second.” And mindful of the event following two days later, he added, “We want to be part of the Coachella party.”

-- Casey Dolan