Casey Niccoli, former Jane’s Addiction collaborator, has described feeling “helpless” at no longer receiving credit for her early creative contributions to the band.
Niccoli, who co-created the sculpture pictured on the cover of Jane’s Addiction’s 1990 album ‘Ritual De Lo Habitual’ alongside the band’s frontman and her former partner Perry Farrell, has shared her account of working with the band in a recent article for HuffPost.
Recently, the sculpture was uncovered from a storage facility, after being misplaced by the band’s management for years. Janes Addiction’s bassist Eric Avery shared an image of the band discovering the sculpture on Instagram, without mentioning Niccoli in the post.
In the article, Niccoli said that seeing the photo of “a group of men peering down at my sculpted and damaged face” and not being acknowledged for her role in making the sculpture was “unsettling”. She writes that it has “served as a catalyst for reclaiming my voice and asserting my rightful place as an essential creative force behind one of the most influential rock bands of the ’80s and ’90s.”
“When the sculpture resurfaced, no one even thought to notify me, let alone include me,” Niccoli wrote. “Despite an influx of comments on the Instagram post asking the band to credit me, I received no response from anyone involved. Sadly, this is a recurring theme in collaborations between men and women in romantic partnerships.”
She continued: “Seeing that old artwork stirred something deep within me. A tidal wave of memories came rushing in, as anger swept over my body. It was a stark reminder of the complexities of collaboration and the invisible burdens that women carry in creative partnerships with their male counterparts.”
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The sculpture depicts Farrell, Niccoli and Perry’s former partner Xiola Blue, and serves as a visual representation of the Jane’s Addiction song ‘Three Days’, as well as a tribute to Blue, who had passed away two years prior. “We created the work as a way to symbolize key themes in the music and help distinguish the band,” she says.
Niccoli also outlined her other creative contributions to Jane’s Addiction, claiming she chose the band name alongside Perry, styled him for gigs, promoted their live shows and took the early band photos that make up the inner sleeve of their second album ‘Nothing’s Shocking’. Niccoli also says that alongside ‘Ritual de lo Habitual’, she also co-created the sculpture on the cover of ‘Nothing’s Shocking’. “Oh, and I also named both of these Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling albums,” she adds.
The artist also worked on multiple video projects for the band, including directing the music videos for ‘Classic Girl’, ‘Stop’, ‘Ocean Size’ and ‘Been Caught Stealing’, which won an MTV Video Music Award in 1991.
Niccoli and Farrell ended their relationship in 1993, while Niccoli was developing a “ferocious drug habit” that left her “desperate and homeless”. Niccoli writes that, amid that period, she signed away the rights to her creative contributions to the band.
“I settled for a small sum of money out of court to compensate me for work I was never paid for ― money that barely lasted a year,” she said. “In return, I signed away all rights to profit from the art or any future profits related to the band. At that time, the band had broken up, and I was told they would never reunite. But that’s not what happened. As the band’s success grew, I shrank into the depths of addiction.”
She continued: “My name doesn’t get mentioned much anymore in connection to my work for Jane’s Addiction. I’ve never held ownership or rights to the art from that transformative period of my life, when my creativity flourished, producing some of my most vibrant and iconic works. While it doesn’t define me today, it remains a crucial aspect of my artistic legacy.”
“I’ve never held ownership or rights to the art from that transformative period of my life, when my creativity flourished, producing some of my most vibrant and iconic works,” she added.
Niccoli went on to detail her life since parting ways with Jane’s Addiction, which includes raising two children, getting sober and enrolling in college in 2021. She now works as a collage artist.
Jane’s Addiction recently reformed in their initial lineup, after Avery reunited with the band following his departure in 2010. Guitarist Dave Navarro was absent from all live dates due to an extended battle with long COVID. In the latter’s absence, he had been replaced on stage by both Queen Of The Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen and former Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. They will release their first new single in over a decade this week.
In other news, Jane’s Addiction were recently joined on stage by Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello in Cologne. The show formed part of Farrell and co’s first UK and European headline tour in eight years.