Perry Farrell's Satellite Party

Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros frontman Perry Farrell has a new project, Satellite Party, his first since founding Lollapalooza. The new band will introduce a concept album in mid-May called Ultra Payloaded. Farrell says he believes people can change the world one step at a time, and Satellite Party is meant to be part of a musical movement to do just that. The music of Satellite Party, it is asserted, tells a story through a collaborative brain trust of artists, musicians and environmentalists called The Solutionists, who seek to redesign the world and come up with solutions for environmental problems.

I haven't seen the band live yet, but the cuts available for download show both Farrell and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt in good form; however, I'm pulling most of this post from a press release, so take it for what it's worth. It's offered primarily in the spirit of, if you're not part of The Solutionists, you're part of The Problemists.

Blending sounds as varied as rock, electro, urban beats and symphonic classical music, Farrell and Bettencourt are backed by a trio that includes Kevin Figueiredo on drums, Etty Lau Farrell on background vocals and Carl Restivo on bass. The album, produced by Farrell, co-produced by Bettencourt and executive produced by Steve Lillywhite, has guests that include the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea and John Frusciante, UK production duo/beat-makers Hybrid, New Order/Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, down tempo pioneers Thievery Corporation, Porno for Pyros' guitarist Peter DiStefano, Black Eyed Pea's Fergie, film composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven), and a 30-piece orchestra.

The album includes an unreleased Jim Morrison vocal track, Woman In The Window, the first unheard performance by the priapic lead singer of the Doors in almost 30 years. "Just try and stop us," sings Morrison against a backdrop of Farrell's music,"we're going to love." Farrell calls the lyric the mantra of The Solutionists. Other tracks are "Wish Upon A Dog Star" -- the album's first single, "Kinky," and "Celebrate," a Sly Stone-like groove marrying calypso and disco. "Awesome," written about seeing the world from the heavens, sounds like a marriage between David Bowie and Nick Drake.

Three years in the making, Ultra Payloaded is a wake-up call fired, it says here, by the same passion and idealism with which Farrell has worked to better the environment, as when he used his proceeds from Lollapalooza to work with the Costa Rican government to help preserve the rainforest, and human rights, as when he raised money for the relief fund and the rescuing of slaves in Sudan. Farrell and Satellite Party are working closely on climate change with Stop Global Warming (http://www.stopglobalwarming.com) and Global Cool (http://www.global-cool.com).

Satellite Party allegedly made its first live appearance in Aspen on (allegedly, because Perry & Nuno played together as Satellite Party at Lollapalooza last year and did a secret show at Spaceland the night before Aspen) as part of the 2007 ESPN Winter X-Games. The band is on MySpace, of course, and you can download Wish Upon a Dogstar and some of the other tunes here and here. Additional tour and live dates will be announced on http://www.satelliteparty.com.