Digital Journal — Dave Navarro is the kind of celebrity interview who talks like he’s known you his whole life. He doesn’t use rehearsed lines or clichés. He speaks bluntly about anything on his mind. The Swiss army knife of celebs — musician, radio host, reality TV star (remember Carmen and Dave?) — is accustomed to sharing his opinion with the world, but now he has the ultimate platform for free expression: an online talk show.
You may best know Navarro as the former guitarist for Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He still has the guitar chops. But he’s extending his range outside alt-rock solos and power chords. In an exclusive interview with Digital Journal, Navarro explains why he’s excited about hosting the weekly Spread Entertainment show found on ManiaTV. The hour-long show features Navarro as a relaxed host chilling an L.A. nightclub, chatting with B-list celebs like Ron Jeremy and Tom Green, or picking the brains of intriguing writers or musicians or even psychotherapists. There’s no one direction Navarro follows, no script he memorizes. It’s a jam session on the Web.
Navarro, 40, isn’t just knowledgeable about the workings of the Web (he’s been online since the late 1990s). His conversational repertoire spans the cultural map — he riffs on the trouble with mainstream media, the freedom of indie music labels and why he enjoys being the interviewer this time around.
DJ: What do you find appealing about doing an online talk show? How is it different from anything you’ve done before?
Navarro: I love the fact that Spread Entertainment is an open discussion-based forum. It’s conversational, so there’s no list of questions, no hawking the guests’ wares. And the guests are mainly all individuals who have compelling stories, so it’s not just a music or celeb show.
The good and bad thing about the Internet is that it allows the freedom to say whatever you want, but it allows the freedom to say whatever you want. [Laughs]. I love how there’s no regulation, no censorship. It’s all live. And I don’t do cookie-cutter interviews because I know that experience being interviewed. I try to share my own experiences with the interviewees so it’s a give-and-take situation.
DJ: What kind of guests do you look for?
Navarro: Someone like recent guest Alix Lambert. She’s a writer, director and producer, a true jack-of-all-trades creating incredible documentaries and art installations. She’s fascinating to talk to.
A few weeks ago, we had a woman who was a cutter, who slashed her arms up with a knife. We also had a psychotherapist to have a close and personal moment to discuss the disorder of cutting. In the future, I'd like to get an FBI profiler on the show, as well as an alien abductee and a Holocaust survivor. I’m primarily interested in going after people that don’t get a lot of attention.
 Dave Navarro, host of Sread Entertainment, sits with supermodel Janice Dickenson at an L.A. nightclub moonlighting as his show's set. -Photos courtesy of ManiaTV |
Navarro: I think newspapers are more interested in selling copies than having information get out there. When I was 21, I did way worse shit than Lindsay Lohan, big deal! Some people think it’s big news; others just think it’s someone growing up.
People are fascinated by what people shouldn’t be seeing, whether it’s porn or a car accident. This celebrity coverage has become porn, and it’s acceptable to the public. But the difference is that in porn, no personal lives are being invaded. Well, if they are, then at least those actors are getting paid.
DJ: You know all about celebrity coverage because you were hounded by paparazzi when you were married to Carmen Electra. Are you frustrated by how the media stalks celebrities?
Navarro: If I go to a club or red-carpet event, I expect the paparazzi, it’s par for the course. My problem is when I’m being followed or they go through my garbage like I’m part of the Mafia. If you follow anyone around long enough, you’ll obviously capture a pic that is either funny or will catch someone not looking their best.
DJ: A lot of people know you as Dave Navarro the guitarist. What are you doing with music today? Is it on the back burner because Spread Entertainment has becomes the focus?
Navarro: The art of music is never on the back burner. I’m playing with Camp Freddy [rock cover band], and I’m still with Panic Channel [band with former members of Jane’s Addiction]. But the difference is I’m done playing the game with major labels because the whole thing is falling apart. They’re not taking chances on artists. In rock especially, corporate structures are making decisions on what’s best suited for them rather than what’s best for the artists. I was lucky because Jane’s was with Warner Bros. and they were amazing. Not so today, man. There’s no artist development with major labels. If “Stairway to Heaven” were written today, the labels would think it would be too long and they’d chop it in half.
Indie labels stick behind their artists and help them develop and grow. They understand how real art is done, and a true source of expression doesn’t need a massive audience to be fulfilled.
DJ: Speaking of being fulfilled, where do you want Spread Entertainment go? Any future plans you’d care to unveil?
Navarro: I don’t know where we’ll go. I’d love to let it unfold and see what happens. My best experiences are those that I didn’t expect or plan for, and I always try to keep that outlook. The beautiful reality of my life is that I don’t do things I don’t love.
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