Casey Niccoli - artist, poet, director .

[Classic Boy]

Casey Niccoli -

Artist, Poet, Director of « Soul Kiss », "The Gift" and Jane's Addiction "Classic Girl"




Late eighties, a world of doom'n'gloom in Europe. My mates and i were into punk rock and hard core , a monochrome or black and white world . Living in grey areas, bored as fuck. John Lydon (Public Image Limited) once sang « Anger is an energy », but to me during this period it was « Anger is a waste of time », something new was needed! Of course i was heavily in Post Punk kind of bands: Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, PIL to name a few. But when a mate of mine brought « Nothing's shocking » by Jane's Addiction at a party, it blew my mind. The music, the artwork, the lyrics... They became my Led Zeppelin, my Velvet Underground... slamming big power chords riffs and painting musical atmospheres like John Mac Geoch from the Banshees, producing the best basslines and tribal grooves i ever heard, singing about ocean, death, drugs and « ménage à trois ».

Then enter Casey Niccoli, i bought « Nothing's shocking » and « ritual de lo habitual », and to me the artwork was like nothing else! Colourfull, disturbing, questioning . She's the model for the two albums but not in a « Hey! It's me on the corner! » way: Casey is responsible with her lover at the time Perry Farrell (singer of J.A) of this new and fresh imagery, mixing all kind of elements from Santeria to catholic iconic stuff. It was new, it was dangerous, it was sexual. The way the members of the band look too was astonishing, to quote Perry Farrel : « when you're in a rock band, the best stylist is your girl » and Casey Niccoli was (still is) our icon, in braids , from a clan of free spirits and tatooed and pierced L.A pagans.The covers of the albums were provocative, nine records chains in america refuse to stock « Nothing's shocking » because of the artwork .

Casey Niccoli directed « Soul Kiss » and « The Gift ». She cut « Classic girl » with excerpts from her movie « The Gift » and all the elements of Casey's world are in this video-clip; to quote John Sidel in « Whores » the biography of J.A written by Brendan Mullen: « Casey's on two album covers. She lived for Perry and Jane's Addiction. She became part of their art form.If you see candles and crazy artwork on the stage. That's Casey. »Remember back in the days In England? they couldn't see « A Clockwork Orange » and it became a cult movie, everyone was like « got the tape? » like an illegal drug. « The Gift » was this for us, « got the tape ? » i saw it on a bootleg VHS and it blew my mind again, i let you search for this treasure..Casey directed the « Been caught stealing » (Jane's Addiction) video which won a grammy award and later some video clips for other bands like Masters Of Reality - She Got Me( When She Got Her Dress On) Official Vid (with Jennifer Lopez!)

Nowadays she's still doing great art, check her storybook, « Love and Turtles », at www.caseyniccoli.net . The artwork is beautiful, the poetry is beautiful. Actually, it seems that Casey Niccoli could make something beautiful out of nothing or dustbins, she's got the artistic eye.It's like when you hear and see a great musician and thinking « It's natural, not in a forced kind of way ». Casey's collages are interesting, there's unhibited artistry there. And the way the words sounds: like a well thought « cadavre exquis », a world of « Little green men and purple women », « morphine smile » . Cute juxtapositions. But be warned, Casey defied comfortably notions of beauty too, there are also « little green devils and flesh eaters », W.Burroughs could have written that. And she put different mediums on her site: songs and vids that stick with her poetry and artwork.



In advance, sorry if some of the words and sentences are not correct, i'm french and tried to do my best.



Classic Boy.

[Everybody's Friend]