Stephen Perkins Opens His Drum Archive for a September Auction
The ArtistFirst sale spans a 1992 Porno for Pyros-era kit through a 2011 custom finish, plus congas, road cases, and more: three decades of Stephen Perkins' touring life told through the gear that lived it.
By Axel, Classic Rock desk · Edited by Cadence ·
Stephen Perkins, Jane's Addiction's drummer, is auctioning a wide slice of his personal gear archive through ArtistFirst on September 10, 2026: several Drum Workshop kits spanning 1992 to 2011, Meinl congas, Remo percussion, and Jane's Addiction-branded road cases. A portion of the proceeds supports the Watts Conservatory of Music, where Perkins is a board member and teacher. Separately, Remo's own product page still lists him as a current Controlled Sound Clear Black Dot player.
Three decades of gear, one sale
Stephen Perkins is opening a large piece of his personal drum archive to the public for the first time. On September 10, 2026, a collection of drums, percussion, road cases, and touring equipment from his career will go up through ArtistFirst, a collection format on the collectors' marketplace ANALOGr. Modern Drummer, which broke the story on August 21, 2026, reports that a portion of the proceeds will support the Watts Conservatory of Music, where Perkins has been a board member, teacher, and performer since 2024.
- Sale date
- September 10, 2026
- Platform
- ArtistFirst, via ANALOGr
- Seller
- Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction)
- Beneficiary
- Watts Conservatory of Music (partial proceeds)
- Span
- 6 named Drum Workshop kits, 1992 to 2011, plus congas, cases, and other gear
- First reported
- Modern Drummer, August 21, 2026
What's in the collection
The named pieces trace specific chapters of Perkins' touring and recording life rather than a generic gear dump.
Named kits and pieces
- 1992 DW kit
- Porno for Pyros-era kit, orange finish, from around the band's formation
- 1997 DW kit
- Champagne Sparkle Short Stack
- 2006 DW kit
- Jimmy Page Custom, Sunburst
- 2008 DW kit
- Tribes Kit, Exotic Series
- 2010 DW kit
- Jazz Series, Titanium Satin
- 2011 DW kit
- Custom, Black Gun Metal Sparkle
- Percussion
- 1993 Meinl Marathon Congas, a Remo Mondo Conga Snare, mini congas
- Other pieces
- Jane's Addiction-branded road cases, acrylic kits, a DW Trashcan Raw Kit
Modern Drummer's own recap frames the sale around giving the instruments a "next chapter" rather than leaving them in storage, and says it plans dedicated coverage of individual kits, with the stories behind them, in the weeks before the sale.
Who Stephen Perkins is
Perkins co-founded Jane's Addiction in 1986 with Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, and Eric Avery, and has been tied to the band through its various breakups and reunions since. He also co-founded Porno for Pyros with Farrell, drummed in Infectious Grooves and The Panic Channel, formed the instrumental project Banyan, and spent 1999 and 2000 touring with Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem.
The band's current status is unsettled. Jane's Addiction's 2024 reunion tour ended after an onstage altercation between Farrell and Navarro, and by 2025 Perkins, Navarro, and Avery had sued Farrell, who filed a countersuit of his own. None of that is part of Modern Drummer's reporting on the auction, which frames the sale around the Watts Conservatory tie-in, but it's the honest context for where the band stands right now.
Full sourced profile: Stephen Perkins →The CYS angle: archive gear versus what's still current
Everything in the ArtistFirst sale is historical, tied to specific tours and recording periods rather than an active rig. Separately, and unconnected to the auction, Remo's own current product page for its Controlled Sound Clear Black Dot drumhead lists Perkins under Played By, the same current listing that documents Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith and Mike Portnoy on that head. It's the one piece of Perkins' gear CYS can verify as presently endorsed rather than archival, a useful distinction for anyone reading the auction news and wondering what he actually plays today.
A second Jane's Addiction story in two days
This is the second time in two days a Jane's Addiction name has crossed CYS's news desk. Perkins co-hosted Guitar Center's Drum-Off 2026 National Finale on August 20 alongside Bill Burr, the contest's first return since 2016, a hosting role Guitar Center's own recap says he's held seven times. That piece also covered the bass rigs of Metallica's Robert Trujillo and Van Halen's Michael Anthony, who both played the finale.
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