CAPITOL'S ADDICTED TO JANE'S

That’s the number of years between the storied band’s last studio album, 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual, and the new, Bob Ezrin-produced Strays, which hits retail July 22. Ritual, which followed up the band’s groundbreaking 1988 debut, Nothing’s Shocking, is now at 1.1 million in domestic sales.

Expectations at Capitol are sky-high for the album, which reunites three of the band’s original members, lead singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins, with new bassist Chris Chaney. That same lineup headlines this summer’s Lollapalooza, the first edition of the archetypal PoMo festival in six years, which got underway in Indianapolis on Saturday (7/5).

For Capitol President Andy Slater, who co-managed the band with Freddy DeMann and (current manager for Sanctuary) Adam Schneider for their 2001 Jubilee tour, the project has a personal significance: "For a band with a pedigree as potent as theirs, it’s important you don’t undermine the foundation they’ve built just to get strong results from radio and retail. We’ve treated them as signposts of the alternative format. We’re proud to have them on the label.”

First single “Just Because” is already Top Five Alternative and Top 10 Active Rock.

Among the highlights of the label’s promotion/marketing campaign to “reintroduce” the band to its core base and spread awareness of the new album was the distribution of several hundred thousand stickers and flyaways to rock clubs and tattoo parlors.

Said label Sr. Director of Marketing Ricky Riker, “They delivered a record that will delight fans of the first two albums and make new ones. We’re tapping into everything Lollapalooza is doing to market the tour to promote the album, and vice versa. We’re making sure no stone goes unturned...and no turn goes unstoned.”

Other initiatives include:

Appearances at radio shows for WBCN Boston, KROQ L.A. and WHFS Baltimore.

Appearances on Jimmy Kimmel (6/20), David Letterman (7/22) and Carson Daly (7/23).

Covers of Rolling Stone summer-tour issue and Spin.

Video, directed by Alex & Martin (White Stripes), added to MTV and VH1; MTV2 Blowtorch rotation.

In-store at Tower Records in downtown NYC day of release (7/22).

Limited-edition album pressings include 30-minute DVD with new live tracks, interviews and studio footage.

Street teams working all major summer tour packages.

Band touring Europe in fall, returns to U.S. to headline through end of year.

Fans who pre-order album online receive a download of full CD that times out at street date.