By F. Daniel Kent
As ever, singer/songwriter/producer Linda Perry defies those who would categorize her with the creation of Deep Dark Robot, the latest musical venture from Perry and Fatso Jetson drummer Tony Tornay. Linda and Tony met through a mutual friend who dragged Tony along to hang out at the show of an all-girl Journey tribute band. At their first meeting, Tony and Linda didn't exactly hit it off, but after a few months, they started hanging out. The two of them spent more and more time talking about music, eating popcorn, doing cool shit, eating more popcorn and talking about the future. Linda mentioned she might want to start another band. It had been 15 years since her previous band, and it seemed like the right time to throw her proverbial hat back into the ring. Perry took some time to chat with me from her home in Los Angeles about Deep Dark Robot’s new album “8 Songs About a Girl” and working with Tony Tornay on the new project.
You have just gotten back from a short six week tour. What was it like for you being back out on the road after so long?
It was a great experience for me because it has been so long since I’ve been on a tour and I just wanted to do it to get back out there and play. The intention going into it already was great because I knew there wouldn’t be big crowds or a big ordeal. I just wanted to play music and so did Tony. It was really fun. All we did every night was get on stage and have fun and play music. If there were ten people or a hundred people or whatever it really didn’t matter.
A lot of people may be wondering why you didn’t return to the 4 Non-Blondes project when you decided to record again since you are so well known for that.
It doesn’t even make sense for me to do that because it’s such a part of my past. I don’t go backward. I only go forward. I would never in a million years think of doing something like that. I am in a completely different phase of my life. That happened so many years ago and I am moving forward.
The DDR album is called “8 Songs About a Girl”. Did you go into the project with that theme in mind or did it evolve more organically as you got further into it?
It was very organic. I just started writing a few songs and I called Tony to come in and play. Somewhere around five songs into it Tony pointed out that I was writing an album about a girl. And I was like “Yeah, I guess you are right.” I love short albums because I love the old school where you just give the listeners great songs and then get out of there. To me, eight songs felt right. I wrote more than that but what we went with summed it all up to me.
Part 2 coming tomorrow.
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