Linda Perry Returns to Singing With Deep Dark Robot After 'Hating' 4 Non Blondes

When Spinner spoke with Linda Perry last summer, the former 4 Non Blondes singer was very happy with her behind-the-scenes roles as a label head and producer. At the time, Perry told Spinner that, despite the band's Top 10 success, her experiences with 4 Non Blondes had soured her on being in the limelight.

"When I was in 4 Non Blondes, I hated it. I hated every bit of it," she said. "I hated doing interviews -- I hate doing interviews still. I don't like taking pictures. I hated doing videos. I went through a big growth period where I was trying to figure things out and so I decided, 'I'm out. This is not for me.' I walked away."

But now Perry is back with a new band, Deep Dark Robot, an album, '8 Songs About a Girl,' and a tour that kicks off in March. So, what changed her mind?

"I went ahead and basically got myself involved emotionally with a girl that was completely unavailable and I just kind of started getting obsessive and heartbroken and I wrote a song to impress her," she tells Spinner. "Then I did and I got a reaction, so I wrote another one and then another one and then another one. That's basically what happened: My heart got broken and I wanted to write an album about it. Actually scratch that -- my heart got broken and I started writing songs about it that turned into 'Why not make a whole album?'"

Not to laugh at her heartache, but we have to chuckle at how wonderfully clichéd it is that she returned to music for love. Even Perry can laugh at that, especially because it has a happy ending. "The beautiful part of it is love brought me back to being an artist in a sense," she says. "The funny part is I was like, OK, the album's almost done. I'm gonna do a show too.' And the show turned into like, OK, I'm gonna do a tour cause I wanted to play a show because I wanted her to see me and just fall in love with me because I know if she could see me play that would be f---ing it.' It's so cliché, so immature, [but] what's beautiful about it is she ended up being my muse, even through all the brokenness. The girl that broke me ended up being the one that put me together."

Deep Dark Robot, which finds Perry teaming with Tony Tornay, will play their first show March 12 in Indio, Calif., so even Perry doesn't know if the muse of '8 Songs About a Girl' will get a chance to see her live. "I was thinking about it -- I was like, 'If somebody wrote me a song I would be really flattered, but if someone wrote me an album I would be completely overwhelmed,'" she says. "So I don't know."

"Now I'm just excited about playing music," she adds. "Part of me has been kind of broken because I've been behind the scenes doing all the stuff for people and it's been fun, but it's been also aggravating because there's so much more I wanted to do with people and they didn't have the guts to do it. Nobody wants to take risks but with this me and Tony can to do whatever the f--- we want. I love music, so we're just gonna hop on a bus and go play some shows. It's going to be fun."

Listen to Deep Dark Robot's 'I'm Coming for You'

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