South by Southwest 2011 interviews

Deep Dark Robot

(All interviews by Andy Hermann for Metromix)

Deep Dark Robot is a new band from Los Angeles featuring Linda Perry, founder of Custard Records and formerly of 4 Non Blondes, and Tony Tornay of California desert rockers Fatso Jeston. They were one of the bands playing the Texas Tornado parties at South by Southwest, co-sponsored by Metromix. Their debut album, "8 Songs About a Girl," is due out March 22. They were interviewed in the artists' lounge of the Alternative Apparel Cafe and photographed on Red River Street.

How many times have the two of you been here over the years?
Tony Tornay: This is my third time playing it. My other band Fatso Jetson’s played at Emo’s and Stubb’s back in, I think it was ’99 and 2000. The craziest thing I saw was Aaron North [guitarist from the Icarus Line] smashing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar out of its [glass case] at the Hard Rock to play it. That didn’t last long. Bouncers kind of took care of that immediately.

Was there an altercation that led up to this?
Tony: He figured that guitars shouldn’t be in cases and they’re meant to be played. So he wanted to liberate the guitar, I guess.

Linda, have you played here before?
Linda: I played here with my one other band, 4 Non Blondes. This is my second band and I’m playing again.

You never did any solo gigs here?
Linda: No, no. I have been here several times for my label, Custard Records. I’ve been here for James Blunt, Crash Kings, Little Fish, Ben Jelen, Bigelf. So we got here and played a couple shows already. I personally have been having a fun time. The craziness is actually calming to me, because it’s making me realize, you just gotta play. You gotta be good at your craft. This is the time everybody knows whether you’re good or not. If you can’t perform in these circumstances, where it’s just like throw you onstage, then you’re not good enough yet to be out there performing live. That’s how I look at it.

I think a lot of bands here could probably take that advice to heart. This is your sink or swim moment.
Linda: Yeah. I mean, it’s like, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna spend 15 minutes worrying about the monitors, or are you just gonna go for it, because you know you’re that good? In these situations, you can’t look for perfection. What you gotta do is just be the best band you can be. And bands that come here looking to get signed—that’s ridiculous. That was years ago. Nobody’s doing those kind of signings. So you gotta come here just wanting to play and be the best that you can.

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