It's been a while since we spoke last to Johnette so we connected recently via email to get an update. Here it is:

antiMusic: 2010 was the 20th anniversary of Bloodletting, quite possibly my all-time favorite record. I know you've said in the past that the whole period was not a particularly good time for the band. Naturally that can tend to color your feelings about a project, however 20 years later, what are your impressions of the record itself?

Johnette: Healthy detachment. I was finally able to appreciate the songs for just being good songs, and not so close, not such bloody, violent, churning self expression. It was great.

antiMusic: The anniversary led to you reuniting with Jim and Gabriel. What were these shows like and, far removed from the drama that went with the band like record contracts, did the songs resonate differently to you?

Johnette: No, Jim and Gabriel and I had been working the whole time. Paul Thompson - the great Paul Thompson - was the drummer on 'Bloodletting' but Jim and Gabriel and I had made the 'Mojave' record; which is awesome, and had toured for the last 10 years. People needed to keep up with us. We absolutely love each other. I just got off the phone with Gabriel; he's absolutely my brother. We're all better, which should be a given, after the amount of time we've played together, which now is more than the 'original' band played together...we're solid. Solid.

antiMusic: Considering the previous reunion and the resulting Group Therapy were precipitated by the nightmares and general bad vibes you were experiencing at the time, what was your mindset when it prompted you to revisit the band last year?

Johnette: You're talking about 2 different bands reuniting for 2 different reasons. I love my band. I love the original CB and somehow sensed 9/11: which happened shortly after we made 'Group Therapy'. I knew I needed to make that record. I needed to make that record, urgently, and CB was the only vehicle that could do that. Jim and Harry knew me; we knew how to work as a team although there was always tension between Jim & Harry and I was always in the middle of that. It sucked. But it was a great record. It worked, but once we got off the ground, Harry cracked again and it upsets me to this day but I will not let this band be taken down. Ever.

antiMusic: Moving ahead to 2011, you've been recording with Jim again. Is this taking shape as a Concrete Blonde record or solo effort?

Johnette: I've always done solo stuff and so has Jim. I think this may be taking shape as a CB record but I'm still not knowing…I go in to the studio and record, Jim has come in for a couple of tracks…I've written a couple of things that I know for sure are perfect CB tracks. I don't care. We'll do what we want and when things are right, and we feel like we're representing ourselves as who we are now, we'll think about what to do with it. I'm very happy about the space we're all in. Jim, Gabriel and I.

antiMusic: Can you give us a snippet of what the tracks are sounding like so far (direction, lyrical content)?

Johnette: RAD.

antiMusic: You've always struck a nice balance between the harder edge stuff ("Your Haunted Head") and the more sedate ("Lullabye"). Do you go through periods where you swing to one side or the other or do melodies of all kinds make their way to you at random times?

Johnette: Isn't that the way human emotions swing?

antiMusic: There is a distinct symmetry between your voice and Jim's guitar, both of which are cornerstones of the Concrete Blonde sound. Have you written many songs with Jim's guitar as a catalyst for a riff or does his sound always just go on after like icing on a cake?

Johnette: No. Songs come to me and Jim has always - well, not always - understood what would make that better. We have a vocabulary between us and a communication style: if I say 'sing that like T-Rex' he gets it. I do love that. You build vocabulary through experience. We have that. Yes, with these latest tracks he is indeed icing on the cake…none better.

antiMusic: When you first started Concrete Blonde, I imagine you had lots of emotional baggage (as most young people do) on which to fuel your songs. What is your inspiration to write these days?

Johnette: I write this from San Diego where I am in tattoo school. I tattooed 2 people today. I can't even tell you how amazing this is. My 2 classmates are amazing, more experienced than I and are 18 and in their 20's. They're so amazing. Inspiring. One of my best friends is with me from the UK who is an artist and we went through the Joshua Tree National Park and she photographed the blooms. I'm inspired by every f*cking day I am still alive. The world is a beautiful place.

antiMusic: You live in Joshua Tree. How does the desert influence your writing?

Johnette: I don't know; I think we are who we are. My work comes to me from somewhere off that planet. Joshua Tree helps me because it's quiet and I have space…it's encouraged other things: my art, clay, sewing, all those things. Recording. It gives me the physical space to do that.

antiMusic: You've recently released a book. What can you tell us about it?

Johnette: It was a milestone in my life. Huge.

antiMusic: Flamenco has been a part of your life for quite a while now. Do you use (enjoy) it as a form of self-expression, or as a conduit between your mind and feet as a way to empty your head?

Johnette: I don't use it or particularly 'enjoy' it for anything. Flamenco is an oral history of a persecuted people and I feel drawn to it, have studied for 20 some years and am honored that Jesus Montoya, a great Flamenco cantor (singer) from Sevilla sang on a new CB track. It's way too deep to get into, really, you'd need to study Flamenco for a long time to understand it, but it's a Gypsy thing. People still don't like Gypsies. It's really way too deep to deal with here; I'd be cheating the art form. Go Google Sara Baras, Juaquin Cortes. Farruquito. Farruco. You have to watch it and feel it, otherwise it means nothing. It's nothing verbal, and that's exactly the point.

antiMusic: Leon Russell emerged from the shadows last year alongside Elton John with a new record. What are some of your memories of working with him?

Johnette: Michael Simmons was granted the first major interview with Leon Russell in 35 years for Mojo Magazine. He did a fantastic job. I don't want to talk about Leon, I'm too close. But it's f***ing about time he was recognized. If it weren't for Leon Russell I would not be playing music right now, and that's saying enough.

antiMusic: Are you involved with any other projects at the moment?

Johnette: Well, I only hope I don't screw up a tattoo tomorrow!

antiMusic: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.