Submitted by Ed Condran — Correspondent
Characters in rock are dwindling. Yet Concrete Blonde vocalist-bassist Johnette Napolitano is indeed a character.
The charismatic figure is calling from her home in the California desert, which is on 5 acres and two hours from her prior residence, Hollywood. When Napolitano isn’t on tour or recording, she’s happily tending to her goats and horses in her remote location.
“I really love it here,” she says. “I’m in a great space. If I need to go to Los Angeles, I can get there from here but this is home. I didn’t have to live in Hollywood my whole life.”
Besides goat tending, the quirky bard does psychic readings and toils as a medium. “It’s a gift I’ve had since I was 2 years old,” Napolitano says. “I hear and see things and much of that inspires my music. Not everybody has this gift but it’s something I’m very thankful for.”
The colorful rocker, who also has traveled to Morocco to study flamenco guitar, is adept at crafting moody, brooding, gloomy pop-rock. Concrete Blonde, which will perform Tuesday at Cat’s Cradle, has a deep and dark canon to explore.
1990’s “Bloodletting,” which includes the band’s biggest hit, the melancholy “Joey,” the gorgeous “Caroline” and the stylish title track, is the band’s high watermark. But 1993’s “Mexican Moon,” 2002’s “Group Therapy” and 2004’s “Mojave” are each filled with solid, catchy, well-constructed songs.
That the cuts work so well, is partly due to Napolitano’s clarion call of a voice and passion. “I have so much fun every time I go onstage,” she says. “It doesn’t matter whether I play new stuff or ‘God is a Bullet.’ I can play that song unconscious and I have.”
She punctuates that sentence with a loud, hearty laugh. The giddiness continues when she talks about the band’s two new singles, “Rosali” and “I Know The Ghost.”
“I loved making the new ones,” Napolitano says. “Why go back and just play the older songs? It’s 2012 and I’m still vital. Part of what I’m doing is bringing everybody up to speed.”
Concrete Blonde, which also includes longtime guitarist James Mankey and drummer Gabriel Ramirez, is returning to the East Coast just before Christmas. “That’s a great time to be playing that part of the country,” Napolitano says. “Everyone is in a great mood. They’re receptive to good times and that’s what we’ll provide.
“We haven’t been around there in awhile. It’ll feel fresh. We’ll go all out like we always have when we hit the stage.”
