The danger is that the artists who'll put grime into the commercial and public eye will put grime at the back of their closets and jump on another genre of music.
In a way, it's my way of dealing with, finding closure with Grateful Dead music, and giving thanks in a way to Jerry and Bob and all the guys in the band for making up this wonderful music.
TLC always looked up to male bands. We saw guy groups could just go out and get the fans screaming by just standing there - fully clothed and with nothing but their music... We saw them as the competition more than the girl groups, with whom we wanted to stay unified.
But MTV relishes its vestigial role as a star maker, so every year it puts all its clout into making the VMAs the biggest, splashiest, loudest show-biz extravaganza of the year, honoring all this music for existing, after a year of paying barely any attention to it.
Pop just didn't have enough substance for me. All this nyah-nyah-nyah, you know, 'Paper Tiger' and 'Hold the Ladder, James' and 'Crimson and Clover.' That wasn't music!
Plus, you know, when I was young, there was a lot of respect for clowning in rock music - look at Little Richard. It was a part of the whole thing, and I always also believed that it released the audience.
I first came to Russia because of the culture, literature and music... and my interest in the 19th-century revolutionary spirit of Herzen, Bakunin and Kropotkin. Russia is a wonderful place to bring new clowns because Russians give back a wonderful response.
For a lot of bands, the London club scene very much starts to become more important than the music they create. Which we never want to happen.
Whatever I'm feeling, whatever I'm going through, whatever mood I'm in... If I'm feeling like dancing or clubbing, then it will be reflected in the music. If I'm feeling dark and vulnerable, then it will reflect in the music, too.
I'm not necessarily that big of a clubbing junkie, but I really like dance music as a genre.
I love clubbing - the abandon of it, the release of dancing, and being with my friends and the people I love. For me, it's never been about going out to meet guys or to show off my latest dress - it's the music.
There are a lot of bands who claim to be punk and they only play the music, they have no clue what it's all about. It's a lifestyle. It's not about popularity and all that crap.
I don't look at our society today too much. My focus is still in the past, and part of the reason is because what I do - the wellspring of art, or what I do - l get from the blues. So I listen to the music of a particular period that I'm working on, and I think inside the music is clues to what is happening with the people.
Getting things straight in your head is a major achievement because there's so much clutter out there. You've got to push aside the static to really hear the music.
My mentor was Clara Ward of the famous Ward gospel singers of Philadelphia. And my dad was my coach. He coached me. And just my natural love for music is what drove me.
I don't love the whole Hollywood mentality, but I do love the weather and how motivated everyone is around here. It motivates me to make fun music. I'm an East Coaster - I'm from New Jersey, so I'll probably feel like that forever.
A Deap Vally renaissance is going to begin next year and will be our focus for the start of 2013. They will blow the cobwebs off a music scene that has become just a little bit stale.
Honestly, the way I make music, you know - it's like, I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but I try my best to make time with music that doesn't have an expiration date.
I always pick myself up by doing a dance session. I turn on really good music and have a lot of food and mentally I just take that time to cocoon and rebuild myself.
If you're a new artist, practice your art and share it. Set up shop somewhere, whether it's a street corner or a coffee shop. I got my start in a coffee shop that didn't even have live music. I wanted to play in coffee shops that did have live music, but I didn't have an audience.
