Johnette Napolitano onstage at Spaceland in Silverlake, CA on 9/30/01
Photo: Josephine Close

LOS ANGELES — A rehabilitated Concrete Blonde have crawled out of hiding to record their first album in eight years, Group Therapy.

The rock trio — singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano, guitarist Jim Mankey and drummer Harry Rushakoff — played their homecoming show at Spaceland on Sunday during a benefit that raised more than $4,000 for September 11 relief efforts. In addition to knocking out old staples like "Joey," "Still in Hollywood" and "God Is a Bullet," the band debuted a few new songs from the album, due January 15 on Manifesto Records.

"We could have played for a lot of things over the years, and it just felt like an honor to do what we could for people affected by [the tragedy]," Napolitano said from her home on Monday. "Sometimes this business doesn't really make you feel very proud of being in it, and I've really had issues about doing something worthwhile with my life. It made me feel good last night to see people, going, 'We needed this.' I don't think it was an accident that we got back together at this time."

While recent events shaped most of the set list, it was the new tune, "Violent," written shortly before the attacks, that had the eeriest resonance. Napolitano initially was against playing the song, a brooding number that features the line, "It's all so ready to get violent." But Mankey convinced her to reconsider.

"I didn't know what I was addressing when I wrote it — it was just a feeling," Napolitano said. "Thinking about it now, it just scares the hell out of me."

Merging dark, moody rock and bittersweet pop, Concrete Blonde's music is hallmarked by Napolitano's rich, sensuous voice and tales of urban life, romantic woe and spiritual awakening. The band recorded five albums, had a handful of college radio hits and a strike into the Top 20 with "Joey" before breaking up in early 1994 following a tour supporting Mexican Moon.

Napolitano has turned up in a mix of musical projects since then, including a venture called Vowel Movement with Holly Vincent, and a trio called Pretty & Twisted, with Wall of Voodoo guitarist Marc Moreland. Sans Rushakoff, Mankey and Napolitano teamed with the rock en español band Los Illegals for the 1997 album, Concrete Blonde Y Los Illegals.

The threesome started jamming together again last spring, and before they knew it, had an album's worth of material. They recorded Group Therapy in just 10 days.

"It just felt like the right thing to do," Napolitano said. "I have no idea why we did it, really. It just seemed to be there, and it was fun. And all the crap that had been around before wasn't around ... Harry, Jim and I made good music together, and it's good to approach it in a pure sense — that we're just doing this because we want to, and for the right reasons."

One inspiration for getting back together came from British art-rockers Roxy Music's recent reforming for their first tour in 18 years. Concrete Blonde pay tribute to their musical heroes on the new album's "Roxy," featuring the lyrics, "Oh, Roxy, after all this time/ You still bring tears to my eyes."

"[Their reunion] was a little bit of an impetus for us to do something, too," Napolitano said. "Talk about music and people who have aged gracefully with style and class."

Other songs slated for the 12-track Group Therapy are "When I Was a Fool," "Angel," "La Llorona" and "True III," the latter of which is a sequel to "True" and "True II" from the band's self-titled 1987 debut.

Concrete Blonde hope to mount a tour early next year. In the meantime, they'll turn up at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California, on November 8, as part of an exhibit showcasing Napolitano's artwork. Her installations feature turntables drenched in blood, as seen on the cover of Steve Wynn's recently released album, Here Come the Miracles.

• Concrete Blonde