With a brand-new solo album and a documentary both coming out this year, Linda Perry decided to do something else. What’s Up indeed.  The multi-hyphenate songwriter/producer/performer/label owner/mentor/provocateur has reunited with her original band 4 Non Blondes, which she first formed in the Bay Area in 1989 in the middle of an earthquake with co-founding bassist Christa Hillhouse. The two have now joined with drummer Dawn Richardson and guitarist Roger Rocha, both members of the original touring band, for a series of summer and fall and to record a new album, their first in more than 33 years.

“I put my feelers out into the universe,” said Perry about the reunion. “Playing some songs with 4 Non Blondes just seemed like a fun thing to do, in a way it hadn’t before now. I’ve been behind the scenes for far too long. I want to step out to be the artist I am. I’m just open to all the possibilities that I’ve created around me. I manifest things all the time.”

Perry set up a rehearsal in San Francisco, which she deemed “awkward at first,” but after getting together and playing, it proved promising enough for Linda to write “a bunch of new songs, revisit some old ones, and bam, we have an album. It’s really that simple. They’re all phenomenal players and now they get a chance to show that. I couldn’t ask for a better band to play these songs.”

4 Non Blonde’s debut album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!, spent more than a year on the Billboard 200 after its release in 1992, going platinum and spawning the anthem, “What’s Up?,” ubiquitous on MTV at the time and still a rallying cry against those forces of quasi-political control in the name of personal freedom.  The song entered the prestigious Spotify Billions Club last November, while the video is currently closing in on 2 billion YouTube views.

“The government was screwing us back then and they’re still doing the same thing,” explained Perry about the song’s enduring appeal. “I stumbled on an emotion that is timeless.”

Perry was outspoken about her dissatisfaction with the production of the first album, going so far as to take the group up to Sausalito, California, to re-record “What’s Up?” for what ended up as the final version. A planned second album was recorded, but never came out, several tracks of which Linda is revisiting in the context of the reformed band.

Insistent on not being another nostalgia act, the band’s set is dominated by Perry’s new songs, big-screen, ‘90s-style, self-described “knucklehead” rockers like the timely social commentary of “Monomorphic,” the revealing “Don’t Wanna,” the bluesy, psychedelic “Hollow” and the insinuating rhythms of “What They Want,” which are wowing audiences live.

A 2015 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Linda Perry went on from her auspicious start in 4 Non Blondes to a wildly successful career as a songwriter, producer, label owner and, including such platinum records as Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” and P!nk’s “Get the Party Started.”

“I don’t wanna lose my hangup/I don’t wanna leave the dancefloor/Never thought I’d be this shallow/Give me everything I want.” “Don’t Wanna”

“That’s how positive, strong and powerful I believe these new songs are,” explains Linda. “I miss that ‘90s rock and roll. It’s the record we wanted to make 30 years ago, while still reflecting how we’re all constantly evolving and growing. It’s all been a lot of fun, everything I’d hoped for.”