Patrick Briggs, honored in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and frontman for the California-based glam rock band Psychotica, is working on his first solo album. I was lucky enough to catch him before his new album, Pervert, was released for a candid conversation about life, music, fate, and the meanings behind all three. The transcript is as follows, with minor punctuation edits:

Jenna-Nichole: So, I suppose a fairly unconventional [question] would be “who are you?” Not in the boring, literal sense of the word, [but] more how you see yourself or describe yourself ideally to, say, a person who wasn’t familiar with your person or your music.

Patrick Briggs: I’m a cult figure in the alternative goth/industrial/glam-rock genres of music. This is my thirteenth year in the music business, my eighth record, and first solo effort. I come from a theatrical background of theater and film, grew up in Hollywood, was on the streets at age 13, dug my way out, and, POOF, here I am!

JN: Do you think that growing up in Hollywood, especially with a [theatrical background] impacted your presentation as a musician [your stage presence]?

PB: Absolutely. Growing up in Hollywood had everything to do with my life choices career wise and other. I definitely had a ton of stimuli available to me compared to the Average Joe. Couple that with a severe need for attention and you have a recipe for disaster . . . just kidding, sort of.

JN: A [delicious recipe!] Glam Rock, I feel like, is generally associated with the ’80s and not contemporary times.

PB: I’m not usually associated with the eighties big-haired thing some referred to as Glam Rock, but more the David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Parliament Fun, psychedelic brand of Glam from the seventies. [In] fact, my statue in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stands between Bowie and Iggy Pop.

JN: You’re in the Hall of Fame? Legit! [You mentioned disaster.] Disaster isn’t always necessarily “bad.” It can be a huge creative catalyst or…create an artistic spark, at least in my case. What about you?

PB: Oh, I affectionately refer to myself as a ‘fuckin’ mess’ or ‘train wreck’ all the time . . . [it] keeps me grounded.

JN: I super feel [you on] that.

PB: I spent the whole first half of my life with my head up my own ass. Not going back there again.

JN: Is it strange, looking back on that half of your life from [the perspective of] where you are now? Your first-half-of-your-life self, considering you had your head up your ass (most people I know have never bothered to get their heads out of their ass), would you do anything differently with that whole 20/20 hindsight gig?

PB: Well, the problem with that is the old cliché of if I hadn’t done all that I wouldn’t be the terrific person I am today. But actually, yeah, to some horrible and wonderful life experiences, to slap me in the face and pull my head out of my ass and show me that there was a whole planet of people out there other than just myself and obviously if I hadn’t chosen those paths I wouldn’t even know that information though people had been trying to tell me for years!

JN: That was the most cliché question ever on my part! I just re-read it and *facepalm*

PB: Well, though, I’m not sure there isn’t a cliché way to ask it, so don’t sweat it.

JN: [Cool] Which people, what information; did you go looking for their info, or them, or was it all just fully destined?

PB: Life has always had a good strong hold on me no matter how I’ve periodically gotten in the way. And [my life] has been to be a voice for certain genera of listeners. I speak and set examples for those kids who are the artistic kids who got shoved around in school and feel like aliens on an entire planet of people, and it’s always been my task to ease their pain so they don’t have to feel alone. I’ve always known that.

JN: Kids who were like [I was]. So, letting them know there are people like them, showing them what they can be and that they’re not invisible or alien when they feel and are treated as invisible and alien.

PB: Absolutely, and that you might very well be an alien. But you still have to deal with humans on the planet regardless in order to function, and at the end of the day, you still have to pay the electric bill and take out the garbage. And to never apologize for who you are.