Q & A with Rozonda Thomas

All is not well with TLC. Ever-volatile rapper Lisa ``Left Eye'' Lopes recently launched a public feud with her band mates Rozonda ``Chilli'' Thomas and Tionne ``T-Boz'' Watkins, and the future of the best-selling female group of all time is looking hazy.

But Thomas, who has a 2-year-old son with producer Dallas Austin, is staying positive. She insists the band will work through its internal problems and make it through the second leg of its ``Fanmail'' tour, which kicks off Wednesday at the Oakland Arena. She wants fans to focus on the innovative show, which features live musicians, special effects galore and all the hits, from ``Creep'' to ``No Scrubs.''

Q: Is it true you have a kid named Tron?

A: Yep. That's my little angel.

Q: Did you name him after the movie?

A: Well, Dallas named him because he always liked that name, and also because that movie came out. He said, ``I always wanted to name my son Tron.'' So he did.

Q: It's a good thing he didn't like ``E.T.''

A: Well, that wasn't gonna happen. I mean, I still have some say-so.

Q: Speaking of ``Tron,'' I heard your stage show has a sci-fi feel. Should I be worried about lasers shooting in my eye?

A: No. (Laughs) It's not that high-tech. You just kind of feel like you're going into space.

Q: Are there any weapons onstage?

A: No weapons. Just us up there singing and dancing real hard.

Q: Why did you wait five years since your last tour to do it again?

A: We didn't wait. There was a lot of stuff going on in that five years. We were still making TV appearances, in between going through bankruptcy. Then we had to renegotiate our contract. We couldn't go into the studio until the contract was done. Then we went into the studio and started recording and it just took a while. We wanted to make sure we had great songs. In the midst of all that, Dallas and I had a baby. But none of that was planned, as far as staying away that long.

Q: Were you surprised people still liked TLC?

A: All I wanted was for us to come back out and for people to love us again and embrace us again, and I got that.

Q: But you were a little nervous, right?

A: Heck, yeah. I'm always nervous. I don't take anything for granted. That is my motto. It can be gone in just a second.

Q: What do you think about all these other girl groups who are trying to be TLC?

A: Well, I don't look at it like they come out and try to take anything. I like a lot of the girl groups that have come out, even when we first came out. I just like great songs. If you have a good song, it's cool. If you're trying to sound like us or whatever, I think people should give props to other people if they admire them. If you admire TLC and you like how we dress, admit it. Don't act like it's something brand new that you've come up with.

Q: They say, ``Who's TLC? I've never heard of them.''

A: Exactly. That's how I feel about the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. What they're doing is so old. The packaging is different -- it's a white band. But before them was Boyz II Men and New Edition singing and dancing and having routines and crying to the girls. We've been doing that forever. For them to come out and blow up like it's something new, and never give props to Boyz II Men, stuff like that rubs me the wrong way.

Q: Were guys mad at you after you wrote the song ``No Scrubs''?

A: You know what? A lot of guys come up to me and say, ``Chilli, I'm not a scrub.'' What I tell them is, ``Even if you don't have a car, if you're trying to do something with your life, if you have kids and you're trying to take care of your kids, then that excludes you from being a scrub.''

Q: So I'm not a scrub?

A: No. The song is not a male-bashing song. We're talking about a certain type of guy that even guys like yourself don't like. We're talking about guys that are leeches and don't have any plans to do anything with their lives. All the ones that are angry, they're the scrubs.

Q: People think that TLC is breaking up soon. How would you respond?

A: Honestly speaking, I don't know. We're going to finish out this tour, then we have to go to Japan and do all that stuff. It's weird, because when you have your 15 minutes to shine, you have your 15 minutes. When it's up, it's up, no matter what anybody says or what you do. The only thing I have to say about that is, T-Boz and myself don't want the band to break up. But I have no idea where it's going to go, to tell you the truth. I mean, everybody pretty much knows that Left Eye is the problem child in the crew. I don't think that's a secret.

Q: Maybe you could replace her with Ol' Dirty Bastard. He seems a little more grounded.

A: Oh, Lord. Uh-uh. I mean, I like him and appreciate him, but it would be nice if we could go on and have her be a part of it. But if TLC is no longer, it's definitely not because of me and T-Boz. I want my fans to know that.

Aidin Vaziri