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Press Conference Tori talks to Suzanne about her tape recorder Tori: Ok everybody, who would
like to start? Q: I want to know what’s next as
far as trying new things...is there something else you want to try or progress
into? Tori: Well, a baby would be nice.
Umm, musically it’s very funny. I need time to work things out. I can’t just
like in between sound check and a show take myself to another level musically.
I think to take yourself to another level you have to in a sense be open to
this inspiration that might or might not be coming. You kind of cross your
fingers and hope it will, because you can’t force that. You can analyze things
until you joke them to death, but that won’t make magic. You can make music but
you won’t necessarily make magic. If you are not going to make magic, I really
think I am wasting tape. I’m doing 250 shows, I’ve got 238 left, and then I
hope to ... as a writer, really take it to a different layer. Because musically
you see it’s not just what you are hearing that makes something get you here. .
It’s, it’s where you have the breaths in the piece, it’s the phrasing of the
piece, all that stuff matters. Breath and space is the most important thing.
You know there are only twelve notes. Q: Who do you like in the music
industry? Tori: You mean as friends? Q: As friends, or what bands do
you like? Tori: Well that’s different than
friends sometimes. Uh, friends, and I also like her, is Polly Harvey, we’re
friends. She’s going to try to teach me how to plant brussel sprouts. Bjork’s a
friend. Trent’s a friend. Q: Who are people you don’t like?
Tori: Well you know I usually don’t
tell those things because you have to run into them here and there. It’s not
like we’re one big happy family, the music group. It’s not like girl scouts or
anything. I think some people might have the illusion that we all like get
together and swap secrets. Q: Did you expect that, when you
first started? Tori: Well, I expected that at a
certain level you’d get over the competitive thing. Ya know, when you are at a
certain level, it’s not about how many gold stars you have, how many gold
records you have. It’s about well, we have an opportunity here to really reach
a lot of people. And what is our intention and what can we do as a group? That’s
not what it’s like. There are not a lot of people that think that way, there
are some, and when you meet those, you bond to them, like . A lot of times it’s
a little disappointing how some of them, especially the divas, how they act.
You’re just going NO, and she’s American, NO. And you’re sitting there and
these English girls are coming in crying. Ya know, the tea girls. You don’t
shit on the tea girls cause guess what? They all have little rings and they
used to put things in those little rings in Olde England. It’s just, you go,
how could you talk about peace in your songs and shit all over these tea girls,
And not just from the women divas but from the guys too. It’s so, it’s
disheartening. Q: What about the success and
increased fame that Under the Pink has brought you? Were you surprised by the
success. Tori: Well, I try not to
anticipate stuff. Then you’re qualifying your work by people’s response. I’m
sure some of you want to write your own works in some form, and if you qualify
that by how many you sell, that doesn’t mean you’ve written anything that’s
going to help or change this planet. It means you sold a lot of books. That’s
all it means. Now, the thing about it is, if you sell a lot of books, maybe
they will let you write another one, and put it out. They can’t stop you from
writing another one, but they might not put it out. I’ve had such an up and down relationship with Atlantic records. They know
that I am always good for a fight. I don’t like confrontations, but I do have a
very strong line that can be drawn. to the point that to where when it’s about
music, I’m gonna win, I’m gonna win cause I’m so fucking tenacious when it
comes to my songs. I’ll rip your fucking head off if you touch my babies. I’m
really like a mother with her cubs. And I think it’s cause I’ve been writing
for so long, and I don’t have human children, so that when I hear some kinda “Well
I dunno”, it’s like “Go write your own. Then you go write your own and put out
your own record. If you want this to have a different story, then you go write
that story.” There has to be a certain level as a writer where you know what
your intention is. I bring a team of people around me that when they make
comments, I have a lot of respect, and if they make sense, I’m open to ‘em. But
that’s different than when a business point of view comes in and starts making
a suggestion. You know sometimes they say “We were thinking about coming down to the
studio, you know, maybe change the EQ or something.” That’s why there are
videos in the studio, ok. There are videos so that when those people come down
that they can do something, but, um, for the most part Atlantic and I get
along. I’ve been with them almost 10 years. They pretty much leave me alone
musically. And so I try and just challenge myself. Sometimes I don’t know how
people are going to react, but.... Q: It’s almost like it’s a
therapy, listening to your music ... Is there any advice that you can
offer this generation? Tori: Well, you know, you all are
the generation to turn it around. As far as.. Every generation passes on their
sickness for thousands of years. It just goes to the next. and you guys can
either pass it on, or..... Some of mine, it’s just too late. I mean, I’m ... And the thing is, when you pass things down to your kids, then you haven’t
pulled the weed out by the root. And I think that’s the only solution to
consciousness...is when I can sit here and go ok I know this is my stuff. Why do I need my kid to be a ballet dancer? Because I was a piano player and
wanted to be a ballet dancer and had to play 9 hours a day and practice and
watch those little girls dance, and never dance. So guess what? I should
go join a dance class. It’s not for me to to put this little kid in a dance
class if she or he doesn’t want to be doing it. And I think there’s a lot of stuff you put off on the kid, your sexual shit,
the stuff that just makes you ... you know, we all have different stuff. That’s not a bad thing, that’s real exciting. It’s really exciting. We don’t
need to lie anymore. That we’re all ok. Nobody’s ok. That’s ok. How can you be
ok in a society? This whole planet, that’s taught you lies from the
beginning...and one of them is Santa Claus. I mean, the bottom line is I just
don’t think we’ve been given tools to go and do inner work. It’s very easy to
do outer work and ...I’ll tell you a very short but funny story. I was in Asia recently and this woman, and the women journalists are usually
the worst, so for you future women journalists, just be aware of how fucking
bitchy you can be, because you just need to be aware that you know you talk
about feminism, not you, you collective, and women’s rights and everything, but
they are the hardest on women. They are
the ones that won’t print about healing from rape. They are the ones that say
this is not relevant. I’ve had to fight women from Ireland to America to Asia
to talk about issues that matter. And it’s been very painful for other women
journalists, that are maybe not the editors, but some of these women are the
power that stop it. It’s like it’s not always the guys that are stopping the
growth. This one woman in Asia comes in, really really really tough. And I said, um,
it’s obvious you’re very clear about what you want this interview to be, so let’s
talk about it. We talked about violence, we talked about sexual repression of
Christian women, and we talked about trying to heal. Now after this very, very
intense talk, it was one of the most intense I’ve had, where it was, it was,
um, very emotional, she said to me, just like this, “what do you think about
the comment you made when you said you’re trying to not be a walking reaction
and personally all I think is that you are a walking reaction.” And I said “You
fucking cunt, you’ve just asked me the most serious questions. If you don’t
react, you’re dead. How can you not react to these things? That’s the most
manipulative thing anybody’s said to me. You come in here and ask me these
things and then turn it on me like for me to have feelings about violence, like
you’re shaming me.” And it really upset me, because she could not, for one
second she just sat there like “I’m going to kill you in tomorrow’s paper”, and
she did. And I just find it very clear how it’s very easy to not look at yourselves.
It’s very easy not to look at your part in winding people up. In, you know,
passive aggressives are my favorite. Because they sit there and they’ll never
tell you you did a good job. They find it very hard to say. Ya know that piece
was really good, or dadadadadada. They always make you doubt yourself. they always try ‘n do that. That’s
abusive. I do it too. But I mean I’m saying we all have stuff and I think your
generation is the one, if you’re willing to look at your stuff, that’s how you
clean up the planet. We don’t have y’know a clean planet and a shit people. It’s not going to
happen. Vice versa...you don’t have a shit planet and a clean people. It will
never happen. They have to go together. Q: I read a quote that said
something to the effect that you approved of what Loreena Bobbitt did. Any
comments? Tori: Well, it was a very long
talk I had about that. You see, I had this row in Italy with 12 men on national
telivision about that too. And all in Italian, which was really funny, and I
had this interpreter next to me, going brrrrrrrrrrr. So, I think, forget about the comment for a second and just think about, the
reason it had to happen is because of what it represents. If you just look at,
for a minute, how many women have been mutilated, their genitalias been
removed, like millions over the last few thousand years, but like loads, and
nobody thinks that is the same as cutting off a penis. Because you can still
get in the hole, even though you rip and tear, and you know it’s like a fucking
chain saw. And you can have children. Don’t ask me to go into how they have
children. What they have to go through to have them. But you know what, they
can still perform a function. And that’s what it is. Men cannot perform a function if their penises were cut off So that’s why it
doesn’t happen. And plus, the patriarchy has had the power really. Now, I’m not
saying all guys are part of the patriarchy, and I don’t hate men at all. Some
women are part of the patriarchy. Cornflake Girl is all about the mothers taking the daughters to the
butchers. Alice Walker’s book Possessing the Secret of Joy. That’s what
first inspired the idea of women betraying women. No matter that this law was put into place by the patriarchy, it was the
mothers that took the daughters and said “y’know we have to get you pure for
marriage we have to make you (with them?)” Well, y’know, no matter what lies we’re
told. Mutilation under any light isn’t going to be ok when you really look at
it. So my point is...one guy’s penis being cut off by a woman ain’t such a
horrible thing when you think about that, for a few thousand years, this is, it
represents, women that have needed to make that response from being mutilated. Whether it’s out of a rape or a cultural thing or a religious thing, and I
think that men that rape don’t think about that they’ve destroyed a woman’s
life. They don’t think about it. They just, and I think when you hear it in the
paper, right, you don’t, you go, oh yeah, you might have feelings for it, but
if you don’t know the girl or whatever, you might not be able to really
understand that that woman will never be the same again. Now that doesn’t mean
she can’t heal. But unless you’ve been through it, you have no idea what steps
she’s gotta take to heal. So I think for that guy to lose his dick is representative of “No more guys”.
And I promise you, it is going to make men think twice before they do that to
their wife or woman again. Because of what it represented. I’m not saying that
you heal by dragging the guys by their balls and hurting them. That’s not what
I’m saying. But I’m saying, one penis, next to a few million vaginas hung on
the cloths line, and the chicken’s ate it. You know what I’m saying. If we
leave it at that, I think we’re very honorable. I think we should leave
it at that, but the message should be read. Q: Something else
incomprehensible, apparently about the responsibility of an artist. Tori: Well, I’m... I can only
answer for me because other people don’t think they have any responsibility. I
think my responsibility is, the more honest I am with myself, about when I’m
lying and playing games and stuff, then the more honest I can be in my work. If
I need to make a splash no matter what, like some writers, then they don’t
think about the effect it’s going to have on people out there. They don’t think
about it. I think there are people who can go into the dark energy and expose
it, and really be very responsible. Neal Gaiman is one of those people, who
writes The Sandman. He has an incredible gift for that. But for me, you know I, I get sick when I, physically sick, when I know that
I’m being a sensationalist. And I know when I am. You just know it. You read it
and you go... It’s always this question that comes up. What are my intentions?
What am I trying to say by saying this? Do I really want to say this? And then
if you do, you stand by that. It’s not about a popularity contest. It’s
about...can I stand by this thought? Can I stand by this idea? Do you have a
question? Q: [Girl visibly upset and
crying.] Tori: We’ll come back, ok, we’ll
come back. Yes? Q: Do you favor the legalization
of marijuana? Tori: I’m sorry I didn’t hear
you. Q: The legalization of marijuana?
Tori: The legalization.
(laughter) Well, funny thing is that the peace pipe was doing just fine before
the Europeans came over here and messed it all up. Before Columbus discovered
America, which I find really, really funny. You know that’s like, I’m sure you know,
the whole thing about Columbus ... That’s the worst thing you could ever say. Q: I’m a devout agnostic and I’m
really in tune with your song God. What would you say to people who are
offended by this song? Tori: Have a pizza! Q: How do you feel about some
quote this quote that calls you “the brazen saint of shrinks, hookers, and
wolves.” Tori: What did they say?! Q: Repeats. Tori: Well anyway, you know, you
gotta have some fun. You have to have a bit of a sense of humor with stuff. And
the main thing is, that you don’t take yourself so seriously. I take my work
seriously. I used to get laughed at, when my very first record called Y Kant Tori
Read was a bomb. And I remember how, y’know, people would say all sorts of
stuff. I’m sure some of you will write things and people will make all sorts of
comments about you, what you do. But if we hung out for like a week just baking
I don’t think that we’d have the same impression of each other at all. I’d know
you totally differently and you’d know me differently. And it would be like
really different than these headlines. Q: Do you prefer your interviews
to focus on your music or on other topics? Tori: Umm, it’s a funny thing, I
find that most of my interviews are never about the songs. Cuz they kinda, they
don’t really want me, the songs I mean, don’t want me to talk about them a
whole lot. Cuz they’re like “We’re fine by ourselves, Tori, thanks very much.”
And they kind of, uh, want their own interpretation. Sometimes I’ll lead a
little bit, but I think it’s important to let people have there own, I mean,
your opinion of something of what I write is just as valid as mine. The only thing I get a little touchy about is when people come up to me and
go I can’t believe you made God a man.” And I’m like, “Yes, like I created the
Christian church and y’know the Papacy and everything.” And sometimes people
misinterpret that I’m talking about the institutionalized church, which by the
way, runs the planet. Whether it’s Christian, Judaic, or Islam. It was
definitely our heavenly father. Allah didn’t have tits. And you know neither
did the Christian god or the Jewish god, it’s been very much that. And again, I’m
really about the balance. This takes away from guys too, y’know. This takes away from all of us, the
imbalance. You know I believe in other lives and stuff, and I was a guy like
loads of times. It’s not like one is better, or one should have the message, it’s
about a balance within ourselves. And that’s what “God” was really about,
but sometimes when somebody asks me that, I just go “You really haven’t heard
what that song is about.” Q: ?? Tori: Well, I don’t know how it
works to be honest with you. I’m sure somebody’s got it figured out, but i’m
open to possibilities. I just think that... Say a truck hit me tonight , like a
Haagan Das truck or something. Then I can’t possibly believe that I’m ready to
just sit down and hang out with Jesus and have a capucino and chat. I think it’s...
Nor do I think He would ever stop growing. Being able to be on this planet is
an incredible gift because it is where we can act out things, it’s where you
can put into a body consciousness. Say when you’re flying around and stuff, and
you don’t have to eat and you don’t know what being a rock and roll god is
like. You have a whole different set of problems. You don’t have avarice. You’re
not jealous. Maybe you’re jealous cause “Wow her wings are cuter than mine.”
But I don’t think that it comes to, y’know, I think your whole vision is
different. And here you can get lost so easily, which is so perfect because
there are so many distractions. Things. People’s opinions of you. Are you, y’know
are you somebody people want to invite to a party? You know all those things.
Did your peers respect you? Those things are so, they’re such great gifts.
Because they show you...if you watch and I watch how we react to things. That’s when we really know where we stand. I think human beings are so much
more capable than what they told us we were capable of. We are so much more
capable of, who knows, maybe being in a few places at the same time, if time
doesn’t really exist like they’ve all said. If you can be in multi-dimensional
realities, like they talk about. We go, Oh God, how can we talk about that,
well y’know they said that when it was like the world was flat. and there were
civilizations, the Incas, the Mayas, the Native Americans, they were existing.
They didn’t know about them in Italy. Y’know, so it’s just perception, I think.
Q: You sing a cover of Billie Holiday’s
Strange Fruit. How has Billie Holiday’s music influenced you? Tori: Ummm, when I would hear her
sing. There was almost a memory that happened with me when I would here her
sing. And I would remember things that I didn’t even know I had experienced. I’m
sure some of you have had that, whether it’s a scent sometimes a smell or
something that you hear. Just for a minute the veil lifts, and she has always
done that for me. Q: What are some of the skills
your parents had that you would like to use when you become a parent? Tori: Hey, I have to turn this
over. Uh oh, I’m not very good at this. Is this yours? Ummm, is every body
working? This one stopped... this is going... I can’t even tell you what that’s
doing, it’s a digital thing, it probably has a long leader... yeah, you guys
checked these, right. Tori: Let’s do two, I’m having so
much fun. Q: You talked about how fierce
you are as far as your babies, your songs. What about your visual images,
controlling them? Tori: Well videos have been
tricky of late. I’m not the best visual person. But I am co-directing a video
tomorrow, for Cornflake Girl. I did a Cornflake Girl for Europe, and I’m doing
something else for the states because it just doesn’t express what I, I want to
take it in a whole different direction. SO, I wasn’t real happy with the
treatment I was getting. Because I don’t think they understood what I was
talking about, how girls dog each other and I really wanted to go after how
women treat each other in some circumstances. And all I got was girls being
victimized by men and I’m going, “Guys, you’re not involved in this one, it’s
about girls, doing stuff to each other.” So I’m co-directing for the first time
tomorrow, and I don’t know if it would be a shambles or not. Q: If I came over to visit, what
would you feed me and what would you show me? Tori: Spaghetti, and I’d show you
my Bosendorfer. Q: You skipped my questions
before. Tori: Oh, I’m sorry, what did you
ask me? Q: Something about parenting....
Yeah. Q: Something about her
relationship to her parents and how it would apply to her role as a parent. Tori: Oh isn’t that interesting I
just missed that one, isn’t that good? You know, my parents ... I love them
dearly. The religious thing kind of confused me for a long time. What I don’t
want to do, is because I’ve had, you know, it’s not that I’m, I believe in a
spiritual life, in in in forces that are not in body. But I don’t wanna like...
could you imagine if I never took the child to a Christian church service
because of my stuff? I really, I talked a lot about it with the father of the kids, who’s going
to be the pop. And we discuss... He’s from a hippie Jewish family and we talked
a lot about not keeping the child’s you know… just eating berries and roots in
the forest because we’re into it. There is a level of exposing children to
things. So that’s one thing I hope that I really keep in mind is to expose. The
most important thing for this child... I’m just a caretaker. This isn’t for me to fiddle with, this spirit. I’m a
caretaker. and that’s the thing as parents, we’re caretakers for these spirits.
And it’s about them developing their own belief systems, I think, and then,
they’ll teach us. And we have to keep them from burning themselves up, and us
too, because they can be little pyros and just flame the place down. But uh,
the thing about my parents that I treasure is their honesty. Just like with
simple things, day-to-day things. I I I don’t like that. I like that about
them... Q: What do see yourself doing (in
the next year, after the tour, sometime)? Huh? Q: Repeated. Oh, planting brussel
sprouts. One more yeah Q: [Talks about rumours of how
badly she reacted and got sick and stuff after YKTR.] Tori: That’s not a rumour, go on.
Q: [reads more of a quote] Tori: yeah, Q: [reads about how she went
around on her apartment on her hands and knees for a week because she didn’t
feel worthy of walking.] Tori: cause I felt I wasn’t what?
Q: [reads again] Tori: yeah, I did make it to the
toilet and to Ralph’s, but that’s about it. It was a rough time but again, a
gift. It was really about self-acceptance. I say, I know I’m gonna say about 50
stupid things a day and I’m gonna do stuff that makes me want to gross out. Y’know,
you do stuff, you go “I can not believe I treated that person like that.” Or, “Why
am I so hung up that I treated that person like that.” Just like, get over it,
y’know. It’s not about being perfect. And I have a hard time with that. Because
I feel like sometimes I’m, trying so hard that I’m not being real. One more Q: What is your biggest personal
struggle? Tori: My biggest personal
struggle ... shitting! It’s very hard being on the road. I have 250 cities, I’ve
done 11. It’s very tense, very irregular. Ok guys, did you want something in
the brown shirt, or are you cool? Ok guys. |