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Nomad (SBS Australian television) (Tori sings Leather and plays piano) Interviewer: We often hear people saying that religion can
really screw people up. I was just wondering what your antidote to it has been?
Tori: We are not taught to think for ourselves and there’s reasons for
that. Cause if we think for ourselves then we CAN’T be controlled. That means
by government, by media, by any institution. And you find that the tools AREN’T
given for kids, cause that’s where it begins and ends really. For them to learn
how to work through their own thoughts processes. And this is really the key,
because if you don’t have the tools then you are subjected to everybody else’s
opinions and belief systems. So I had to go in and strip away everybody else’s beliefs
systems and find my own. And you know instinctively what’s right for you. But umm,
it’s not what’s been taught. (Winter clip plays for Approx 20 secs.) Interviewer: What about your mother? I believe she was
part Cherokee. Has that background had any influence on you? Tori: Completely. She wasn’t reared in a Native American, um, culture.
Like a full-blooded Native American would be. But the stories came down through
my grandfather who was. And she is a minister’s wife which is really interesting
because that is the duality of being a real nature spirit. And the two, it’s a
really interesting combination. Sometimes a bit volatile. Because she has her
TOMAHAWK in her purse next to the bible. (interviewer laughs) And she is a
real, elevated being my mother. She’s been an incredible part of my life. (Silent All These Years video plays for approx. 20 secs) Interviewer: Me and A Gun is about being raped, attacked. Musta
been a very painful song to write. Tori: I wrote it after I saw Thelma and Louise. And that had, umm,
I had to let out all that incredible hurt and anger. The anger came. The song
was written in the afternoon that I had seen Thelma and Louise and
completed. It had always been a capella. And when I started writing it, it was
as if the blinded was on. I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I mean, I was
almost in a trace writing that song. I was back there in that experience, and
yet, another part of me was guiding it on. I felt like I was protected writing
it, when it was over, when I had looked at what I had written. And the hardest
part is performing it every night because, although I know I’m safe, a part of
me has to go to that place to sing it. And what this whole process has taught
me is, I’m not a victim. Although when I go in and sing it every night, there’s
a certain energy I bring to make it very real and then after the performance is
over I can go and have an ICECREAM and have a life and say, “ this is over. I
can talk about it and I have love in my life. “ And it’s really important to
get to that stage. (Crucify clip plays for approx. 20 seconds). Interviewer: I guess the thing about pop music is it tends
to gloss over a lot of things. And yet you treat subjects quite differently.
You sing about sex, for example, in a way it hasn’t been treated before in pop
music. What sort of reaction have you had from that ?? Tori: (Tori giggles .... big smile)... umm. It’s really been good fun
because when people starts listening to what I’m saying, because it’s acoustic,
you immediately without really listening to what I’m talking about, they umm, I
find that their heads start swing around when they hear what I’m saying and
they are a bit shocked. Because they are not prepared for it. And I really like
taking people off guard. I like it when somebody throws me on my BUTT and I
have to, like a David Lynch movie (opens eyes wide and gives an intense stare)
I just find myself feeling all these different things and it pushes buttons and
it reminds me that I’m ALIVE and I can feel something. Which, most of the time
listening to the radio you don’t remember you are ALIVE unless JANE’s ADDICTION
comes on and then it’s like ..... thank god I’m alive JANE’s ADDICTION has
come. (Silent All These Years clip plays for approx 20 secs.) Tori: Even those things when you fall on you face, those AREN’T bad
experiences. IF YOU HAVEN’T FALLEN ON YOUR FACE I REALLY DON’T WANT TO KNOW
YOU. Because you haven’t lived. I mean, HONEY, that’s part of my natural
archives those experiences. And I’ve got some archives. You have something to write
about when you have lived. And living is ... you’ve got to try things. So when anybody
tells kids .... BEING SAFE IS VERY DANGEROUS. Safe meaning staying in one
place, not experimenting with, “DO I WANT TO DO THIS? DO I WANT TO TRY THAT?
MAYBE I SHOULD GO HERE?” You have to, give yourself no limitations (raises hand
above eyes), and that’s when you find out what you are made of. (Winter clip plays) |