Ticketmaster Online chat with Tori Amos
August 1, 1996
How
are you doing Tori?
Tori
Amos: I just finished a sound check in Columbus,
Ohio. I was just told that tonight is the 120th show, so I guess I
could use a protein drink right about now, but I don’t drink protein drinks.
I
wanted to know what happened to the turquoise ring and I wanted to know why she
loves those small silver circle shaped earrings of hers :)
Tori Amos: the turquoise ring I gave
to a friend, because it just represented too many memories and I gave it to somebody
who really understood what it represented. And really wanted it, as girlfriends
can. The silver earrings are from a jewelry maker by the name of Jacqueline
Rabin. She is an African-American living in London, and she is very talked
about. You can find her work in a place off Carnaby street called Jess James.
Great jewelry store. all the pieces are in
aquariums. without the water.
What
are your plans after the tour is complete?
Tori Amos: Passing out
Hi
Tori! Want to trade recipes?
Tori Amos: That’s cute, but we want
to know what recipes you’ve got before we’re willing to trade.
Hey
Tori! When I hear “Blood Roses” I think of the vampires in anne rice’s books.
Is it related in anyway? Have you read them?
Tori Amos: I’ve read different
pieces, but I guess more accurately, there was a time a couple of years ago
when I would look in the mirror and match the lipstick to the blood stains in
the corners of my mouth. I guess I
was driven to find boy blood at that time
because I believed that they had a force that I could not align myself with or
I didn’t believe I had access to this force. Blood Roses was the first song
written for Boys for Pele. It began the whole descent, shall we say.
What books do you find yourself reading? Any there any particular authors who
have influenced you the most?
Tori Amos: You might find this
strange, but I go to the bookstore maybe once every three or four weeks if I
hear there’s a good one in town, and I pick up quite a few books. I don’t
really know authors because I just go to the new authors table and just read
the first page, if I like it I buy the book. I usually lose most of
them in the city. I never lose my shoes, though.
As far as authors go, Alice Walker. Right now I’m reading a lot of books on
history and mythology. I’m reading this whole pictorial series on the civil
war. Mostly I just study the pictures. A civil war scholar recommended them to
me. I take them on the bus and drive everybody mad because my books take up all
the space. I’d like to think that I’ll have quite an extensive library when I
get off the tour. I think Johnny [Witherspoon] would like me to lose them.
Hi Tori. What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you at
a concert?
Tori Amos: Somebody at the Beacon
theater in New York almost threw themselves off the balcony. There was some
commotion up in the stands, someone started screaming “he’s gonna jump”. The
person got taken out.
This may seem silly, but do you have any
pets? You seem comfy w/ animals, like the snakes, rats, and piglet... so I
thought maybe....
Tori Amos: I seem to be comfortable
with slugs. And thirty crewmen that I feed and take care of. Like all good pets
they poop in the corners.
Tori, hello, What is the secret of your
hidden energy? How are you able to perform so many shows spread all across the
country with pure intensity?
Tori Amos: I have an amazing support
team. Let’s start with basics. I’d like to think that my crew is similar to the
Williams crew in Formula One racing. When you have a good crew with incredible
endurance and stamina, and they have to be a bit mad, in the British sense of
the word. That’s kind of the foundation of how I can do 200 shows in less than
a year’s time. Another part of the equation
is that I become a lightning rod and tap into another source. I’ve been doing
this since I was really little. I think I found that anything was better than
hearing one more hymn sung to me. This was the way. Some would call it a little
insane, others would call it being a musician. So I become a lightning rod.
Yes, I own the copyright on this playing, but if blood roses ever decides to
incarnate, I’m sure she’ll be knocking on my door.
Who’s the hand behind the gesture puppet
that comes out of the window of the bus when you are leaving your shows?
Tori Amos: I cannot divulge to whom
the hand belongs, but the gesture is called Mr. Puppethead and he’s definitely
an alter ego. His taste in things is quite questionable. He’s getting his own
song. He has a pair of handcuffs and a lip ring.
Is there any way you take care of your
voice so that it doesn’t give out on you?
Tori Amos: I sang clubs for thirteen
years five or six nights a week. At 19 I had problems with my voice. I started
with a new teacher and a new technique where I worked on placement of the tone.
I had gotten nodes on my vocal chords and couldn’t speak for weeks. That was
kind of scary but it woke me up to the fact that it is no different than being
a runner, you have to stretch. There are certain needs for everybody’s voice. I
can’t scream, but I am developing a powerful chest voice, which I didn’t have a
few years ago. To be honest with you, I think my fire as a woman is helping me
develop that. You heard a glimpse of that on Boys for Pele, and I think you
will hear more on the next album. I do do a salt water solution before I go on
stage. I always carry ginger with me. I’m back stage right now and I have
ginger, lemon and maple syrup. Most people use honey, but it cause phlegm. When
my throat gets scratchy Johnny makes me a drink where he soaks ginger in
boiling water and squeezes in fresh lemon and then we put in the maple syrup.
What does the song “Toodles Mr. Jim”
mean to you?
Tori Amos: Mr.Jim lives next door to
me. When I was a little girl. He was one of my favorite people. I did punch his
daughter in the nose and got in trouble from my father, of all people, Mr. Jim
defended me. I was five and she was seven. When he passed on I wrote that song
for him. I punched her because she was insulting my mother.
I have often read descriptions of a
spiritual connection you develop with the “muses” who bring you to your music,
but is there one song that stands out as your personal favorite?
Tori Amos: If I say one of them, the
others are going to beat the you know-what-out of me.
Considering the progressive change in
your music since Little Earthquakes where do you see your next album going in
regards to personality? Are there “biscuits in the oven”??
Tori Amos: I’m thinking a lot about
arrangements right now. I don’t mean necessarily nursery arrangements for the
“biscuits”...but when I think of instrumentation, I am beginning to kick around
in my head a different approach to this album than to the other ones. I think
I’ve really done the girl with a piano thing, so I think I need a new challenge
now. If there’s a way to use the piano without it being the center of
attention, I’d like to
do that. She doesn’t feel shafted by that role.
Speaking of Pele, I picked up a lava
rock for you in Hawaii last week. Can I send it to you?
Tori Amos: Oh, please. Send it to
Susan Swan at Atlantic Records.
Do
you still feel strongly about settling down and having a baby (as you felt
during your last tour)?
Tori Amos: Who says you gotta settle
down? But little person, yes. And who’s asking, my manager?
How do you feel about the major
emotional attachment your fans have for you?
Tori Amos: I wouldn’t trade my
audience with anybody else in the world, let’s put it that way. I guess I could
name you loads of musicians who have come to my shows and asked if they could
rent my audience and I have always said to them, you’ll have to ask the
audience...
What brought you to the faeries?
Tori Amos: the faerie question is a
loaded one because those that don’t have a connection with believing in the
spirit world find this a bit ridiculous. The tuofa de dannon (sp.) in Celtic
mythology are the original faeries. They were a people that were driven
underground. Underground being a metaphor for another dimension.
When people put faeries and unicorns together,
they are not really understanding the origin of the unicorn. The unicorn is
Christian,. The Christians were threatened by the virility of the horse. Male
or female. In ancient Celtic Mythology quite a few of the faerie queens are
connected with being able to shape shift into horses. Unicorns represented
purity for the Christians but they could not handle or accept the sensuality
that was a part of all the Celtic Goddesses.
So in a sense, Tinkerbell has done Celtic mythology
a lot of damage and really lessened what it really means. When you go to
Ireland and you talk to an Irish builder who watches football, Gaelic football,
a hundred times rougher than American football, and you talk about faeries in a
derogatory manner, I don’t want to place bets on what your face will look like.
Faerie is not Tinkerbell to them. All that is so deluded.
Tori Amos: Well, Johnny is singing
you the Cheerios song, Mr.Puppet is waving with one hand, and if you’re bored,
we’ve about 70 shows left, you can come say hi to me.