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New York Post by Lisa Robinson Tori Amos Preaches to Girls in the Choir
BECAUSE of her super-edgy, intense persona - and dramatic songs with
references to fairies and goddesses - Tori Amos has a reputation as a kooky,
New Age nut. But the singer-songwriter-pianist, the child prodigy daughter of a
North Carolina Methodist preacher and his wife, has produced some of the most
sexually provocative, powerful work of the last 10 years. And with the May
release of “From the Choirgirl Hotel,” she just might be one of the few artists
who has managed to sell four platinum albums in one decade without the benefit
of major radio airplay. Amos, 34, has built a fan base of almost religious fervor. They flock to her
concerts as if they were worshipping at a shrine, analyze her lyrics on dozens
of web sites and send her albums to the top of the charts. It took less than
two hours for her to sell out her “Sneak Preview” show next week at Irving
Plaza; her fans undoubtedly will fill Madison Square Garden when Amos appears
there for the first time this summer. Lisa Robinson: Your image has always been slightly wacky and la-la.
How do you react to that? Tori Amos: I think anybody who meets me doesn’t think I’m la-la. I’m
really comfortable knowing that I’m razor sharp. My life has changed in a way
that I’m becoming more comfortable with the fact that I’m just not nice music
for the apartment. I am a bit wicked. Lisa Robinson: To what do you
attribute the intense connection you have with your audience? Tori Amos: I don’t think about it
too much, but what I try to do is always go after the rumbling subtext. For
example, when I get to a city, I’m like a sonic hunter; I just try to feel all
the different voices of the people coming in to the concert. I really feel
there’s this force that exists that knows a lot more about what’s needed that
night than I do, and I have to try and figure out what it’s saying to me. Once
I was in a city where a young girl was murdered, and there was a hunt for the
murderer, or I’ve been in cities where the ball team lost and people thought it
was really unfair and they were angry about it. I’m always trying instinctively
to be in touch with the internal universe of the concert. Lisa Robinson: Why did you record
- and are going on tour - with a band this time? Tori Amos: I’ve played three
world tours with nothing except me and the piano, and I knew that having
written such a rhythmic record this time, I couldn’t go out and just be alone
with the piano. So now the other songs from the other records are saying, “Oh,
can we do a little something on me? What about me?’” Lisa Robinson: Do you think of
the songs as people? Tori Amos: Some of them are very
big people with very expensive Visas. Some are more charming than others. Lisa Robinson: You recently got
married... Tori Amos: Very, very recently to
her sound engineer, Mark Hawley. Just four weeks ago. But I don’t want to talk
about it - I’m shy about it. Lisa Robinson: Because it’s too
new or too private? Tori Amos: Too private. Lisa Robinson: There are several
references to babies on the album... Tori Amos: I was pregnant and I
miscarried at almost three months last Christmas. But people thought that was a
subtext to the record, and they were getting this so wrong that I decided to
talk about it. I just wanted to really have the pregnancy and not rush into
doing more music, but when the miscarriage happened, the songs just started to
come. I went through many different stages. I couldn’t be the person I was
before I carried life, but I’m not a mother, so I was in no man’s land. But
there was still a deep connection to this being; the soul and the love doesn’t
go. This record is about life force. Lisa Robinson: What was your
response when Fiona Apple referred to you last year as the “poster girl for
rape”? Amos, a rape survivor who has written songs about it, sponsors an
anti-rape phone line. Tori Amos: You know, I don’t read
the music press, and I don’t feel competitive with these women. I feel inspired
when the music is good, but no more inspired than when Maynard Tool’s Maynard
James Keenan does something good or when Trent Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor
does something that’s inspiring. It’s not about gender, it’s about being a good
musician. I like the kind of support that musicians have when you’re good and
you keep striving; you don’t need to feel like somebody else is taking away
your place. At the same time, Kate Bush did come before me, Joni Mitchell did
come before me; I wouldn’t be here without the pounding on the door that they
did, and I can honor that. Some of the artists coming up seem to understand
that, and some seem to fight it. One thing I had to learn was that you respect
the ones that have come before you because, let’s be brutally fair here, it
opens doors. |