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MUSICIAN the musician interview Can a notoriously idiosyncratic
artist find happiness with her first real band? by Maureen Herman
And how does she handle this chaos without losing sight of the big picture
and retaining control of the music ? According to her long-time assistant and
tour manager, John Witherspoon, she is uncomfortable with inactivity and is
always doing three things at once. “I have no idea where she gets her energy,”
admits the friendly Englishman who, rather than seeming like the usual fussy,
flustered road manager, clearly cares about Amos professionally. As I see
throughout the day, this is the running theme with all the people around her:
mutual respect.
When asked how it felt to be thrown into a major world tour at the drop of a
hat, Evans said, “I was nervous about getting here and not knowing all the
songs. I had a tape of the record and I practiced at home, but once I got here,
Tori was so professional and direct. I just try to play the thing that will
make her start dancing around when she’s at the piano. That’s how I know I’m on
the right track.” Later at their practice space, The Depot, with Hall & Oates doing
their thing two floors down, I’m witness to her patience, and encouraging
directness with the players. She knows what she likes, and when she likes it,
she is all over her piano bench like a woman possessed, one foot stomping the
beat and the other working the pedal of the Bosendorfer with impassioned focus.
Before practice though, we are driving in a big, black London cab through
the winding streets towards her hotel, oddly separate from her band’s digs.
This and the fact that she was with her personal trainer while I was having
breakfast with the band that morning, strikes me as smacking a bit of the
pampered “pop star” lifestyle. But after spending almost nine hours around her,
the band, and crew, a different picture emerges. It is one of a determined and
talented musician who understands the pitfalls of stardom and thrives on the
chaotic business that naturally accompanies a successful working musician cum
pop star. She has made a separate peace with the business side of music, and
she works out the rest with her piano and her voice. At our first meeting, her excitement about doing an interview for a
potential audience of musicians is disarming. Like a big sister talking to her
little brother the night before he begins high school, she wants others to
learn from her experiences, to help them avoid painful mistakes, and to
celebrate being a musician regardless of their playing level. Her desire to
communicate with others is strong, even in the middle of an already hectic day
that shows no sign of slowing down. Most admirable is her commitment to professionalism
in the way she conducts business and her considerable achievements of the past
four weeks despite being under pressure that would make most people’s heads
blow right off. Musician: How do you get the time
you need to get ready for a tour when there is all this side business and
distraction from what should be the most important thing: the music?
Yet, the engineers are much more like that than I am. They’re interested in
whether it feels good and gets the magic, if it was technically on. But there’s
going to be mistakes in every piece; for me it’s much more about if we get the
right feeling in that take. The conversation that you’re having with the other
musicians, I mean there’s going to be bum notes, but to me it’s not about that.
It’s like, what is kissing perfectly about? I don’t know what that is. You
know, the tongue is moved to the left every millisecond in increments of blah
blah blah. What lip gloss you have on will change the whole thing. So I really
encourage the guys to not play it the same all the time. Obviously there are
elements that you always want there. For instance, in the bass there will be a
beautiful line and you wait for it and everything’s dependent on it for
structure; there has to be a skeleton. But I’m building space into the new
material; there’s about a three-minute break in a few of the songs - the
“groove” tunes. So off the new record, in songs like iieee and Cruel, there are
breaks, where at a certain point, you just play and Matt knows things can
change within that time, and I don’t have a set timeline; we know when it’s
time to get out. They come alive. If I didn’t do that I don’t think they would
be fed. When I made the decision to get these players and play it live, I felt
like it had to be constantly growing. Musician: Which brings us to your
choice of them as players. How do you find the right players? Tori: I need a way for the
excitement level for the band to be there, especially if it’s going to be a
long tour. They need to feel respected and challenged. That’s my belief for
both the band and the crew. We have about a forty-person crew with the band on
the road. And of course, they’re not there because they’re my friends. Later
they may become my friends, as with Caton (guitarist Steve Caton) who I’ve
known for years. And Matt (Chamberlain, drummer) is becoming a friend and John
(bassist) I just met. They become friends but that’s not why they’re there. And
that’s the greatest compliment. You’re not there because you’re my friend,
you’re there because you’re great. Musician: A lot of people choose
their musicians based more on the length of time they’ve known them, and then
sometimes it is harder to deal with things musically because the friendship
gets in the way. Tori: Yes, but if you live in a
small town, like if you live in Columbus, Ohio, right? And you can only choose
between three bass players really? Your choice of people is different when you
can network and say, “Who’s out there anywhere in the world?” What an amazing
thing. That’s a gift to be able to have that opportunity. Musician: But you’ve worked hard
to get to that point of being able to choose. Tori: Still, I think there’s that
thing where, it’s not so much about how fast you can play. It really does come
down to an internal thing with the musician: What’s going on inside? That
reflects in your playing; the mud oozes through their fingers. Musician: Great musicians play
because they have to, and your skill increases because of your emotional
involvement. Tori: And that’s very different
from pop stars. Musician: What do you consider a
pop star? Tori: Pop stars are famous people
who sell a lot of records, but don’t really play music or really feel it. You
know, they love music - and hey, good for them. They sing songs... Musician: But they could live
without it. They don’t have the drive, or the vital need to express. Tori: It’s not about the music. I
mean, they like music as much as anyone. Half the pop stars are not musicians.
It’s not a slag, but it’s something musicians need to understand. Being a
musician is a skill. It’s not a fashion. Just because you think you’re one
doesn’t mean you’re one - sorry, sweetheart. I’m not trying to be vicious here,
but I’m trying to give players pride. Because there’s a lot of players that
will never be on the Top 50 Billboard charts. And there are some great
musicians in serious metal bands, where sometimes it becomes a bit tongue in cheek
but still they are amazing players. And I think it’s having them be aware that
being a musician is a skill.
At the same time, musicians have a different skill, if they choose to
develop it, and some of them don’t. They think that if they play a few chords,
they’re musicians. That doesn’t honor the music, that doesn’t honor the muse.
It’s something that I really had to get clear in my head, because I don’t think
that’s an understanding that musicians have and I see a lot of them in pain,
and I’ve been in pain. It’s not like two hours a day are set aside on every
radio station for the encouragement of pioneering music. I think a lot of
musicians are very frustrated because they may have this wonderful ability, but
to merge that with the pop world, it can be very frustrating. It’s one thing
that I have to work through all the time; I really have to not become a number
on a pop chart. It’s like your worth, if they say you’re only number 68. Musician: You’re presented in the
media as a “pop star” but your lyrics are definitely more in-depth than usual
pop fare. Tori: For those writers who are
listening are going to read this article, there has to be a peace made within
regarding what your integrity is. Sometimes you find a way to put it in a
language where you don’t feel like you’ve dishonored your skill. But you put it
in a form that isn’t so hard to grasp. Sometimes it’s writing the anti-pop song
in your mind that you’re always doing and you ask yourself, why am I resisting?
You have to decide where you stand on confrontation. I don’t necessarily mean
political issues. I just mean, does it put your back up? Does it take you to
places that might not be warm and fuzzy, whatever warm and fuzzy is to some
people? Musician: Sometimes warm and
fuzzy is another person’s nightmare and vice-versa. Tori: I do think that there is a
level where not everybody likes anything overly challenging, whether it’s
rhythmically or a chord progression that makes them feel familiar, and I’ve had
to honor that there’s a place for that - and it’s taken me a lot. There are
sides that as a musician I’ve had to come to terms with that are a bit... pukey.
Like why isn’t there a radio station in every town that advertisers put money
into that is really not about, “Is this programmable?” To succeed you have to
come to terms with what your choices are. You make those choices and say,
“Okay, this means I’m anchovies, and I know that.” Musician: You’re saying that you
need to know the parameters and not necessarily feel like they’re limiting you,
but in choosing to work in that context, you must make concessions. Tori: When you make the choices,
you have to face the consequences, and the consequences can be fantastic. Musician: Well, once you reach
the stature that you have, you’re better able to call the shots in the way that
you tour and record. But you have to give a little to get a little as far as
power goes. Tori: That makes sense, I mean
Johnny (Witherspoon, tour manager) said last week, “You know the album is
coming out and you know you made a choice not to make Ford Fiestas.” When you
make cars by hand, well, some people don’t want that and it’s a specialized
thing. But you can’t go, “Yeah, but everyone else wants this other thing.”
Sometimes you really have to not live your life by your number. You know your
music gets out there, but when it’s just you and musicians and everything it’s
one thing. But once your record gets out and you get your number... I mean,
every week, it’s like, (cringing) “I don’t want to know!” Don’t tell me I’m
170. It’s like, is that what I’m worth, this number? Musician: It’s like gauging your
worth by what order you get picked in gym class in grade school.
Musician: It’s vital that the
musicians who read this interview know how important it is to be strong to achieve
personal success in the music business. Tori: To go back to the word
“musician,” you can get confused about your intention. There is a fame issue
that most musicians don’t want to own. That is the dark side of the whole
thing. But you must recognize it: It’s part of the truth, it’s part of what it
is. A lot of times you’ll go in saying, “I don’t care about that,” but that’s
not really true or you would have stayed at home in your living room. You’ve
got to be honest about it. There’s so much shame around the fame issue, whether you call it recognition
or fame or you just wanted to get chicks or you wanted to feel hot, whatever it
is. If you don’t want to be crawling out of your skin because you’re lying to
yourself all the time, you’ve got to admit that you do want to put it out
there, because you do want to communicate; you want to connect, and if
you do get some attention there will be a fame issue and you’re going to have
to deal with that. Fame is an amazing teacher. Musician: How have you dealt with
the fame issue? Tori: Very badly at first. It can
become like, again, your worth is based on outside factors and yet it’s a
natural thing to want to know that you’re being seen, that you’re being heard,
like you’re being understood. Musician: It’s like mirroring
back from your family, asking, “Am I doing okay?” Tori: Exactly. “Are you hearing
me?” I think that’s a normal, natural feeling. But my ego got really confused.
What are my intentions, what is the attention, and where do you put all this
energy that’s coming at you? Musician: It’s like a loop of
energy from the stage to the audience and back again. Tori: Recognition for a lot of
musicians is, like, there’s a pit in your stomach for some musicians because
you’ve been playing so long, and your work isn’t recognized; a wound gets
created. And so sometimes when you get that recognition, it’s like a truck. You
think, “Maybe I am okay.” You begin to doubt yourself when there’s no response
to your work. There’s always one exception to the rule, but I think artists
need their work to be responded to - even if it’s eggs being pelted at them.
Art is a life force, and when you put it out there it is a part of you. Musician: But the art is public
too.
Musician: Saying that you’re only
as good as your job certainly applies to finding people who are good players,
not necessarily your friends, for your band. Tori: The playing comes first. I
have a lot of friends who I didn’t call. Because that isn’t the first prerequisite;
it’s about being good - and then, obviously, not being a walking black hole.
There’s just no room for it. It’s hard enough as it is; if somebody pulls
everybody down, I can’t have it. Musician: On a day-to-day basis,
having a negative or draining presence around can really affect performance and
the crew’s ability to do its job well. Tori: It really does. It’s
different when you’re a band breaking together than when you’re calling in the
players and you can afford to pay them properly. It’s a different situation,
but I still know fellow artists who pull in a band that is abusive or envious.
That would never happen with me. No, I’ll tear your throat out.
Musician: ...and you need to be
able to listen. Tori: You don’t get respect
because you’re a pop star. You get respect because you get results and you know
what you’re doing. Whatcha got? Tori Amos, keyboards, vocals: A shiny black Bosendorfer grand piano, a Kurzweil K2500XS MIDI piano with Zip drive connected (yes, she can play both at once), and Neumann KMS 140 and 150 hand held mics. Steve Caton, guitar: Two Schecter Trad guitars, a Schecter guitar tuned to
Bb with a bass string for the “E,” two ESP Eclipse guitars, a Renson
Strat-style guitar tuned to Db, a ‘78 Valley Arts Strat-style guitar, a Roland
Jazz Chorus 120 guitar amplifier with ElectroVoice Series II 12” speakers, a
Roland GP100 guitar preamp processor, and a Roland FC200 MIDI foot controller.
“I’m trying to organize the patches on the foot controller. I really don’t want
to step on the wrong pedal during a live show.” Matt Chamberlain, drums: An Ayotte Wood Hoop drum set with a 12” mount top,
a 15” floor tom, a 22” kick, and a 14” Keplinger Metal snare. He uses Sabian
cymbals; 14” hand-hammered duo hats, a 20” duo ride, a 16” AAX Studio crash, an
18” Sizzle crash and an 8” mounted saw blade. “You never know when you might
need it.” All his hardware is Drum Workshop. Interestingly, he has Taos Native
American kick drum and snare. On the other end of technology he has a MIDI FAT
PAD, and a Roland MS1 sampler. He pounds out the music’s disparate rhythms with
Vic Firth sticks. Jon Evans, bass: A ‘72 fretless Fender Precision Bass, a ‘92 Tobias
five-string bass, a DART Bi Level acoustic bass, and a Pikart Upright Bass. For
amplification, he combines a Boss SE 70 effects processor, a Groove Tube
preamp, and a Crown MicroTech 600 all shot through Acme LowB4 cabinets. First photo caption (page 32): Mid-article large quote: |
