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Best magazine (France)
If a piano
could cry, Tori Amos would be its tears. Best: You are one of the few artists
whose music, constructed mainly around the piano, could conquer the pop and
alternative audience. How do you become such an exception? Tori: A lot of musicians have enough
with one style that suits them and don’t bring their instruments in exploration
of new directions. Despite being a pianist, I mostly studied guitar. If you
only study piano music, that can be dangerous for the evolution of your style.
You have to approach your instrument in a unique way, or you’ll only repeat
what another one already did. I listen to my drummer, my guitarist and my
bassist a lot. I examine relentlessly the way they work and they give me new
ideas for the piano. Obviously, I could choose a more conventional approach,
but I prefer to venture in unexplored areas. I see myself more as a songwriter
than as a singer. B: Do you have to feel the
emotions of your songs in the real life to be able to describe them? Tori: [long silence] Sometimes I feel them through
other people. Take “1,000 Oceans” on “Venus and Back”; I had a dream at 5 and a
half in the morning of an African woman’s voice, excessively tribal. It wasn’t
a language I knew. I only understood the melody and it only had a few measures.
I went to my piano, in the dark, and recorded 2 measures on a small tape
recorder, which is always on the instrument. I sculpted the song during the
following weeks, looking at Mark who just lost his father. Until the day when,
striked by what I played in the living room, he said “Could you replay this
song about oceans?” B: Mark... your husband? Tori: Yes. There was a moment when I realized I
saw different pictures than him about this song. I felt a deep love feeling
when he “came in” the song, associating it to the memory and search of his
father, because we don’t know where those who leave this earth go. Sometimes,
the love feelings of my songs come from someone else and I’m just there to look
at it. B: You accept various meanings of
your lyrics, but why sometimes make them so hard to understand? Tori: I don’t think it is so complicated. These
are word combinations, but their meaning is not literal. That’s what’s great at
playing with a language. You “go out” with words, you travel, you bathe in
language. It’s another world. B: Your videos are always very
artistic and you play different roles in them. At what time was the character
the closest to your real personality? Tori: Some are rather close to what I am at the
moment, but there’s always a part of them which isn’t like me at all. I think
the videos are interesting because of the vast choices. I become a prolongation
of my songs, in a way. When I shoot a video, it’s only partly me. I vanish to
let the character’s identity come out. B: Whether it’s for videos,
concerts or photos, you have many different looks. What’s your favorite picture
of you? Tori: [pause] I don’t like to be enclosed in a
style, but there’s a limit I will never cross. Generally, I have collaborators
around me. Karen Binns, which was there since the beginning, is my reference
about look and gives me many choices. For the make up and the hair, I work with
different teams, depending if I live in England or in the U.S. Photographs
change all the time, but my clothes are always from Karen. It’s a friend coming
from Brooklyn (New York). She’s a little mad! She lives in London but grew up
in the ghetto. She attends photo shoots and creates my looks. B: Are you interested by French
fashion? Tori: I feel perfectly at ease in Paris, because I
always liked that style was a full part of people’s live, architecture, and
things’ shape. There’s a strongly developed visual meaning in France, which
collapses in other countries, where everyone looks for “cheap” rather than for “beautiful”.
Andrea Walker, who designed my pants-combo during my 1996 tour, lives in Paris,
despite being African-American. For this tour, Andrea co-worked with German
Suzan Deeken. She’s one of the greatest designers for Ghost (clothes company
from London). What she made with me, was like Victorian-era sent into the alphan
century. These kind of paradoxes can be seen in my clothes. B: Let’s talk about your new
album... Why release “To Venus and Back” with that format? Tori: At the start, the idea was one cd live and
one cd of rare and unreleased tracks. In the end, it’s a new album that goes
with the live. Artistically, this began to make sense because the live disc is
a collection of songs throughout the years. These are the best performances of
the last tour. There are bootlegs circulating, but they don’t give a faithful
image of my music. Then I wanted to add B-sides, for all those who had troubles
trying to find rare tracks, but new songs came. I added them and the engineers
told me: “These songs have a particular sound; if you mix them with b-sides, it’s
like mixing characters from two different movies.” It was quite hazardous. B: Your label sued an internet
site because they broadcast “Spark” on the web, but did approve recently of the
free downloading of “Bliss.” Provided your tour with Alanis Morissette is
sponsored by MP3.com, a free download site, how do you explain this change of
position? Tori: It wasn’t a personal decision. What’s
important about mp3, is the way everything is ruled. If you look at internet
like a juke-box, it’s not stealing the work of an artist. “Bliss” is also
broadcasted on the radio, you can listen to it in your car, it’s not very
different from an internet broadcast. But it’s very different and I’m almost
shocked when you can download a whole album. It’s a lack of respect towards the
artist. B: It’s a kind of a violation. Tori: Yes, because art has a value we hold in our
hearts. Sometimes, someone in the venue I play brings a wine bottle from her
cellar, and I take it with pleasure. But if I like the wine, I’d like to buy
some to promote the production. The danger of mp3, is that some imagine that
music should be free. I think it shouldn’t be free unless everything is free.
It’s funny the way people get happy with the idea of free things, as long as
they don’t belong to them. Value is an important word to me. I can also
demonstrate that by buying a book, we help the writer to continue writing.
There should be a debate over what should be allowed or not on the internet. B: Some of your songs are just
you and the piano. What do you feel when you have to play them live, without
any net? Stress? Tori: Sometimes... I am with a band and there is
in the concerts the “secret moment” [when she plays piano alone] When the other
musicians go out, I am very concentrated. If I have to go alone on stage, as I
used to do, I prepare myself in another way. For this tour we have approached
the songs together. But when the piano and the singing appear alone, it’s like
being naked. B: During some of the gigs, fans
throw letters and flowers at you. Do you remember the most touching expression
of a fan? Tori: A lot of letters are disturbing. People tell
me secrets nobody talks about. I’m frightened when I read some experiences,
because they happened years ago. One letter told the story of a young woman
who, when she was 7, has been raped by her father and brother. I get letters
from people trying to heal a deep scar which changed their lives forever. B: You talked about rape. The
song “Me and a Gun” still appears at concerts. Isn’t it feeding a bad memory of
your childhood? Tori: I don’t play it that often anymore because I
changed, thanks to her. On one period, I felt the need to play it every night.
I changed because I faced the demon. I went through this test and the butterfly
freed himself. But you don’t come over such a nightmare without hard work. B: You gave birth to RAINN and
you still agree to talk about rape. Was it difficult for you to trust a man
until the moment you got married? Tori: [pause] It’s not that simple. Sometimes,
there are classical signs by the victims, but it’s not that clear. [very
slowly] The different relationships I’ve had... I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t
known the men I dated. That too has to be worked on. You become a better
partner. Then you meet someone who, thanks to his experiences, got better too. B: Alanis Morissette told us how
much “Little Earthquakes” moved her. Isn’t it strange to be the support act for
the one you influenced? Tori: I’m not the opening act. It’s a tour with
two main singers. B: But the public often thinks the
one who plays last is the most important. Tori: It’s a little frustrating. It’s quite a
European idea, because of the many festivals. When you see your ticket, what do
you read? Alanis and Tori. We have an opening act every night, but we can’t get
on stage at the same time. It was my choice to play first, because of the
piano. Once the balance has taken place, the piano cannot move anymore. She was
very nice to understand that. Her management wanted us to switch position every
night but that was ridiculous. We are both leading this tour. I won’t be an
opening act for anyone, now that I am where I am. What do you think of Alanis on
the human plane? Tori: We’ve become friends. I knew her before and
I know more about her now. Alanis is one of those rare people with whom I can
imagine myself just passing time, or walking on the beach even after the end of
the tour. That isn’t something I can say about a lot of people. About very,
very few... Maybe just of Maynard (James Keenan, singer) of TOOL and of Alanis.
We are completely in phase. Our relationship is based on mutual respect. That’s
why I would never ask her to open for me or vice versa. That would be
completely dishonorable. The media can’t stop talking
about how women have dominated the music of the 90’s. Tori: How insulting to Janis Joplin, huh? Do you think women have already
proven themselves or that they still need festivals like Lilith Fair, write-ups
in magazines and questions like the the one I’m in the middle of asking? Tori: This isn’t new. Let’s just consider the
business aspect: very few women have been signed by the record companies or put
on the radio. When I arrived in 1991, it was really hard for me to get played.
NIRVANA was just beginning to really get going. Grunge was the fashion. Being a
singer, my strength was in the content, not in whether or not I was screaming.
It took some time to break down the barriers of that hermetic time. The
industry works in cycles. In this moment, we are in the counterstrike against
the grunge period. Three or four years after I got started, female singers
began to find new opportunities. Before arriving at a 50-50 equilibrium, there
was a period of 80% boys and 20% girls. The good news is that women have had
more chances to affirm themselves, and not just in pop. There have always been
a lot of women in pop, but never as many as far as songwriters go. Out of personal
curiosity... your name is Myra; why have it changed to Tori? Tori: That’s the name my parents gave me; it doesn’t represent
what I am. It was their concept, not mine. What does Tori
mean? Tori: Clitoris. Translated by Stuart LaRosa THE MAN IN THE SHADOW The distorted guitar in “Precious
Things,” the acoustic guitar in “Cornflake Girl,” or the atmospheric guitar in “Spark”
are all the work of Steve Caton. This 42-year-old guitarist has been writing,
recording, and playing live with Tori Amos since her first group, Y KANT TORI
READ. Born in California and influenced by Brian Eno, David Bowie and ROXY
MUSIC, he brings so many different sounds to his musique that he calls his
style... “non-guitaristic.” AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE CATON
(guitar) How did you and Tori begin
working together? Steve
Caton: It was 14 years ago.
I was a friend of Matt Sorum (later THE CULT, GUNS N’ ROSES). We had known each
other for a long time. He met Tori and played with her in a piano bar, I think.
They started rehearsing and were looking for a guitarist. Matt called me and we
ended up founding this club group. I already had some of my own work and Tori
helped out by tightening up the choruses. We were in each other’s groups for a
long time. Tori’s was called Y KANT TORI READ. There’s been some confusion
BECAUSE that was also the name of her first album. Moreover, the album wasn’t
even entirely recorded by us. There was a lot of production—some thirty
musicians. It was very different from what we had conceived in the clubs. What has been your biggest
contribution to Tori? Steve
Caton: We’ve been playing
together for so long that she knows exactly what I’m doing and vice versa. I
would say that she leaves me 99% free to play how I want. There are so many
parts where the guitars don’t sound like guitars. Some people tell me: “I
listened to this album you play on, but I never heard you!” And I tell them
that I do appear on it, but that what I do is “non-guitaristic.” Are you ever frustrated by being
in a group whose dominant instrument is the piano? Steve
Caton: No, I really love
what I do with Tori. I’m no amateur caught up in a frenzy of technique, nor am
I the type that goes for an avalanche of notes. I’m interested in the texture
of sounds. Are you OK with the fact that
people only talk about her? Steve
Caton: That’s typical of
pop. It’s like the quarterback of a football team. Without the work of the
others, he can’t do anything. Of course, it’s always him who gets the honors.
But when he takes a stand, it’s also he who takes responsibility for whatever’s
coming. What are your other projects? Steve
Caton: I have Binge, a group
with Matt, when he isn’t with busy with THE CULT or when I’m free with respect
to Tori. I’m the singer and principal writer. It’s a serious project that takes
up all our free time. We have a CD. Some songs are a bit dance influenced. We’ve
been compared to a lot of groups, but I haven’t really liked any of these
comparisons. There’s a tendency toward DEPECHE MODE and NINE INCH NAILS, but
certain pieces are twelve years old and NIN didn’t exist then. Certain sounds
might remind you of Tori’s albums. As for being a writer, I’ve had a contract
with a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures for years. I write songs for films and
TV shows. |
