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Tori on KROQ
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Tori on KROQ
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Tori was interviewed on the phone by Kevin & Bean on radio station KROQ in Los Angeles on Friday morning, April 3, 1998. Below you will find a transcript and 2 wonderful reports! Special thanks to Kerry, Kim H., GreenGrl, Karrie Hyatt, Jerome and Kitty.
Many thanks to Kerry.
T: Hey you guys.
KB (Kevin and Bean): Saved by Tori Amos. Hello, Tori, how are you?
T: I'm really good. This is so weird. We just called the wrong number. Woke this man up.
KB: Oh, you just woke a guy up in Los Angeles?
T: Ya, I said, 'I'm looking for Kevin and Bean.' He said, "What?!?!" (laughter)
KB: Tori, where are you calling us from?
T: I am calling you from, um, a rehearsal studio that looks like a prison in Kings Cross in London.
KB: Well, it sounds like you picked a good one then.
T: Ya, I picked a good one.
KB: You've been living over there in England for a long time now, right?
T: Ya
KB: You love it?
T: Sometimes.
KB: Ya, why are you living there?
T: I don't know (laughter) Just one of those things, ya know.
KB: Just worked out.
T: I'm a nomad. A lot of my girlfriends are here. So I end up here because my friends are like, the most important thing.
KB: I see, sure.
T: So, I just follow them around.
KB: I heard that you recorded this new CD in like, a what was it, an old church, or castle, or something?
T: No. it was an old barn.
KB: In a, in a, a barn?
T: Ya....come on, come, which one, which of you....Bean?
KB: Ya, Bean's the farm guy.......You know I love the pigs.
T: Not castle, Bean....barn, definitely a barn.
KB: Was it something about the acoustics that turned you on, or what?
T: Well, no it was cheap...we could afford it.. (laughter)....sorry, but....you know, I do Atlantic records, like so many records, my contract......I can't get a castle.
KB: I see what you're saying.
T: Well, the barns better anyways because, um, we just knocked the roof off and, um, extended it and made it a funny shape so that the acoustics are what we wanted.
KB: That's gotta be a weird process...... to be an artist and trying to figure out how to make a barn work.
T: Ya, but you see, there are other people around that can figure that out.
KB: Oh, so I see, you weren't up on the roof with a hammer and nails.
T: I was bringing tea too the poeple on the roof....I know the job to have (laughter).
KB: Now, Tori, when you sat down to start working on the new CD, which by the way, is called 'from the choirgirl hotel' and comes out May 5th, you know, when you think cinco de mayo, you think Tori Amos, so this is perfect (laughter).......what was the goal? what things were you hoping to say with the new record?
T: Um...
KB: Here is another one, record company? Please enjoy it, scratch another one off the list? Only four more on my contract? (laughter)
T: No, I think it was really about rhythm and, I got inspired by the rhythm ----- (I couldn't make out what word she said there) and the piano was a little lonely, ya know, I've been out there playing on my own for so long. And I really wanted to have a conversation as a player with other musicians.
KB: So it is very much a full-band effort this time.
T: Pretty much, you know. It's, uh, everything was cut live with a drummer except one song, and um, my vocals and piano and Sam (?) were cut live with him and with a programmer and I loved the feeling of you know, things changing, and we'd be improvising, and things would change, like on the tape as you hear it, and I, I love the live side of things.
KB: And you're gonna tour with the band, too?
T: Gonna tour with 'em.
KB: Now that's what everybody's excited about and I find this hard to believe but is it true that you've not toured with a full group before?
T: Never, no.
KB: Wow.
T: Only at Sash. One time. Do you remeber that club? Sash? In the Valley....that's not there anymore?
KB: Hmmm, no, I don't.
T: Is it, what's that street? Cahuenga?
KB: Ya, on Cahuenga? And you played there with a group?
T: Ya, it was Y Kant Tori Read. We had one......we rehearsed for two years (lots of laughter from Tori) and played out only one time! (laughter)
KB: Wow, that sounds like that was worth it....that's a good use of time!
T: Well, ya, I know, the clubs torn down now.
KB: Ya, well now it sounds like, you know, you're trying to save money. It sounds like this could be pretty expensive to take a bunch of people out on the road like this.
T: (laughing) Why do you think I'm trying to save money?....Oh, 'cause I didn't buy a castle.
KB: Ya, 'cause the barn thing.
T: No, no, we're doing alright.
KB: But here's the thing, though, Tori, so you're putting together this fantastic live show, and I'm sure it'll be, you know, exciting in different ways than in the past when we've seen you, and you're bringing it to the El Rey that holds, what..like 1200 people, or something like that?
T: Ya.
KB: People are going just going crazy here, when they found out that you're coming to the El Rey. I mean, I'm sure you'll come back in the summer and do the Greek or something.
T: Ya, we're gonna come back, but that's the whole thing...you know, Sneak Preview means not like....five nights at the Greek.
KB: Right, not for everybody.
T: Sneak Preview. It's sort of like this is just a peek. And I've never played with a band before, so I'm a little nervous and I wanted it to be intimate and I didn't want to sit there and to see all those people and just go, oh peep, and you know, fart. That would be horrible! (laughter)
KB: That would be horrible. That's something that people don't expect from you much.
T: Well, you know, but, you wouldn't believe it, but I'm very introverted and yet when I....John, what? you guys..(talking to some people with her in London)....people in this room are giggling. You know, I am, and the thing is when I get in front of the piano, like, Satan takes over.
KB: We've seen that, yes. You are really one of the few performers that when you start performing, it is...uh, a religious experience....you are possessed....it's great.
T: It's great, but you know, the hard thing is like when you're walking somewhere, someone will look at me and go, 'Oh, well you don't look like your picture.'
KB: Right.
T: But you know, oh, okay.
KB: Tori, you know what? You're not at all giving yourself enough credit because you are charming in person and we have had you on the show a bunch of times, including doing a live show with you in the morning, remember at the House of Blues, and you're great with people, I mean.
T: Thank you....where were you when I was thirteen? (laughter)
KB: I mean, maybe on the inside you feel like, oh my God, I'm not pulling this off or oh my God, this is an uncomfortable situation, but you're, you are on of the....I'm not joking, I'm not just blowing smoke up your ass here, you are one of the people who really does make others feel comfortable and that's a real, uh, that's really to your credit.
T: Well, thank you guys. I think the thing is, I feel, I mean I'm always standing around feeling silly, so um, you know...
KB: Okay.
T: I pick it up in other people, too. (laughter)
KB: Now this El Rey show, how much are we allowed to say here. I guess we're allowed to say tickets ar going on sale this weekend but we are going to announce tomorrow morning, Tori, at 10:00 o'clock.
T: Right.
KB: So tomorrow morning at 10:00 we'll tell you when the tickets go on sale and all of the other information you need and this the the only place you're gonna hear it. And I understand, I don't know if this it true or not, but the word that got to us was that the reason the tickets didn't go on sale today was that you were afraid that a bunch of people were gonna skip school and hang out, camp out, waiting for tickets.
T: Well, I'm just trying to give people a chance, you know, the people that love music to get there. There are no tickets for.... its not a schmooze- fest, you know, for just the industry. I mean, what I really wanted was to get to the people that love the music and so, um, we've really tried to make sure that the poachers....we tried to outthink them so that they......they are probably digging their butts off right now, going, 'That girl thinks that she can outsmart us.' But we've tried to outsmart them, find ways to get to the people.
KB: Well, that's something that's really appreciated, because when half the seats at some shows go to the scalpers who are charging five/six times what the ticket price is, that doesn't do anything for you as an artist, that's for sure.
T: Let me ask Johnny (talks to the guy in the room with her in London) Johnny, do you think we outsmarted them? We think we did.
KB: Ya, you can cut 'em out for the most part if you really try. Well, I think you got a good plan. We know what the plan is and I think it's gonna work, so.....
T: You think it's gonna work?
KB: Ya, I think it is.
T: See, tell the listeners that we do have a plan to outsmart those people so that they don't get depressed before they start.
KB: Right, there is a plan, and Tori wants you, the fine Tori Amos fan to get these tickets. Now, Tori, we're also going, with your permission, gonna give away one pair of tickets to a hard-core Tori Amos fan at the El Rey.
T: Fantastic.
KB: (say that the show is on May 6th, we take caller 20 for the tickets, etc.)
T: But you guys, you can't give it to the boy who called me a frog-face when I was nine. If he calls you up.... you have to make sure its not him, I swear to God.....that's not fair....
KB: We'll check on that. We'll try to screen him out. (laughter)
T: If you give him those tickets......I'm still smarting over that one. (laughter)
KB: Okay, Tori, do you think you'll have time when you come back this year to come in and see us? I hope so.
T: Oh, I always come and see you.
KB: I know you do. Tori - I think she got the 'F' word on our station last time she was here if I recall correctly. (applause)
T: No, I didn't! I got another word. Don't you remeber? You should remember that word, boys, of all people.
KB: Was it the 'S' word? No, it was the 'P' word.
T: It was the 'C' word.
KB: Ohhhhh....the 'C' word. That's right. Nicely done, Tori. So we'll catch up some more when you come in. One more thing though, 'cause everyone want to know...how's married life? You diggin' it?
T: It's good.
KB: You like it?
T: Um....
KB: Wow, that overwhelming, Tori. That's throught the roof! (lots of laughter)
T: You know, come on, some things you got to be shy about.
KB: Alright, we understand. Well, we were very happy to hear the news and we hope you're happy, too.
T: Thanks, guys.
KB: Okay, we're gonna see you soon then.
T: Okey-doke.
KB: Okay, Tori, bye-bye now
T: Bye!
Many thanks to Kim H..
I just listened to the Kevin and Bean show's interview with Tori... they also played, afterward, the new Tori song that has the line "she's addicted to nicotine patches", while listeners called in to try and win a pair of tickets to the El Rey show in May.
She began by laughingly telling them they (someone named John spoke first) had called the wrong number by mistake, and woke up "some guy in L.A.", as Kevin and Bean put it. She said she had said, "I'm looking for Kevin and Bean" and the guy said, "What ?" Pretty funny.
After the interview they announced they were giving away tix and asked Tori to stick around til after the break but when they came back on, the show continued without her. I finally called (well i tried to win the tix of course but got thru after someone won) and asked their screener if they were going to announce the winner, or if Tori was coming back on. She just said, nope ! *L*.
The interview was a little longer than i thought it would be, at least five minutes. Tori seemed a little bit tired but was charming as always. She said she was calling from a rehearsal studio in King's Cross that was a little bit like a prison. (I'm gonna paraphrase here a lot). They asked her why she lived in England, she said, "I don't know" and then, "I'm kind of a nomad" and "my girlfriends are all here, so i just kind of follow them around, friends are the most important thing to me". She said (replying to their questions) she was a little nervous about touring with a band, that she never had before, and only had performed one time in a (San Fernando) Valley club called the "Shea" or something like that, (with YKTR), which is no longer there.
She said this part of the tour is meant to be a sneak preview... that it won't be three nights at the Greek, just a sneak peek. That's when she said she was a little nervous and that she didn't want to get up on stage and just go, "peep. fart", "that would be horrible". *L*. Kevin and Bean laughingly agreed.
One of them asked where she recorded, in a castle ? She said no, she was too cheap, she recorded in a barn. That they took the roof off and changed the shape of the barn so the acoustics were what they wanted. And that she had brought tea to the workers there while they did the renovating (Kevin and Bean had asked if she had helped with the roof).
The interview took place about 9:15 here, i think it's eight hours later in London. She said she hoped the plan worked, to get the tickets to the people who love the music, (not "poachers"), and sounded excited when Kevin and Bean said they thought it would. Kevin and Bean warned that once the announcement is made (at 10 AM tomorrow on KROQ 106.7 FM), there won't be tons of time, not two weeks notice like usual, but that the tickets would go on sale this weekend, and be gone by Monday they felt sure. There are 1200 seats in the El Rey, they said.
They asked her how married life was, she demurred and when they joked "that was overwhelming Tori" she said, "well there are some things you just have to be shy about".
So i wonder who won the tickets ? :o)
Many thanks to GreenGrl.
I just recorded the entire Kevin and Bean interview on KROQ. I was up at 5:00 am because they had not announced the time the interview would start so then I heard it was going to be between 8 and 9 am so I waited, dozed until about 9:10 when Tori finally called. Apparently she had dialed the wrong number at first and awakened some guy. She was in Kings Cross, London at some rehearsal studio which she said looked like a jail. They asked her why she was living in England all this time and she was like I don't know but then she said it was because all her girlfriends lived there and they were the most important things in her life.
She said she recorded the new album in a barn because it was less expensive and Atlantic wouldn't give her a castle (not in her contract). She sounded really tiered and nervous about playing with a band for the first time. They asked her what inspired her new album and she said it was the rythem. She said it got lonely with just her piano and she wanted to have a conversation as a player with other musicians. All the music was cut live and she loved that. She said the entire tour was going to be with the band and this will be the first time she will be touring with a band. She said she played once with YKTR at a club here in LA after rehearsing for two years. That club is now closed. This is why she's so nervous. She said she is an introvert (people in the background laugh) except when she plays the piano then Satan takes over. She said when people see her they say she doesn't look like her picture. Kevin and Bean tell her that she's charming, very good with people and she doesn't give herself enough credit, etc.. She says where were you when I was 13 years old?
They asked her why she chose such a small venue like the El Rey and she said because this was a sneak peak just for the devoted fans and I guess so she could kind of get the feel of playing with a band before the major tour and the bigger venues.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning 10:00 am and KROQ will be giving away tickets all weekend.
They asked how married like and she said oh it's good in a sort of whiney voice. They say oh that's overwhelming! She said there are some things you have to be shy about.
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