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WHFS Radio Interview (Washington, D.C.)
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WHFS Radio Interview (Washington, D.C.)
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Tori did several radio interviews by phone on November 4, 1998. One was at WHFS in Washington, D.C.. I have a full transcript below that Tim Altman sent to me.
Lou Brutus and the Alan Scott, the other morning guy on WHFS had the opportunity of interviewing Tori Amos this morning. Lou likes to call Tori his goddess, so he kept mentioning that he was gonna try to contact her from the spirit world all morning. Anyway, around 8:50 am EST, the
following interview occurred:
Lou: Tori, Queen of life, appear now and end my strife. Tori, Tori, Alanis
is a cow.
Alan: Hey, hey!
Lou: Tori, Tori, appear now. Oh my god, I can feel her presence, I can
feel her presence. Tori, are you there?
Tori: Hey Lou, how are you?
L: I'm not too bad, how are you today?
T: I'm pretty well, thanks.
L: I can, I can hear you, but I can't see you. It's rather eerie.
(continuing the spirit world theme) Umm, first off, I'm curious, what, if
anything, you did for Halloween?
T: Umm, we played Purdue Univ. And we did, uh, we were all in masks, you
know, Gold and Silver and Black masks, so it wasn't like, umm, we dressed
up really shockingly, but I think it sorta worked. I kept taking off masks
and there was another underneath, so..
L: Were people offering up their own costumes for any part of the show?
T: No, not, umm, the audience. My crew seemed to get into a Rocky Picture
Horror Show Review. I don't know what happened, but all these guys ended
up in fishnets and wigs and stuffed bras, so they seemed to entertain
themselves. I think when you're on the road as long as we are, you know,
the crew, they need to humor themselves.
L: Well, after a while, don't they just get kinda *makes monotony noise
effect* "I need to get home for a while" or..
T: Umm, no, they need to get laid, to be honest with you. But, they're
like pirates, you know? And it's not just the men, the women too. They've
been out since April, a lot of them, and most of them have not been home.
So, you do get, you know, the village keeps traveling. We go from city to
city, we live and work together, but umm you know, everything gets
magnified when you're on a tour, because you're never without each other.
L: Now, do you pay the crew, maybe it's none of my business, but do you pay
the crew in cash, in check, or perhaps in gold and silver?
T: Direct to their bank. We're in the modern age.
L: Damn, it would have been cooler if it was more pirate like, with
everyone gathering on the stage after the audience leaves to, you know, cut
up the booty.
T: Yeah, I think that they like it direct to their bank cause they're
worried what they're gonna do with it if it's in their pocket. It's
dangerous to have too much cash on hand because, you know, we're going
through places, it's shocking how many casinos there are now these days.
And, umm, you know, if somebody is holding the money, I never hold the
money, it's a strange thing. It's just you always hope somebody's got some
in their pocket and you sort of look at them. When you go through these
casinos, I mean Johnny told me a story one of these nights, somebody, one
of the people holding the money, they were in Vegas and I think they had
$40,000. And it was just almost too tempting to go downstairs to those tables.
L: Like having to tell the crew, "Uh, I'm sorry, no one's actually getting
paid this week cause the number 17 didn't come in."
T: Yeah, that would go over really well.
L: So, uh, tell me about this thing on MTV tonight. Now, if you don't
mind, I'd like to read the actual press release for what this show "Revue"
is about and then perhaps you can put it in some form of human
communication. "'Revue' will give viewers a new and exciting way to learn
more about their favorite artists by incorporating biography, philosophy,
and comedy intertwined with unique and intimate musical performances by the
artist." That sounds like a lot for 30 minutes.
T: I think that what you're really going to see is artists that get scared
*bleep* (shitless) and how they deal with it. You know, you're sitting
there, it's really like a monologue. There's no audience and there's
really, there's somebody on the side kind of shouting questions to you,
but, like I told these guys in Minneapolis, the crew, they're really nice,
but you know that they wanna go and have a beer and get home and watch
what's going on in some sports channel. And so, you're really trying to
talk about yourself, but I think you get to see us kinda fall on our face
and try to save it.
L: Do you get the feeling that you say things in a situation like that and
they're just gonna cut out everything you say anyway if it's not of a
particular ilk of answer?
T: I think what you have to know is that they're probably gonna keep the
stuff in that's embarrassing. Because it's, when you really just have to
talk, I'm not comfortable with that. That's why I write songs, I guess.
And when you have to rattle on, you know, you begin to see, you begin to
sometimes trip over yourself and you're always winking at the editor,
hoping that he's gonna be your friend.
L: By the way, if you're just joining us here on HFS, Tori Amos is our
guest. Umm, that leads me to something about your song writing. There are
some human beings, be they in or out of the public eye, who have no problem
talking about themselves. You've always seemed painfully shy by that and
yet, your songs certainly touch a cord with a lot of people because they
are so personal. Do you have any explanation why it's easy in one respect
to bare your soul and in other ways, it's just impossible for you?
T: I guess the piano's just been a safe place for me since I was real
young. And I can sit there at a dinner table and lie through my teeth and
be nice to everybody and then really go after them when I'm at the piano.
It's just always been the way where I can sort things out.
L: How old were you when you started playing and perhaps this could spill
into if you have any opinion on if there are parents who have younger kids
and they are interested in getting them involved in music. And usually I
would guess that the earlier, the better, but what was it like for you and
what would you suggest are the good things and bad things from the
situation you grew up with?
T: Some times parents kind of get dazed by kids that are drawn to one thing
and do it pretty well. I was playing, my mother says, when I was 2 and a
half and I was at the Peabody in Baltimore when I was 5. I'm glad I was,
on one hand, because I think it really taught me, I was never, umm, that's
why when the pop media talk about female singers/songwriters, it's very
foreign to me because I was brought up "you're either a good musician or
you're not." It's not about a female musician or a male musician, musician
is the word.
L: Oh, I still do.
T: Do you? *laugh* Maybe it's an Anne Boleyn thing, I just needed to
decapitate everything in honor of her. But I think people do forget it's a
career and you still don't even have proper table manners. It's a very
strange thing when at 11, you feel like you've failed in your career and
you can't even drive yet, can't even reach the petals.
L: By the way, we'd like to remind folks, the closest you're gonna be in
between now and the holidays is probably the show in Newark, DE. So, we
remind everybody to forward any Barbie heads to the Carpenter Center care
of Tor.. We're kidding, please, for God's sake, don't do that, don't
embarrass us.
T: Oh no, come on, I have a X-mas tree, it'll be beautiful.
L: Oh, do you hang Barbie heads on the tree?
T: Sure.
L: And the bodies make a cheery blaze in the fireplace. And also,
collecting the heads keeps the crew alive and animated while you're out and
about.
T: Yeah, Johnny says bring Stolley.
L: That's the pirate talking... *using pirate voice* Arr, where's me grog
Captain Amos. By the way, what do you have coming up for the holidays? I
see the last date on the itinerary is on December 3rd. Do you basically
get to go home and go out shopping and enjoy the holidays after that. I
think it would be fun to go out X-mas shopping with you.
T: You do?
L: I think you would probably know like some cool shops to go to, it'd be
fun. We could get cocoa.
T: Mmm, the thing is, you might find this strange, but I'm gonna go
traveling for X-mas with my new husband. I'm not ready to settle down yet.
I've been traveling for so long that I think I need to travel without
having to be somewhere at a certain time. So, I need the freedom of just
kind of walking around the city.
L: Would you like to say where you're going?
T: We're gonna be in Europe somewhere, I think that's safe enough.
*lightening sound effects and static* Sorry Lou and Alan, sounds like..
L: Tori, we're losing you.. Don't go! Come back!
T: Ok guys, *laugh* Merry X-mas.
L: Take care.
T: Bye.
L: Tori, Tori are you there!
A: What happened? I hope it wasn't that "Alanis is queen" comment I was
making in my head.
L: Hey hey hey!
A: What? *innocence*
L: We lost the connection, it's all your fault!
A: What are you talking about?
L: You are a fowl unbeliever!
A: I don't know what you're talking about *still acting innocent*.
L: The audio lines to the spirit world were a little tinny today.
A: Just a little..
L: I wish they would switch to digital finally, you know. Thanks to Tori
for joining us. *take deep breathe* There's that smell of electricity in
the air, can you smell it? *deep breathe*
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