Tori Amos - Interviews Archive

Tori press conference (US)
March 31, 1994

Tori Amos at the Sanders Theater in Boston, Massachusetts

by Thor Iverson

My girlfriend and I arrived at the Sanders Theater lobby a few minutes before 4pm for the scheduled press conference. Bill (?), the Atlantic rep who was with Tori in January when I met her the first time, passed out free tickets (mostly mezzanine seats, first few rows, in the center), and told us to wait. It was interesting to note that the attendees were _not_ from major media outlets, but rather from the smaller outfits (college radio, college papers, etc.) that have supported her from the beginning.

A bit past 4:30, we moved into the Sanders classroom (yet another excercise in church conversion) for the press conference itself--we set up chairs about 10 feet from Tori's table, and waited some more. After another 10 minutes, Maria Malta of Atlantic showed up--followed by Tori's management (I recognized them from January), the dreadlocked writer for _Rolling Stone_, and Tori herself. She was dressed very casually, wore no makeup, and really _was_ in need of a combing. As usual, she began by introducing herself to everyone in person, and asking everyone _their_ names. When I told her my name, she reacted in much the same way as she did in January--she stepped back, did a mock-bow, raised two hooked fingers, and yelled "Odin lives!" Quite embarassing, but cute. At this point, I wasn't sure if she remembered me or not. Near the end of the line, a girl tried to hand Tori something (a letter or a poem), but broke down and started to cry. Tori talked to her for a few minutes, and talked to her again after the conference--no idea what was up, but Tori's genuine concern was highlighted quite spectacularly. I hope the _RS_ writer was watching.

Tori sat down, asking all of us to pull our chairs right up to the table where she sat. A few minutes were lost as Tori attempted to start all the tape recorders in front of her, but after only minor difficulties we were underway. Tori conducts interviews by simply looking at a person until they ask her a question, answering it (at length), and then looking at someone else.

I will eventually have a copy of the interview tape, so I can transcribe it then, but I'll relate a few of the highlights here (quotes are not absolutely direct, but are fairly close):

- -As reported earlier, she considers Trent Reznor to be a past-life husband. She's heard _The Downward Spiral_, likes it, and thinks that "Big Man With A Big Gun" (or whatever the song's called--I'm not a NIN fan) is probably _not_ a response to "Me And A Gun."

- -She stil plans to "throw away the pills in August," which will give her 2 months to clear one egg per tube (a safety window for the hormonal imbalances) and start trying to conceive in October (at the end of her tour). She says that she stil has "song babies" to take care of; and of her future child she said, "...I can feel him up there, but he knows he's going to have to wait...he knows that the basinet is going to be next to the Bosendorfer. People keep asking me if I'm going to change my lifestyle, and I tell them 'Yes, I'm going to start picking my clothes up off the floor. More for the clothes' protection than anything else.'"

- -She implored the interviewers not to use any exclamation points in their articles.

- -She went over the Neil story again--and noted that she's started to see her personal conversations with Neil show up in his work.

- -She said that we probably shouldn't print this, but loops were sent to both the Late Show and the Tonight Show to help with the performances-- not only was there a second piano (on tape) playing on Letterman, but there were _multiple_ percussion tapes playing on Leno.

- -She discussed the Columbus show, and her problems there, for a while-- and how pleased she was at the way she dealt with it (telling the obnoxious audience members to go get a refund and leave).

- -She is _considering_ doing a soundtrack to a movie "about a painter." It would _not_ be the "next Tori album," but rather a side project (I would guess that it would be the kind of thing she could do as her pregnancy developed).

- -She still resists taking a band on the road (she feels that the audience still wants to share with her alone), but refused to say that she _wouldn't_ tour with a band in the future.

- -Her general tour plans are as follows: a tour of Europe, back to the States playing larger venues (and possibly multiple shows--maybe even two shows a night), back to Europe in the fall, and then a final tour of US colleges in September and October. The two Boston venues she was considering were the Orpheum and the Wang Center (which would be _odd_).

- -Asked if she would explain "Space Dog," she replied, "No." After a long pause, she did--but the explanation is too funny to paraphrase, so I'll wait until I have the tape in hand.

- -She noted that Boston audiences seemed more giving than others, which might explain the three encores. ;-)

- -Someone asked her if she was excited about playing in a church (that's what the Sanders Theater is), she said, "Oh yes... very excited. I'll probably even keep my legs closed."

- She was asked about Trent Reznor and said, "Trent is like a past-life husband that I don't see very much now because I just think it would be a bit too dangerous."

Thor Iverson
tiverson@lynx.dac.neu.edu

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