Tori Amos - Interviews Archive

MTV Europe News (Europe, TV)
January 22, 1996

Tori Amos interview

Tori Amos: This album is much less censored, say, than Under the Pink because of things I couldn't look at or deal with then, because of where my life was, and my personal life. However, everything really changed before I made this record because I kind of put myself in the driver's seat. And really, this record was about me claiming my womanhood, finding my worth as a woman, and not as a woman through the eyes of the men I was with.

Tori Amos has a reputation for revealing a lot about herself and her life through her songs.

Tori Amos: I usually write just so that I can express myself as I seem to get to the core when I have... when I'm with my instruments, the piano and now the harpsichord, which has become very much a part of my life now, I go to the instruments and I begin to understand what I'm really feeling about... it's like, "No, I really do want to kill her, actually. Yes I do, yes I do, actually."

The daughter of a preacher, early religious experiences have had a lasting affect on her work.

Tori Amos: You know how some people get baptised or christened with a little water on their head? Well my head was held down under the tank for 21 years. So, when your head is under water for 21 years, eventually you start to see the little crabs crawling at the bottom and you start to differentiate what's happening under that water... or you go numb. I did that for a while, but after that I started to really see what was going on. So, of course it's core, it's core of my work.

In February Tori kicks off her world tour with dates in the UK.

Tori Amos: To me, going on tour is really about having a relationship with strangers every night. And you say things to strangers a lot of times you don't say to people you know. I mean, there's a real intimacy that I love about that. I'm a road dog. Oh yeah, I'm totally a road dog.

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