The Morning X (US, radio) WNNX, Atlanta (99.7 FM)
August 14, 1997
Tori Amos interview
transcript
Barnes: Please welcome back to the show -- it's been awhile, ladies and gentlemen -- Tori Amos!
Tori: Hi Barnes.
Barnes: Hey Tori.
Tori: Hi Leslie.
Leslie: Great to talk to you again.
Tori: Thanks guys. Thanks for everything you've done for RAINN. We really appreciate it.
Barnes: No problem. You sound nice and rested.
Tori: Uh, yeah.
Barnes: You hanging out at the beach?
Tori: Not far, not far from that. I'm in the tropics right now.
Barnes: Everyone's wondering, "Where is Tori? Why's Tori not on the Lilith Tour?" I get that question all the time.
Tori: Oh, all those women would, uh, excite me too much.
Barnes: Would excite you too much?
Tori: Mmmhmmm.
Barnes: You know, like the one missing piece is Tori Amos.
Leslie: But we thought...
Barnes: Maybe you had other things to do.
Leslie: Maybe you were off working on a new CD or something.
Tori: I start recording October 1st, um, in England in some old stables. I can, can never record in a studio just because it is too sterile for me.
Leslie: Outside London or where?
Tori: In Cornwall, yeah.
Leslie: Oh, how nice.
Barnes: Don't you still have a place there in London, or in England?
Tori: Um, no. I think it's been taken away. [laughs]
Barnes: Where's the main homestead now for you?
Tori: I have a place in Ireland.
Barnes: In Ireland...
Leslie: Yeah, because I remember one time you were staying for a little while, was it Sante Fe or New Mexico somewhere?
Tori: Yeah, I was there a few years ago. I keep moving around, just because as a writer I feel like I need new places to write.
Leslie: I can image you could be well inspired in Ireland. That is gorgeous.
Barnes: Tori, did you get your copy of this CD we sent you?
Tori: I haven't gotten it yet. I haven't gotten anything just because, um, I'm like in this remote place.
Leslie: Yeah, we don't know where to send it.
Barnes: Well, it's in your mailbox--we sent it to your home there. You have a nice plaque, and the CD which eveyrone just came out in droves to get it. It sold out in like 10 days.
Leslie: It sold out in 10 days, Tori.
Tori: Well, thanks everybody, because um, things are going so well at RAINN. It's really inspring; we know our phone line can run for a while and I just can't thank everybody enough.
Leslie: Once again, RAINN, the rape, abuse and incest national network. And it's the only sexual assault hotline available in the States I imagine. That's what we'ver heard. The only one.
Tori: It's the only 24 hour toll-free hotline, and it connects you... There are over 600 rape crisis centers in the country. Um, so you can call at any time during the night and it will take you to the closest one. So if you're calling, say, from Kansas City, and they're closed, maybe the next one that's open is Phoenix. But you'll get somebody. There's people around the clock there.
Barnes: Well, Fran, break out the cash.
Leslie: Yeah, break out the big check we are going to hand to RAINN. And that is for... $82,000!
Barnes: Woah!
Tori: Oh, geez. That's helped so much.
Leslie: That's, of course, with your contribution, because we have a Tori song on the CD, and of course everyone in Atlanta who went out and bought it.
Barnes: 82 grand!
Leslie: That's great.
Tori: That's really quite incredible because, uh, a year ago, I must tell you, this hotline was folding. And it was quite heart-breaking because, um, there's just, you know, the government won't support, um, a place for people to call who have been, you know, assaulted in any way. So it's really up to the public to make sure it keeps going. So, just know how much it means.
Leslie: By the way, there are two centers in Atlanta, the Decab rape crisis center and the Grady rape crisis center, that are always looking for volunteers. I talked to some people fro RAINN on the phone the other day, and they're actually going to use the money from the Live X CD for some outreach programs throughout college campuses in Georgia, so that was great.
Tori: Yeah, it's really growing. And I think that's what's exciting--when the people at RAINN are um, you know... they are real visionaries. They're always thinking of... how can we be more available? What are those needs to help people get to their next level of healing?
Barnes: And that will pay that phone bill for a while.
Tori: Yes, thanks so much, guys.
Barnes: No problem. But hey, what's the story on the new album? Are you gonna, uh, any big surprises planned? Are you going to do something different? Are you going to, to plug in a big fat electric guitar? What are you going to do this time?
Tori: You'll see.
Barnes: Oh come on, Tori, give us a scoop.
Tori: Oh Barnes, I can't.
Barnes: Come on.
Tori: You'll see, because you know...
Barnes: Alright...
Tori: I don't want to blow my wad.
Barnes: Hey, easy!
Leslie: Tori!
Barnes: Tori Amos.
Tori: Yeah. It's just, you know, one of those things where...
Barnes: Always provocative...
Tori: No. The truth is, you don't really know how something's gonna turn out. You think it's gonna turn out really well, but I think if you talk it up too much then everybody's sort of disappointed. It's like, "That's it?" So we'll see. I'm excited. It's a whole different work than the others I've done, and I'm working with players I've never worked with before. I'm cutting with drums from day one, which is a new one for me.
Barnes: Yeah, definitely. Remember the day when young Tori had her little piano, Fran?
Leslie: Uh-huh.
Barnes: And the people came out...
Leslie: I remember that Center Stage concert.
Barnes: Oh yeah. But now it's a big piano, and there's big places she plays. But she's still the same ole Tori Amos.
Tori: Well, yes, Barnes. You don't change that much. You just get...
Barnes: No, that's what's good about you. You don't get the whole Hollywood glam thing going. You're just Tori.
Tori: It doesn't really interest me much.
Barnes: What time is it there in the tropics?
Tori: Same time.
Barnes: Oh, it is the same time. 10 to 9?
Tori: Yeah, but it's very very hot.
Barnes: You gonna go lay out? You don't lay out, do you? What do you do at the beach?
Tori: No, I've really got three weeks to finish writing this thing, and I have six songs that aren't done.
Barnes: But when you write, are you like in a hammock there by the water? Are you like in a little room? What do you do?
Tori: Um, my engineers set up this, uh, small recording... little demo area for me.
Barnes: A little keyboard or piano, or...
Tori: Um, I have my Bosey with me, and it takes up the whole space. You can hardly walk. You have to kinda crawl over the piano to get to the food, and back again. And, um, it takes up the whole space. But, if anybody's eating, they have to eat on the piano.
Leslie: Hey Tori, I got to ask you something. Often on the Morning X we talk about our top 5 list, which is our top 5 fantasy list, you know, that we have. Everybody's got their own. Barnes has a top 5 list, I have a top 5 list. I got a guy you need to check out. You remember, uh, you haven't seen the movie "Swingers," right? We asked you that off the air.
Tori: No, I haven't seen that.
Leslie: You got to check that movie out. There's a guy in that movie, Vince Vaughn...
Tori: Uh-huh.
Leslie: He's on the cover of Details, and I think he would make your top 5 list, if you saw what he looks like.
Tori: Oh... hmmmm.
Barnes: Fran, are you giving booty recommendations to Tori Amos?
Leslie: No, maybe Tori has a top 5 too, Barnes.
Barnes: Who would be on the Tori Amos top 5?
Tori: Oh Barnes, I can't say that.
Barnes: Aw, because, see, she could reel on whoever's on that top 5.
Tori: No, that's not true.
Barnes: Once they heard Tori Amos had a warrant out for them, they'd be right there.
Tori: No, it's not like that, Barnes. You'd be surprised. You know what I find? I find that, um, and I'm not trying to generalize with men, but I...
Barnes: Oh, here we go.
Tori: So if you're in your car and hear this, I'm not necessarily talking about you. But, I find that with some men that I've had an experience with, as soon as they know that you really want to be intimate -- not just kind of um, you know, you want to get off the pedestal and really be close and get to know them, then their whole fantasy dies.
Barnes: Yes.
Tori: I've had that experience. So, as soon as they knew they could have me, they didn't want it anymore. And I, I just couldn't understand that.
Leslie: So she's keeping it a secret.
Barnes: Well, that's general for men and women, back and forth, vice versa, it works the same way.
Leslie: That's true.
Barnes: Once you know you've got it, you go, "Oh, okay."
Tori: Yeah, but that's when it should just get started. That's when it should just get exciting.
Barnes: Too bad everyone doesn't think that way.
Tori: Yeah, too bad. It can be a little heartbreaking, but I think, you know, I'm being drawn to men right now that really kind of say I, you know, "I want to get close."
Barnes: Is there any one man maybe that has inspired your new work, this new body of work?
Tori: Yes.
Barnes: So is it a positive inspiration, or a negative inspiration?
Tori: Uh, he is... really... I'm very lucky.
Barnes: So happy pop songs coming form Tori Amos in a couple...
Tori: Shock and amazement. Sit down. Nobody will be interested, but yeah, I have joy in my life.
Leslie: Good. That is wonderful. That's good to hear.
Tori: It really is.
Leslie: Tori, seriously...
Barnes: Tori, it's been nice talking to you. We don't want to keep you from your tropics.
Leslie: Yeah, thanks for calling.
Tori: Okay guys, take care and thanks again.
Leslie: Thanks a lot.
Barnes: We'll talk to you soon.
Tori: Okay.
Barnes: 8:53, It's Tori Amos on the Morning X.
Leslie: And that hotline number, by the way, for RAINN is 1-800-656-HOPE.
Barnes: Let's listen to Tori. It's the Morning X.
[a live recording of "Silent All These Years" is played, from the RAINN benefit CD]
Barnes: The Morning X. Tori Amos. You can find that on the Live X III RAINN CD, if you can find that CD. It is officially sold out. Thanks to Tori Amos for calling us from the tropics.
Leslie: Working on her new CD.
Barnes: These rock n' roll people, they have it rough don't they? I think I'll just go to the tropics and work on my disc.
Leslie: That's kind of cool that she can go to different locations for inspiration.
Barnes: If you've never seen her live... I remember seeing her like in '91 in this little club called Mississippi Nights in St. Louis. She comes out with her little Evian bottle and tells the whole room to basically shut up... and bar tenders and waitresses, you will not be scurrying around and clinking glasses.
Leslie: Oh, I remember she stopped the show at Center Stage one time because they were selling alcohol. She wants the complete respect.
Barnes: That's right. You respect young Tori when she jumps on that bench. You just watch.
[transcribed by jason/yessaid]
t o r i p h o r i a tori amos digital archive yessaid.com
