Tori Amos - Interviews Archive

The Kevin & Bean Show (US, radio)
KROQ, Los Angeles (106.7 FM)
July 19, 1999

Tori Amos interview

This interview was conducted over the telephone.

KB (Kevin or Bean): 106.7 KROQ its K R O Q, Kevin and Bean show at 8:40, Tori Amos, welcome.

Tori: Hi guys

KB: How ya doin? / Hey Tori, how ya doin?

Tori: I'm well.

KB: You're talking to us from..(Tori interrupts)

Tori: I'm sandy but I'm well.

KB: You're sandy?

Tori: Yeah, I've been out, it's freezing cold here. I've been out doing a German photo shoot in the sea.

KB: Where are you calling us from?

Tori: England

KB: The last time you, the last time we talked to you, you were chasin' sheep or somethin?

Tori: Yeah, I'm busy (laugh).

KB: (laugh) So between runnin' on the beach and chasin' the sheep it's a full time job huh Tori?

Tori: Yeah, serious full time job.

KB: Now when you get, when have a new record that's getting ready to come out, I'd imagine there's just so many different things that have to be done for all the different magazines and all the different video outlets and everybody wants a piece of you and it must be uh.. it just must be maddening, even before the record's out, all the stuff you have to do.

Tori: Well the wild thing is, because we're on this side of the Atlantic, I'm doing all the Euro's first.

KB: Uh huh.

Tori: And sometimes, I mean I like them, but they come up with some of the strangest things.

KB: You mean questions?

Tori: Oh, just, 'could you swing upside down, you and a dog'.. swinging from (K&B interrupt)..

KB: What?

Tori: It's like what? And I'm like what?

KB: (laugh) 'could you swing upside down, you and a dog?'

Tori: The two of us swinging upside down, like we're suspended somewhere.

KB: (laugh) Great, great. When is your record gonna be coming out, and is it gonna to be the same date all over the world?

Tori: Umm.. the album comes out I think around September 21st,

KB: Uh huh.

Tori: So that's..

KB: Is that the same everywhere?

Tori: That's if I finish it.

KB: (laugh) How close are you to being finished with it?

Tori: Uh.. well... we did finish the new bit and we're mixing the live record now and we have to finish that and race to Florida to start the um..first show with Alanis.

KB: Right. Wow, so yeah yeah, your fans know but for everybody who has not been paying close attention, it's going to be a double record with one disc of all new material right? And the other disc is going to be all live stuff recorded on the last tour.

Tori: Correct, and it's called "To Venus and Back."

KB: That's right. Uh, we can't give anything away but I know that we're planning something very special for you around the time that you and Alanis are gonna be in town for the Irvine Meadow's shows that's is just gonna blow the KROQ Tori Amos fans away. I can't wait 'till we get closer to that so we can start talkin' about it.

Tori: Don't you bring a dog and some rope. (laugh)

KB: (laugh) No... (laugh) and ask you to hang upside down? For those of you who missed it, there is a second show, Alanis/Tori September 26th, at Irvine Meadows, and tickets go on sale for that at 10:00(am) through Ticketmaster. There are also a few seats available for the September 25th show. Now when we talked to you a few months ago, Tori, you were tellin' us that it was uh.. that you were callin' it the 5 1/2 weeks tour..

Tori: Yes

KB: And..and it was scheduled then to run longer than that at that time already. Have you continued to expand the tour? Is it now lookin' more like 10 or 11 months?

Tori: No, when Alanis and I um.. we're going uh.. I forget what our last show is together, and then she goes somewhere and I'm gonna to do a few more shows like Texas and stuff.

KB: Uh huh.. But the 5 1/2 weeks tour is about 9 weeks, is that correct?

Tori: (laugh) Yeah.

KB: (laugh) Plus a couple of shows on your own.

Tori: Yeah.

KB: Okay.

Tori: (laughs)

KB: You were, I don't know if you were in the studio or what you were doing this weekend, but I was just wondering if you had uh.. if the television was on, and if you could tell us what the British reaction has been to the mass media hysteria of everything that's going on at the Kennedy compound this weekend.

Tori: You don't really want to know do you?

KB: Sure. I, I, I am curious because I know the relationship we in the United States have with the family, I don't know if he is looked at as just as a curiousity on other parts of the world or if they consider this a big story.

Tori: It's a big story but they look at it quite differently. I mean my Mother was on the phone in tears because she, you know, grew up relating to Jackie Kennedy and, you know, put me down when JFK Sr. was killed.

KB: Right. Uh huh.

Tori: Laid me down as a baby and, you know, that's what Jackie's Strength was about. And um, hearing the British and the Dutch, because obviously, my crew is pretty much those guys, and, the first thing.. they.. they find ev..everything a bit strange about it, things just don't make sense to them, and that's just how they feel about it.

KB: You mean us look.. our.. our hyper looking at the whole situation it seems strange to them?

Tori: No, strange as in, certain pieces of evidence just aren't adding up to them.

KB: Oh..

Tori: It just seems a little bit odd to them.

KB: Really? So it looks a little 'conspiracy theory' type?

Tori: Well, you know, that phrase get's bantied about since Hollywood made the movie but I think a lot of people cock their eyebrows and just say there's just something that is, of course it's tragic, but you have to wonder, things aren't adding up.

KB: Humm.

Tori: And they just aren't, and they look at it from a different, 'cause they're not emotionally involved.

KB: Right. Right.

Tori: I'm much more emotionally involved but when you hear the things they have to say you start going, I didn't look at it that way. But you do start thinking, and..it doesn't bring them back, but it does make you wonder. I don't necessarily think it's just a jinkx. I think sometimes, it's a sinister thought, but I don't think that um.. we should not hear what other people have to say about it in the next few weeks. Now is not the time obviously.

KB: Now the people.. the people that you're listening to that are talking around you Tori, are they talking about the so called curse of the Kennedy's or are they talking about something specific that has to do with the myst.. the myst.. something mysterious about this particular plane crash?

Tori: Correct.

KB: Something about this plane crash.

Tori: Yeah, and some of them are so.. eh.. one of them practically has their pilot's license and they.. they.. they're looking at it from a different point of view. Things that just don't make sense and add up to what we've been told by the media, it's like yeah.. yeah right.

KB: We've had a lot of .. we've had a lot of telephone calls here this morning that don't.. I mean people want.. people always want to think that things are not face value, especially when it deals with anything having to do with politics. And there are people calling already who are saying (Tori interrupts)

Tori: Except the.. except the Christians, who just keep going.

KB: (laugh) People are calling in already uh theorizing, 'oh John F. Kennedy Jr. was just trying to get out of the limelight, this is just his way of, you know, faking his own death so that he and Carolyn can go and be someplace private' I mean it really is kind of absurd.

Tori: Well, bait and switch, that's ridiculous.

KB: Yeah.

Tori: That's silly.

KB: My first thought when I heard the news was that I hope, I really seriously hope they find, you know, the bodies unfortunately, because I don't.. I don't want to hear about that, all those theories for years and years and years to come.

Tori: But you know what the problem is guys? It took, it's taken them so long to come with something when, you know, the water, I, what do I know about it? But it just seems like, hang on a second. If the blip goes toodles off, and they have all this equipment, they know where stuff is. You have first there was an instructor, then there wasn't an instructor. Then there's this little blip thing that doesn't exist anymore.

KB: Right. Uh huh.

Tori: That little radar guy or whatever he is.

KB: Uh huh.

Tori: Well what..what was that? Who..who..who's was that? The other plane that crashed that.. you know what I mean it's like, what?

KB: It's a.. there's some unanswered questions, that's for sure.

Tori: There are some unanswered questions.

KB: Because we don't have the wreckage, I mean, once we have the wreckage I think a lot more is going to be evident, but I mean you gotta remember when a plane hits the ground at.. at any kind of speed, it shatters pretty much, and it can uh, it can fly things in all different directions and it's very murky water and it's not the easiest going to try and salvage anything.

Tori: I have to say something. I don't think we'll ever know now. Its.. because God knows what they can um..Hoodini up at this point.

KB: Right.

Tori: I mean I'm skeptical. Unfortunately these are the times. It's hard to know people's motives and it's very sad. But I think this is.. this is why you have so many of the young kids coming up going 'oye yoy' and they don't know what to trust or what to believe in anymore and it's sad.

KB: It's true. It's very true. Well I thank you for spending some.. some time on that, I know that's not why you called but I was just.. I was facinated to know what they were doing with this around the world and Kennedy is certainly a name that is internationally well known so I assumed there would be some interest, but uh.. it sounds like there's a lot of talk.

Tori: Well yeah but they're, again they're not grieving the way that America is because they don't have the relationship.

KB: Right. Of course.

Tori: But, they're looking at it much more from.. what's the CIA's involvement? What could there be that's hidden? Why aren't just basic facts like, why aren't things being answered? And you know when you talk to some of these guys, there's a guy that's a physicist that's on the compound, and they come up with things that I'm not articulate enough. And I try and always stay in the balance, not that I always do a good job, but I like hearing from both sides. That always facinates me. But there are some things, some questions that are valid.

KB: Well what, what happens Tori in every breaking news situation is we all want all of the answers filled in and that information is not available so there are always gonna to be experts and by-standers and members of the public who are gonna to step forward with their theories just to fill in the facts because it's easier.. we want closure on everything instantly. We never want to spend all of the time.

Tori: Kevin? Is that Bean? That's Bean right?

KB: Yeah, that's Bean, right.

Tori: But Bean, you know what? I think that .. there..we don't have faith in those people that have that kind of power.

KB: That's true.

Tori: Because.. do they have integrity? Jesus. We don't know that.

KB: That's true.

Tori: Integrity's a hard thing to find these days, and I don't know if any of our leader's like that in that position really have it, and that's the sad thing.

KB: We certainly have learned to distrust. Even if they're telling us the truth we don't think they are. (laugh) You're right. You're right about.. and especially when it comes to something like an airline crash because we have seen, we have seen the safety board go through so many crashes before and waffle and not know and make stuff up and be wrong about stuff. You're right, when they try to answer questions on the fly, often times the information we're getting is not accurate. You're absolutely right about that, and like you say, we may never know.

Tori: And it's scary. You guys, it's scary with the election coming and people get nutty. You know it's.. power makes people do crazy things.

KB: Yeah.

Tori: And you just have to pull back and take a breath and go, 'oh my God.' As a person, what am I willing to do to get what I want? And, you know, these questions, I think we have to ask ourselves.

KB: Well you.. (Tori interrupts)

Tori: But I don't think we should go to sleep. And I think the family should have time to grieve, but as a country, I don't think we should go to sleep about the facts about what's going on and we need to keep our eyes open because we need to be that responsible.

KB: This coming from a woman who lives in a country where half the people believe Princess Diana was murdered too, let's remember that. (laugh)

Tori: Well, you know I don't want to get into that because I didn't really have a point of view on that.

KB: Right, I understand, it's just .. it's a... it's a phenomenon of 1999. It's certainly not just a uh.. uniquely American thing but we're getting to the point where we don't trust anything anymore and.. and you do get the feeling in your mind that you'll never have all the answers that's for sure. For those of you just tuning in, we're uh on the phone with Tori Amos and uh we originally started talking about the second show that's being added in Southern California.

Tori: Oh, let's talk about the second show.

KB: September 26th at Irvine Meadows, tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10:00A.M. through Ticketmaster and Tori is promising to do all new songs in the second show.

Tori: Oh, right. You know that I mix them up, and I won't know the set list until probably about 20 minutes before the show because the uh, the people that come really shift what the show becomes. That's always exciting for us.

KB: In other words, in other words, you get a read on what the audience is like before you decide what shows you're going to do?

Tori: Sure.

KB: What songs? Oh I see.

Tori: I'm always snoopin' around.

KB: What is your favorite uh, what is your favorite new song on the record that is going to be coming out Tori? Do you have one yet?

Tori: No I.. that would be like.. I know this sounds really masked but, it's hard to choose. They're sorta like children to me.

KB: Uh huh.

Tori: It's sorta like,well I like the freckly fat one.

KB: (laugh)

Tori: Cartman is my favorite.

KB: (laugh)

Tori: I always like the.. the fat little guy.

KB: (laugh) So the fat little song's the one you like the most. Alright.

Tori: Yeah, but there's nothing on my record called fat, don't worry.

KB: Okay, alright, good. Well Tori we really appreciate you taking the time and talking to us today and we're excited about the second show coming to Southern California. You know, we have.. we could give away a couple of pair of tickets to this show while we have you on the phone, let's take callers 20 and 21 at 1-800-520-1067 if you want to go the 26th the second show we'll give you tickets right now on the World Famous KROQ.

Tori: Thanks guys.

KB: And the new Tori album is coming out on September the 21st we understand uh, so that's great news. We're excited, and we're excited about seeing you when come to town Tori, thank you.

Tori: I hope to see both, all of you.

KB: Thank you. Thank you Tori, you betcha, goodbye.

Tori: Goodbye.

KB: Nicest person in the world right there. How great is she? I love talking to her, she's got a great voice, I wish she wasn't a singer, I wish she was into phone sex. (laugh) Wow she's got uh.. wow, they're real skeptical over there aren't they? (laugh) (Lisa May) That is so interesting. (K&B) I mean that is.. there's.. there's.. keeping your eyes open and not falling asleep like she said, and then there's really uh.. goin' a little.. goin' a little overboard. (Lisa May) I don't get this expectation that there should be so much information available now and the.. there might not be.. that early confusion is a sign of things are being covered up. That just doesn't ring for me. (K&B) Hey, one of the most famous books about the assasination of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s Father was called "Rush to Judgement," I mean that may have actually been when that expression entered the language but it certainly happens in every major news event it's a rush to judgement. I mean let's remember, let's remember they were ready to start roundin' up Arabs after the Oklahoma City bombing too. (Lisa May) Yah, that's true. (K&B) I mean you don't, you just don't have all the answer in the first few days after something and it's certainly frustrating for everybody. And she's living in a different society which why that was an interesting question to find out boy they really all kinda.. (Lisa May) Yeah (K&B) question everything. Alright, 8:54 now on the World Famous KROQ.

[transcribed by Heather Griffin (RaysinGyrl)]

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