Tori Amos - Interviews Archive

KAMX, Austin (US, radio)
Mix 94.7 FM
November 1, 2002

Tori Amos interview

Tori Amos: Clay?

Clay: Hello!

Tori: How are you?

Clay: Good Tori, how you doin'?

Tori: I'm very well...

Clay: Thanks for joining us today.

Tori: Thanks for having me.

Clay: So, what's been going on in your busy life?

Tori: Getting ready to uh... we uh... Do telly early in the morning tomorrow, up at 3, and then we go down and start production rehearsals for the tour.

Clay: Oh wow... Now, your tour kicks off November 7th in Tampa, is that right?

Tori: Yes!

Clay: And you're real excited about that?

Tori: Yes, very challenging I think bringing a narrative to the road because you can't really be doing that every night or people are going to start yawning [laughs] and... um... I kind of like the idea of the metaphorical fire. So people, like in the old days, used to come around the fire, from all different places, and tell the news of the day. So, that's sort of the concert. It'll be a story form from... all the songs cuz that's my body map. I'm not just Scarlet all the time.

Clay: Right, No that's great, I think that's awesome... umm... I saw the big, uh, the article and write up you had in USA today yesterday. I was actually talking about that a little while ago. Did you know of that?

Tori: Uh, no, I haven't seen it.

Clay: Wow, it's great. It's a huge pictures of you and it's talking all about you experience over the last year on tour and about the, uh, Native American woman who came to your show.

Tori: Yes.

Clay: And can you explain to us a little bit more about that?

Tori: [sigh] She can to see me and she was very humble. Sat down... wasn't there for the music, was just there to give a message. And she said, "The white brother that owns the land... and the people that hold the land... must come together... for the survival..." of her. And I said, "So much has been taken from your people already." And she said, "Child. Unfortunately he only took the land. Now it's time for him to come and take more, as he must take more." And she walked out of there and I started thinking about the ability to give and to transcend and this culture that's part of all of us, it's their- it's our roots and yet it's kind of segregated from us. So that started the- the seeds started getting planted.

Clay: I don't know what to say about that.

Tori: Nor I! I mean, I have to tell you, sometimes, things just happen in your life and people walk in front of you and you never see them again. I haven't seen her again. And you life changes. That's the... Maybe... That's sort of um... one of the patterns that happens in 'Scarlet's Walk'. She meets people that change the course of her life and they're not necessarily people that she spends a lot of time with, some of them are but some of them are just people that have a different point of view and it feels right.

Clay: Mmhmm...

Tori: So she says, "Okay, I'm gonna open myself to this and because of that, doors open for her and other ones close.

Clay: Yeah, that's probably the biggest question I had for you cuz I was just reading over that article today and I wanted to hear, y'know, your words on that. So that's... That's really great and you're right, I think things happen. You may never see that person again.

Tori: Yeah but the power of being present, in the moment, just to hear something from somebody... I mean, what we were hoping to do was that, the CD, because yes, it is a narrative and it's based on real people and real events, this story... But the CD, when you put it into your computer, it becomes a key and it takes you to Scarlet's Web and there the maps come alive so you can follow where she went. You get a map with your CD booklet.

Clay: right...

Tori: But they come alive on the computer and there are layers of the maps so when she goes and visits a uh... a sacred Native American site, it takes you to the websites that Haskell University, our Native American university in the States, has approved of so you can find out- You can say, 'Hey, I'm drawn to this. I never knew about that.' And so, the links are going through the whole tour. And that's.... That kind of turned me to the project.

Clay: I see. And uh, Scarlet's Walk is in stores as of Tuesday. I have had a chance to listen to it, it's great. Um... another question I had for you is uh... You're now with Epic Records...

Tori: Yes.

Clay: You were with Atlantic for quite a while. How is...

Tori: [sighing] Yes.... [sounding a bit annoyed]

Clay: How is- How did that come about for you to go to Epic?

Tori: [pause] Well, you know... I was with Atlantic for a long, long, long, long time and... [pause] Polly and I love being in bed together. We're not missing the [?] but we wish them all the best!

Clay: Right, well, that's great. Well thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule...

Tori: Absolutely. Don't be a stranger. We're out on the road for a long time doing this... y'know... Come visit us.

Clay: Definitely! One question that I know a lot of people in Austin are wanting to know: When are you coming back? Do you know?

Tori: [to someone in the room with her] We're coming to Texas when, when, when? [back to announcer] They're rattling the cages. They're rattling the cages to find this out. [the person she asked asks 'where?'] Austin, Texas. Are we in Texas this leg? [she gets an answer and comes back to the announcer] We're doing Texas in the new year...

Clay: The new year, okay...

Tori: You see, this is in 2 tiers, the American tour. It's the venues we could get into that don't have the Nutcracker and the Rockettes before Christmas.

Clay: Ahhh....

Tori: And then the ones after Christmas, y'know... It's a... It's a tight ticket, that Rockette ticket.

Clay: Oh yes...

Tori: So we'll be back, y'know, we have to come to Austin or life won't be the same.

Clay: You're right. I'm sure a lot of folks here would agree with you.

Tori: No, it's our favorite - It's almost everybody's favorite place, you know that.

Clay: Yes, I hear that a lot.

Tori: Yeah, you're lucky. You're lucky living in a place that everybody loves.

Clay: That's true. We could all be in a worse place, huh?

Tori: Yes you could! Don't forget that everybody!

Clay: Hey, Tori Amos, that you SO much for joining us.

Tori: Alright, big hugs! See you soon!

Clay: Buh-bye.

Tori: Bye!

[transcribed by Ash]

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