Tori Amos - Interviews Archive

Sixx Sense (www)
an internet radio show hosted by Nikki Sixx
April 7, 2014

Deeper: Matt Sorum

13:00 - 16:00

Matt Sorum: Tori Amos, that was an interesting thing because when I was coming up, I used to keep a Top 40 gig all the time. So I would do five nights a week at Top 40. Do you remember the Red Onion? I used to play there, and then back in the day they used to have Top 40 bands at the Black Angus -- I don't know if you remember that far back. But like, Pomona, Riverside, I would drive to Anaheim and I'd play five sets a night, believe it or not, like, a lot of a drumming. Like, we'd do the dinner set at eight o'clock and I'd be kind of, he'd come out, "Matt, keep it down, you're shaking the steaks off the plate!" It would be like that. You'd be playing the mellow stuff, and then he would kind of ramp up and the fifth set you're playing "Working for the Weekend" kind of stuff.

But anyway, I was doing this whole Top 40 life and I used to play the Marriott Airport Hotel. I used to play in the lounge. And one night I walk out and I hear this girl on the piano in the middle of the lobby, just ripping classical. And I walk over and I'm like, "You're amazing, who are you?" She said, "I'm Tori. I'm from Baltimore." She was from Baltimore, actually. She said, "I'm from Baltimore, I just moved here." And we started a band. And that's when I kind of.. It was a bit pre, like when rock was coming back, so it was like, right after New Wave. So I had kind of a Flock of Seagulls haircut. I had a bit of a pompadour. You look in the mirror and you're like, "Damn, I look good." Now, you're like, "Oh, ****."

[...off-topic tangent...]

So, I'm in a band with Tori Amos, we start a band. She's living behind the Franklin Church. And we play this, you remember Sash? Over here in the valley on Ventura. It was a little funky club. We're playing in there and Jason Flom walks in, signs her, and basically says, "Get rid of the band." So, thank god, he kind of saved my career a little bit. 'Cause I could have been... I would be back there with the pompadour still, going, "Hey!" Playing like, sad songs for sixteen-year-old girls. But anyway, he signed her and I went off and back to playing around town.

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