Tori Amos - Boys for Pele

promo bio / in quotes / promo photos

Tori Amos "In Quotes"

On "BOYS FOR PELE":

"The album is about finding your own passion instead of stealing it from others... stealing their fire because you left your matches at the gas station two years ago. After looking for those qualities in your lover or in your emotional relationships, there comes a time when you want to roast marshmallows over your own fire. I'm now letting go of the belief that I need to look to somebody else for my fire and access to a well of expression. It's brought me to my own passion, and nobody else has a copyright on that."

On recording in a church:

"As a minister's daughter I was taught, quite plainly, that church is a place you can be truthful... as long as it's their truth. So I decided I was going to sing my truth... in a church. It was about time I did that... If you're going to go into such a space, you have to be very clear about why you want to be there and what your intentions are."

On the harpsichord:

"My relationship with the harpsichord is a lot like my relationship with boys. Things are very hidden with me and boys. It's the same with the harpsichord. Just walking up to the instrument and touching the keys can be a bit of a disaster. You have to be patient with it, which I never was in my relationships."

"I wanted to collect what is stored inside the harpsichord's memory. I felt the harpsichord hadn't truly been tapped. I don't necessarily feel I've tapped it; I've just turned on a little spigot for myself, but I do feel I brought it some ass (laughs)."

On womanhood:

"Womanhood is a whole different thing from girlhood. Girlhood is a gift. We take it along with us. But now it was time to see that behavior and not say, 'Oh, I didn't know' or 'Where's daddy?' No, I decided to become a woman. I was ready. Not a little girl, not 21. I'm 32. I'm ready. The free spirit comes with me but really she starts to live now."

On her decision to produce the album:

"I remember Patsy on Absolutely Fabulous saying, 'You know, it's really time that chicks start getting corporate.' I think it was about time. Let's not kid each other, it was a major headache, but I could feel where the album needed to go. I was really the man for the job (laughs)."

How the concept of Pele relates to the album:

"It's about balancing destruction and creation -- passion with the calmness -- with the laughter, and with the anger. Angry can become bitter, or angry can be a release -- a healthy and necessary release."

On anger:

"I don't get angry as much any more because the things I've been holding on to for many, many years, I'd like to say, I've sung about. I had always felt the pearly was everywhere else but inside myself. But it's inside everybody really. You can't buy it, you can't steal it."

On her engineers:

"Keep feeding them Guinness and they'll be fine."

original scans

[scans by Amber Rose]

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