15 Quick Questions for Tori Amos
Noise
Seventeen years after achieving instant diva status with her landmark debut album, Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos still doesn't care if you like her. "Lionesses, we're not cuddly," she says. "You don't look at us and say, 'Oh, what a nice puddy tat.'" Born Myra Ellen Amos -- not coincidentally under a Leo sign -- the fiery 45-year-old pianist has nonetheless inspired a cult of rabidly devoted female fans with her haunting compositions and brazen confessional lyrics, which are further on display on her tenth studio album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin. On a recent morning, we spoke to Amos in her posh hotel suite in midtown Manhattan.
Do you mind if I call you Myra?
Not if you want to be friends. Tori's my legal name. My niece and nephews, they all call me Aunt Ellen, because I went by my middle name years ago, before I turned 18.
I take it you don't like your given name?
No. Would you? It's just bad. Come on! And wasn't Myra Hindley the worst serial killer that's ever lived? She killed children. My God.
You're often compared to Kate Bush. Does that annoy you?
Well, you're going to be compared to somebody. I could have been compared to somebody I don't like. So it's kind of good if you look at it in those terms. After a while, though, you realize that a whole slew of young singer-songwriter piano players are getting compared to you. That's when you feel the passage of time is occurring.
Like who, Vanessa Carlton?
I don't know. There are so many. But a side of me thinks, "Wow, that's a positive thing." Because I remember being told this whole woman-at-the-piano thing was dead after Tapestry.
Have you ever rocked a keytar, Tori?
No, but in the '80s, I remember entertaining the idea. Billy Idol was looking for a keyboard player, and I was really thinking about getting the gig. But then I got signed by Atlantic. So my big moment passed by.
Was that before or after you starred in the Kellogg's Just Right commercial?
[Laughs] I made $12,000. That's why I did it.
That ad is on YouTube. It's pretty painful to watch.
I know. And they cut my hair. But you know who else was up for that? Sarah Jessica Parker. I beat her.
Nice. One of your biggest hits is "Cornflake Girl." What's up with you and cereal?
Well, I have a lot of food references in my work. But the lyric is "Never was a cornflake girl." Which is important.
So, in reference to your new album's title, are you abnormally attracted to anything other than sin?
Good wine. But not in the morning.
That doesn't sound so abnormal.
No. But there's this thing I have with the crew. You know how it's in the contracts with certain artists who have just been through AA -- I'm not mentioning names -- that the crew and musicians have to [abstain from drinking] while on tour? Mine is sort of the opposite.
You actually require people to drink?
Well, not exactly. But on my tour bus, it's not good if you're an AA person. I carry a wine cellar on the road, and I just don't think it's good if somebody can't be around a super Tuscan. I am the worst influence. If you can't handle your vices, then I am the Devil.
What about your eight-year-old daughter, Natashya? Isn't she on the bus?
Yeah, she comes with me. She likes champagne. She doesn't get to drink it, but sometimes she'll get a little sip.
On a recent tour, you threw your shoes at a security guard. What hijinks can we expect this time?
I don't know what's going to happen before it happens. You have to gauge, "Are people trying to wind me up?" Sometimes there's no win, so I'll try to avoid certain confrontations with the audience. Some things, however, are unstoppable, and it's happening before I know it.
Like when?
There were some girls who were given front-row seats as a courtesy and then were incredibly rude. One was on the phone, and even I could hear her -- I mean, it was during a ballad. And I saw that everybody around her was being held hostage. You just think, "You've got to get taught a lesson.” So I said, "Get the fuck out of my show."
Ouch. Do you at least sympathize with the guy who's only at your show because his girlfriend has dragged him there?
No. I just think, "I'm gonna get you laid tonight, buddy. You've gotta thank me."
25 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By InsomniaTheDream
04.07.10 4:15 PM
Wrong. This whole stereotype **** is out the door..Totally straight here. Now elegant smart as hell redhead barefoot * yeah i like femme feet what of it* becoming passionate with every stroke of the piano ..No , absolutely not.. No straight guy would like that * sense the sarcasm * I love a lady with a mind.. speaks with her toes , and makes words with her fingers on the ivory. That's speech to me
Matthew Good i consider in the same league as her.. Massive respect for writer first, then musician mentality..
Since a teen.. pleasantly infatuated with the "not a cornflake" girl
Scott
- Posted By InsomniaThefevDream
04.07.10 4:14 PM
Wrong. This whole stereotype **** is out the door..Totally straight here. Now elegant smart as hell redhead barefoot * yeah i like femme feet what of it* becoming passionate with every stroke of the piano ..No , absolutely not.. No straight guy would like that * sense the sarcasm * I love a lady with a mind.. speaks with her toes , and makes words with her fingers on the ivory. That's speech to me
Matthew Good i consider in the same league as her.. Massive respect for writer first, then musician mentality..
Since a teen.. pleasantly infatuated with the "not a cornflake" girl
Scott
- Posted By Anonymous
11.25.09 8:50 PM
The comments on this article are repulsive. I am in shock that people would take the time to post such things. I am a young pianist/singer/songwriter trying to make it in the music business and I also experienced rape or sexual assault as some prefer to call it. It is real and very personal to the individual. In other words, it doesn't matter if the **** was shoved in someone's ****, ass, or mouth...it's still a violation. I hope to give back to women and do something positive for people like Tori did with Rainn. She's just a person trying to help others through her own experience. I pray that a moderator gets on here and kicks magicmonkey's ass to Pluto. If not, karma will come and get him. Monkey, you should know better than to mess with real Witches. To all the true Tori fans on this site, Blessed Be...and also check out the new 'Midwinter's Graces' Album. It's great.
- Posted By Sean Curran
06.29.09 9:43 PM
Fun interview !!!! .... I want to go Tori's tour bus and get drunk !!!!!
I am not one for AA .... so let's go !!
- Posted By BADASSGORILLA
06.29.09 8:26 PM
is there a doc on the house? looks like some monkey here forgot to take their medication.
- Posted By Anonymous
06.29.09 6:55 PM
Dude - you need mental help.
You have no basis for your accusation and even if you did, it DOES NOT affect you whatsoever on a personal level. Not to mention, I've seen you post these accusations REPEATEDLY on other blogs and comments and interviews and you're obsessive and clearly a grade A nut-job/ stalker.
This is the exact type of behavior that got John Lennon killed.
You are a definitive Douchebag.
- Posted By Boston Adam
06.28.09 7:18 PM
My God. What's wrong with some of you people? Tori is and always will be a musical genius first and foremost. Wow, and to accuse someone you don't know of lying about sexual assault is pretty damn ugly. Respect others if you want them to respect you, otherwise F off and go listen to some half-brained, no talent "musician". You don't have to love everything Tori puts out musically, but us long-time fans are sick of all of you morons who don't know ANYTHING about her talking s***. We are about respect back and forth and the true Tori community knows that. Peace.
- Posted By magic_monkey
06.26.09 3:18 PM
uh yea, i misspelled it on purpose. shouldnt you be texting or something? ****ing idiot.
- Posted By magic_monkey
06.26.09 2:14 PM
uh, moron, i have no 9/11 conspiracy theories. 9/11 happened as a DIRECT result of american foreign policy, which continues, unabted to this very day, and beyond.....
tori 'raped'? nope
- Posted By Jelone
06.26.09 1:10 AM
I'm assuming by touched you mean penetrated, which makes me wonder how much you know about Tori's story. She's the first to admit that she was not raped, but rather sexually assaulted. Maybe you can google the difference? But hey regarding your 40% claim.. what happens with the remaining 60%? You know, the majority?
Your Twitter page seems to be stocked with well-researched opinions. Love the 9/11 theories, crackpot.
TIP: Spelling counts.
- Posted By Anonymous
06.25.09 9:54 PM
oh, come on, people! Tori is a musical genius! Just because her videos are not 'pop culture appeasing' does not mean she is not valid with her often against what's popular meaning. The woman is singing about what she knows. What she knows is what's relative to her life at the moment. If you get it, then, great. If you don't...well, then, you're probably a straight male with no insight to your female mate/and/or your feminine side. I've been a fan since 'Little Earthquakes' first made its debut way back in early '90. She has continually evolved into an artist of the times; addressing the issues of NOW. I just hope that most artists of this day can transcend the dulcit tones of pop culture and embrace her since of ergency on relative issues.
Long Live the Music of Tori!!!
- Posted By magicmonkey
06.25.09 7:15 PM
jelone was there, lol. tip: google this" false rape accusations arent rare, they are in fact, quite common''. get some educashin in. 40 percent of all rape cliams are later proven false. women do it for: alibi. attention, payback. mental probs.
- Posted By magcimonkey
06.25.09 7:12 PM
uh, no she wasnt. she lied and it madea nice song, and helped her career immenesly. no evidence whatsoever she was ever even touched
- Posted By Jelone
06.25.09 4:12 PM
She was sexually assaulted.
- Posted By magicmonkey
06.25.09 3:29 PM
yea, self indulgence, 'vision' huh? o.k. and shes wasnt raped by anything, or anyone. its a tale, fictional, not autobiographical. the 'visualettes'? glamour shoots, and bad ones at that.
check me out on twitter! as magic_monkey. cya at the orlando show, why im going? ****s, giggles, and ONLY if i get a ticket for free, or for UNDER face value. yep, i dont play the ticket game anymore.
- Posted By Jelone
06.25.09 12:48 PM
http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/escaping-hades/how-tori-amos-survived-...
Changing a knife into a gun for "Me and a Gun" doesn't blunt its impact. The costumes remind me of glam rock more than anything else, so I'm cool with it. Not gonna defend the new album - it is disappointing after American Doll Posse's depth - but I do admire her "self-indulgence," though I'd like to put some spin on it and call it "vision."
In a post-Internet age, being the most beloved anything is irrelevant. I'll take Tori over Babs 'n' Esther any day.
- Posted By magicmonkey
06.25.09 11:18 AM
i REALLY want someone to ask tori why she made up her fake rape story. and ask her about her vanity/glamour shots and botox, and ask her why she put out such a piece of crap new album, her massive ego, self importance, self indulgence, and her nasty stalkers, dor and maria. lets hear the good questions!
p.s in the race for best gay male icon, striesand and madonna beat tori! and they BOTH suck too.
06.05.10 5:40 PM
I hOpe MaGiC MONnKey gets RAPED IN THE ASS TILL HE COUGHS UP BLOOD.