Amanda Palmer Interview

R13: Your live shows on the ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer’ tour were very theatrical and felt like they had a different focus to the Dresden Dolls show; did you consciously try to create a different effect for the solo performances?
Amanda:Well, it happened that way naturally. I really wanted to bring a family on tour with me, and that family was the Danger Ensemble, the performance artists that toured with me for most of last year. I wasn't shopping for theatre, I was shopping for something to make the tour feel right, and they were it. I had thought for a while about a backing band, and I knew I couldn't bring both. The Danger Ensemble won because they were the personalities that I needed around me. My theatre folks, my blood.


R13: When you have dancers or performance artists like The Danger Ensemble involved in your live shows, presumably they take a lot of choreographing, how often do you rehearse with them before hitting the stage?
Amanda:They rehearse amongst themselves for a while and I talk with the choreographer (in this case, Steven Mitchell Wright) about the direction. Then I join them and we tweak things....we only rehearsed for three days all together before hitting the road this past fall, but the group worked for a solid week.

R13: Are you looking forward to playing the UK again and what’s your favourite thing about Britain?
Amanda:I love playing in the UK - and the cider is a plus...mostly I love the high energy of the crowds and the fearlessness when it comes to letting go at shows. People in the states are much more buttoned-down.

R13: Are there any cities that you haven’t played in yet and really want to visit?
Amanda:ICELAND! Rekyavik. I don't even know why, it just calls. I'd also love to play in Brazil.

R13: How did you go about deciding which ideas for songs would be suitable for the Dresden Dolls and which would be best for you to develop as a solo artist?
Amanda:It's not like that, really. Songs are always coming and they land how they land. The original songs for the solo album were thre because they had no drums. The rest developed because it was just what I happened to be working on the time, so it was the luck of the draw. Songs like "Guitar Hero" and "Leeds United" would have easily been Dolls songs if I'd been working on a Dolls record.

R13: Will you be working on new solo material?
Amanda:I'm just always writing. I assume a new record will come out when I get too full.

R13: Was there anything that you think you’d consciously like to change or have more of when you listen to your debut and think about writing new material?
Amanda:No, I think the record is truly perfect. That was the nice thing about being able to take my time with it....I really tweaked it until I had everything the way I wanted it. I might have included "straight" instead of releasing that song separately, but as far as the production goes, it's untouchable.

R13: Have you ever written any songs that you look back and dislike because they represent a difficult period in time or just because you feel that you’ve outgrown them?
Amanda:Oh, sure. But mostly songs I never play anymore. Most of the stuff I wrote as a teenager I just can't stand. It's way too pretentious.

R13: Unlike many other artists you open up your blog and twitter to fans, do you not feel self conscious sharing your life with so many strangers? Do you feel that you already share so much with your fans through your music that there isn’t much of a line between you?
Amanda:I think the line is the art. And the art is the line. As long as I'm not performing my life too much, performing it to the point that I don't control it, I'm fine. Being this open actually makes me feel more powerful, less self-conscious instead of more. It's a strange time we're living in, I feel very lucky to be an exhibitionist in the bare-all decade.

R13: Is there anything that you would definitely not want to share with your fans and the world in general?
Amanda:Oh god yes. I never share my intimate relationship details, or anything about my family, or personal details about my difficulties with certain work things or staff. It's way too tasteless, and unfair.

R13: Did you have any real heroes growing up?
Amanda:Yes. My next-door neighbor, Anthony. And Prince.

R13: Let’s talk about Neil Gaiman and the collaboration with him; clearly you were a big fan of his work before you met, what’s your favourite book of his?
Amanda:That's funny, because I wasn't, at all. I'd never read a Neil Gaiman book until we were introduced over email by our mutual friend Jason Webley about two years ago. He sent me two boxes of books. It was very intimidating.
I've been trying to catch up and so far my favorite is "Smoke and Mirrors", the short stories. And I love The Graveyard Book.

R13: How did the idea for the ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer’ book come about?
Amanda:It's extended album artwork, essentially. I'd wanted to put these amanda-as-corpse pictures in the album artwork but my packaging budget was annihilated by the label. So I decided to take the material I already had a put it in a little book. I asked Neil to write some stories for me and I started gathering more and more pictures and before I knew it the book had grown into a huge project. But I still just view it as extraordinary album artwork, more than a book that works by itself.

R13: After the business with Roadrunner refusing to let you bare your stomach in the ‘Leeds United’ video, do you feel that the music industry in general still holds women back to some degree?
Amanda:No more or less than the rest of the world. Which is to say: of course.

R13: Finally, what’s the best thing about being Amanda Palmer?
Amanda:I'd have to ask you that question. I don't have any other life to compare it to. The food is good....