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The Fury And The Folly
Unflinchingly honest and wholly unreserved in her songwriting, it should come as no surprise that the talented and intriguing Amanda Palmer, the feline half of The Dresden Dolls, is divulging details of her personal life to me within the first moments of our conversation. She is fully capable of commanding a stage, holding throngs of wild-eyed fans in the palm of her hand as she frenziedly attacks her piano, wrenching her soul through raw vocal chords and ripping holes in her already worn stockings — and then, like the ex-drama student she is, figuratively sweeping her hand in front of her face, changing fury to folly, and dropping an off-handed witticism that only makes her that much more engaging. So why should she be any different on the phone?
In anticipation of her unique solo show (in support of her new release Who Killed Amanda Palmer), I find Amanda brimming with enthusiasm … with a splash of sadness sprinkled in for well-rounded seasoning.
What’s going on? How are you?
I am … I’m pretty good. I’ve had a crazy couple of days; I’m going through a really bad breakup.
Bummer. What spurred it on?
Well, this is the first long distance relationship I’ve ever attempted. And yeah, it’s rough. I’ve been seeing this guy for seven months, and before that I was single for a marathon stretch (laugh) of five years or something. It’s a weird thing to negotiate, being a traveling musician and actually trying to start a relationship, because it demands a shit-load of patience and a lot of understanding and it’s ridden with weird complications.
Well, if nothing else, this seems to be when most musicians find the deepest inspiration.
Oh, man … (laugh) Yeah, this would not be a bad time to take a couple weeks off and write a great record. But I can’t take a couple weeks off …
Yeah, you’re kind of booked at the moment. Speaking of which, give me a glimpse of what the solo tour is like compared to Dresden Dolls tours.
It’s similar in that the sounds are awesome and the show is all over the place, but instead of two people onstage there’s seven. And I’ve got a little string section and this awesome performance troupe from Australia called The Danger Ensemble. And they are blowing people’s minds every night. Everything they do adds to the music, and it’s everything from totally campy, funny, fuck-with-the-audience stuff to really slow, profound tableaus that they’re creating on and offstage.
Wow. And you’ve always fostered an interactive environment live, yeah?
Fundamentally, I think what I always wanna do is surprise the audience. So it’s not enough to just say, “Oh, I want shit happening offstage,” or, “I want weird things popping up in the balcony.” It’s more about making everybody in the room feel emotionally connected instead of just anonymously watching some 2-D bullshit on stage as if they're watching TV. It's such an opportunity. As soon as you get a bunch of people in a room and a bunch of people on a stage, there are so many things you can do. That’s why I get really bummed out when I go to boring rock shows, ‘cause I’m just like, “God! We’re all here; why don’t we do something?”
Yeah, aside from a handful of bands, I’m going through a disenchantment phase with live music.
Come to my show! Come to my show! (laugh) | RDW
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