The Dresden Dolls
Interview with Amanda Palmer
Words: Michael Spadoni
Photo: C. Taylor Crothers

Appearing:
January 10, 2008
Tampa Theatre, Tampa

Having recently completed her first solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls is certainly in need of some rest.  Instead, she will be hitting the road this winter and making a highly anticipated stop at our beautiful Tampa Theatre.  This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see The Dresden Dolls in a space seemingly built especially for them.

REAX:  Lyrically, your songs are extremely expressive and intimate.  Everyone can relate to the topics that you touch on.  What subject matter is off limits for you?
Amanda Palmer:  Anything specific about people is really off limits, unless it’s complimentary.  For some reason, I don’t tend to write about complimentary things.  Things that can harm somebody… I tend to be very careful with.  I’m not into dissing ex-boyfriends or anything like that.  I went through a period in my early twenties where I was sorting out feelings about my family that gave birth to songs like “Girl Anachronism” and “Half Jack.”  I had to answer to that and that was a pretty difficult thing to do because those songs are very personal and if taken the wrong way, they can be very hurtful.  I feel like I have to do some explaining that those songs are art and very hyperbolic and my relationship with the people involved is all good, but I still needed to get those feelings out.  There are some songs like that on my upcoming solo album and I’m already planning these discussions in my head six months ahead of time.

I censor from the moment I start writing.  That’s just the nature of having a social contract.  That’s also what keeps writing interesting, finding ways to express certain sentiments without getting pointed and specific.  That’s the actual art of songwriting… what creating art is in general.  It’s not interesting to listen to, “You fucking bastard, you fucked up my life and fuck you.”  You want to dig a little deeper and get a little more imaginative about the way you express certain feelings that you have.  Needing to protect people is one hurdle in a series that you have to jump to get a song finished.  It keeps things universal when you have to veil things.

REAX:  Your blog gives your fans rare insight into the creative processes involved in writing and recording an album.  Is it therapeutic for you to let the public know what is going on in your personal life?
AP:  I wouldn’t say that’s it’s as therapeutic as it is fulfilling.  I have a weird lifestyle and I travel around constantly.  I don’t have the ability to maintain a lot of routine friendships.  I have intimate friendships with a small group that I am constantly connected with, but besides that, I have always been creative with my relationships.  I look at the audience that I have and the people who read my blog and they almost fall into the category of one particular friend that I have.  It’s a wonderfully ever-morphing friendship.  Whether it’s therapeutic or not, I rely on that connection and the feedback from that “friend” to help fuel me along the same way other people might rely on that one particular friend that they call in the middle of the night to unload their confusion and problems on.  I haven’t really blogged in almost two months and I miss my “friend.”

I have been going through some really heavy bullshit over the past couple of months.  It’s been hard dealing with long days of recording and confusion.  It’s difficult to blog about because there’s so much happening so fast.  I never really know what the nature of the “relationship” is.  Am I just chronicling my day-to-day existence?  I’d rather do something more meaningful; to communicate something and hold up my end of the relationship and know that I’m going to read everyone’s comments and take part in the conversation.  I just hide away like a little hermit until I can sit down at the table, break bread with people, and reflect consciously, instead of vomiting on everyone and then running away because I’m busy.

REAX:  What can we expect from “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?” And, how did Ben Folds contribute to this album?
AP:  It’s fucking incredible. It’s been an amazing labor of love.  Going into this project, I was thinking I was going to spend two weeks on this and it was going to be a solo piano record.  Then Ben Folds approached me and asked if he could produce the record.  One thing led to another and now there is not one solo piano song on the record.  What started out as a small idea exploded into a massive production.  I’ve been loving it, but I have also been feeling like I have been running on empty for the past four months because I haven’t been able to stop and take a break.  I feel like I’ve been living in airports and studios and have lost my sense of reality.  BUT, IT SOUNDS SO GOOD!  It blows my mind and I just got it mastered this week.  When I get off the phone with you, I’m going to sit down and listen to it completed for the first time.  Ben Folds fully produced about half of the tracks, meaning I gave him the songs, and then he went to town on them.  He played drums, synthesizer, arranged strings, and would send mixes back and forth with me.  The other half is basically my solo piano songs arranged by Paul Buckmaster who is an incredible string and orchestral genius.  He did all of Elton John’s stuff in the 70s.

REAX:  Being involved with so many projects, do you ever have any time for yourself?  What is a day off like for you?
AP:  Time to myself has become really relative.  A real day off to me is being wherever I am and not having a ton of responsibilities.  Heaven to me is being somewhere where I wake up as late as I want, the weather is beautiful, I eat a delicious lunch, I take a walk with a friend, yoga class, delicious dinner, another walk, go to a great show, and then I go to bed.  That’s my idea of paradise… pretty simple shit.  I did an experiment in the Spring where I went to Bordeaux for ten days and tried to take time off.  I brought a bunch of books and DVDs, rented a piano, and hooked myself up with a sweet apartment in a beautiful city.  I found myself getting really bored and wasn’t happy until I booked a show at a bar down the street.  That told me something about myself: basically I’m an artistic workaholic.

The Dresden Dolls' Official Site and Amanda Palmer's Blog