News: Evening Standard Magazine Interview (May 2, 2014)

Before heading off to New York City earlier this week, Tori chatted about London to Sam Fishwick for The London Evening Standard. The results appeared in this weekend’s ES Magazine and were posted on the web yesterday. Not a lot of pull quotes so just dive right in!

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Tori Amos’s My London

The singer/songwriter goes to Mayfair for a curry and Notting Hill for music

SAM FISHWICK
02 May 2014

Home is…

Florida. I live in a beach house that has a tree house in the middle. The writer Neil Gaiman comes here to write because it’s got good energy.

Where do you stay in London?

Near Bermondsey. I like it because you can walk along the river and take the river bus.

Most romantic thing someone’s done for you?

My husband Mark proposed to me in Shepherd Market. We were sitting outside on a balmy evening and he said, ‘I want to know what you’re like walking down to the garden gate when you’re 80. Will you marry me?’

What’s the best thing a cabbie has said to you?

‘Don’t stop making music. I’ve understood women a lot better after I’ve studied your albums.’

First thing you do when you come to London?

Race to get past passport control. I have an airport walk, which my family find very funny.

Building you’d like to be locked in overnight?

The British Museum — there’s something appealing about the idea of not having a security guard looking over your shoulder.

Favourite shops?

Whole Foods Market on Kensington High Street; Marcela’s on Holland Street for a mani-pedi; The Riverside Bookshop in Hays Galleria off Tooley Street, and Topshop in Oxford Circus.

Earliest London memory?

Freezing my ass off at the Tower of London in 1991, when I was 28. It’s part of the charm of London, freezing your ass off.

Best meal?

Tamarind of Mayfair for beautifully seasoned and grilled food; or for something more local, Shad near the Shard.

Building you’d most like to buy?

Rangers Cottage in Hyde Park. There’s a beautiful garden around it, and you can pretend you’re from another century.

Favourite London pub?

The Cow on Westbourne Park Road. I used to live in Notting Hill and I loved hearing Jamaican music blasting out of every shop.

Best place for a first date?

A promenade along Bermondsey Street. Walking a long street like that gives you time to talk.

Best place for a nightcap?

A raspberita at Min Jiang, the Chinese restaurant in the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.

Who do you call when you want to have fun in London?

My stylist friend Karen Binns. She’s one of those people who just shows up at cool events and knows the music kids and the fashion kids.

Biggest extravagance?

Shoes. I can’t tell you how many pairs I own.

Best place to let your hair down?

I don’t dance. My daughter has given me three warnings: don’t show too much skin; no 50-year-old porn action; no interpretive dance.

Album you recently discovered?

The Led Zeppelin boxset. ‘When The Levee Breaks’ just makes things better.

Best piece of advice you’ve been given?

‘If you’re lost, find a cabbie.’

At the moment you are…

Packing to go to New York City, where I’m performing some tracks from my new album at Rough Trade.

Who’s your hero?

Spike Milligan. He was a wonderful, funny guy.

What do you collect?

Tatty Teddies for my daughter Tash and Bösendorfer pianos for myself.

Tori’s new album Unrepentant Geraldines is released on 12 May. She performs at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 May