News: Metro Interview (September 16, 2011)

I won [Mark] round with patience and by keeping the way I felt secret for ten months. I had my beady eye on his calves as he walked around in shorts and Caterpillar boots.

A rather brash interview appeared in today’s edition of The Metro, a free UK newspaper made avaialble to commuters. The focus is on family — Tash’s involvement in the record and how Tori courted her now-husband Mark Hawley — though one would hope that such subjects could be approached a little more delicately.

Thanks to @sky_like_you, @Strongblackhowk and Matt E for the heads up!

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Tori Amos: My daughter does a great impression of Cheryl Cole

Simon Gage – 16th September, 2011

US singer Tori Amos talks to Metro about her problem with the British, falling in love with her husband Mark Hawley at first sight and her daughter Natashya’s impressions of Katie Price and Cheryl Cole.

So, you’re up from Cornwall?

It’s Mark’s house in Cornwall. My place is in the States. But my daughter wanted to go to boarding school in London.

You must be a terrible mother if she wants to get away that badly.

She’s done six world tours but the deal was that now she can’t be out of school that much. She started acting at six and decided she wanted to go to Sylvia Young Theatre School. She really pushed us to go.

She’s on your new album, isn’t she? Did she get paid?

She’s getting paid. Natashya was ten when she recorded it. She’s just turned 11 but she’s very grown up. She’s been singing her whole life but she discovered the blues when she was nine – that’s what she says: ‘Mummy, when I discovered the blues it all made sense…’

What have you been doing to this child?

She doesn’t want to sound like me or do what I do. Natashya wants to do her own thing.

Is it weird for her to have a British accent? Does she speak in a Cornish accent?

She can but she doesn’t. She does a very good Katie Price. She does impressions of lots of people, she can do a great Cheryl Cole. Comedy is her thing.

There are some quite scary songs in your back catalogue [including one about when Amos was raped at knifepoint as a young woman]. Do you think you’re going to have to have a big conversation with your daughter at some point?

Absolutely. Some of those conversations have already come up. She’s on the internet but, as advanced as she is, there are some things that you don’t need to go into great detail about with an 11-year-old.

So what don’t you like about Britain? Are we too drunk?

I don’t have that sort of moral thing but I think if Brits could allow themselves to enjoy things more… It’s almost like there’s a guilt: if you have too much good weather, you think: ‘We’re going to have to pay for this.’

You’re very into your ‘spiritual eroticism’. How does that work for a married woman?

As a married woman, I made a commitment to someone fantastic. I like being in a monogamous relationship. I made that commitment after not necessarily being monogamous with other people but once I met [husband Mark Hawley], it was love at first sight for me. It wasn’t for him but that’s OK. He was a front-of-house sound engineer.

So you slept with the staff?

Yes. I won him round with patience and by keeping the way I felt secret for ten months. I had my beady eye on his calves as he walked around in shorts and Caterpillar boots. I knew my world was going to turn upside down. I was about to buy a house with another guy when I saw him walk in the room. I was at the piano and a whole group of people walked in and I saw him, and my heart stopped. I called one of my friends and she said: ‘Girl, it’s over for you. If you buy that house, keep the receipt.’ Then my thing fell apart and his fell apart, all without me saying anything. And finally, we were at the same place at the same time.

And you jumped him?

No. I brought him a cup of tea and I said: ‘I think I have a crush on you.’ And he said: ‘There’s only one answer to that: a date.’ We went out to dinner and he got a migraine.

Did you believe that he had a migraine?

He looked at me and said: ‘Bloody hell, I can’t believe this is happening.’ I got him a cold cloth, put it on his head, put him to bed and sat on the couch. The next day, it all changed. We went on a picnic and have been together ever since. It’ll be 17 years this October.

Tori Amos’s new album, Night Of Hunters (Deutsche Grammophon), is out now.