Amanda Palmer

Wed 29th Oct, 2008 in Features

“I got run over by a car in Belfast about a week ago,” the gorgeously gothic Amanda Palmer tells me. “They told me at the hospital that it happens all the time – especially [to] stupid Americans. The nurse gave me this sort of hairy eyeball when I came in, I was of course having a panic attack and in complete agony, and she came up to me and said, – œOh, it’s just a wee bit squished, you’ll be fine love.’ It was a very reassuring diagnosis,” she says, giggling quietly.

Having started the – œBrechtian punk cabaret’ duo The Dresden Dolls in 2000 with drummer Brain Viglione, Amanda is currently on tour in support of her solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? “Ben Folds produced the album. He got in touch with me just to tell me he was a Dolls fan, and then I told him about the solo record then he asked if he could produce it,” she explains.

“We got along famously mostly because we share the same sick and twisted sense of humour, and we found we had a lot of common ground, which might surprise a lot of people. You know I think Ben has one foot in the – œ70s and I have one foot in the – œ80s. But we’d get to the end of our sessions and crank Jesus Christ Superstar and sing at the top of our lungs and that’s where we found our common planet. We’re basically just geeks and we knew it.”

I ask her about her yet to be released book of photography, The Big Book Of Who Killed Amanda Palmer. “It’s meant to be a companion to the record and the text is by Neil Gaiman,” she tells me, her voice full of excitement. “I asked him, never thinking he’d say yes. But he did and he came out to Boston and we worked on it for about a week. It’s a ridiculous project though; it’s a hundred photos of me dead in different places with stories by Neil Gaiman. It’s just totally absurd.”

“The tour’s going really well. I’m with this incredible theatrical group from Brisbane actually, called The Danger Ensemble. They perform theatre along with the songs onstage with me. It’s hard to explain but it’s really beautiful to watch. Some of it is ridiculous and funny and some of it is tear jerking, beautiful, profound stuff. They’re all trained in really heavy-duty physical theatre, and it’s just been wonderful having them along and the show has been blowing people away.

“I didn’t have a huge budget for this tour because I’m playing these tiny clubs of three or four hundred people sometimes, but they all came without getting paid and have literally been passing the hat around at the end of every night so we can keep them on the road.”

Despite her sunny disposition, Palmer sounds tired and drained – which is understandable considering her touring schedule as well as her broken bones.

“Touring is what the business is now. There’s certainly no money coming from record sales, I think we can call it pretty much over. So if you want to do this job, and god-speed if you actually want to do this job,” she laughs with a tone of weariness, “you’ve basically got to be willing to tour and tour a lot, and tour wherever and however you can. It’s not an easy lifestyle. It’s very strange and unromantic and sloppy and crazy and even at its best it’s pretty unorganised; you have to really love the actual performance. It used to be artists would tour to promote an album, where as records are out now to promote the tours. It’s switched around.

“We’ve been on tour for two weeks in Europe and this is the beginning of an entire world tour on the record. So after we’re in Europe for about a month we’re going to go to the states for five weeks, we’re going to take a break at Christmas, then we’re going to head back to Europe and after that hit Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania,” she tells me, as I laugh at her mentioning Tasmania as a separate country.

We talked for a while longer, more because I was starting to fall somewhat in love with her than anything to do with journalism. She never once sounded bored or frustrated with the interview, speaking to me as if she was enjoying reliving her experiences over the past few months. Maybe it’s me or maybe she’s on painkillers, but despite how tired and overworked she seemed, I’m sure Amanda Palmer’s enjoying every minute of it.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer? is out now on Roadrunner Records.