Tori Amos Opens Up On Early Influences And Creativity
Tori Amos has spoken to The Guardian about her early musical influences, seeing her songs as “energy forces” and learning to groove.
Tori spoke about her early musical experiences, “My father was in the ministry. Once my mum heard him leave for work, she would take off her minister’s wife apron and put on the Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole records she’d kept from when she’s worked in a record shop. She was the most marvellous DJ and would dance around. As a young girl, she’d have me learn songs.
My brother would come home from school and have me learn his Beatles and Doors records on the piano. My dad would come back from church, sit with his dog collar, and I would play him what people in the church called “devil music” – but in a classical music style. My father thought I was practising for church.”
The singer-songwriter went on to discuss creativity, the way she sees her songs and the energy that influences her, “I don’t know why I refer to my songs as girls. I don’t know if it’s motherly. They’re not at all childlike. They’re energy forces, like the ancient, feminine energy…
“I find my energy from all kinds of things. Definitely from the Earth, but also the galaxy. There are forces out there I don’t understand. When I look at the stars and think of all those gazillions of suns and all that light and energy, I think, ‘Wow, that’s kind of electric.’
“It’s a fascinating study to crawl into somebody else’s song structure and learn how they solved certain musical problems in a non-clichéd way. What’s tricky is to learn how to groove. You’ve got to play from the kundalini. People say: ‘Why is she wiggling around on that piano stool?’ If you’re not moving your hips, then you haven’t captured the groove.”