The Dresden Dolls
by Laura Matsue
Wikipedia won’t tell you what soft goth means. The definition of this term that has been floating around through word of mouth lately and I’m going to set the record and hope this comes up in any google search from hereon;
soft goth: adj. typically meaning a mild version of gothic that’s not quit as morbid as a regular goth, but has less excessive traits of someone who is ‘dead inside’.
Example: a regular goth might wear a cape, have excessive eye makeup and greasy black hair; whereas a soft goth looks like a cheap imitation of Neo from the Matrix. Still wearing all black and his sunglasses in the dark; he has achieved what may be seen to others as ‘gothic’ however, to death rockers he’s a fucking pussy who can’t really pull it off.
To put in it stereotypical references, Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls is what a soft-goth would be if they were a bipolar drama nerd. However, this is not the musically correct way to describe their sound, no absolutely not; she describes their genre as “Brechtian Punk Cabaret”.
My interview with the band took place in some hot desert; the entire time I was fascinated with the fact that her eyebrows weren’t melting off her face, beads of black eyeliner sweat dripping down her cheeks. Eventually convincing myself that people can in fact tell if you’re looking at their eyebrows and not their eyes, I settled on assuming she had them tattooed on.
The group is comprised of herself, who plays piano and sings, and one drummer: a mime named Brian. A real mime, too.
They were riding off the steam of a whole lot of media hype and had much to say about the sudden onslaught of fame, 50 cent, why you shouldn’t talk shit about people you know in your blog, and Germans
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L: Amanda’s being referred to by the media as a rock and roll savior, I’d like to know where rock went and how could someone save it?
A: Oi… I think rock and roll has to be saved not by the musicians but by the people listening to it. One of the things that we talk about a lot is what happened to the rock and roll experience, going to shows, buying records, whatever. That’s something that I think is becoming a dying art because people are becoming so jaded when they go to rock shows. The bands themselves are taking a different approach to what they do live. The audience is bored, the band looks bored, the club is boring, and there’s not a lot going on. I think it’s up to audience to rectify the problem.
L: Would you say for the most part that people are driven by different motivations for buying music and going to shows now?
A: No I think fundamentally people have the right motivation. There’s just a vicious cycle of “coolness” that prevents people. Boston is notorious for being jaded and button down. It’s really hard for people to go out and have a good time at a rock show. To dance, and sing, and laugh. People go out to check a band off their list and criticize. It just feels contrary to what music in general is about.
L: Being from Boston yourself, do you find that attitude affecting the shows you play there?
A: Where that happens, you’re also going to have a backlash. I think people thought of us as a breath of fresh air after all the standard rock bands. Here’s comes a couple of ‘freaks’ who have nothing to do with the rock scene, not caring at all about the rock politics that were going on. We just started playing weird venues and not giving a shit. Everyone really wants to go to a show and see a great band having fun on stage and have a good time.
B: There is a true interaction between the artists getting up and having a lack of inhibition and that gives the cue to the audience that is okay for them to let go. That’s not as prevalent in rock as it is some other shows that are trying to receive that same attitude. We see a lot of kids who come dressed up to our shows and want to hand stuff out and we welcome that.
L: Do they imitate you?
B: Nothing like us is what we’re seeing now. They’re coming in elaborate costumes, some people are on stilts some of them have like crazy hair extensions or puppets built into their own costumes, really imaginatively dressed and we’re watching that blossom.
A: We have this network started called the Brigade that encourages that. We help them organize extra-curricular performances, so if people show up early and create alternative entertainment outside the club before the bands plays. That’s everything from really experienced street performers who do acts, to kids with no experience performing to just show up.
L: Your onstage performance is pretty theatrical, what kind of reactions do you get from audiences?
A: Across the board it’s been really enthusiastic.
B: Sort of happily surprised. It’s not that you necessarily get the seal of approval, but people have a general curiosity that’s satiated one way or the other. We’re finding it’s usually in favor of liking the band, saying ‘wow that was much better than I anticipated; it was completely different than what I was expecting’. Once they see us onstage and the kind of output that we have and the kind of interaction and dynamic that we carry out with ourselves through the audience, people are really engaged.
L: Amanda has a blog/tour diary on your official website and it’s written with a very open and intimate interface. Do you find yourself as you gain more media attention, becoming more guarded with what you’ll go and post?
A: I think the whole process is a really important challenge. For me it’s almost the other way around, the more popular the band gets I feel that I have more responsibility to be honest to the fans about what it is that we’re going through. The nature of my songwriting and our performance is about being honest and authenticity, which maybe reveals a little bit too much. That’s the nature of the art, is that you take that risk. Reveal a little bit too much of yourself and make yourself a little bit too vulnerable. That’s what opens everyone up to that experience. Of course there’s the danger in the blog, which I have to be ever more careful about, is am I hurting anyone else? I can reveal as much as I want about my inner workings but if I’m harming anyone else by revealing any information about anyone else, that turns it into a weapon of destruction and I don’t want to do that. I just need to be careful that I guard my friends and my family, people we come in contact with. When we play with a band and I think they completely suck, I don’t on my blog and say that.
L: How are handling the sudden increase in attention from the music industry?
B: I think I came into this experience expecting a lot of the things that some people are put off by. I haven’t found one particular aspect intolerable. There’s certain times when it gets tiring, but there’s never a time when I say (in French accent) “AH! I CANNOT WORK!” I was expecting certain compromises but you have realize that everyone’s trying to do their job, everyone is here for a reason and they’re all generally here for the greater good, which is promoting your band. I harbor no resentment with anyone we work with or anything we have to do because it’s a hell of a lot better than working at a crappy job, and that keeps my ass in check. I am extremely thankful.
L: How was meeting 50 cent?
A: Fiddy! It was so short and so sweet. I didn’t even recognize him because I’m so out of touch with pop culture. We passed by and our tour manager went, poke, poke ‘its 50 cent!’ We went back to our seats but I had our CD on me so I figured I’d just go and give him the disc. I actually read somewhere that he was working on his own line of porn, so I went up to him, he was very friendly. I told him if he ever needed a suburban looking girl for one of his pornos, he could look us up through the website. He looked over the disc and was really nice, didn’t cop any sort of attitude. The rest of the G-Unit security was, as soon as I got back to my seat I was swarmed by G-Unit guys who were like ‘Leave Fiddy alone’.
B: Oh, he had his son with him too.
A: Yeah, he was going to Boston for a car show.
L: How was that show in Dresden, Germany?
B: Our show was as wonderful as we anticipated, we’ve really been looking forward to getting there for a long time. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to get out and look around the city and absorb our surroundings as much as we really wanted to, the nature of being on tour. The crowd was incredibly supportive and receptive; they made a huge banner that said “Welcome back in Dresden!”
A: It really felt like a homecoming, we were so embraced by the crowd. The namesake is one thing but it’s actually very rare for bands to tour in Eastern Germany. They were grateful on two accounts, in the huge European tour we were doing playing these giant cities we went out of our way to play in Dresden. We knew it was a long drive and it wasn’t atypical. Those German audiences…
L: I’ve never been.
A: Sooo enthusiastic! It’s unbelievable. When they really decide they like something. It’s out of control. It’s perhaps not what you expect, because in general they’re a pretty conservative culture. They have a deep appreciation for the artistry of music and for good performances and songwriting. Brian always points this out, that when they’re critical they’re HARSH. We’ll have fans in Germany that will come up and be like (in German accent) “Yes, I was at your last two shows, this one was really not so good. You made many mistakes in this song, but I think still it was a pretty good show, but the other one was better.”
B: They’re very blunt, but they’re very sincere.
A: I love it.
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