Amanda Palmer: “I think deliberate intrigue is not my forte. I’ll leave that to PJ Harvey.”

Amanda Palmer

Muso’s Guide met up with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls to talk about Twitter and getting dropped…

Muso’s Guide: You blog and use Twitter a lot; it feels like you share a lot of very personal stuff. Do you hold anything back? Does there need to be any mystery to keep fans intrigued?

Amanda Palmer: I hold things back that could possibly harm others. But no, I think deliberate intrigue is not my forte. I’ll leave that to PJ Harvey.

MG: The WKAP tour was a bit of a marathon. How did that feel - would you tour an album in that way again?

AP: No. I am never going to do the same thing twice – it’d be boring.

MG: So… dating Neil Gaiman, what’s that like?

AP: It’s… awesome.

MG: Songs like ‘Girl Anachronism’ and ‘Runs in the Family’ have very intricate rapid-fire lyrics. How does this work when you’re writing? Do the lyrics tend to come to you in a burst, or do you spend a long time chipping away at them?

AP: No, not a long time. The best songs come in very fast and manic bursts.

MG: What’s good about the music industry today, and what annoys you?

AP: What’s good is the democracy that’s been made available by the Internet. What annoys me is the old system refusing to see the light.

MG: In London’s Union Chapel, the subject of a musical within Mr. Gaiman came up… quip or prophecy?

AP: Both, probably.

MG: To labour the point, would any such musical have the eight-foot bride in it?

AP: That would be a very quiet musical.

MG: The Dresden Dolls played the inauguration party at the 9:30 Club - are you still on indefinite hiatus?

AP: Yep.

MG: “Please drop me”: is this getting through, do you think? If they do, what will you do?

AP: I think it’s getting through. And if so, I will have a party on the internet and invite the whole world.

MG: You’ve worked with Ben Folds, covered ‘Murder by Death’ and ‘Momus’, co-written with Neil Gaiman… who else would you love to work with?

AP: I would love to work with Improv Everywhere, the group that’s been doing theatrical flash-mobs all over the globe. They are my heroes.

MG: Belly-love… a fad or here to stay?

AP: Here to stay unless you get all of the beer in the world out of my reach.

MG: You were writing songs throughout the tour. Is an another album on the way, and where do you go creatively when you’re Amanda Palmer and someone already killed you?

AP: Ah, have you ever heard Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’? Genius, pure genius.