On a more positive note, I welcome the challenge. Looking back on all the artists that I love and respect, I think they must have all gone through this. Some of them just hang up their hats and fucking pull a Jeff Magnum and say “this isn’t what I got into this for . . . I’m out of here.” Some of them start writing really arduous hard-to-listen-to songs about loneliness and being on the road constantly and nobody can relate to them anymore. And some of them find a creative balance. But you really have to be willing to sacrifice. Like, if you don’t sacrifice the music then you have to sacrifice a little of your success. And if you’re not willing to sacrifice a little success then you’ve gotta sacrifice some of your relationships at home. You basically look at this entire set of choices laid out in front of you and realize that something has to give. I’ve had to reassess my own expectations of my life and my fantasy of myself as an artist because real life came knocking. What I thought it meant to be a musician and an artist at 15 is bullshit now. I now have to be a human being who sometimes does art. And I have to get over my immature idea that life is going to be this fantastic artistic paradise where I get to traipse around finger-painting all day.
MA: On a more practical note, are you comfortable in Boston or, now that you're an international artist, are you feeling the need to relocate?
AP: We’re so placeless to begin with, you know. I mean, we’re barely ever in Boston. I sort of feel like a fraud telling people we’re from Boston because I’ve seen so little of it in the past two years. But I don’t have much of a decision to make because even if I moved I would never be there. So I can have fantasies about moving to New York or Berlin or Bordeaux or Siberia, but it doesn’t matter. It would be an empty apartment. On the other hand, I treasure my time at home so dearly at this point that I can’t imagine leaving. I don’t know if you know much about my house, but it’s a magic place. It’s filled with really wonderful people. Coming home to that environment is worth more than gold. I guess I could have some gigantic, sprawling loft in New York or something . . . but for me it’s more about the people — people who make it so worth coming back to Boston every time.
Related:
All dolled up, Tracks of her tears, Crying game, More 
- All dolled up
We have seen the face of Boston rock and roll, and it’s got painted-on eyebrows.
- Tracks of her tears
There are tears but no onions in The Onion Cellar. But who needs emotionally catalytic root vegetables when you have the Dresden Dolls?
- Crying game
The Onion Cellar that Amanda Palmer envisioned is not the one that the ART will present at Zero Arrow Theatre.
- Sex, clubs and rock ’n’ roll
The first thing you’d have noticed about the Dresden Dolls’ CD-release show at the Orpheum April 21 was how different it felt to be seated in a theater while the duo played.
- Boston music news: August 10, 2007
The Dresden Dolls played Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” tour this summer.
- Boston muisc news: April 13, 2007
The working title for Amanda Palmer's solo album is Who Killed Amanda Palmer? , but the Dresden Doll says she’s toying with another: That’s Amanda Fucking Palmer to You .
- All Dolled up
Last night, Amanda Palmer kicked off this season of the Boston Pops EdgeFest.
- Life is a cabaret
The Dresden Dolls have been crazy busy since the release, earlier this year, of Yes, Virginia (Roadrunner), and their autumn itinerary ensures they’ll be applying the pancake make-up well into winter.
- Playlist: May 25, 2007
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, Songwriters on Songwriting, and more.
- NEMO and the Boston Music Awards
It all started a week ago Wednesday at Avalon, where bands played, the audience mingled and schmoozed, a guy in a bear suit turned out to be Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione (I think), and the NEMO music festival kicked off with the 2006 Boston Music Awards.
- Amanda Palmer + Jason Webley
She owned them, and she sold me. I’ve got a new old band to check out.
- Less
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New England Music News
, Entertainment, Music, New Music Releases, More
, Entertainment, Music, New Music Releases, Dresden Dolls, Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, Perry Farrell, Godsmack, Brian Viglione, Jeff Magnum, Less
