GETTING OFF: No surprise that Amanda Palmer names “First Orgasm” as her most personal Dresden Dolls song to date.
|
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. Instead of seeing a bouncer every time you turned around, you’d see a street performer or a human statue draped across the staircase. Outside, on Hamilton Place, a convoy of fortune tellers, hopscotchers, and accordion players greeted the crowd. Inside, there were so many exotically dressed types, it was hard to tell the band’s associates from their fans. For one night, Dolls singer/pianist Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione had turned the often impersonal Orpheum into a weird, creative free-for-all.
Anyone who likes to write the Dresden Dolls off as some kind of art-school project had all the evidence right there. But when they took the stage, the carnival atmosphere dropped away like a curtain and the Dolls revealed themselves to be a rock-and-roll band — and an especially fine one. Perhaps looking to play down their theatrical side, they took the stage relatively dressed-down: Viglione wore his whiteface and Palmer her striped stockings, but both were in T-shirts.
It was a lesson in what two years on the road can do for a band’s dynamics. There were torchy moments where Palmer stretched out, and some campy theatrics when Rounder kiddie act Girl Authority joined on the closing “Sing.” But when the Dolls shifted into harder-rocking mode — which they did for much of the set — the sound was aggressive verging on furious. Viglione led off the opening “Sex Changes,” the lead track on the new Yes, Virginia . . .(Roadrunner), by pounding the drumsticks over his head in a classic clap-along gesture. Programmed early on, The Dresden Dolls’ “Coin Operated Boy” was greeted like any hit single, with fans cheering the opening chords and singing along throughout. The new “Backstabber” — a slam at local in-crowd-ism — found Palmer doing throaty shrieks and pounding the hell out of her piano in a primal display of punk attitude. She may have Kurt Weill’s name stenciled on her keyboard (a result of her messing with the Kurzweil logo), but it could just as easily be Jerry Lee Lewis’s.
The big surprise was an acoustic break midway through the show, with two cover tunes, Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam” and T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer.” Both are rooted in the glitter era (David Bowie did the Brel tune in the Ziggy
Stardust movie), a period in which the Dolls would seem to have fit in comfortably. Who believes that the gender bending of Bowie and Bolan made them any less sexy, or that their theatricality made them any less rock-and-roll?
Yes Virginia . . .likewise offers a tougher take on the Dolls’ trademark sound. They make do with the usual minimal back-up (Viglione overdubs some bass and guitar), but this time it jells into a full-band effect. Credit that to the more aggressive playing, and to producers Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie, who can bring out the best in a band without ruining the live feel of a recording. Palmer’s fondness for show tunes has been pretty much phased out, so there isn’t any “Coin Operated Boy” here; the slower tracks are more in the vein of classic torch ballads, a fitting vehicle for the smokier side of her voice. Enough topical references are dropped to convey a general sense of unrest and disenchantment with the state of pop culture. And if you’re looking for glimpses of Palmer’s personal life, “My Alcoholic Friends” is the sort of sing-along that Ray Davies wrote in his looser days. No surprise that she names “First Orgasm” as her most personal song to date. That would be the one about masturbating in a computer chair.
ADVERTISEMENT
 |
“It was actually the chair you’re sitting in right now,” she tells me when we meet at the Dolls’ Roxbury apartment a few days before the show. “Believe me, nothing is more painful than having to arch your back in a chair like that. I think Brian walked in a few times when I was whacking off.” At this Viglione’s ears prick up. He allows that he’s used his computer chair for similar purposes. “What do you do, look at Internet porn?” she asks. “Of course,” he replies. “What do you think I’m going to do, read e-mails from fans?”
Palmer admits that last spring and summer were a bit of a rock-star period for her. The Dresden Dolls were on the road opening for Nine Inch Nails and playing large festivals like Glastonbury in England and Coachella in California. Last year, at the Phoenix’s Best Music Poll celebration, she raised a few eyebrows by rushing the stage naked and kissing Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson. She tried the same stunt at the Glastonbury Festival, this time with Conor Oberst as her quarry, only to get pulled off the stage by bouncers. (She recalls that Oberst seemed to enjoy it.)