Amanda Palmer - Wrapped in Plastic

It may be holiday time for punk-cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls, but there is no rest for their female half Amanda Palmer. The singer/songwriter has been working hard on her debut solo record Who Killed Amanda Palmer, with Ben Folds producing, and she has just completed a season performing at the Famous Spiegeltent in Edinburgh. Amanda spoke to yourGigs prior to her upcoming visit to Australia.

yourGigs: What inspired you to release a solo record?

Amanda Palmer: I first started talking about putting out a solo record years ago, simply because I had a collection of solo songs which were never going to make it onto a Dresden Dolls record because they didn't fit the formula. Initially it was a really simple undertaking and it was going to be very minimal. It would have been out by now if I had stuck with plan A, but as soon as Ben [Folds] got involved he started talking about ideas and all of that just went out the window.

yG: What did Folds bring to Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

AP: In the first stages of recording Ben was really hands-on and I brought him a box of about 30 songs that we went through one by one until we narrowed it down. Ben was freely going to town on the basic vocals and piano and adding drums and percussion and synthesisers and moog bass and his own string arrangement. He's really like a Renaissance-man producer. He was really in there, changing up the songs and cutting the fat. He really helped mould the stuff - he didn't just press record and capture them.

yG: What can we expect from your upcoming solo shows in Australia?

AP: Actually they're going to be quite a treat because I'm going to be touring with Danger Ensemble, which is a group of physical theatre performers and choreographers. These people [create] incredible, beautiful, soulful and heartbreaking physical choreography.

yG: What is the concept behind the Dresden Dolls initiative Post-War Trade?

AP: I was just constantly seeing fans who had beautifully handmade and handcrafted things that they would bring the shows - lunchboxes and jackets and dresses and, you know, pieces of artwork and boxes and you name it. All sorts of nick-nacks that they'd created, inspired by the band. And it always got me thinking that instead of the stuff coming home with me on tour and taking up space on my shelf we thought we'd make it available to other fans.

yG: What's next on the cards for you and for The Dresden Dolls?

AP: This record of mine is going to come out sometime next year and Brian is going to be doing some touring with other bands. After that we'll take a little break, then we'll probably work on our third record, which we've already started sketching out.

Michelle Ho
14 Dec 2007

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