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They would look and jump to conclusions that we were something they had seen before. I think initially people didn't understand it, and wanted to condemn it and write it off. -Brian Viglione |
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Photo by: Doriano Zunino
 The Dresden Dolls by Kelly Davidson |
If the stage performance itself were not enough, another dimension of a Dolls show is their open invitation to local performance artists. This can range from musicians to burlesque performers to living statues to stilt walkers to any assorted freaky point in-between and beyond. As Palmer, a former living statue herself, explains, "We did that from the very beginning. When we first started touring I wanted to take people with us. I wanted to bring [living] statues and we couldn't because they wouldn't fit in the Volvo. That's when I started getting well acquainted with and looking for fellow freaks in whatever city we were going to."
The constantly evolving and changing network of artists who frequent these shows is called the Dirty Business Brigade, and professional artists, or those with performing aspirations, are all welcome to join the show.
"It's interesting because the Brigade is really made up of two ideas. One idea is that Amanda Palmer will go out and network with professional performers and find like people who have polished acts. And then there are the people who just want to experiment and dress up and do weird things," says Palmer. "So, there's always this weird amateur to professional balance that needs to be kept because otherwise it can just feel like Halloween."
 The Dresden Dolls by Susan Sangiovanni |
"You want people to actually be disciplined enough to work on their act, that's one thing that should be clear," Viglione vehemently states. "It's not like, put on some face paint and then you're done. The Brigade is there to inspire people to greater heights in their performance."
The encouragement of personal and artistic freedom is a theme that runs throughout the band's music.
"The main message of the band is about not having any particular blueprint or idea about what you are supposed to be; about having the self confidence and trust to tune into whatever that voice in your head is telling you who to be, and not being afraid to follow that [voice]. We feel like we've set out an invitation for people to create what they want. We definitely attract certain breeds of people, sort of misfit oddball people. At the end of the day we are so much about the community idea and love, we are closer in nature to punks and hippies in terms of our community – everyone band together, everyone support each other's shit, everyone make your own art. The Goth scene has never looked too much like that. That's more about being sad," Palmer says with a laugh. "And although there's a lot of darkness in [our] music, neither Brian nor I have ever felt much connection with that scene."
"In essence, that is kind of like the punk rock ethic: I'm not going to let other people or society define who I am," Viglione continues. "We also try to put in the ideals of mutual respect and compassion into our community. We don't say like, 'Fuck everyone!' We say, 'Accept everyone for who they are and what they want to do, whether you understand it or not.' And that's something we found that translated really well through our audience, through the proactive hand we had in shaping that. No matter what walk of life you come from and no matter how old you are, you are welcome to be part of this Dresden Dolls audience."
"It's really nice to see them taking care of each other," Palmer says. "People are so respectful of each other at the shows. There's not a whole lot of nastiness. We can tell people want to come to our shows and feel that sense of community."
 The Dresden Dolls by Francois Berthier |
This sense of community will certainly be on display at the Rothbury Music Festival, where Palmer has been given an entire tent to curate.
"We got a big circus tent. I named it 'The Establishment,' and it's basically all of my best friends," she explains. "My dream is that The Establishment will be the coolest place to hang out at Rothbury. We've gotten such a great concentration of people who love each other playing in one little venue, more than half the people onstage have played with each other in bands. I'm playing in four different incarnations, and teaching yoga. There's also some bizarre circus stuff, and I'm sure weird incestuous guest spots are going to happen."
"I'll be there playing with Amanda and then I'm doing a drum clinic," Viglione adds. "I'm really looking forward to that. Then, I basically have to leave after the Dolls set to go meet World/Inferno in Europe."
Palmer sums up The Establishment, "Basically, I'm trying to create that '20s dream where everyone holes up and gets weird for four days on one stage. It's just the way people feel about the late '60s. In the same way, a smaller part of our subculture has an idea about what the culture of Weimar Berlin meant. It meant experimentation and gender bending, and it meant crossbreeding of art forms and everybody hanging out in the same café and drinking absinthe and getting jiggy. It was a very liberated time, in a lot of ways more liberated than things are now."
Even if thick smoke and absinthe soaked tables have been replaced with dusty air and festival tents, it's comforting to know that a few corners of this planet remain to let your freak flag fly.
Dresden Dolls tour dates available here, Amanda Palmer dates here, and Brian Viglione dates here.
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