Life in The Dresden Dolls' house

They're not in love but Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione make not-so-beautiful music together.

They are not lovers. They kiss. They hug. And they lie together. But the Dresden Dolls - pianist and singer Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione - are not lovers.

"It's rock love," says Palmer, sexily. She is in Los Angeles and taking a break from a photo shoot - no doubt another elaborate, theatrical affair, if past photos are anything to go by.

The Dolls' painted faces, cabaret attire, and sexually charged boy-meets-girl photographic poses are also part of their live shows. They play in New Zealand on December 13 at the Kings Arms.

They make not-so-sweet music together and their self-titled debut album isn't an easy listen. At times, Palmer crashes about on her piano just as heavily as Viglione is hitting his drums, but it's always entertaining.

It does relent, but only in volume as Palmer sings about "coin-operated" boys and creepy orange men who wait for you at the end of the slide.

On Girl Anachronism she rants: "You can tell by the scars on my arms and blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of girls." Topic-wise it is heavy stuff, but because of the album's cabaret vibe there is a fantasy feel to it all.

Palmer is aware of the Boston band gaining the gimmick tag, but unlike, say, Slipknot, who wear masks, she isn't defensive about explaining the Dolls' theatrical fetish.

She emphasises the importance of seeing the band live rather than judging them on one song, or one photo, and then writing them off as a "silly gothic band" parading around in costumes.

"In any city where we play live, people realise that it's not just a gimmick. we are serious musicians, and we write serious songs. It's an interesting phenomenon because when a band wears makeup it can mean several different things and you've got some bands, like Kiss or Slipknot, who take that on as their identities.

"For us it's almost the polar opposite. By wearing these really simple, classic cabaret costumes and painting our faces up and getting on stage it almost makes us feel a little safer about over-expressing ourselves.

"Our stuff is really personal. We're not playing characters, we're very much getting on stage and trying to express ourselves as fully as possible.

"The makeup is almost like a device to allow the audience to share the experience because you're wearing this mask on stage just like the theatre has been doing for thousands of years."

When Viglione first saw Palmer playing piano and singing at a Halloween party in 2000 he thought: "I have to make music with this freak." She laughs at the memory of this and says she still can't believe the two are making music together.

"It really did feel like one of those hand-of-God moments where we met each other right at the right time, at the right place - and we still can't believe our luck sometimes, because we really just finished each other off.

"The most beautiful thing about us is that we have a lot of similarities and we also have enough differences to flesh each other out.

"Brian has a lot more kind of aggro, metal and punk background that fuels the faster, rocking stuff that I write, but I have some sort of singer-songwriter and musical theatre side that keeps the music from blasting off, and never slowing down."

She compares the physical chemistry on stage to a play, where it is more interesting watching an argument between two characters than the interaction between several actors.

"So watching us as we watch each other is a huge part of the mystery and aesthetic of the sound," Palmer says.

Palmer's interest in cabaret began at high school after hearing the music of German composer Kurt Weill. His works - such as 1928's The Threepenny Opera - were a fusion of opera, folk, jazz and Broadway musicals.

She remembers thinking that Weill's work was closest to the type of music she was writing.

Her second musical idol is New Zealander Peter Jefferies, in particular his 1987 album At Swim 2 Birds and the 1995 Electricity.

Palmer hopes to see Jefferies - who before going solo was in Nocturnal Projections and This Kind Of Punishment - when the Dresden Dolls are in New Zealand.

"When I discovered Peter Jefferies' music, after Kurt Weill, it was the second epiphany: 'This is someone who writes music the way I can understand.'

"I think one of the things we have in common is that Peter Jefferies was a percussion player who went on to play piano and electric organ and you can really hear the percussionist in his playing.

"He plays the piano like a percussion instrument - it's hard core."

 

PERFORMANCE

*Who: Boston two-piece The Dresden Dolls (piano/vocals Amanda Palmer, drums Brian Viglione)

*Where: Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland, December 13.

*Album: The Dresden Dolls is out now