DRB INTERVIEW: AMY GORE OF THE GORE GORE GIRLS & GOREVETTE

  Legendary founding member of The Gore Gore Girls and currently performing alongside fellow Detroit legend, Nikki Corvette, in Gorevette, Amy Gore is a icon for the Motor City's female artists. She's also a proud endorser of Gretsch guitars, gifted songwriter with an ear for distinct melodies, and an inspiration for countless musicians in today's Detroit music scene. In January, Gorevette released their 'Lustfully Yours' EP, which The Metro Time's Bill Holdship referred to “as much fun as you're likely to have with your clothes on”. The band toured Japan in support of the EP, opened several dates for The Donnas, and spent part of the spring and fall opening for new wave legends Blondie on their 2010 'Endangered Species' Tour. Recently, Amy Gore was kind enough to satisfy the DRB's probing juvenile curiosities regarding The Rocky Horror Picture Show, measuring success, and having dinner with Satan himself.

Is it ever difficult to balance being so incredibly attractive with being an incredibly talented musician?

Thanks for noticing (wink). You are funny. I appreciate comedy.

Would any band you are in ever cover Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show ?

Yes. Wendy O. Williams did the play in 1984! She was perfect. Susan Sarandon was so hot in Rocky Horror. "T-t-t-touch me, I want to be dirty.." Doesn't everyone....

Who can save Detroit ?

Well optimistic me would say Rock N Roll, but the 70's are over ... I think deep-down people are proud of the disaster here, the lawlessness, even if it's unspoken ... otherwise things would be different. Detroit is cursed and beautiful, the most unique place on earth.

Who will play you in the film version of 'Get The Gore: The Story of The Gore Gore Girls' ?

A young Phyllis Diller. She was hot! I love Diller, she was a true celebrity, a 'celebrated personality'. Great clothes and style. And hair! Warhol, Liberace, and fabulous ladies like Debbie Harry, these are the real-deal celebs, not fabrications for TMZ. I mean, carnivals don't come to town anymore -the closest thing being ICP and maybe Gogol Bordello - we see the freak show now on TV and the web. Thus the constant flow of crap one can barely call entertainment that is producing a new breed of faux-celebrities. I love Phyllis Diller, Shelly Winters, Joan Crawford and Wendy O. Willams, people who had actual personalities, style, fearless.

Of all your albums, which is the source of the most pride ?

All of it. The first album is probably the best thing, I think artists do their best when they don't know what they're doing. I had a distinct vision for the project, but still no experience at all when I did the first album, Strange Girls in 1999! It shows, and it's perfect in that way.

If not music, then you would _______ for work ?

"As little as possible." That's what Andrew Loog Oldham told me he does, regardless of music or whatever, and I can get behind that.

This fucking nut from the Detroit Rock Blog won't stop messaging me on Facebook. I wish to gawd I'd never friended the Detroit Rock Blog. What an ass!

OK.

The novel that had the most influence on me as a musician was ?

 Right now I'm reading "I Slept with Joey Ramone", a biography of the singer written by his brother, Mickey Leigh, and it's excellent. You know any book written on musicians or scenes at a particular time show,to me, how random events were, whether fate is involved, or not, the formula remains: crazy people + desperation + energy + good clothes(specifically, involving leather) = art. Punk rock is art. I'm proud to be an artist.

At this point in your musical career, how do you measure success ?

Deep personal satisfaction ... that comes with a large income! Money leads to autonomy, which is the goal. Then an artist can do whatever they want. I think, ultimately, being able to do what you do well is success. Would I sell my soul to the devil? No. But I would have dinner with him.

Name the artist, alive or dead, you would choose to sing your eulogy?

 Ethel Merman. This is obvious. A funeral should be entertaining.

-St.Aubin
for the DRB