by Erin Donaghue

Brian Viglione's music career began with a Muppet drum set on Christmas morning of 1983. But it wasn't until Halloween night of 2000 that he met the fellow Boston artist, Amanda Palmer, who would become the other half of the dynamic Dresden Dolls duo. Since then, Viglione and Palmer have enjoyed everything from stellar critical acclaim to an ever-expanding worldwide fan base to an opening spot for Nine Inch Nails. Their recently released album, Yes, Virginia, boasts a tighter sound with a take-no-prisoners edge, but doesn't lack the ironic contrasts of lightness and darkness that have come to be the Dolls' signature. 

The man behind the bowler hat provides a darker, more mysterious counterpart to Palmer's confessional, pour-your-heart-out performance style. Palmers belts; Viglione beats. And at a live show, what it takes you a few songs to register is that Viglione is up next to Palmer the front of the stage - true to the Dresden Dolls' unique sonic partnership.

Though theatricality is one aspect of the show, Viglione doesn't have an onstage alter ego a la Superman/ Clark Kent. Nor did he enter the music biz to become a rich, famous rock star. With or without the makeup, Viglione's passion for music, his career with the Dresden Dolls, and, of course, his fans are unmistakable. His attitude surrounding the band hasn't lost the inclusive quality of the house parties that were the original conduit for their music - everyone's invited. In a recent interview with Provokator, the yang of the Dolls discusses the enthusiastic fan base, the challenges of performing as part of a two-piece, and what you may not know about the band's uncanny similarities to the Flaming Lips . 

ED: Since the band seems to have some roots in German cabaret, what has your Europea experience been like for you?

BV: Well, the band doesn't really have very strong roots in German cabaret. It's been interesting because a lot of people assume that we would have a s much stronger following in Europe than we would in the States or anywhere else in the world, but we found that its actually a very even amount of growth and surge in popularity and interest from the press and such. It's slightly stronger in Europe, but it's also I think, maybe when you're coming from the United States your already kind of fighting the biases against that and I think that the Dresden Dolls having certain European references maybe gained or piqued the interest over here a bit more quickly and it maybe came off as more of a shtick or something like that in America...but the European experience I think for the Dresden Dolls has been incredibly positive. From the first time that we played in Paris... and in the UK too, I mean we just found out that we sold out the Astoria Theater in London, which is you know, its kinda crazy.
ED: What are the audiences like? Are they different, do you think, when you play a Boston show as opposed to a Berlin show?

BV: They're not, actually, that's again too, that kind of makes the world a little bit smaller is to see those stereotypes drip away. Louis Armstrong said something that the pop music audience across the world just responds always the same, it doesn't matter ...When he played in Africa with his swing band and you know, people just, if they connect with the music the reaction is always enthusiasm.

 ED: And you guys do have an awesome connection with your audience. Do you think it's a goal when you perform to get the audience involved?

BV: Um... yeah! I haven't ever used the word goal, per se, but it kind of was like a more the merrier kind of attitude. The band really has just become in the show an extension of where we started, in doing these house parties at Amanda's loft in Boston, where all different multimedia people would come to these parties and do all kinds of crazy shit, and now that's actually incorporated into the show. It's beautiful, Its all part of building a community around you, and reaching out and saying why should the band we limited to just the two of us? Its obviously translates in so many areas, let's call up so and so and get these people involved, and take artwork submissions from the fans ... Every time I see the Flaming Lips I realize how much we have in common with them. We just saw them last night in Paris and it was very strange, I'll go off on a side tangent,but the Flaming Lips show has a similar kind of inclusive attitude as the Dresden Dolls. And its not that we go about the performance with like, smoke machines and fog lights and all kind of crazy stuff like the way they do on stage, but the attitude of the audience, the openness and the creativity is I feel a huge part of the similarity between our two bands, even though... they've been doing it since the early 80's. But its really wonderful, they had two groups of people, volunteers and some contest winners that just dressed up in costumes (and) there was a contest to see who could dance the craziest on stage. That's totally something that we would do. We have the Dresden Dolls Brigade, and have all these groups of kids who just come in and do like drawings and painting to the music and living statues and decorating the club and handing out weird poetry and origami and just bizarro weird stuff like that, its about spreading the creative attitude and the kind of inclusive attitude that I love about our fans, and its really wonderful to see that develop through the internet forum, and all these kids from all around the world saying "oh you know come over to Paris and we'll work on this project and do this" and it's just beautiful.

ED: So it's completely freeform? How did the Brigade start?

BV: That started basically, sort of the origin of it, besides extending from the house parties, was our CD Release Party in 2003 for the debut CD. You know, I remember I wrote an email to the forum saying, hey everybody, we're really excited about getting everyone down here to the venue, and if you guys want to dress up at all, feel free, anything you want to do to help make the night extra special, just a total kind of like potluck of creativity, like if you can make it, bring it. And that's really sort of where it started. And then we had the idea to have kids start statue. And then it was like, well cool, we'll get some Christmas lights - and people are going to be wearing costumes, maybe we can get somebody to do body painting...(snaps)

ED: It took on a life of its own?

BV: Yeah its just sort of developed. And it took some explaining over the first year and a half, as people were kind of getting a grasp on, do I fit in? What do I have to do? What's the whole thing? And so there's a fact sheet saying this is the breakdown, this is the attitude, what it means to be involved in this, should you choose to. And it's been beautiful and I love our fans to death for that. Its just so great to see them take up the responsibility, and that kind of really compassionate attitude towards some of the new people that are just getting involved  with the band, and nurturing it amongst themselves and not having to rely on the band to play cop or disciplinarian. Its really great. And the most important point to express to people is that its purely there if you want it. It doesn't make you a cooler Dresden Dolls fan, or a dorkier Dresden Dolls fan or anything. People were saying a year ago, do you expect people to dress up at your concerts? And we'd say no. We expect people to come with the attitude of being able to have the most fun that they can have that night. And to just go for the experience that they want to have. If you want to just hole up in the corner and cry and just feel the music, great. If you want to dance and sing and twist and shout, fuckin' go for it.

ED: Is there some kind of other personality you have when you're on stage? Some kind of alter ego, a different you?

BV: I wouldn't say a different me, but a very particular facet of my personality gets channeled into that. A very sort of focused element. It's I think a chance for me to really connect with this indescribable, spiritual feeling of just creating music and performing on stage. It's why I chose to do this. It wasn't really, I want to be a rich famous rock star. I need this kind of release in my life, the same way Amanda needs to write and create events... you just feel compelled to do it. And I think the me that's on stage is still me in every sense but its a part of me that's doing a lot of sort of releasing and recharging, and that's something that helps keep me stabilized for sure. 

ED: It's a cathartic experience? Are you getting your aggressions out?

BV: Yeah, definitely. And it's not that I'm the kind of person who walks around in deep inner turmoil 24 hours a day. I mean I go through plenty of periods of introspective hell just like other people but also, totally great moods, it sort of all depends. But I think the energy and inspiration I get from being on stage speaks to the kind of youthful part of me that used to revel in jamming with my friends up in my moms attic when I was 12 and just feeling that rush of adrenaline from playing music. But also a real development artistically too. I mean my father instilled in me when I was really young, the concept to use your instrument as a voice and to really speak with it. And that's what has always attracted me to jazz musicians, is that idea of really developing and cultivating that expressive part of yourself. I think I get really artistically stimulated or inspired to grow. That hunger to learn and hunger to develop is there on stage and I try to use it to create the most eloquent thing that I can at that time. And this band I think has been an amazing opportunity to do that, because I've played with a lot of different kinds of bands, and usually it feels very limiting in a lot of different ways, but the freedom I get in this group is for my needs and what I wanted for myself musically, is just a sort of answer to my prayers.

ED: And do you think it has to do with your connection with Amanda and the fact that it is just a two- piece and there aren't other band members?BV: Yeah, definitely. I think a lot of it comes from the diversity of the song writing and again the fact that it is just a two piece and I have that really intimate and sort of spontaneous connection with my other partner on stage, and just the fact that I sort of get to be right up front with the audience instead of being sort of in the back. Its been great, and I love both. Last time I was home in Boston I sat in with different bands, good friends of mine. I love being part of an ensemble too, I don't want people to think "He's the drummer who only wants be up front and play with only one other person." I love all different types of contexts. But its a very particular thing in the Dresden Dolls that I get, and its a great challenge.

ED: You guys obviously have an incredible connection onstage, which is one of the things that makes it such a compelling live show. Does that affect your offstage relationship in negative ways? Are there challenges with that, as opposed to being in an ensemble?

BV: Oh sure. Well, the way that I would answer that question is to say that when a conflict does arise, given Amanda's and my attitude to resolving a conflict, it makes it a very immediate decision to resolve it then and there. I think if there are other members it might be easier to kind of faction off and have a confidant over here and you know, I'll just go out for a drink and talk about it with so and so later. But when things do arise we usually try to nip it in the bud rather than let a problem fester. So that we learn to use that to our advantage - that fact that there aren't other people to run to and bitch to. We try to learn to give each other enough space - just like in a marriage. Learn to appreciate the qualities of the other person, don't hold their weaknesses against them, just try to learn how to work with each other. And its been a great model for how we feel about life and interaction with people in general... we both learned a tremendous amount personally.

ED: It must be an incredibly intense experience.

BV: Yeah, definitely. The first four years of this band I think were some of the most brutal and filled with lots of lessons to be learned.  Both Amanda and I are very passionate people and can be very stubborn. So I think we learned a great deal about how to be more open and compassionate in general towards each other, in this collaborative relationship. It's been great.

ED: Was it difficult for you to translate the energy and intensity of the live show onto the new album?

BV: We had to first accept that it was just a different format. We learned that on the last album. In the first record we tried to use a lot of sound affects to embellish on the theatricality and the imagery of the music, on this record, I think we felt a lot more confident as a group to just go in and rip as hard as we possibly could, and let the music speak for itself. And both of us are really happy with the result of that.

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