Dark Horse Comics: What interested you most about creating the story of Evelyn Evelyn?Amanda Palmer: It just kept writing itself, actually. The whole thing started as a pun, you see. I told Jason the story of the band names I’d been toying with back in the early days of naming the Dresden Dolls, my band. One of the names that I’d wanted (but it was already taken by not one, but two, metal bands) was Eleven Elven. Jason himself already has a weird association with that numbertime. Another one (and thank God this one was taken) was Marcia, Marcia, Marcia…a Brady Bunch reference. One of us (me, I think) mused that Evelyn Evelyn Evelyn would be a hilarious band name. Then it was winnowed down to Evelyn Evelyn. Which, we concluded, obviously had to be the band name of a set of conjoined twins. Thus they we birthed.
DH: Your projects include storytelling by prose, song, performance, and art. Is there a form of storytelling you haven’t tried yet and would like to?
AP: As funny as it sounds, I’d love to pull a Henry Rollins someday and tour without music. And just talk. So self-indulgent, I know. But I’d love to just play Oprah for a while.
DH:. What’s been the most rewarding part of working on Evelyn Evelyn?
AP: Honestly? To be able to make such free-spirited music under another umbrella. It’s very liberating.
DH: What challenges did you face when bringing Evelyn Evelyn to life?
AP: Well, there was a controversy stirred up around the time the record was announced. A few people didn’t see the humor in it. I’m still scratching my head about that one.
DH: What do you hope fans take away from the book?
AP: If anything, I hope the fans who still have yet to discover the twins’ music will be piqued to listen to it. We’re incredibly proud of the album, and it kind of slid under the radar. Cynthia’s art for the book is so explosively gorgeous that it begs for a soundtrack, which is a very nice chicken/egg situation, isn’t it? We’d wanted to make the book because the music seems to beg for visuals.