Jody Denberg: Yoko, your current concert tour, it's like the first time in America since 1986...

Yoko Ono: Right, right.

JD: When did the tour start?

YO: It started early March (1996) with Washington DC, went to NY, Chicago, LA, San Francisco and here I am in Seattle.

JD: Has it been fun so far?

YO: It's great.

JD: What kind of venues are you playing? Mostly clubs?

YO: Clubs, yeah.

JD: Tell me about the show you did with IMA in Japan before this tour.

YO: That was in Hiroshima, and it was the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima. It was very important and we did the show in this very special shrine. So all in all it was very exciting. Because the stage was a national treasure, we didn't wear shoes and the band wore Japanese kimonos... We just did it like ancient Japanese tradition. It was really great.

JD: Was that the first time you played with IMA?

YO: Doing a performance outside, right. Before that we were in the studio recording.

JD: Tell me about working with IMA. How did it all happen?

YO: Well it really was an incredible thing that happened, but I didn't know that. First Sean was coming to me and saying "lemme do it, lemme do it, let us do it", and I was thinking of getting session musicians. I was thinking, well, Sean and I are good friends, so I didn't want to make it bad by becoming two musicians and arguing over music. So there was that concern. And also, Sean is almost ready for his debut, and I know he's going to do that, so I didn't want to kind of somehow affect badly on that. And I was saying well, maybe. But once we were in the studio, I just knew that it was just right. We had fun and it was easy for us, so why not? Sean and I really had a kind of rapport that I didn't expect to have with somebody of a very different generation (laughs). It was great!

JD: You know when I went to the Ryko party at the Vrej Baghoomian gallery - remember that night?

YO: I remember... you were there?

JD: Oh yeah! The Ryko box (AIU note: the compilation box set Onobox) was playing, Sean was there... he was showing all his friends... check out this solo on this song... check out this part of What A Bastard The World Is, and I engaged him in some conversation... Well, at that time he must have been 16, and he is a student of the music that you've done to this point...

YO: Well, he's a student of the music of all of the 60s and he can just... you know, anything... Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, of course The Beatles, John Lennon. I think his generation is really very learned that way, but it was a surprise for me that he was even into my music. I didn't expect it really.

JD: Were the other guys in IMA intimidated?

YO: No, they're not intimidated. It's very interesting that Tim Ellis separately was into my music. So you know when I say like "Oh, this one, let's do it like What Did I Do, they know all the licks so they just go into it.

JD: Why did you choose the cover for Rising? It's an old photograph by Iain Mcmillan isn't it?

YO: I just like it. It had an appeal about it.

JD: As a fan I was so thrilled by this record - I think it's the best record you've ever done, and I'm curious about all these people involved. Tell me about Rob Stevens.

YO: I think Rob Stevens had a hit record when he was very young. Now he is a good producer, and he understands my work as well, and so it was a good combination.

JD: The one thing I noticed listening to Rising, as opposed to Starpeace or New York Rock was, Yoko's really being herself now! On Ask The Dragon for instance: God she's giving it to us, what the real fans want to hear. How did you find that within yourself at this point in your life, to let loose like that?

YO: Well it was a gamble. But also, there's no other way for me, because that's where I'm at.

JD: You've always done what you wanted to do anyway - is this a good time in your life now?

YO: Well, like for everybody else, everything is not all rosy. I would say that in terms of work I think it's going very well.

JD: I know this is work for you now but it's important to you to do your work.

YO: Yes, that's one thing I enjoy doing. Work is like the main core of my life in a way. It's just that feeling that we all have that we just have to do some more, you know, and it's fun to do things.

JD: I'm wondering about the genesis of the album Rising. Did you think you were going to record new material again? I read in the liner notes that Ron Destro had approached you to write some songs for a play (AIU note: Ron Destro's Hiroshima). Is that how this record came to start?

YO: It started like that.

JD: And then there's other songs on the record though, that actually turned up in New York Rock (AIU note: the musical by Yoko Ono from 1994), like Warzone and Where Do We Go From Here?. When you hear Rising it hangs together like a piece of work...

YO: And also, when I'm singing it's different I think (laughs)

JD: We were talking about why you still want to express yourself, you still want to work when you don't have to... What do you think it is about the human condition or perhaps just specifically your experience that motivates this intense self-expression?

YO: I don't know. I just feel that I want to keep on creating things and that's who I am.

JD: What's the satisfaction been like after these shows when you go back after and the crowd is pleased and the musicians... What have you been doing afterwards?

YO: Well I feel totally relaxed of course (laughs). It's a great feeling.

JD: Pretty high?

YO: Yeah.

JD: Something I've noticed is that you're expressing things that go beyond verbal expression: from Why and Why Not to the present, Kurushi and Rising.

YO: Yeah, that's true.

JD: I don't do that, or maybe I do and I don't know. Does that give you a special feeling like when you're out there in just the realm of emotions... That's what therapists are always trying to get us to do, "to get in touch with your emotions".

YO: (laughs) Yeah, right.

JD: Do you feel more in touch with your emotions after all that stuff?

YO: Well not necessarily after all that stuff. I think that I'm in touch with my emotions and that's why I can bring them out maybe. That's my thing.

JD: I've read that you've been doing some work with AIDS patients and then you drew the correlation to Hiroshima. How did you start to get involved with AMFAR?

YO: Well I'm involved in many ways, GMHC I'm helping a little too. I think it's very important that we help each other because you're actually helping yourself. Because we are all together in this, meaning this society, and the health of the society is very important for all of us. So I'm just doing what I can do, that's all.

JD: To go back to outletting pain... When I listen to the new album: I'm Dying, Kurushi, Rising, I'm wondering what the atmosphere is like in the studio to get you to that place where you can be so naked.

YO: It's very simple. You would be surprised. Just the band is in the studio, and we just get into it, you know.

JD: Is it maybe because Sean is there that you feel comfortable enough? I mean, it's a lot more naked than the cover of Two Virgins.

YO: (Big laugh) Now that's interesting! I think there's some kind of spiritual nakedness maybe, and I think a lot of that is because I'm having a dialogue with Sean in a way, musically...