We do lots of things at all your all purpose rock nyc but we don’t do many interviews. I have interviewed many people over the years, many of the biggest rock bands: the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Who –to name three off the top of my head, but I don’t enjoy doing them, I am not particularly good at them and I can’t help but feel, especially in 2013, they are some what on the useless side.
There are three ways to conduct an interview in out bottom of the food chain music website position.
1. Just the facts Ma’am –if you read my interview with Sid Mantelbaum, the founder of the anti-poverty program “Rock And Wrap It”, my job was to tell his story and that was it.
2. The confrontation – Two Creem stories come to one, in the first Joan Jett was confronting Creem for having been so dismissive of her over the years. In the other, I confronted Bananarama for being talentless groupies.
3. The Fanboy – A recent Marshall Crenshaw interview comes to mind, I am a huge fan and felt very lucky he obliged rock nyc.
4. The This Is A Job Just Do it – An interview with Chris Wyse, the bassist of the Cult, a band I am not that interested in, but, heck, it comes with the territory.
That’s about it.
Chris wanted something, publicity for his solo album, I wanted something, his fan base to read us and indeed I got something I wasn’t expecting, Chris’ explanation as to the difference between what he does and what a session musician does.
But that’s the tread off.
At rock nyc’s level, I don’t often get to interview the people I want to and more often than not don’t bother trying. In the past year I’ve been ignored or turned down by:
Laura Marling
Patrick Stickles
Kurt Vile
Amanda Palmer
I’m sure there is others I’ve forgotten about .
Part of me is relieved, I really hate the process and I don’t think I’m all that hot at it either. I was just reading Ryan Dombal’s My Bloody Valentine interview and didn’t think much of it, the Pitchfork editor is such a little twerp.
Here is Ryan’s first question to Kevin Shield’s “Your music sounds blissfully unaware of the musical world around it and exists in its own space. Is that an overarching goal behind what you do?” Now, let’s see here: overarching: “Comprehensive; all-embracing. Is Ryan really asking Kevin if the most important goal behind his music is to to be unaware of other music? That isn’t even English. Why would Kevin’s reason to make music be so he can ignore current music?
Ryan is the Senior Editor at Pitchfork and he is a complete plank. His review of Vampire Weekend was a stupid of everything that’s just plain wrong in rock writing. Overwritten, self-important PR. His Daft Punk interview such a drag it was unreadable. I hate Rolling Stone more more than you do but another former Blender writer Jonah Weiner was much better.
RS must be the only magazine who can do rock star interviews right (and even they blew their Taylor Swift one). At its best, stone really feels as though it might be lifting the curtain a little and giving you a brief glimpse of the real person and really that’s the best you can hope for.
I’m not even trying to do that, I would be happy with the one really good quote, and I tend to be able to get a couple.
At least that’s the over-arching concept.