The Rockologist On The Art Of The Interview
Published February 15, 2008
Sooner or later in the pursuit of a career writing about music comes the moment of truth when you are put to the ultimate test — interviewing actual rock stars. Sounds like fun doesn't it? And to tell the truth, it actually is. At least when said rock stars choose to make the process easy.
Of course, with rock stars often being the overly rich and pampered egomaniacs they can be — such qualifications seem to be requirements for the job title — this is not always the case.
I've been interviewing rock stars since I was in high school, and by my own estimate I've racked up a semi-impressive resume of at least several dozen successes. My first rock star interview — later published by my high school newspaper The West Seattle Chinook — was actually obtained the old fashioned way. I staked out the hotel that the band was staying at before their gig that night at Seattle's Paramount Theatre.
While the groupies crowded the hotel lobby hoping to catch a glimpse (or better) of touring rock royalty, I noticed no one was paying attention to the road guys who handle such mediocre tasks as booking the rooms. So I struck up a conversation with one such roadie at the front desk. I gained his confidence by offering him one of my cigarettes. The roadie must have taken a shine to me, because he actually invited me back to the band's room after the show.
Before you could say Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous, I had scored an interview with T. Rex's Marc Bolan. Man, were those groupies pissed.
Of course, I had obviously got lucky here. This was also the seventies, and I was a fairly harmless kid who didn't really have that much of an agenda. Well at least, not compared to the garishly made up, and largely undressed ladies who otherwise prowled the lobby and the elevators in the hotel. Even so, I definitely wouldn't recommend using this method today.
More often, the way it works is you usually go through the record company, the publicity firm, management, or whoever else happens to be the rock star's "handler." This method will yield results most often when a band is either on its way up the ladder of success, or conversely on the slide back down the other side. This is especially true for the ever-rare, face-to-face "in-person" discussion.
More often, particularly if we are talking about rock artists who have actually earned the "star" moniker, what you end up with (if you are lucky) is a phone interview — or a "phoner" for short.
I've actually had some pretty decent phoners over the years too. Some of which I was later able to turn into even better articles. Back in the eighties, I had several of these with some of the hotter rap artists of the day like Public Enemy, Ice T, and Run-DMC, which were published in magazines like Seattle's Rocket and Tower Records Pulse!. In each of these cases, the rappers had an upcoming show in Seattle to promote, so the record companies and concert promoters were all to eager to grant me access — even if only by phone — in the interest of selling more tickets.
- The Rockologist On The Art Of The Interview
- Published: February 15, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Culture: Personal History, Music: Business, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Metal, Music: R&B, Music: Rap, Music: Rock
- Part of a feature: The Rockologist
- Writer: Glen Boyd
- Glen Boyd's BC Writer page
- Glen Boyd's personal site
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Thanx Connie. I've only had instance to do one interview for BC -- so far, anyway -- which was a phoner with Marillion drummer Ian Moseley, and the experience was a good one. I hope to do many more.
-Glen
Fascinating, Glen. And brave - I don't think I'd last long among these types.
Maybe I'm alone, but I've really never had much of an interest in talking to most musicians exactly for the reasons you talked about. The few that I have are the ones that I know are down to earth people to begin with (I met guitarist Mike Keneally at an in-store promo for one of his albums a few years back and he was exactly as nice as I heard he was. He was thrilled to hear that I'd taken time out of my vacation to stop by. Really nice guy - and a killer musician, by the way.)
Back in the late 80s, an acquaintance of mine interviewed a certain hair metal lead singer (who shall go unnamed here) and opened with, "So, how do you feel now that your new album's stiffed?"
End of interview. The roadie took the videocamera too, I thik.
Thanx guys.
I could've gone on and on here (and yes, I know the article was already a bit long), but you get the drift. Like anybody else, rock stars can be assholes or, as Tom noted, they can very nice people.
Speaking of hair metal JC, some day I'll have to tell you my Stryper story...
-Glen
I feel the same way Tom. I've been to a few shows where the musicians hung around afterwards signing autographs and what not, but I never felt the need to meet them. I know there isn't a chance of striking up a friendship and meaningless chit chat seems silly.
And there's always the chance they'll be total jerks and ruin my respect for them.
But good stories Glen.
I always considered it "working."
When your a kid growing up idolizing rock stars, dreaming you could meet them and what not -- which is exactly what I did as a young fan -- what you soon find out is that it's never quite what you expected.
Same goes for when you end up working for a label -- which I also did -- and going to all those "glamourous" parties you read about in magazines growing up.
The truth is, that it's a lot less glamourous when you experience it up close -- and it's occasionally quite ugly.
Once I acheived my dream, getting to L.A. and hob-nobbing with the big boys and all, I soon discovered I wanted nothing more than the seemingly mundane life of the picket fence and the station wagon.
That's still my new dream actually.
In the meantime, I write these articles in my drab little smoke-filled house in Seattle, because I discovered a couple years back that I still had something to say.
It's kinda nice actually..
Which is what makes BC so cool. I can still pontificate (and in this case, reminisce) about music, but I don't have to live the lifestyle 24/7 anymore.
What is it about that old saying "be careful what you wish for..."?
-Glen
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking you for meeting all those rock guys, or anyone else who tries to meet celebrities (rock or otherwise) it just isn't my thing.
Although given the chance to interview Jeff Tweedy or something I'd probably get giddy as a school girl.
No offense taken Mat. None whatsoever.
And like you with Tweedy, I'm sure I'd have much the same sort of reaction if I were to ever interview someone like Springsteen, Dylan, or Neil Young.
When I first started this series, the idea was to put down a series of personal experiences related to my years in the music industry with the ultimate goal being to turn them into a book. Lately, I've been writing "The Rockologist" columns much more looking to that original goal I had in mind.
I figure with all of these stories I've accumulated, they might as well be put to some sort of practical use. Plus, they usually seem to draw positive reactions (well, for the most part anyway)...so hopefully, I'm on the right track here.
Anyway, I'm just glad you and others seem to enjoy the stories. Hopefully, I can get the same sort of interest from a publisher at some point down the road...
Thanx for the comments.
-Glen
funny, i was having lunch with the wife today and she posed the question...what would i ask bruce if i had a chance to interview him.
honestly, i have no idea. i mean, what the heck could i ask him that hasn't already been asked a bazillion times?
and that's always been my problem when I go to concerts where the band hangs out afterwards. I saw Victoria Williams once at a tiny little club and for a spell she stood in the corner waiting on someone to come over. I never made it over there as I couldn't think of something interesting to say, or at least something to say that didn't make me sound like a fool.
Sometimes they just wanna hear someone say they sounded alright (you'd be surprised how sensitive the egos of some of these artists are). But it's hard to get a read sometimes, so I know what you mean.
Interestingly, I actually did meet Springsteen once, back in the seventies during the Darkness tour. We didn't even talk about his music. We talked about cars -- a subject I know F--- all about. Go, figure...
-Glen
I had this dream once where I met the Boss. I asked him if it was all worth it - he was quite noncommittal and didn't really answer the question at all.
I guess I should've dreamed we talked about cars.
One of my favorite experiences meeting an artist was when I met Emmylou Harris after a concert in Tampa a few years ago. There were maybe 15 people waiting outside the theatre afterwards and as she walked out and toward her bus, we all thought she was done for the night. Then she said that she just needed to check on her dog (who was on the bus) and that she'd be happy to meet everyone if they'd join her on the bus as well. So we all lined up and she personally invited each person on the bus.
When it was my turn, I went in and she asked me to sit down right next to her (like we were in her living room or something). She was the kindest, most down to earth person and she immediately put this starstruck guy at ease.
I told her how much I enjoyed her then-recent work on Elvis Costello's The Delivery Man and she thanked me and talked about how highly she regarded Costello's work. I nervously asked if she'd sign one of my CDs and she wound up signing all 4 of the ones I'd brought. And she asked her assistant to take a photo of us with my camera.
Emmylou was the classiest, kindest woman. That experience made up for all the times when I'd had my perceptions of artists crushed by inflated egos or, well, booze.
- Donald
Thats a great story Donald. When I met Bruce, he was actually really nice too. Most of these guys are actually...I mean they are just people, right? But the ones that went badly just make for such a more interesting story ya' know?
Anyway, thanks for the comments.
-Glen
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Nice piece, Glen.
As I was reading I was reminded of my own experiences doing interviews for BC Music. Personally, the good experiences have far outweighed the not so good.