Help! Need band interview tips

jaxn slim

jaxn slim

Your Worst Nightmare
Note: I've removed the band's name since I don't want their publicist seeing it. You might be able to figure out the band's name from everything else. But if not, there is a youtube of them below.

I'm not really a writer, more of a photographer. But I've found that I get to photograph a lot more bands that I like if I write the articles myself. Long story short, I'm interviewing [name removed] this week, but I've never interviewed a band before. I meet lots of bands and just bullshit about stuff, but I don't know what kind of stuff would be interesting to readers.

I was thinking of asking how their gear tastes have changed over the years. Maybe get an idea of their favorite ways to approach writing and recording an album. I could ask about Dia De Los [name removed] and how that idea came about.

They just released the 20-year anniversary reissue of Rubberneck, which is a pretty bad ass album IMO.

What do you guys think? Surely some of you guys have questions. ???

 
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I suck at this stuff.

Ask them what they've been doing for the last 20 years continuously touring? break for other career?

does the guitar player still have a Silver Jubilee marshall?
 
1) So, how did you get into music?

2) Who are your influences?

3) How did you come up with the name of the band?

4) What strings do you use?











:embarrassed:

(please note sarcasm...)
 
I certainly don't have years of experience, but in high school and college I did a lot of band interviews. While gear interviews are really cool for musicians, your average reader doesn't give a shit, unless it says Gibson or Fender, and even then only because they recognize what it is. Think about the audience of the blog or zine- if they're musicians, feel free to be a gearslut, but otherwise you should focus on recent history. Let's say they haven't put out an album in X years; why the break? Did they have other projects they were involved in or did they take a break from music altogether? What are the central themes behind the album and what motivated them to write it?

Cool tour stories or anecdotes involving other artists they've played with are usually welcome, but be careful about an off-the-cuff negative remark. You don't want to worry about some different publicist or even artist being pissed because of what someone else said. For bands with a strong DIY ethic, talk about carving out their niche in the scene and what sets them apart. In a case of [insert missing band name here], it's probably important for them that they're not being passed off a solely a nostalgia act, even though they're talking about the 20th anniversary of their big album.

Are you interviewing the entire band, or just a couple of members? Doing a little research on the band as a whole is always a good idea, but if you're interviewing the bass player and the keys guy, or the drummer and the singer, you're going to get a totally different pool of questions to draw from.

Good luck!
 
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Kerouac said:
I certainly don't have years of experience, but in high school and college I did a lot of band interviews. While gear interviews are really cool for musicians, your average reader doesn't give a shit, unless it says Gibson or Fender, and even then only because they recognize what it is. Think about the audience of the blog or zine- if they're musicians, feel free to be a gearslut, but otherwise you should focus on recent history. Let's say they haven't put out an album in X years; why the break? Did they have other projects they were involved in or did they take a break from music altogether? What are the central themes behind the album and what motivated them to write it?

Cool tour stories or anecdotes involving other artists they've played with are usually welcome, but be careful about an off-the-cuff negative remark. You don't want to worry about some different publicist or even artist being pissed because of what someone else said. For bands with a strong DIY ethic, talk about carving out their niche in the scene and what sets them apart. In a case of [insert missing band name here], it's probably important for them that they're not being passed off a solely a nostalgia act, even though they're talking about the 20th anniversary of their big album.

Are you interviewing the entire band, or just a couple of members? Doing a little research on the band as a whole is always a good idea, but if you're interviewing the bass player and the keys guy, or the drummer and the singer, you're going to get a totally different pool of questions to draw from.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks. Good suggestions. The thing about this blog is it's a Nashville rock music blog, so I'm pretty sure 95% of our readership are musicians. :embarrassed:
I'm pretty sure it's gonna be just the singer, but I'm not sure yet. Hopefully once we nail down a time, I'll know who is gonna be on the call.
 
I've never interviewed a band specifically but some general rules apply:

Write for your audience. Who is the article aimed at? What do they want to know? The average reader of Teen Beat cares not a whit about gear. They want to know who's cuter and what designer is doing the costumes for the next tour.

Ask them what they want to tell their audience. Do they have a current mission, cause or album they're trying to push? The last thing an interview wants is to spend two hours answering questions about their favorite topic only to read an article that rips them because they aren't green enough or some stupid shit.

Don't waste their time. Know the subject matter, their history and any potential flash points to avoid (or goad :grin:) before going in. Nothing worse than someone who hasn't read the book interviewing an author.

Lastly, who's paying the bill? Are you paid by the band? If so, it's your job to help them tell their story. Working for a publication? Then your responsibility lies with them and you need to find out what the publisher wants. There's no point in writing a gear article for a music magazine.
 
I have no experience in this area, so I'm throwing this out there as feedback from a random Internet assclown.

I think I'd ask questions that were interesting to me. I think that your interest will come through to the people you're interviewing and lead to a more engaging event.

Some sample questions I'd ask:
Do you still have passion for creating music after all this time?
Are there any parts of the music business you really love/hate?
What do you guys have going on over the next 6 months?
Have any new gear you want to talk about?
 
Might be a good idea to google up some interviews with this person to see what's been asked and over-asked already, and especially to scope out what might be touchy topics that could sour the interview.

With this particular band, I'd be interested in knowing about how they fit into local scene, how things changed after the rapid rush of success and numerous singles, etc., how they handled what came afterward. But any of these topics could be a potential landmine, depending on the interviewee.
 
My personal pet peeve in amateur interviewers (mostly from listening to podcasts, not being interviewed myself) is the leading question--"had the internet affected the music business negatively, or is it actually a good thing that everyone can create and share their work worldwide without a record label getting in the way? "
 
Who is your intended audience for the interview?
Casual fans?
People who might not know them?
Super fans?
Other musicians?

Derp...just saw your response.

Are there any other interviews on the blog? What question format do they follow?
 
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