It's been a while. My day job as an editor has been taking over far too much lately meaning that any music related writing has had to be put on the back burner.
Looking back at the most recent set of posts on here, I realise there's been a lot of negativity flying around. Have I finally lapsed into being a jaded hack? Tales of problematic interviewees and scathing album reviews may point towards this. I do however remain relatively chipper thank you very much so feel it's time to put some more positive tales out there.
Which brings me on to good interviewees. As I said before, I take musicians as I do everyone else, as human beings. And you are bound to encounter human beings you get on with and those that you don't. I am happy to report that I have had far more of the former as interviewees than the latter (the latter being almost wholly covered in previous posts).
My first few phone interviews since I started writing about music again about six years ago were with million unit album sellers, Röyksopp, an unknown act called Dear Eskiimo, who have now gone on to become the Ting Tings, and Dave Stewart of the hugely successful Eurythmics. Each was massively different but taught me valuable lessons.
The interview with Torbjörn Brundtland of Röyksopp was a strange start. Every time I asked a question he gave me a witty, surreal answer but because in my head I felt I had to get serious answers, I kept pressing him, asking him the same questions till he gave in and gave a serious answer. Which not only must have been quite frustrating for him but meant the interview went on for the best part of 90 minutes! He even asked at one point, "Is this interview for radio?"
So not a great start but I learned that it's best to take interviewees as they are rather than trying to force the desired answers out of them. More importantly I learned that it's invariably better to put across any humour and personality that comes across.
Dear Eskiimo was different altogether as they were in the same boat as me - nervous because it was one of their first interviews. That common ground allowed everyone to relax a bit and the interview flowed well. The Eurythmics interview was by far the most daunting though. More of which on my my next blog post...
Useless music fact #12: The Chemical Brothers were one of the few people not to be grounded by the Icelandic volcano as they had a private jet chartered. Brothers gonna work it out!
Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 20 April 2010.
Showing posts with label dear eskiimo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dear eskiimo. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Friday, 1 January 2010
You're not worthy!
Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2010 treats you well and your hangovers aren't hanging too heavy on your heads today. As promised, here is the continuation on the topic of difficult interviewees I've encountered along the way...
Another tricky interview was with a certain 'King Of The Breaks' who frankly I'd never heard of before interviewing him. Whether he was just particular or had been bitten one too many times by the media I’m not sure, but he refused to do any phone interviews and any questions had to be run past his manager and vetted.
After some emailing, back and forth and amending of questions, they were then deemed acceptable enough to pass on to the great man himself (whose music had incidentally gone from innovative and original to self indulgent and noodly over the years). Barring one question that wasn’t answered due to its unworthiness, the interview was a success. Job done.
At the time I had a great sense of achievement that I had managed to tread carefully enough to get a decent interview and quotes with someone so difficult/disenchanted with the media and his manager even emailed me to say, “This is the best interview conducted with him." As time has passed though and I’ve spoken to so many amiable, positive, open, helpful and downright friendly artists out there, I’ve gradually come to realise that there is really no need to make communication with another person such a long, protracted struggle. It reeks of self-importance and egotism.
So, yes, it was a challenge, but not one I’d relish again. Anyone out there who wants to be spiky, difficult or ’challenging’ would do well to realise that you are just human beings that happen to make music, however great it may or may not be. You are no greater or less great than the next man or woman, whatever it is you do in life, so get over yourselves!
Useless music fact #9: The Ting Tings were once in a band called Dear Eskiimo. They were influenced by musicals and their output was patchy but enjoyable enough. I interviewed them for a magazine but the article was pulled at the last minute as the editor realised their music wasn't quite up to scratch to feature in the mag or on the cover CD. If you'd care to read the results of the interview however, just have a look here. Incidentally, Ting Ting is a Chinese name that means 'slim and graceful' but is also a slang term for penis!
Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 1 January 2010.
Another tricky interview was with a certain 'King Of The Breaks' who frankly I'd never heard of before interviewing him. Whether he was just particular or had been bitten one too many times by the media I’m not sure, but he refused to do any phone interviews and any questions had to be run past his manager and vetted.
After some emailing, back and forth and amending of questions, they were then deemed acceptable enough to pass on to the great man himself (whose music had incidentally gone from innovative and original to self indulgent and noodly over the years). Barring one question that wasn’t answered due to its unworthiness, the interview was a success. Job done.
At the time I had a great sense of achievement that I had managed to tread carefully enough to get a decent interview and quotes with someone so difficult/disenchanted with the media and his manager even emailed me to say, “This is the best interview conducted with him." As time has passed though and I’ve spoken to so many amiable, positive, open, helpful and downright friendly artists out there, I’ve gradually come to realise that there is really no need to make communication with another person such a long, protracted struggle. It reeks of self-importance and egotism.
So, yes, it was a challenge, but not one I’d relish again. Anyone out there who wants to be spiky, difficult or ’challenging’ would do well to realise that you are just human beings that happen to make music, however great it may or may not be. You are no greater or less great than the next man or woman, whatever it is you do in life, so get over yourselves!
Useless music fact #9: The Ting Tings were once in a band called Dear Eskiimo. They were influenced by musicals and their output was patchy but enjoyable enough. I interviewed them for a magazine but the article was pulled at the last minute as the editor realised their music wasn't quite up to scratch to feature in the mag or on the cover CD. If you'd care to read the results of the interview however, just have a look here. Incidentally, Ting Ting is a Chinese name that means 'slim and graceful' but is also a slang term for penis!
Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 1 January 2010.
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