ARTS AND ENTERTAIMENT JOURNALISM

Did you have another boring day at a press conference? Interview a rock star

Eccentrics, selfish, narcissists, capricious, fanciful, fussy, obsessive, passionate; some times genius, some other times schizophrenics. There are many adjectives that can be successfully used in order to describe a rock star personality. The idea of meeting and having a conversation with a rock star is exciting and intimidating at the same time. Even for those who work as professional journalists it is a challenge as avoiding this natural tendency, especially when the celebrity you are interviewing has had a real impact on your life, may be troublesome. Although, as Clayton (1994) points out, journalists must remember that they cannot be overawed by a Big Name. In his own words, “they are not meeting a celebrity as an adoring fan, but on a business” (1994:60).

The aim of this essay is to critically analyze the interviewing process by going throw several interviews with rock stars, considering that the approach taken would be slightly different from that of other interviewees. The interviews examined concentrate on print, but it is impossible to ignore broadcasting (media) as many aspects of the interviews such as occasional silences, body language and questions order what would otherwise be missed.

First of all, it is worthy to introduce the myth of the rock community. Frith (1981) stresses the importance of this point because for most rock bands “music is little more than the background sound of activities” (1981:167). According to this author, “in understanding the myth of the rock community we have to understand how the street experience of leisure -dance-hall drunks, doing nothing, tedium and laughs, fighting and male fellow-feeling- has been sentimentalised, distanced, organised into the rock 'n' roll experience” (1981:1981).

One of the best examples to illustrate what kind of skills a rock journalist would have is clearly represented by an icon of the popular culture such as the magazine Rolling Stone. Founded in 1967 in San Francisco (USA), the magazine is well-know for its creative and provocative style. Although this publication is an essential reference for rock interviews and these particular professionals know better than others how to carry out an interview with a rock star, most of the standards for interviewing difficulty vary. However, there are some aspects of the magazine, especially in its early days, which must be mentioned: the particular aggressive and gritty style, at times breaking the rules of the journalism; the use of personal experience and emotions and sarcasm. In particular, this style is commonly represented by one of the biggest and more recognized journalist of the magazine, Hunter S. Thompson, who published Fear Loathing in Las Vegas in the magazine in 1971. Among the American press members, this particular approach to journalism was fairly well-known as ‘Gonzo’ journalism. This pejorative term (it actually means crazy or extremist) aimed to express the rejection for the subjective Thompson style, which does not conform to any convention (Maier, S, 2010). Nevertheless, the following examples selected to examine the rock star interview are a mix of both conventional and unconventional journalism.

How to contact a rock star: “I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you”
One of the first issues a journalist should keep in mind when he wants to arrange an interview with a rock star is that most of them are unavailable for this task (Clayton, 1994). Before starting to question someone, you have to set a date for the interview. This is obvious but very difficult to achieve as rock stars, due to a heavy-agenda or just because they are not especially keen on interviews, are difficult to get in touch with. Freddie Mercury, the vocalist of the British band Queen, expressed himself in this way, half kidding, half serious, in an interview carried out in Munich:

- How does it feel at the end of a day like that? Do you like your job after an evening like that?
I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you (laughing)
- Thanks…
You are the last person I am talking to, so you’ll probably get the best interview, darling.
- I mean, the whole thing this afternoon… when you have to talk to many journalists…
This is part of my job. We don’t have to do it that often… This is the first press conference we are having for a long while, 3 or 4 years. If I’d have to do it every day, forget it.”

(Rudi Dolezal, 1984)

Time and place
Once a journalist has arranged the interview it is time to think about the venue and the right timing. These two aspects should be taken into account when a journalist is preparing an interview. The atmosphere created is extremely linked to the venue selected as the interviewee should feel as comfortable as possible (Adams, S.2001). Ideally, the interview should take place at a suitable time for the interviewee. This is especially important in the case of rock stars as most of them will not be available early in the morning. Drinking and smoking during interviews was a common habit during the 80’s. This is no longer accepted, especially smoking, but with no doubts it was a good way to make them feel better. So if a journalist has the chance to make them drink it may help. Most of the Rolling Stone journalists used to drink before or during the interview with the rock stars (Wenner, J., 2010) in order to break the ice. As Roman people stated, ‘in vino veritas’ (in wine [there is the] truth).

Planning the interview: What to ask

Novelist Nadine Gordimer said that some of the questions in the interview are so predictable that anybody regularly interviewed may be able to answer in their sleep (Adams, 2001). Most of the interviews with rock stars are arranged during a tour in which the musicians have to cope with long meetings with journalists. In this context, the same questions are repeated frequently. This is why an original approach to the interview might be very much appreciated and refreshing. A rock star may expect to be asked about music, drugs and sex. Some of these questions can have an original approach, but if the artist has answered the same thing too many times the journalist will hardly get a different answer from their colleagues.

Although maintaining a balance of musical, personal and general questions is a good strategy to make the interviewee feel comfortable, unexpected questions gain in spontaneity:

JON WINOKUR - What do you have against sunlight?
FRANK ZAPPA - Aside from the fact that it can be hazardous to your health, which wasn't always the case, I dislike the feeling that you experience during the daytime, when so many of the world's souls are awake, being industrious. It's a bad feeling and I don't want to participate. But at night it's a whole different thing. The people who are awake at night are my kind of people. The animals that are awake at night are the better animals: owls, raccoons, bats, the insects that don't want to show off. The ones with the bright colours have to go out in the daytime to get their money's worth, but the night time is natural for the drab, beetle-like, slug-like, monastic kinds of life forms. Superior life forms, like silverfish.

Certainly, the simpler the questions are, the better. Sometimes journalists try to prepare complicated question as they think that the interviewee could be looking for deep or spiritual questions. In a Rolling Stone interview, a journalist asked John Lennon: How did you put together that litany in “God”? Lennon’s answer: What’s “litany?” Randall (2007) suggests that it is better to concentrate on “questions that will enable you to compare their personality with their public image” (2007:88). In the same interview mentioned before the journalist asked him a very simple question with the following result: “Do you think you’re a genius?", "Yes, if there is such a thing as one, I am one.” It proves how simplicity can sometimes be the most effective way to aim an answer that illustrates the personality of the rock star one is interviewing.

It has been said that a journalist should not be judgemental during an interview and that hostility should be avoided. Instead, journalists must introduce the questions smoothly. Relation, connection, sympathy, in short rapport, are goals strongly desirables (Clayton, 1994). This is why good journalist must be good listeners and pay especial attention to the interviewee and to any small detail during the interview like body language. Thus, interview skills have been called the art of seduction. This point is especially notable in the opening of an interview. Most of the journalists want to create a good first impression. By smiling often and preparing ‘flirting’ questions as followed the interviewer introduce the rock star into a good mood.

LARRY KING: Tonight, his nickname is "Slowhand", but he's lived a fast-paced life of musical stardom marred by personal tragedy. The legendary guitarist, multi-Grammy award winner Eric Clapton talks about his amazing career. He's here for the full hour, next on LARRY KING LIVE.

It is a Great honour to have as our special guest tonight, for the full hour, the very difficult to get, Eric Clapton.

I might ask -- start by asking why are you here? I have never seen you interviewed. You've always been on our wish list. Why?

ERIC CLAPTON: I had to do it sooner or later. I have a reason to be here... I have a record coming out.

(Eric Clapton in Larry King Live, 1998)

However, some journalists do not understand interviewing as a flattering process. Furthermore, this point is contradicted by many of them who use rudeness as the right way to carry out the interview. The following example, an interview with a Spanish rock singer in the 80’s, would be useful to illustrate this point.

CARRILLO: Don’t you feel ashamed of being a being a deliberate imitator of Springsteen?
RAMONCIN: I don’t feel ashamed because that’s not true. Those who may think that I am a Springsteen imitator are cretins.
CARRILLO: Really? The sleeve of your album ‘Como Fuego’ (1985), for example, looks like ‘The River’…
RAMONCIN: Well, if we look for sleeves like that, it turns out he has been copying other musicians. Listen to me, little boy, I know Springsteen even before you could spell his name... for sure.
CARRILLO: Anyway, I think you are not older than me...
RAMONCIN: Well, I am pretty sure... and I’ll tell you more, I know this artist perfectly as many others. Nobody probably would say that I look like John Fogerty, because he is not as famous as Springteen. If I start to say now that I really like Bryan Adams and some of these days he becomes very famous, people would eventually say that I look like him. Anyway, Springteen would wish to compose songs as I do, especially my lyrics. I couldn’t compose “Born To Run”, but he hardly would be ever able to compose “Angel de cuero”.

Although these kind of tense interviews are not recommended, it certainly works with some people. Only the journalist, by using his intuition, can be able to determine what kind of language, style or questions would more suitable for each interviewee.

Handling problems at the interview
This brings me to my point: each interview is unique and this is the reason because is impossible to guess what mood the rock star would have. Even when journalists can research beforehand and try to find out something about the rock star personality, the reaction at the interview venue are unpredictable. Sometimes they may be tired, in a bad mood or just answering questions by providing very little information. This is why to have a good sense of humour should be considered as desirable skill. Smiling, keeping contact eyes and overall listening are the three key factors for success.

Each journalist has different goals and among all the questions he has been preparing there is one that should be answered because this is what people really want to know. However, these questions are many times delicate and the interviewer has to get the interviewee ready for it. “Only your intuition can tell you when they are ready to be asked the Big Question, the one you really came for” (1994:161). In another Rolling Stone interview, the journalist keep talking to John Lennon about his music, but his intention was deliberated to find out what the ex-Beatle experience with heroin would be:

What was your experience with heroin? It just was not too much fun. I never injected it or anything. We sniffed a little when we were in real pain. We got such a hard time from everyone, and I’ve had so much thrown at me, and at Yoko, especially at Yoko. Like Peter Brown in our office — and you can put this in — after we come in after six months he comes down and shakes my hand and doesn’t even say hello to her. That’s going on all the time. And we get into so much pain that we have to do something about it. And that’s what happened to us. We took “H” because of what the Beatles and others were doing to us. But we got out of it.
(The Rolling Stone Interview, S. Wenner)

To conclude, I would like to bring along an idea that comes out by reading and listening to interview with rock stars. They are certainly like many other interviewees and most of the interview techniques can be applied to them. However, a rock start hardly would use euphemisms in an interview. Most of the interviews which involve bureaucracy, industries or companies evolve phases to camouflage reality. But the way rock ‘n’ roll was created implicate honesty as most of them look at reality just the way it is.

Bibliography

Adams, s., 2001. Interviewing for journalist.Routledge.2nd Ed.

Clayton, J., 1994. Interviewing for Journalist

Maier, S., 2010. The Death of a Dream- Hunter S. Thompson and the Death of a Dream. [online] Available from: http://books.google.com/books?id=gockJffGei8C&pg=PA26&dq=gonzo+journalism&hl=es&ei=LzvJTbn6EJKq8AP7hYjYBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=gonzo%20journalism&f=false

Simon, F., 1981.The magic that can set you free': the ideology of folk and the myth of the rock community. Popular Music, V.1, pp.159-168.

Randall, D., 2007. The Universal Journalist. Pluto Press, 3rd ed.

Wenner J., 2007. The Rolling Stone Interviews. Back Bay Books.

Other sources

Geraldine, B., 2001.Rolling Stone style of reporting. Los Angeles Time [online] Available from: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/24/world/la-fg-rolling-stone-20100624 Eric Claton Interwied by Larry King. Available from : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIK5Nqv6BmY

Freddie Mercury interview. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wk9hPubD1Q

Frank Zappa interview. Abvailable from: http://home.swipnet.se/bengt-jonsson/zappaint.htm

Carrillo, S., 1987. Rockdleux [online] Available from: http://blogs.diariosur.es/the-b-side/2011/2/12/entrevista-ramoncin-rockdelux-santi-carrillo-1987-