How do you conduct an interview?

M@tt is spot-on with the keeping-mouth-shut-after-asking part. In too many tapes, I find myself jumping in and either earnestly agreeing with whomever I'm interviewing, invarialby derailing their train of thought....which makes for fractured little quotes. Not good.

Don't ask obvious questions. Nothing bores artists more than the predictable, which they've inevitably been asked a million times prior to starting the interview with you.

Worst interview ever: John S. Hall of King Missile. I expected him to be funny and engaging, but all he did was whine about his record company and royalties....like any reader would give a damn.

The only thing I've learned is to ask a question then keep my big mouth shut

It always helps when you have someone who wants to talk/can talk at length, though. One reason why I loved the interview I did with Kevin Shields was that he did talk quite a bit, unprompted -- he took the questions and ran with them. Mick Harris of Scorn was even chattier!

It always helps when you have someone who wants to talk/can talk at length, though
True, true, true. B-b-but if you have something specific you want to ask from somebody - and they might not talk of that certain something on they own accord - you just gotta ask your question anyhow. Even at the cost of appearing "impolite", sometimes.

Also, although I wasn't there, the other guys in F8 followed the Misfits bus overnight from Cleveland to Canton OH, and when the Jerry Only came back out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame museum, they did an interview with him. The following information was found out:

J. Only's favorite food is pasta, he likes the wagon wheels.

When asked who he would kill first (with weapons made of coconuts adn driftwood) if stuck on a desert island with Kenny G, Celine Dion, and the Backstreet Boys, he kinda copped out and said that when he's not doing music he can stand it when his kids listen to pre-fab pop groups, but when they go into the studio, that's when the J-man gets critical about music.

Brushes with greatness -- the introductory text obviously was written at a time when I actually believed there was a new album coming out (as you'll see from the interview, maybe even Kevin believed it).

(a) Yes, I found (and find) her an interesting person and an interesting musician.

(b) When an opportunity presents itself, do you turn it down? (If you were a writer in the music biz -- as some of you are -- would you turn down an opportunity just out of some aesthetic dilemma with the artist in question? I had no such dilemma with Emm, but it seems a worthy question to ask of a bunch such as you.)

Since I don't really work for a living when it comes to my music writing, I admit I don't really so much seek the opportunities as ponder and choose them according to my whim.