※ [本文转录自 Innuendo 信箱] 作者: [email protected] 标题: 怎麽样作好一个访问 时间: Sat Sep 11 16:17:57 1999 作者: lunaticlace (█████) 看板: Bjork 标题: 怎麽样作好一个访问 时间: Thu Sep 9 17:01:48 1999 这是从过去某一期的 Punk-Planet 的杂志上印下来的 虽然是针对访问 punk band 说的， 不过用来检查其他团体艺人的访问也是蛮适合的， 对将来要投入类似媒体工作的网友（担任DJ等等的）也是很不错的一篇文章 THE DIY FILES How To Do An Interview by Jim Testa It's odd-few things matter as much to a good fanzine as the interview. and yet the proccess of doing an inter- view is almost always taken for granted. Most people think it's asking questions and writing down the answers, but believe me, there is a LOT more to interviewing than that. (I should know, as a zine editor and freelance writer, I've been interviewing punk bands since there were punk bands, going back to the Ramones at CBGB in the late 70's). Over the years, I've been asked tons of DIY-type questions--but printing and scanners and how to get ads--but no one has ever asked me how to do an inter- view. And yet, that's probably the one aspect of doing a zine that I know best. So here are some thoughts on the art of the interview. Okay. so you have a band picked out that you want to interview. Don't think of an interview as one person asking questions and another person (or several people, if you're talking to a band) providing the answers. A good interview should be a conversation, with give and take, asides, comments, Jokes, and all the other things that make day to-day conversations interesting. Although your goal is to engage your subject in a lively conversation, you're still going to need some questions to ask. For me. there's nothing more boring than an inter- view with nothing but a lot of stock, generic questions: "What are your influences?" "Where did the name of your band come from?" "Do you skate?'' Duh. You might as well ask wriat their favorite Qolor is. Sure, you can work some of those questions in somewhere along the iine, but you'II also want to think of some things to talk about that will make your interview more engrossing informative, and readable than the interviews this same band has done in Zine X. Y and Z. The first thing you need to do before an interview is to view? what do i want to find out about this bendr/per- former? What is it aboot this band/performer that makes them interesting or unique? Why do I like (or dislike) their music? The answers to those questions well help you frame your interview. . For instance, I recently helped someone prepare for an interview with the Promise Ring. Now, what did I know about this band? Well, I knew they're from Milwaukee. And having watched every rerun of Laverne & Shirley, I also knew that Milwaukee is the beer-making capital of the country. So I thought it would be fun to ask if the breweries in Milwaukee influenced the scene there: Did more kids go straightedge as a kind of rebel- lion against their hometown. or did everyone there grow up drunk? For the record, that question didn't really work,the band didn't have much to say on the topic. Having seen the Promise Ring perform. I also knew that while they were more-or-less in the "emo" category, they were--unlike most "emo" bands--four of the happiest people you'll ever see on stage. So that inspired some questions: Why do you smile so much when you're per- forming? What do you think of "emo" bands that are sulking and surly on stage? THAT question paid off big- time--it got the guys in the band yammering about what they liked and didn't like about other bands they'd played with, and what they bring to their performances, and resulted in an excellent conversation. So that's how I prepare for an interview: I brainstorm a while and come up with what I hope will be some unique and interesting questions, with at least a few that the person or people I'm interviewing haven't already been asked a million times. Naturally, the more famous (or at least, the more-often-interviewed) your subject is, the harder this gets. The brand-new teenage punk band down the block with be grateful for anything you ask them; but Just an exereise. try to come up with a list df original questions for lan MacKaye or Greg Graffin-something they`ve never been asked before. Not easy, is it? Surprisingly. other interviews with the same person or band can be an excellent source of good questions. As a rule, I don't like to read record reviews of something I am going to review myself, for fear that they will influence me. But interviews are different. For one thing, by reading other interviews your subject has done in the past, you can avoid asking the same questions. More importantly, an answer-and especially a half-answer--in another interview will inspire a question of your own. Of course, with any interview, you will also have a list of questions that you "have" to ask, in order to provide some basic information about the subject. That's where your generic "influences" and "how did you form the band" queries come in. (Hint: If you can get that information from a press kit or bio, or even an interview in another zine, you can avoid wasting time with boring repetitive questions. You get press kits and bios from record labels or, in some cases, independent publicists, if the band uses one. Of course, in the case of totally DIY bands, that isn`t an option, but it's good to keep in mind.) Once I have all my questions, I try to arrange them in the form of an outline, so that one question naturally leads to the next one. That way, the interview will feel more like a conversation to everyone. Interviews happen in several different ways: In per- son, over the phone, and by mail or email. If you're doing the interview in person, or even over the phone, the next most important thing to remember is LISTEN. Don't fixate on your questions. and don't be thinking of the next question you want to ask; Listen to the answers. That's because--just like in a real conversation-a good answer will sometimes suggest another question, very often a much better and more interesting question than the one that'S written down in your notes. Mail or email interviews happen when you don`t have first-hand access to the band or person you want to inter- view. I don't like mail interviews, but I've done them before, and they can tum out fine. Since you don't have the luxury of following up a reply with another question, it's even more important that you come up with really good questions. Don`t worry about making the questions too wordy or complexr---you can always rewrite them to make them simpler when you transcribe the interview before you publish it. One more thing: Don't be afraid to ask hard ques- tions.I'm not saving that you should come off like Stuttering John on the HoWard Stern Show and be rude, embarrassing, or insulting--but that doesn't mean you should limit yourself to easy, puffball questions. Once you've done the interview, the really hard part starts: transcribing your interview tape, editing and arrang- ing the questions and answers so they make sense, and writing an introduction. You need to decide if you want to present the interview in the Question & Answer format (usually called Q&A, which is the way most fanzine inter- views are done) or as an essay (like most interview in professional magazines in Rolling Stone and Spin.) If you're doing a Q&A style interview, I can't recom- mend too strongly that you write a strong introduction. Let's face it, at least some(and in the case of interviews with nwer bands, practically All) of your readers will have no idea whom you're writing about. It's yaur job to tell ihem. I HATE interviews that jump right into the Q&A without any sort of lead-in, so you have no idea who is being interviewed, where the interview was done, or why you would want to read about them. A good introduction does just that: it introduces your subject and ideally--if you're a good enough writer--grabs your readers by the throat and makes them want to read the interview. So get out there and start having good conversations that result in great interviews! if you've got more ques- tions about any of this (or want to check out my zine, jersey Beat) feel free to drop me a line: Jim Testa, 418 Gregory Avenue, Weehawken NJ O7O87 (issues are $2 postpaid) or email [email protected]. You can also check oot the Jesey Beat web site at http://www.jersey- beat.com. --

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