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How do you get people to talk about shit they don't want to talk about?
Get 'em drunk. That always works. The drunker the better, as far as I'm concerned. You can also use reverse psychology, if you're planning to broach a sensitive subject. Here's two examples: I once had to do an interview with Pat Moynihan of that painful band Train. I really wanted to ask him, "What's the most awful thing anyone has ever said to you about Train?" So first I asked him, "What's the nicest thing anyone's said about your band?" That answer, of course, didn't make the magazine.
The other thing that pops to mind is an interview I did with Mars Volta, when they hooked up a few years back. If I remember correctly, their publicist said, "Just don't ask them about their hair!" I wasn't planning on asking about their hair, but after their publicist told me not to, I was inspired. So I asked Omar, their guitarist, "Doesn't it piss you off how much people talk about your hair?" That little "doesn't it piss you off?" trick has worked many times since. Examples: "James Blunt: Does it piss you off when people tell you that you suck?" "Britney: Does it piss you off when people take pictures of your coochie when you're exiting a car?" It really helps!
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How do you get backstage when you're told you can't get back there?
God, I don't remember ever crashing somebody's backstage area, uninvited. I hate to ruin the myth, but backstage areas are not always fun. There's just never enough to drink, and unless you're extremely tight with the band, you're essentially stealing their alcohol. But here's a few tips I just thought of. First, you have to be confident that you're gonna get backstage. Like Theodor Herzl said, "If you will it, it is no dream." You barge through security, with intent and purpose. If you show weakness, you're done. Here's a few other ideas:
One thing I've noticed, especially in New York, is that 99 percent of venues use a similar wristband to get backstage. It's a no frills, single-colored wristband. Sometimes they're red, or green, or purple, or yellow -- but I would suggest bringing one of every color in the rainbow to a gig. Idea 2: Get all arts and crafts on that shit and make your own backstage pass. Idea 3: Dress like a roadie, have a bunch of laminates around yer neck, and bum rush. Idea 4: My standby, show security your heaving breasts.
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Who is your dream interview that you haven't done yet?
I can't believe the people that I've had the chance to meet and interview... The geniuses: Dylan, Jagger, Richards, Ray Charles, Roger Waters, Tweedy, the guys in Steely Dan and a million more. I couldn't ask for anything more, but if I could, at the top of my list is Stevie Wonder. I remember when I was a kid, picking up an old Rolling Stone, and reading a story about Stevie in which he said his favorite color was purple, and that when he goes to the bathroom, he always turns on the lights. Have you seen a good Stevie interview recently? Not me. I want to do it real bad. For all we know, Stevie probably browses the internet. Let's hope he sees this.
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What's the wildest thing you've ever seen backstage (you can omit names if you must for legal reasons and/or to protect their identities)?
The wildest things, in my experience, go down on the tour bus, not backstage. The wildest thing i've ever seen was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a performer who I'll hereby refer to as Cid Rokk. I won't go into all the details, but in the middle of a very public display of coitus, a girl called her boyfriend on the phone, and told him she just slept with Mr. Rokk. The boyfriend didn't believe her, and asked that she pass the phone to Rokk, who told him, "Yeah, I just slept with your girlfriend." Much other crazy shit happened that, but you'll have to read the book for that.
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How often do people tell you the juiciest stuff off the record?
Not that often. Unless you're interviewing Kanye West. I just spent three days with him in London, for Rolling Stone's current cover story, and Kanye was constantly saying "Don't print that!" "Turn the tape recorder off!", "Can I edit the story?" etc. He's a funny, bizarre dude.
Usually, everything I do with an artist is on the record. In fact, sometimes I tell artists that something should be off the record. There have been quite a few nights where I've told an artist, "From this point on, everything is off the record." I don't want to be the annoying reporter that artists have to pussyfoot around. So I just nip it in the bud. For instance, anticipating that we were gonna go get stoned, I told Justin Timberlake after his show in Amsterdam that I wouldn't write about it. (But he said, "I don't give a shit, I'm not breaking any laws." So we got blazed, and I wrote about it.) But generally, if rock stars want to do their rock star shit -- cheating on wives, etc. -- my lips are sealed. I don't really write to stir up controversy, make tabloid headlines, or get someone busted. That's never been my angle.
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What's the most lavish place you've traveled to conduct an interview?
Wow. That's a good question. There are certain cities that I just love to be in. Barcelona tops that list, followed by Tokyo, Amsterdam and Paris. It was pretty lavish staying with the Coldplay guys at the Park Hyatt hotel in Tokyo, where they filmed Lost in Translation. I just got back from Ibiza where I visited James Blunt. That was pretty sweet. You can't beat the North Shore of Oahu, where I've been to write about Jack Johnson. Roger Waters owns a ridiculous glass-walled penthouse apartment in NYC, which is pretty lavish (though he complained that he couldn't see the Chrysler Building, ever though it was literally the only building in town that he couldn't see.) But if you're talking like ridiculously lavish, I'd have to say Billy Joel's waterfront estate in Oyster Bay, New York. That shit is nuts. After I interviewed him in his living room, Billy gave me the grand tour, showing me his car and motorcycle collections, and finally his trophy room. It's not the Grammys he's most proud of, it was the certificate of appreciation that he received in the 80s from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Oh, the irony.
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When you thought of music journalism as a career, did you ever think this would be the life you would lead?
I never thought about journalism as a career. In fact, when I was a kid, as much as I loved the stories I read in Rolling Stone, I didn't particularly gravitate towards writing. But, when I was nineteen, about nine years ago, I started interning at Rolling Stone. I just fell in love with it, I guess. I loved the energy, I loved being in New York (i'd just moved there from San Francisco) and I loved being around music all the time. I got a job as an assistant, and pretty soon I was writing very small stories, doing short interviews, while still opening other peoples mail. I think it was three or four years into my stead at Rolling Stone that I was given Random Notes. I think I cried when I got that -- as a kid that was my absolute favorite section in the mag (i used to cut out certain photos and hang them on my wall). Since then I've had the opportunity to do so many amazing things -- features, cover stories, etc. -- and travel the world with rock stars. I have the greatest job in the world. It's much better than being a rock star. So, to answer your question, no, this is not what I imagined. The reality of it exceeds my wildest imagination.
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Who's the most forthcoming person you've ever interviewed, and who was the toughest to crack?
Most forthcoming? My favorite interview is Dave Grohl. He's hilarious, rude, brilliant and heavy. I remember a few years back, sitting down with him at the Foo Fighters studio compound near L.A. and him really laying it out there. I've known Grohl for a long time, but in this interview he really opened up about his relationship with Kurt, and addressed a lot of the tensions that ran through Nirvana. It's a great Q+A -- go check it out. I think if you read the current cover story I did with Kanye West, he's pretty fucking forthcoming. And last year I wrote a piece -- my best, in my opinion -- about Rod Stewart. He put it out there for sure, like when he basically called his kids lazy-asses. I enjoyed that.
Even Bob Dylan -- the great one -- is forthcoming. Defying conventional wisdom, Dylan answered all of my questions directly. I was definitely nervous to face him, but he put me at ease.
The toughest nut to crack? Well, if you'd asked me that a year ago, I'd pinpoint a rather painful interview with Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan. I think at one point I was forced to say,"Why the fuck are you doing this interview if you're not going to speak?" I got a little sassy with him, then he actually opened up a bit. But, the title for clammed-up artist goes to the great Amy Winehouse, who was absolutely impossible to understand (she was likely drunk, or something else) and couldn't have cared less about press. I enjoy the fact that she appears to be such a mess, that's an important rock genre -- the drunken mess -- so my disastrous interview with her was perfect. I'm glad she ignored what I was saying.