how the fuck do you write up interviews?

im not getting in the middle of this 'im more of an expert than you' war.

Who are you writing it for? Who are their readers and why should these readers care about this artist?

If said readers have a preconception about artist, does anything you have in the interview challenge or confirm that view?

Most people will be able to hear their music, you have met them. I'm not saying you shouldn't mention their music (you've probably covered it addressing the first point), but what were they wearing, how did they sit, what's their accent like, how do they treat you or other people around you, can you capture anything about their speach patterns or particular tuns of phrase, what brand of cigarette do they smoke, do they pull at the skin around their fingers? Anything like that.

Also consider how they fit in to a wider context, this could be their band, their scene, world politics etc.

Opperate linguistic cleansing on any of the cliched bollocks musicians usually come out with, i.e "We just make music and if anyone else likes it..." This does nothing for the artist, you or the reader.

People may disagree with this one, but I feel strongly that the reader is the most important person in the whole equation. They have to buy the publication, click through. Everything you write should be about serving them, not sucking up to an artist or showing off your fancy writing.

Use the quotes to illustrate your points about them, don't just let them waffle.

In terms of doing interviews - when done in person, I always tape them; when done over the 'phone, I transcribe the conversation in shorthand as I go along; when done over email, problems solve themselves.

Taking readers into account can include challenging them. Writing for publication is writing to be read. I don't see how difficult this is to grasp.

I interviewed Jon Oliva from savatage once but had no way of recording from the telephone so I tried to type as I talked but couldn't and never printed it. from memory, the answers looked decent enough though :)

Writing for a readership, and writing to attract a readership, are of course two entirely different things. It's hardly surprising that people tend to confuse them. My view is that if you're a good enough writer, the readers will come to you. Write to order and you might as well be a secretary. You'll get your cheque from IPC/whoever at the end of the month - and if that's all you want, good luck to you - but for me there has to be more than that.

Not true. You should only ask stupid/flippant questions, preferably ones that have nothing to do with the music. If the article absolutely demands comment on the music, well, that's what you, the writer, are there for. Who cares what the musicians think of their music? They're gonna say they like it, of course. (Unless they don't. If you're interviewing a band, and they tell you what a piece of shit the new album is, by all means print it.)

JUST OUT OF INTEREST, NOT TRYING ANYTHING, Marcello, what advice would you give to the thread starter?

My answer was a bit Features Journalism 101, but what would you say?

Possibly what I wrote in the second paragraph of my first post to this thread.

I can't do shorthand but I always imagined it to be the exact opposite