Pete Scholtes's Don't's and Do's of Interviewing musicians:
DON'T let an artist review himself. Avoid questions like "What were you trying to achieve with this album?"
DO ask informational questions that will help you review the album yourself.
DON'T ask yes/no questions.
DO research the shit out of your subject. (Use Google, Nexis, magazines, fanzines, friends, the library, ILM, police records, etc.) Then use that research to ask better questions. (E.g., so you can replace "How did you meet?" with "So what was the expression on his face when you rammed him with the forklift in Arizona?")
DON'T stop listening. New questions will always come to you. If someone is being boring, you can only snap them out of it if you seem attentive.
DO ask questions to get quotes about things you might already know the answer to, but want a quote about anyway. (And of course, ask about things you don't anything about.)
DON'T interrupt an interviewee. Wait for the silence. UNLESS: He's using up all your time on one question, or on a dead end. (Or unless you can get dramatic effect in the piece by saying: "Wait a minute," I interrupted him, "did you just use the word 'Chink'?")
DO ask followup questions.
DON'T waste too much time putting your own voice on tape.
DO offer the occasional "uh huh" or nod or laugh to let the person know you're there. If you're in person, keep as much eye contact as is possible and comfortable.
DON'T be false. Be yourself. There's nothing wrong with a journalist wanting to find out more about somebody. Don't let your politeness and nervousness become flattery or shyness. People are flattered by good interviews.
DO ask questions about topics an interviewee is dying to talk about. Unless you're grilling somebody, interviews usually are nothing more than an excuse to get people talking about something interesting to you.
DON'T, if you're doing this in person, do long interviews with groups of people sitting down. Keep these short, 15-20 minutes tops. Think about it: If you turn this into a scene, there's not much going on to describe. Plus they'll keep interrupting each other, anyway. It's best, if possible, to use these situations as an opportunity to observe a band interracting as people.
DO try to interview people while they're doing something besides sit around. Driving is good, or behind the counter at their McDonald's job, or on their way to give somebody flowers. This way you get something to describe in the piece. Sometimes, you have to be cunning in setting this up, but always let somebody know if what they do will be on the record or not.
DON'T waste your time writing about a sound check. Always boring.
DO get drunk with musicians and let the tape roll. Take a shower with them. Hang out and watch a movie. So long as they know it's all on the record.
DON'T ask about a musician's views on wider topics (like the record industry? please) unless it's particularly relevant to her art. And even then, this treads dangerously close to self-reviewing. If somebody feels strongly enough about something, it's going to come up, anway.
DO just observe a band without interviewing them much at all, either playing or hanging out.
DON'T spend too much time with a group if you feel you've got your story. I think John Leland got his classic interview with Public Enemy in less than a half hour.
DO ask informational questions to fill in a person's biography wherever you see gaps. There's always more to know about somebody, and usually good stories.
DON'T slow down the momentum of an interview by backtracking too much for info you need. Wait until the end, if it's something small.
DON'T tell somebody what you think about their art unless they ask. (Or unless you're using a statement as a question. E.g. "A lot of people say you're a phoney.") And even then, say things they're likely to respond to in an interesting way.
DO argue, especially if you plan to disagree with them in print. But do it diplomatically.
DON'T let any musician see your article ahead of time. I've done this once, but only after making it clear that I wouldn't change a thing I don't want to, and that it was purely for fact-checking, and getting his reaction to other people's comments.
DO let people know that they can go off the record if they must.
DON'T make any promises about the content or publishing date of your article. And never, never make any deals.
That's all for now...
― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 22 July 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)