The first interview I ever did was with the Dandy Warhols back in 2003. It was just after the release of Welcome to the Monkey House and their solo tour stopped in Atlanta (at the now defunct Cotton Club) where they put on an awesome three-hour show.
Looking back, I was still pretty naïve about some things (I was a very young 20 years old), but incredibly intuitive about others. I asked great, well-researched questions and everything went really well, much to my surprise. It is still the only tour bus I’ve ever been on.
I also got stopped at the door, and their manager had never heard of me. Somehow, after several desperate phone calls and pleas to the powers that be, I made it work. I got the interview and was able to bring my sister and good friend Phil into the show with me. It wouldn’t be the first time, though, that there would be problems, but that was just another reason why it was a great learning (and life) experience. Especially since I was so determined. I almost think I had more balls back then than I do now, which is shocking to think back on.
Most of all, I was honest. I walked in, nervous as hell, and just admitted it was the first interview I’d ever done. And I’m glad I did it. It was an important lesson: always be honest and be yourself. Chances are, they will be too.
Now, the article I wrote certainly has its flaws—cheese, grammar mistakes—but the prose is better than some of the printed articles that followed it. Reading it again so many years later, it still captures so much of that night so that I can again picture it clearly in my head. I have been more displeased with articles I’ve written in the past 12 months than I am of that article. Well, almost.
The poster from that show still hangs on the wall in my living room and I still keep tabs on the buttons they gave me—one of every kind they had to go on the super-emo purse I carried at the time. They’re good reminders of where I started, and where I still want to go.
Read the article here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment